Woods assistant prof serves as producer for videocast

Special to the Tribune-Star

TERRE HAUTE May 01, 2008 11:28 pm

— In March, “Shots in the Dark,” the pop culture podcast at ShotgunReviews.com, became a full-fledged videocast. Troy Brownfield, assistant professor of journalism at St. Mary-of-the-Woods College, serves as the executive producer of “Shots in the Dark.”
Since launching in April 2007, “Shots in the Dark” has welcomed guests such as Jeph Loeb, writer and producer of NBC’s “Heroes”; Marvel Comics artist Christina Strain, and fan-favorite actor Michael Madsen.
Now, co-hosts Vince Scalabrino, Lucas Siegel and the rest of the cast have taken pop culture and gaming reviews to the next level with three video podcast episodes currently available online.
Brownfield brought the “Shots in the Dark” team aboard in early 2007 to extend ShotgunReviews.com’s multi-media capabilities.
“I’m extremely proud of the ‘Shots in the Dark’ team and all of the writers that we have on the site,” Brownfield said. “We rank in the top ten for Entertainment News and Media Magazines and E-Zines online according to Alexa; when Entertainment Weekly and Rolling Stone are number one and number two, that’s a huge accomplishment.”
Brownfield says that the site also plans to add regular Webcomics by a variety of up-and-coming creators soon.
Brownfield, who teaches courses in journalism, English, communication and film at SMWC, founded ShotgunReviews.com in 1999 as a place for young writers and reviewers to hone their craft. Since then, several Woods students and graduates have contributed to the site. Shotgun writers have gone on to write for magazines, newspapers, television programs and comic book companies.
Brownfield’s background includes more than 10 years as an entertainment reporter and pop culture reviewer, and he currently contributes to WIRED magazine and Newsarama.com.
He holds a master of arts degree in English with a creative writing focus and a bachelor of arts degree in English with a minor in radio/TV/film.