New Professional Edge for CTV

"How are you supposed to orgasm in a place like this?" asks the ambiguously ethnic international student of his new room in Carmen. His new roommate, the small-town kid from Minnesota, just stares, dumbfounded.

Welcome to a scene from the pilot of CTV's first-ever soap opera: The Gates. But before any rolling of the eyes, the show offers more than just the awkward "first meeting of the roommate" during orientation week.

"You should've come last Saturday, when we filmed the fight, two sex scenes, and a lesbian kiss," said director and creator of the show, Davide Barillari, CC '09, as I arrived on-set to watch 13 takes of the fore-mentioned scene.

"That was a fun night," added Brett Robbins, CC '09, who plays small-town kid, Terry Marlowe. Robbins is an aspiring actor who had small roles in films and TV since he was six years old.

"Filming all day can be exhausting, but when it's broken up with sex scenes and fight scenes, you're not bored," Robbins said. And Barillari hopes the same for the viewers.

"These are Columbia students. They have good taste. If you show them something interesting, they'll watch it," he said. "We're showing Columbia through a very glamorous, soap opera lens. By watching The Gates, Columbia students can vicariously [experience] all those things they wanted to but didn't get a chance to."

The pilot features an intricate plot involving the first day of orientation and an intense frat party. The aim is to contextualize soap opera passion and lust in a relatable college setting.

"It's similar to the new wave of soap opera-dramas, like Nip/Tuck or Desperate Housewives," he said of the show.

That's right-he's comparing a CTV show to top-rated professional series.

"The basic idea people have of college programming is that it's a bunch of people running around with cameras, very amateurish-something that's more fun for people making it than people watching it," he added. "With a project like this, I'm trying to show people that just because we're not getting paid doesn't mean we can't put out a professional product."

Barillari, who is also CTV's Creative Director, never planned to shoot a soap opera this year. Instead, he was preparing to air an action-thriller that he wrote over the summer. But when he mentioned the idea of a soap opera at production meetings, he realized that's where the interest lies. He teamed up with the "very talented" Jeb Burt, CC '06, to write the script for the pilot, and the rest is CTV history.

Barillari is used to the feel of being on-set. For the past two years, he has directed people and set-up shots in his various roles as a production assistant and gaffer for documentaries and independent and student films. But, he noted, "You can't just fall back on experience. Nothing can prepare you for making a film. No two shoots are going to be exactly the same. There's so much improvisation. It's what I like most about the experience."

As for the actors, "looks were the never deciding factor," Barillari said. But he thinks all the actors are "good-looking."

"People who want to be on a soap opera usually already are good-looking, because they know what's expected of them. They probably wouldn't dress up like that for a King Lear audition," he said of how the actors showed up for auditions.

So far, Barillari has dedicated at least 75-100 hours to the show.

"I believe in this project. I think it's going to go somewhere. It's going to change the way students think about CTV. It's going to change the way people think about college programming."

And it may also change how other CU students view the actors themselves.

Co-star Toby Mitnick, CC'10 (who plays the international student) worries about how his friends will react to seeing him on TV.

"I don't think I'm going to have any more friends," he said. "I'm scared I'm going to come off as a spectacular douche bag."

The better looking students among us will test their acting chops on Thursday night at 9 p.m. on CTV (channel 37). The premiere will also go up on iTunes, Google Video, and Youtube.