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COMING ATTRACTIONS
THOM POLIZZI 1973
t’s amazing how far a Swiss Army knife and a little ingenuity will get you – at least it always seemed to work on “MacGyver,” the TV series that ran for seven years on ABC. For four of those years, Thom Polizzi made those amazing gizmos appear as reality as a co-producer for the hit show. “It was great because there were so many interesting action gags all within one show,” Polizzi said. “What other show would you have such great inserts – underwater shots, a western, throwing someone in a burning cauldron of a volcano and pulling them back out as a skeleton, missiles, dragons, rockets!” Polizzi broke into the entertainment industry soon after he graduated from Northwest when he attended graduate school at the California Institute of the Arts. “I started out doing low-budget regional commercials for products they sell on daytime TV like a foam glider, the ‘better butter baster’ or an orange peeler,” he said. “A lot of times I would shoot it, edit it, do the opticals and titles, and mix the music – all using the school’s equipment. They were certainly cheap.” While in graduate school, he also worked on a Dick Van Dyke variety series with entertainers such as Tim Conway and Carl Reiner and was hired on a low-budget western feature film as a production manager.
JUST THE FACTS Art major Hometown: Kansas City Current position: TV producer
“This career is a lot like trench warfare. You’re battling everything – fighting with time and money and dealing with a lot of unpredictability. I guess it’s a lot like life.” “I did at lot of scratching around, getting a job as an assistant camera man, a sound person, anything,” Polizzi said. Through the years, Polizzi has been a part of the production team for many TV movies such as Showtime’s “Damaged Care” starring Laura Dern and TV shows including “The Untouchables” and “The Watcher” for which he was a producer. Polizzi, who enjoys flying his 1948 L17B U.S. Army Korean War liaison plane in formation at air shows and memorial services, is now looking to get attached to a TV pilot this spring. “You never know when you may get a call from out of the clear blue sky,” he said. “And when I do, I’ll jump right back on the merry-go-round.” ■
KEVIN SPIEHS 1997
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his is the story of six Bearcats, six dreams and one incredible city. Their stories are classic Hollywood tales of growing up in the Midwest, heading West to “make it big,” paying their dues along life’s bumpy road and living their dreams in the city known as Tinseltown. While their journeys are not complete, these free spirits have rubbed elbows with some of the biggest names in the entertainment industry. Whether they’re in front of a camera, at a desk, behind the scenes, on the stage or at the microphone, these Northwest alumni are positioning themselves to fulfill their dreams. Sit back and take a look at these coming attractions who are hooked on Hollywood – Thom Polizzi, Kevin Spiehs, Sara Hemminger, Kurt Schmaljohn, Monica Nauss and Mike Madrigal. STORY BY MITZI LUTZ
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MARCH 2004
NORTHWEST ALUMNI MAGAZINE
PHOTOS BY DARREN WHITLEY
ILLUSTRATION BY BRAD ELLIOTT
JUST THE FACTS
Marketing major, business minor s Kevin Spiehs’ time at Northwest Hometown: Grand Island, Neb. came to a close, he knew he Current position: VH1/CMT sales coordinator wanted a career in sales, and by the time he had his college “Working as a Student Ambassadiploma, he knew he wanted to live on dor at Northwest and being involved the West Coast. Two weeks after Spiehs crossed the in Student Senate and TKE were commencement stage, he headed great experiences, and being an RA, West to San Diego and accepted a job managing an Enterprise Rent-A-Car dealing with random problems and facility. Armed with valuable managerial coming up with solutions, were things experience, he soon set his sights on the entertainment capitol of the world. I draw upon in my current position.” “I decided to move to L.A. from San Diego in 2002 because there are so 10 networks. Nine months later he received many more opportunities and events in a promotion to his current position as a this city,” Spiehs said. “San Diego is a great sales coordinator with the MTV Networks, in place, but it’s more of a laid-back, surfer particular VH1 and CMT, where he oversees a atmosphere. L.A. is all about the entertainteam of 10 salespeople. ment business, and there’s always something “Sure, I do my fair amount of schmoozing going on. I love L.A.’s fast-paced lifestyle, the at events like the MTV Movie Awards and the concerts, clubs, working in this industry and VH1 Big Awards, but I typically work from 9 to being on top of the trends.” 6 – something that’s not all that common for When Spiehs moved to L.A., he circulated people my age in this town,” Spiehs said. “I’m his resume. His previous managerial experione of the fortunate ones who found a good ence with Enterprise caught the eye of the opportunity in this industry, truly enjoy what I MTV Networks executives who gave Spiehs do and have been able to make some good a position as a sales assistant with Nickelmoney on top of it.” ■ odeon, one of entertainment conglomerate’s
NORTHWEST ALUMNI MAGAZINE
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