Belmont West students Kelsey Patterson, Lauren Garner and Katy Henneman discovered that doing your homework can have surprising results. When they attended a taping of The Ellen DeGeneres Show at the NBC Studios, they had no idea how lucky they would be. Once the taping began, they discovered it was DeGeneres’ 300th show, and as members of the studio audience they each received two round trip airline tickets on Song Airlines; a $300 Westin Hotel stay; Cold Stone Creamery gift certificates; and the Miss Congeniality Deluxe Box Set that included a DVD of the movie, the soundtrack to Miss Congeniality 2 and a ticket to see the movie starring Sandra Bullock, who was a guest on the show that day. (Two other Belmont West students, Kerry Ware and Emily Burdette, did their internships at The Ellen DeGeneres Show.)
The students were completing one of the requirements of “The Entertainment Industry in L.A.,” a course designed and taught by Belmont West Faculty-in-Residence, James I. Elliott.
“In addition to the lectures I give on film and television production and guest speakers from the industry, I include a variety of assignments including attending television tapings, movies and field trips to movie studios and museums,” Elliot said. “This just goes to show it pays to do your homework!”
Other television show tapings attended by Belmont West students this semester include The Tonight Show With Jay Leno (NBC), Reba (WB), That 70’s Show (FOX), Joey (NBC) and All of Us (UPN).
