MTV Reality Program to Film at UIUC
July 15, 2005
Urbana - University of Illinois graduate Alex Hedlund's proposal for a reality television program has been accepted by MTV, and Hedlund and is now a finalist for a possible new reality show on the network. Hedlund interviewed with a producer for MTV when representatives of the television network visited the UIUC campus in May, 2005. A follow-up interview was conducted in Urbana the weekend of July 9th. During a recent phone conversation the producer informed Hedlund that MTV now plans to come to the Urbana campus in August to begin filming 6 episodes for the program. These episodes will then be shown to a test audience in competition with programs conceived by other finalists. A winning program will be selected from these contenders for later broadcast in an MTV series.
Alex Hedlund’s reality program proposal was about college students who are working at a college newspaper, juggling classes, jobs, and personal relationships as they figure out their future. It was thought by MTV to be an original concept for a reality program, and Hedlund’s proposal and film clip were selected from a large field of competing proposals.
Alex Hedlund is a graduate of Yankee Ridge Elementary School, Urbana Middle School, Urbana High School, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (August 2005). He is preparing to enter the UIUC graduate program in journalism in the fall of 2005. A former film reviewer for the News Gazette’s Spin Off page, Alex currently writes for the UIUC independent newspaper The Booze News ( http://www.theboozenews.com).