You Should Be Watching: OCSA Student Creates TV Show

Adriana Perez

“The core theme is love those who think they’re unlovable” - Lucy Hunter (FTV ‘26)

Hunter started her journey with “You Should Be Dead” in November, having to film a dream sequence for her final in Film & Editing. Not wanting to write something new, she took a scene that she had written for her science fiction thriller when she was twelve and centered her project around it. After filming it, she decided to continue on with the rest of the series, and production of the pilot officially started December 2022.

Hunter explained that it’s about a girl whose best friend dies and she and the other characters are dealing with the loss. They were friends with the girl who passed away and that’s how they all come together. Ultimately, a lot of secrets become uncovered and strange things start happening around town. The characters realize that the things happening are a manifestation of their grief.

Episode one of this 11-episode epic, “A Death In Small Town America”, was filmed in the span of five and a half months and premiered June 2023. "The first episode, it's a lot of trial and error, you know, it's your first time working with the cast [...] and I have to admit, it was a little bit of a struggle trying to get through it, but in the end, the production was fine, and now we just finished filming our second episode. I feel like we did get past a lot of the roadblocks" said Ethan Trinh (ACT '26).

“You Should Be Dead” has now grown into an independent project run by Hunter and her team, which consists of 42 individuals, the majority being OCSA students. Hunter herself has handpicked a crew that Andrew Vargas (FTV ‘25), head of the show’s arts department, said “are open to criticism and want to learn. All of ‘You Should Be Dead’ is a learning experience. A lot of sets the director, the crew, and everyone wants to do one thing specifically, but working on ‘You Should Be Dead', the actors get to be flexible. They get to bring in their own takes and their own interpretation without getting shunned or getting put down.”

Tristan Gude Rodriguez (ACT ‘26) commented on playing his character, Jackson Robinson, a teenage boy attending Haven Bay High School. "Working on set has been great, honestly. Getting advice from Lucy and learning how to play Jackson better and more profoundly. It's just been a really good time, [...] you know, I just really love it."

Hunter’s theme of love and loss resonates throughout her filming and writing, and the idea of “having to wait until you’re more advanced, but you’re never gonna be the most advanced or consider yourself the most advanced and [...] it wasn’t because I was forced to do it, I did it because I wanted to” brought “You Should Be Dead” to life.