Tufts alumni discuss careers in Hollywood

Hollywood veterans and Tufts alumni Prudence Fraser Sternin (J '77) and Robert Sternin (A '77) gave a talk yesterday afternoon about their careers in the television industry, which have included developing or producing close to a dozen series, including "Three's Company" (1977-1984), "Who's the Boss?" (1984-1992) and "The Nanny" (1993-1999).

The event, titled "Meet the Producers," occurred in an Aidekman Arts Center classroom and was co-sponsored by the Department of Drama and Dance, the Communications and Media Studies Program and the Office of Advancement. The Sternins, who are married, were both awarded 2011 P.T. Barnum Awards for Excellence in Entertainment last June in an annual ceremony that recognizes Tufts alumni for exceptional work in media and entertainment.

Robert Sternin recounted his decision to pursue a career in the television industry.

"I was told by my parents that you could be a doctor or you could be a lawyer," he said. "I came [to Tufts] as a pre-med [student]."

While at Tufts, a professor of an English class that Sternin was taking to fulfill a basic requirement noticed his penchant for writing heavily dialogue-based short stories and recommended that he instead enroll in a playwriting course. His first assignment, the script for a single scene, landed him in the office of Sherwood "Jerry" Collins, a former screenwriting professor at Tufts.

"And [Collins] said, ‘I think you should do this,'" Sternin said. "It never occurred to me that you could do something you loved to do — and not be a doctor."

Collins helped Sternin put on his first play through the Drama Department at Tufts, and the opening night performance confirmed his that he wanted to pursue a career in play- or screenwriting.

"The first laugh that the play got on the first page, I thought ‘there's no way I'm not doing this,'" he said. "If it weren't for that and for Tufts, a lot of people would be dead, because I'd be a doctor."

After meeting in a directing class during their senior year, Prudence and Robert Sternin moved to Los Angeles, where Robert Sternin received a Master of Fine Arts degree in playwriting from the University of California, Los Angeles, and Prudence Sternin briefly pursued a career in acting. The two then worked at a script processing and casting company while they attempted to break into the screenwriting business.

"In the beginning you're waiting tables or doing whatever job while you're hoping that this works," Prudence Sternin said.

The couple's opportunity arrived when Robert Sternin spotted the producers of the season's top television show from behind.

"I'm walking down the street at Warner Bros. and I see the producers walking in front of me," he said. "I knew I had to accidentally bump into them."

He sprinted around an adjacent soundstage to put himself directly in their path, which led the couple to a meeting to pitch their scripts.

"And I said, ‘I can't believe I accidentally bumped into you guys, I'd love to come in and pitch you stories,'" he said.

"He ran into the apartment and said, ‘Put your shoes on! We have a meeting,'" Prudence Sternin said.

One meeting can change the course of a career in television, she explained, and getting that first meeting is the most difficult part of breaking into the business.

"You have to be ready, you have to make your own luck, and you have to be ready when you get lucky," Robert Sternin said.

He added that one of the keys to succeeding in the television industry is to cater to the egos of the people in charge.

"Part of the TV business is to placate a lot of people and make them feel important, which is probably good advice in any business, but particularly in TV because people's egos are so amazingly large and fragile," he said.

One of the couple's most recent projects is a play called "Under My Skin", a comedy about sex, love and the healthcare business that is slated to debut in New York this year. They are also currently consulting producers for "Happily Divorced," a new series that premiered on TV Land last summer. Its second season is scheduled to run this spring.

"Television, if you make it, can be very lucrative, which is why we now can do theater," Prudence Sternin said.

"[Television] is a very high-pressure business … You never know until you shoot the show if it's going to be good or terrible," her husband added. "With theater, you have much more time."

Robert Sternin also addressed the question most often asked of the couple.

"People ask how we're married and do this together. How could you be married and not do it together, because you have no life except this," he said.