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For Woody Tondorf and Joe Sabia, both A&S '06 and creators of The BC, a parody of the teen drama The OC, this is a normal conversation. And one that truly characterizes the wild ride they have traveled during their four years at Boston College.
"Sophomore year when The OC started getting big, Joe came up to us and he said 'I've got this idea for a video of The OC taking place at Boston College.' But it never took off," says Tondorf. "Junior year came and Joe finally said, 'We've got this idea, let's just do it.' It was the first couple days of junior year and we had some time so we just picked random Asinine people [a BC comedy group] that had moved in early and just did it."
What started out as a short video to play between sketches of an Asinine show has since evolved into a full-fledged, scripted show, with four episodes complete and one more on the way. The show has even spawned its own set of creative commercials called "Wednesday's Humpday Fix" that are posted on the show's Web site, www.the-bc.com. The show has received coverage in national outlets such as The New York Times, and Tondorf and Sabia traveled to Los Angeles over Spring Break to meet with producers and other leaders in the entertainment industry.
As the show has evolved, the relationship between its two key players has also grown.
"I have to emphasize the fact that we really weren't friends [freshman year]," says Sabia. "We weren't enemies, but we were just really different … We really just didn't talk to each other.
"Now we find ourselves having more conversations, getting to know more about each other, things like family, friends, history, past, stuff like that. And this is the same for Fr. Don and other people in the cast. The BC has really acted as a medium to get to know people. For example, one of the most remarkable nights of my four years in college is when we finished a scene and after the scene in Fr. Don's room we just had a spontaneous Mass. We busted out a Mass. We reflected for like two hours."
Although The BC has been the focus during the last two years, both seniors have participated in numerous activities at BC. Sabia lived in the Shaw House freshman year, ran for vice president of the Undergraduate Government of BC sophomore year, studied abroad in Prague junior year, applied for a Fulbright teaching English in Taiwan, and was a three-year member of Asinine, in addition to filming side projects. Tondorf studied abroad in London during his junior year, was a three-year member of the men's club lacrosse team when they won back-to-back league championships and went to nationals two years in a row, participated in a Kairos retreat, was a 48 Hours leader, and recently completed his last Asinine show after being part of the group for four years.
The duo is tentatively set to move to Los Angeles after graduation to work for HBO developing Web and possibly on-air content, and they look forward to working together in the future even if the deal with HBO does not go through. But for the next three weeks they'll be reflecting on their time at BC like many other seniors.
"I take a lot of pride in the fact that I consider myself good friends with a lot of adults here and I think it's awesome that I can say I have best friends that are above 50. And I can't just limit it to best friends; they are mentors," says Sabia. "They are people that give me a great sense of purpose, and I give them a great sense of purpose; it's very symbiotic. But to be able to have individuals on campus that I've known since freshman year and to know them for four years has really contributed to my development."
Tondorf recalled several moments that stick out for him, including renting an RV and traveling out to South Bend, Ind. for BC's last-minute win over Notre Dame in 2004, and turning 21 at the Cask and Flagon during the 2004 ALCS series that the Red Sox won.
"There's so many moments where if you just take a second and you look around," says Tondorf, "you just can't help but feel yourself start to smile."
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