James Sudalnik: Thanking the Academy for Students’ Professional Development

James Sudalnik, professor of communications, participated in the initial and final rounds of voting for the 2007 Primetime Emmy Awards. Sudalnik, who is the coordinator of the communications department’s electronic media programming and production emphasis, is an active voting member of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in the nonfiction peer group. The 59th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards were telecast from the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles in September.

According to Sudalnik, the nonfiction peer group is growing quickly within the Academy as more producers, writers, directors, actors, and celebrities pursue nonfiction and documentary projects.

“The documentary form, having experienced tremendous and heretofore unparalleled financial success in recent years, most surprisingly at the theater box office and now on television as well, has become the genre to turn to whenever a popular topic needs additional attention and also whenever an unpopular one doesn't receive the attention it deserves,” he says. “The list of fiction video and filmmakers and actors who turn to the nonfiction form grows longer each year, as they produce these films with their own funds.”

Sudalnik points to the grassroots sensibilities behind the growth of documentary makers in Hollywood, saying that, “Along with the blogging phenomena, [these filmmakers] are taking up the slack in the absence of meaningful news coverage that has occurred as a result of media conglomeration and consolidation. As the number of traditional information gatekeepers keeps shrinking, the nonfiction movement is the antitheses to this shrinkage. And, the public, along with the networks, have discovered that truth is not only sometimes stranger than fiction, it's frequently more entertaining.”

The Academy organizes many educational endeavors as part of its ongoing mission to promote excellence in television programming. Sudalnik welcomes the opportunity to vote for works with potential for social impact that demonstrate both innovation and mastery within the art form and encourages students to become members of the Academy.

“The educational programs of the Academy are absolutely fantastic,” he says. “No other non-academic organization in the TV and media production field conducts and promotes as many educational and enrichment programs as the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. There are numerous screenings, seminars and meetings throughout the year, and many of these are open to the student membership program, which students can participate in through the communications department here at Dominguez Hills. In this way, our students can participate in the nonfiction and documentary movement, as well as in all the other genres and peer groups. Over the years, our students have attended industry screenings, panel discussions, networked with their peers from other universities, and with writer, producers, and directors working in today's industry. Coupled with our own departmental intern program, our students have opportunities which allow them to get a head start and succeed in the real world environment after graduation.”

Interested students should contact Sudalnik at (310) 243-3099 or at jsudalnik@csudh.edu for information on a sponsored student membership in the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

- Joanie Harmon