Even though the Emmys aren’t presented until later this year, the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences couldn’t wait to announce that Piedmont College’s own production, “The Four” was won the Emmy for “Outstanding Variety Talk Series.”
“We started this program over a month ago and it really blows me away that we were even nominated.” said creator and producer Nathan Blackburn. “It’s really amazing, because one of our main anchors can’t even read.”
The Four is a news program produced by the Piedmont College mass communication department that summarizes both college and national news in four short minutes. The main anchors of the show are sophomore mass comm major Joey Brovont and history/religion/philosophy major Laura Platé. Sophomore English mass communication double major Hadley Cottingham delivers the opinionated commentary of the public.
“I barely even have enough time to do The Four because I’m a triple major.” said Platé. “Majority of the time our script is written five minutes before production, so it really is astounding that we won. I can’t wait to meet Will Mcavoy from ‘News Night’ on the red carpet.”
Blackburn, Brovont, Cottingham and Platé will all travel across country with the new chair of the mass communication department, Dr. Maxwell Office. Prof. Melissa Jackson congratulated the students on their hard work on the program.
“These students really inspire me. This is some of the best news reporting I’ve ever seen in my entire career.” said Jackson. “They have even given me the idea for the big class project for Entertainment Television: news.”
All four students are very excited to go to LA and walk the red carpet. Brovont has promised to wear his infamous lobster bowtie for the ceremony and Platé and Cottingham will match in flowing black dresses. As for Blackburn and Dr. Office, they will match in fedoras and pin striped short suits.
“We wouldn’t have gotten this far if it weren’t for Dr. Joe Dennis leaving and being replaced by Dr. Office. He even renewed Rundown Creator for us,” said Blackburn. “I’m so excited to accept this award and maybe even teach Joey how to read in the near future. For the ceremony, I’m excited to meet the cast of ‘One Day at a Time’ #renewODAAT.”
