Story #1

Matt Landsman may be a freshman broadcast journalism major at Emerson College, but he is also more than that. This Jacksonville, Florida native may also be the next Roger Ebert. An avid movie buff, he would love to write entertainment news, and film reviews. He is also interested in filmmaking and screenwriting. He and some of his friends have started up a production company at Emerson called “Access of Action.” They are working on a half-hour long movie about paranoid employees who steal from their manager, because they think that he is embezzling. Landsman is the producer of this project.

            Landsman was born on December 19, 1990 in Jacksonville, Florida, one of the largest cities in the state. Landsman says that all there is to do there is go to the one big shopping mall in the city. Matt has two siblings, a brother and a sister. His brother, Adam, is a medial researcher at Harvard, and lives in Brookline. Adam helped influence Landsman in his decision to come to Emerson. Landsman visits Adam on a regular basis. His sister, Barb, lives in Charleston, South Carolina. Landsman doesn’t see her too much, only about once a year. Landsman also has an English bulldog named Bonzo. In addition to his production work, Landsman practices tae-kwon-do. Unfortunately, his studio is located back home, and Emerson doesn’t offer any classes. An interesting fact about Landsman is that he knows how to drive, but never got a car or license, because he knew he wasn’t going to need it in Boston. Though Landsman misses home, because he is so far away, he has adjusted to Boston. Emerson was the first college that Landsman visited, and he likes Boston very much. He says despite the cold, there is plenty to do here.

            Landsman lives in a two-person room on the eleventh floor on the Little Building. All of the kids on his floor are very close. On most nights, they don’t go to bed before four in the morning. It helps that his earliest class this semester isn’t until noon. In addition to Newsgathering, Landsman is also taking Film History, Research Writing, and Oral Presentation of Literature. He claims that the literature class is not very interesting.  When speaking of his favorite things, Landsman notes that in addition to his love of movies, he’s also interested in comic books, “Star Wars”, and “80s stuff.” A couple of his favorite movies are “Pulp Fiction” and “Sin City”.

             “Matt is a good fellow. He is also a very caring person,” said Kevin Semagin, Landsman’s roommate. He also said that people enjoy having conversations with Landsman because of all of the funny anecdotes he makes. For instance, one time Landsman took a picture of one of their floors R.A.’s and turned it into an inspirational poster for the bulletin board on the floor. According to Semagin, “Matt (Landsman) is a hard worker, a family man, and an all around good guy.”