Fifteen Minutes: Where Sitcoms Come From

Sometimes, some people just get lucky. Sophomore Tasha Rosow is one such person.

iHey, what can I say?i she said as her intense, blue eyes focused for a moment on the mound of garden greens, cheese, eggs, pink dressing and tofu which she called a salad. iI was just in the right place at the right time. This whole thing isnit even entirely my baby.i

No, Rosow isnit mixed up in a soap opera-esque, iwhois-the-father-of-my-babyi drama.

The sophomore VES concentrator is engaged in a much more exciting project at the momentoshe has been commissioned to write a pilot for a risqu high school drama series slated to air on the Fox Network next year at the earliest. And although the project was originally the brainchild of a Fox producer, Rosow, a prize-winning young playwright, infuses it with a unique, artistic flavor as original as her choices at Leverettis salad bar.

iI think this sitcom will really bring a fresh, honest look to this kind of drama,i Rosow said with smile. iJust because itis not written by someone 20 years out of high school who decided to look back. I think for that reason the characters are made more realistic. They lack the eloquence or even the self-awareness that a 35-year-old has when evaluating high school problems.i

The drama, a project Rosow describes as ieMy So Called Lifei meets the movie, eKids,ii focuses on the problems of self-doubt facing a young, female painter, Alex. As a character whose lack of image had made her remain outside the mainstream high school community, Alex is taken aback when the popular, iparty girls,i at her Los Angeles high school attempt to integrate her into their social strata. Thrown into the milieu is Sage, Alexis best friend, a savvy nymphomaniac, and Curtis, the cute new boy who has just left Colorado to escape the haunting memory of his fatheris death.

Rosow, herself the product of a similar Los Angeles private high school, has tried to incorporate the drug use, sexual experiences, party scene and rave life that she sees as the reality for many Generation X high school students. By ending each 15-minute segment of the pilot in a party atmosphere, she says she aims to emphasize the two playing grounds-school life and party life-where the high school experience unfolds. Rosow openly admits that much of her script is drawn from personal experience.

iI think in the end that is really the way all good scripts are written,i Rosow said. iEvery character Iive ever created has had at least a small aspect of my own self, or what I desire to become or not to become. Alex in that way isnit completely me, but rather, everyone Iive ever identified with and really understood their plight.i

As a playwright entering the television industry, Rosow admits that she, like Alex, has feelings of insecurity. After writing two one-act plays, iSilent Nighti and iJames Dean,i which earned her top awards at the Rocky Mountain Young Playwrights Festival and the California Young Playwrights Festival, Rosow was spotted for this project by a high school classmateis father who was working at Fox. Although she signed a contract to write the pilot in the summer of 1998, management changes at the network forced her project to be put on the back burner.

Taking on the project as an undergraduate, Rosow has learned the value of a Harvard education in an industry where ilampoon kidi is part of the lingo.

iI think Hollywood is really taken aback by Harvard and its programs,i Rosow said as she tucked a blonde wisp of hair behind her ear. iYou can succeed in this industry without being a born writer or educated in the art of producing. Itis just important that youire knowledgeable about a lot of little things and have big ideas that you can bring to life. I think we really get that drive to success and creativity at Harvard.i

However, as Roscow embarks on her own drive to success, sheis found that she has do a lot more than just sit back and enjoy the ride. In the draft process, she has already become accustomed to the continuous process of rewriting lines and haggling over possible titles that are characteristic of relationships between the network employer and the creative mind.

iItis funny, I came into this process with a little Harvard snobbiness about the prospect of writing for a television series,i Roscow said. iBut now I find myself working as hard I can. TV is its own art form, with own intricacies. A little issue becomes a big deal to the characters and nothing can ever be subtle. Most people donit realize how hard it is to do well.i

oA. C. Marek