from the set to the studio to class: extreme HIGHER LEARNING...

Hey guys

So when I participated in a focus group that involving campus students discussing what goes on in university to a bunch of writers late last year, I had no idea that I was going to be on the show they were writing, much less be playing one of the lead characters!!!

After I auditioned and got selected to play the role of “King”, I was both anxious as well as nervous. “King” is more of a politics driven character, has a rocky relationship with his father and quite temperamental (as a result of being a spoilt kid). I found this challenging coz, despite what the director said, I am NOTHING like that in real life. I could care less about politics, have a strong relationship with both parents and couldn’t hurt a fly…unless it tried to sully my fries…or eat my mother! (It could happen)

Landing on set however and meeting talented people my age (Janet Kirina a.k.a. always has her lines as I struggled with mine, the rambunctious Charles J Ouda a.k.a Optimus Prime, Marion, Wanja, Veronica, Betty & Tash) I felt quite at home. We were able to put our best feet forward and make this show a classic.

It was crazy with my schedule. Having to balance daily shooting with my radio show (hotDrive96 on Hot 96 weekdays 3-7pm), evening classes at USIU (still in uni) and basically having a life, all proved to be quite exhausting. I recollect getting to the set at 6am on rainy mornings thinking: “S**t! I have to shoot a million scenes (some topless) a rush to work, make it to class on time and still have enough time to go over tomorrows scenes. It was quite hectic.

Thank goodness the crew was awesome: Director Neil Schell always let us do stuff in the most comfortable manner (and you shall notice that nothing on the show seems forced or like we are doing it for the camera), D.O.P Marius was a great comrade especially during the much needed smoking breaks! The sound crew, art department, wardrobe, and grip all made the set quite fun place especially since we were shooting in the middle of Kenya’s largest university…and classes were in session while shooting went on!!! The extras were also pretty awesome. We really pushed the envelope with Higher Learning. Done some things never seen before on Kenyan TV which is a plus for us coz we made sure we did it RIGHT. It will definitely blow your mind. Check out Higher Learning-it’s gonna be the real craze!!!!!

Get familiar!

Nick Ndeda aka “King”