Seniors Tyler McDonald, Connor Stewart, Devin Rodrigue, Andrew Van Steenburgen, and Matthew Quick have started their own online video series. Real Time with Mr. Maher is hosted by one of Coginchaug’s favorite English teachers, Mr. Maher. Here is an exclusive interview with the producers.
- What is RTWMM?
RTWMM is an online talk show through Devil Nation News (DNN) that covers current news events, discusses relevant issues and answers viewer questions on a variety of topics. The purpose of the show is to entertain our audience, the students and faculty of Coginchaug, but also to push the limits of what is expected from a talk show, which our host, Mr. Maher, is more than capable of doing.
- What was the inspiration for the show? How did you get the idea?
The show started as a tentative one-time interview with Mr. Maher but, after some brainstorming, turned into a full-fledged monthly talk show segment through DNN. Inspiration for the idea came from our interests in the talents and genius of Mr. Maher, but we credit the actual TV talk show “Real Time with Bill Maher” as our inspiration for the setup, production, and, obviously, name of the show.
- Where can we watch the show?
Currently, we have our own YouTube channel where we post everything Real Time related, including actual episodes and trailers. In terms of promotion, we try to get involved on social media. In fact, we even have our own Facebook page. DNN…helps get the word out by mentioning us in their monthly episodes.
- Will it be featured on the monthly DNN videos?
RTWMM episodes are too long to be fully featured on DNN, but they’ll certainly be advertised in some way. For this next episode, we’re thinking about featuring our newest trailer.
- Do you have some sort of (tentative) release schedule that I could publish?
As of now, we try and release our episodes concurrently with DNN.
- How has the production/filming been going? Any kinks?
Oh, tons. To be honest, our first episode we filmed we were completely unprepared for. We didn’t get enough footage, so we decided to turn it into our first trailer. The second attempt at our first episode was much better prepared. Both Mr. Maher and Mr. McCarthy were brilliant and really made the episode as great as it was. As most people noticed, the audio wasn’t the best quality, and it was hard to hear. Luckily, we’ve revamped the entire aesthetics of the show and it should look and feel much more professional. Along with the filming, we were also extremely unprepared for the amount of editing we had to do. In order to meet the deadline, we had to really crunch our schedules and put in a lot more time than we initially expected. This episode, we’re far more prepared. It’s been a really intensive process. Expect each episode to get better.
- Can people come and watch the filming process if they’d like?
Absolutely. We were actually considering promoting it, but the idea’s still in the works. We’re going to be filming the next episode really soon, so we’ll see what happens.
- What types of questions are you looking for people to ask?
A big part of RTWMM is the viewer questions via social media. We ask our audience to submit any questions that they have for Mr. Maher or our guest host, basically about anything they want. It’s interesting to see their answers; they’re usually pretty entertaining.
- Who have you had on as guests? Who else do you plan on inviting to be on the show?
Well, the first attempt at our first episode we didn’t really have a guest. The second attempt, which is the one we went with, we had Mr. McCarthy. It’s a funny story, actually. We went around last minute after school asking teachers whether they were interested to be on the show. Mr. McCarthy was reluctant at first but eventually agreed to help us out and completely exceeded our expectations. He and Mr. Maher were the perfect pair and really made that episode as great as it was. The second episode will feature Mrs. McClintick, another great guest. We would rather not reveal our future guests, but we can assure you they’ll provide what our audience is looking for.
- What do you think the overall reception of RTWMM has been? Have people been watching it?
We received a lot of compliments on our first show, as well as some criticism *cough* Ms. Mattei *cough*. Of course there is always going to be some bumps in the road, but as a whole, we’re pretty proud of what we’ve already accomplished. As of now, we have over 300 views for our first episode. To us, that’s pretty mind-blowing, but we know we’ve got work to do. We’re definitely grateful for the support we’ve gotten so far.
- What do you see for the future of RTWMM?
Better quality, better preparation, and hopefully more attention. We’ve been exploring opportunities inside and outside the show. To our audience: expect more with each episode.
- Are there any other comments you would like to make?
We’d like to thank those who appreciate what we do and recognize the effort we put into making each episode. It’s been a blast for us, and we can’t wait to bring you more Real Time.
