Actor Benedict to discuss role in Angelou-written film, 'Georgia, Georgia'

Getting a famous actor to visit Cape Girardeau to discuss a film he made 50 years ago was an easier process than being able to show the film itself.

"I had to put into practice what I teach students to do," Karie Hollerbach said, laughing, when asked how she got a star Hollywood actor to come. Hollerbach, a professor of mass media at Southeast Missouri State University ultimately sealed Dirk Benedict's appearance for April 6, following a screening Wednesday of "Georgia, Georgia."

Benedict, the star of "A-Team" and "Battlestar Galactica" fame, is coming to talk about what it was like working with writer Maya Angelou on the set of the racially and socially provocative film five decades ago, as a kick off to SEMO's Mass Media Department's See Me Series.

The film stars Diana Sands as Georgia Martin, an African American singer in Stockholm for a performance, who falls in love with photographer Michael Winters, portrayed by Benedict.

Hollerbach discovered "Georgia, Georgia" last year through a Facebook-suggested post. She sent the film to a friend and both women watched a small portion. But when they returned for the remainder, they discovered it had been taken down from YouTube.

After its removal, "I thought, 'Surely I can find this movie,'" Hollerbach said.

"But it wasn't on Amazon. It wasn't on Netflix. It wasn't anywhere. How can this be? Eventually, I found it somewhere else on YouTube, broken into six parts so the YouTube police wouldn't find it."

After watching the film, Hollerbach continued to reflect on it as weeks rolled by into August.

"I just couldn't stop thinking about the movie. I thought, 'Well, maybe I can use it in a class in the fall,'" she said. But the seeds of her interest grew far larger than Hollerbach expected.

As a veteran mass media researcher, Hollerbach said she was shocked to discover how little material she could find about a movie written by the famous Maya Angelou. Her first concern, she said, was trying to get permission to screen the film for the campus and community.

"We need to invite the last living principle cast member, Dirk, to come to campus to talk about the film," Hollerbach recalled thinking.

It was much easier, Hollerbach said, getting Benedict to come than tracking down permission for the screening.

For this, Hollerbach, who worked professionally in advertising and public relations prior to becoming a professor, had to write the same type of pitch letter she teaches her students to construct. The hardest part was tracking down what Hollerbach calls the right "gatekeeper" to send it to.

"It took about a week before I got a response from the gatekeeper ... another week went by and, lo and behold, I had an email from Dirk to me saying he got my invitation and wanted to talk further about it," she said.

SEMO students have four options they can choose to focus on in the Mass Media Department: advertising, multimedia journalism, public relations and TV/film. Hollerbach said she has taught classes in every aspect of advertising. She currently focuses on advertising strategy, societal and digital applications.

"One of the things I work with students on is, 'How do you craft an idea and make it actionable,'" Hollerbach explained.

"In other words, how do you take a concept from idea to action? What steps must you take to achieve that?" she said. "Advertising strategy is probably my favorite class to teach, because it deals with the creative process; having an idea, determining if it 'has legs' and then how to bring it to life. That whole process is really interesting to me."

Hollerbach develops mock brand campaigns with students in her classroom, but said these skills have wide applications. "You can use the techniques with lots of things in life, not just advertising."

Benedict's arrival in Cape Girardeau this April is proof the formula works.

A screening of "Georgia, Georgia" will be held at 6 p.m. Wednesday in Rose Theatre on the SEMO campus, with Benedict's discussion at 6:30 p.m. a week later.