Hammond resident, honored script writer to graduate

Twenty-three-year-old Eric Sera took his documentary film to Texas and saw it make people laugh and cry.

Sera, a Hammond resident, graduated Dec. 16 with a bachelor's degree in communication-radio/television.

Sera and Purdue Calumet graduate Peter Aranda wrote and produced the documentary, "Chantilly Lace: The True Story of J.P. Richardson." Richardson, the "Big Bopper" of rock 'n' roll fame, died in a plane crash with Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens in 1959.

Sera traveled earlier this fall to Richardson's hometown of Port Arthur, Tex., where the film debuted on Richardson's birthday, Oct. 24. A Purdue Calumet production crew worked on the documentary for two years.

"Going to Texas was my favorite moment at Purdue Calumet because we got to sit with the audience and see their reaction to our documentary," Sera said. "It's a great feeling to know you can move people and make them feel a certain way. People were crying. It was amazing-the power to make people cry and laugh."

Based on the audience's feedback, Sera says some changes are being made to the documentary, which is scheduled to be shown at Purdue Calumet in February.

Sera has made numerous other accomplishments while pursuing his education at Purdue Calumet. He was a co-author with Aranda of two scripts that won awards from the Broadcasters Education Association. The awards were both third place in the student television script writing category for "Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Soul Taker" (2002) and "The Simpsons: RoBart Wars" (2003).

"We beat students from UCLA and USC-the top schools in that genre (script writing)," Sera said. The Vampire Slayer script is about how Buffy and her friends combine forces to overtake a parasitic soul collector. The Simpsons script is about how Homer wants to enter a robot battle competition, but cannot get anyone to join his team.

"Eric is an unbelievable script writer," Purdue Calumet Professor of Communication Mary Beth O'Connor said. "He has a lot of talent and drive. I'm sure that whatever he chooses to do with his life, he will be successful and represent Purdue University Calumet well."

According to O'Connor, who teaches documentary television courses at Purdue Calumet, the scripts were entered in a highly competitive contest against scripts written by students from universities that offer degrees in script writing.

The Simpsons' script also won a Communicator Award of Distinction (2003).

"Eric is an intelligent, creative and caring person," O'Connor said. "He also has an unbelievable sense of humor. From my point of view, Eric made the classroom experience challenging and rewarding. He has been a joy to have in class, and I will really miss him (after he graduates)."

Sera also has written scripts for acting classes in which he was enrolled. He wrote "Lincoln Highway Revisited," which was performed at a World War II re-enactment at Buckley Homestead. He wrote stage adaptations of two Ronald Dahl stories-one, a children's play presented at Purdue Calumet's Riley Child Center and the other, the play, "Skin," performed at Hammond's Towle Community Theater, where Sera also served as emcee.

He received the Outstanding Undergraduate Radio/Television Senior award from Purdue Calumet's Department of Communication and Creative Arts last spring.

He served an internship at Merrillville-based PBS station WYIN-TV/Channel 56 last spring. Also last May, he volunteered at Synergy Media in Gary, where he filmed closed circuit TV footage for Gary Railcats baseball games. He also was vice-president of the Purdue Calumet student video club, Test Pattern, in 2002.

Sera hopes to be accepted into a script writing fellowship at Disney, or, he says, he may opt to start his own production company.