BRICK – A Brick Township High School alumnus is in the running for one of the Television Academy Foundation’s 44th College Television Awards.
Sean Thrunk, along with classmates at Montclair State University, are nominated in the News category. He served as a director, producer and writer on Arizona Stories: Border, Water and Politics.
Thrunk traveled to Arizona to work on the project as part of an “On the Road: Reporting from the Field” class for Montclair News Lab. Arizona Stories: Water, Border and Politics is a news magazine show produced by students that covers a wide variety of topics across Arizona state. The topics included immigration, homelessness, drought and the environmental impact of millions of visitors to the Grand Canyon.
The project took about six months to complete.
“Pre-production began in December 2023. Our trip was mid-March and we finished editing in May,” Thrunk said.
The program then aired on Montclair Township’s Local Access Channel 34 in May 2024.
Sean Thrunk (back row, 5th from left) pictured with the whole film team at their filming location, the Grand Canyon. (Photo courtesy Sean Thrunk)
Thrunk is currently a senior at Montclair majoring in filmmaking and television production. After graduation, Thrunk plans to work on self-producing nonfiction film projects.
“I have produced, written and edited a bunch of non-fiction projects. My most popular being a documentary called ‘Saving Slick.’ A film that follows 3-D film restorationist Bob Furmanek and his journey to bring life to a lost 3-D short, Stardust in your Eyes. This can be found as a bonus feature on the Robot Monster Blu-Ray restoration by the 3-D Film Archive,” Thrunk said.
“[In the future] I also intend to keep working with ONNJ and grow alongside the young news company,” he added.
Sean Thrunk on set filming a news magazine show. (Photo courtesy Sean Thrunk)
Thrunk expressed his appreciation for the nomination and thanked one of his high school teachers who supported him early on in his filmmaking journey.
“To be nominated for a College Television Award means that my hard work is paying off,” he said. “Without the support of Television Production teacher Fran Bristol at Brick Township High School I likely would not have had the confidence or skills to work on this project.”
The Foundation’s annual awards show recognizes student-produced programs from colleges across the country. Winners will be announced by television stars at the red-carpet awards ceremony on April 5 at the Television Academy in North Hollywood, California.
Student entries are judged by Television Academy members and the criteria reflects industry standards of excellence, imagination and innovation.
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