BECA students are taking their skills out of the classroom and into the studio with a new television talk show series called “Focal Point.”

"Focal Point" is the newest addition to three other BECA-produced shows and will cover topics such as the popularity of social networks and the influence of the media. It will also explore processes of professional film and broadcasting production. The talk show will tape its first episode Oct. 3 in Studio 1 of the Creative Arts building and air on San Francisco's Public Access Channel.

Unlike the other TV shows BECA students produce, “Focal Point” has distinguished itself as being the only project not affiliated with a class—the project is predominantly independent and runs entirely by the crew members on their own time.

“I feel that it’s really motivational because instead of doing it for [academic] credit, we’re really doing it for ourselves,” said Adam Greenfield, the show's host and producer.

The show’s concept was conceived last June by BECA grad students Greenfield and Travis Simpson, who both felt the need to apply their learned skills from the classroom setting to a hands-on experience.

“We have an opportunity to have access to professional equipment,” said Simpson, the show's executive producer. “We should be in [the studio] doing something instead of just going to classes.”

Associate producer Annie Gaus also agrees. “It seems like an awesome experience to do something outside of what a professor may dictate to us,” she said.

Greenfield and Simpson made a proposal to a BECA department committee and “Focal Point” was approved for production this semester. The department allotted the show a budget of no more than $300 for materials like make-up and stationary products for the entire semester.

A crew for "Focal Point" was put together by word of mouth and via a thread on BECA’s first online social network for grad students and alumni on www.ning.com, also created by Greenfield.

“You know a project is right when everything just falls into place,” Greenfield said, referring to the show's eclectic team. The production's approximate 15 crew members are divided into two key components, a “creative branch” that includes the producers and a second group that oversees lighting, camera work and audio.

Every month, the show's five producers hold two to three-hour meetings in order to brainstorm ideas for the show and to eventually reach a consensus on finalizing the topics. The process, according to associate producer Lindsey Adams, often involves tedious research through reading scholarly articles.

The first episode will feature a group of panelists, including BECA professor Michelle Wolf, Ph.D, who will discuss the how individuals are “crafting their images” through online social networks and the subsequent conflicts that accompany declining privacy. “We’re using this show to view the media in a critical way,” Gaus said.

The students associated with "Focal Point" credit the BECA department for allowing them to explore their creativity and hope that the department will achieve more exposure through the show.

Although Greenfield and Simpson are graduating by the end of this year, they anticipate that their efforts this semester will motivate other students to continue the pipeline for “Focal Point” and make it a permanent production.

“It’s a dream,” Greenfield said. “Who doesn’t want a TV show?”

“Focal Point” can be viewed on Cable Channel 27, on a date yet to be determined. Episodes will also be viewed every Thursday in the Depot from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. beginning Nov. 6 through Dec. 11.