Hart TV, the morning announcement show for Hart students and staff, hosted The Reel Deal which was a fundraising event that happened November 3 in Hart’s auditorium. Stagecraft and Hart TV students worked together to showcase short films made by Hart TV’s cast in order to raise money to invest back into these spectacular programs.

Max Davis, the organizer of The Reel Deal, had a lot on his plate to get the event underway: he produced all of the posters for the short films himself on top of balancing his normal schedule.

Nash Carpenter, also a part of The Reel Deal, helped Davis in any way he could, primarily by getting admin approval of the shorts that were submitted. At the end of the preparation phase, both commented that approval from the administration turned out not to be an issue and production continued swimmingly.

As for the fundraiser itself, The Reel Deal accomplished its goal to earn profit for the two programs the money would be going forth to.  

“I believe in total, we raised a little over $1,000 and we split that in half with stagecraft, so our program ended up with about $500-ish, give or take,” Carpenter said.

Davis then described how that money will be used in Hart TV, most of which will be going towards repairs or possible new equipment. 

“We raised a lot of money for both Stagecraft and Hart TV. Most of the money is going to repairing some of the equipment that has gone through wear and tear and just mak[ing] sure the well-oiled machine is still taken care of. Thank you so much to everyone who went!” Davis said. 

The filmmakers debuted a sizable amount of short films that night. The first half consisted of lighthearted short films whereas the second half was a horror lineup. 

“The understanding I’ve had is a lot of them were enjoyed, but I’ve heard a lot of praise about the last one showed made by Ryder Boyd, Oren Tikosky and Jackson Mustamandy which was called “Dead Of Night”. It’s a horror short, and watching the audience groan and gasp was rewarding for me, and I didn’t even make it!” Davis said regarding the event and the final reel showcased that night.

As an attendee, I too heard these reactions. Following the final showing, everyone praised the team on how well it was executed. Also as member of Hart TV, it made me proud of our short films and the class as a whole, since you could feel the effort put into the reels showcased that night.