Emmy-Nominated Alumnus Inducted Into Hall of Fame

The UCF Nicholson School of Communication Alumni Chapter inducted Clay Newbill, ’82, into the UCF Nicholson School of Communication Hall of Fame on Monday, Sept. 30. Newbill, the executive producer of the Emmy-nominated TV show “Shark Tank,” reminisced about his time as a UCF student and discussed what it has been like to work on some of TV’s biggest hits in front of a sold-out crowd of 70 guests at the Citrus Club in downtown Orlando.

“Today, we will recognize a distinguished man we have the pleasure of having among us and the honor of calling a fellow CommAlumKnight,” said Tom Alexander, ’03, Chair of the NSC Alumni Chapter. “Clay Newbill is being recognized today not only for his extraordinary career accomplishments, but for his continued UCF support.”

Newbill traveled from California to receive the award in front of an audience that included his family and previous college friends and faculty, in addition to many past Hall of Fame inductees and UCF alumni.

“I could never have imagined that I would receive this award. I am so honored and thankful to celebrate this award with my family,” said Newbill. “At the age of 30, I packed up everything and traveled to California to pursue a career in TV. I have learned that you really can accomplish anything as long as you work hard and never give up.”

Newbill shared the same career advice later that afternoon with students in George Bagley’s RTV 3200 class. He encouraged students to keep working hard to achieve their dreams and to take advantage of intern and job opportunities, even when they don’t seem glamorous.

“Having Clay Newbill visit our class brings to my students someone at the top of the television entertainment industry,” said George Bagley. “His insights are the type of thing that really makes a difference in how someone succeeds in a very competitive field of employment and I could tell people in the room just soaked up everything he said.”

This spring, Clay launched the Hollywood Internship Program. Through the program, Clay hires interns for his production company, 310 Entertainment and subsidizes the cost of their internship in Los Angeles.  Rachel Halloy and Chris Thornburg, the first students to receive this scholarship, also attended Bagley’s class to discuss their experience in Hollywood during the 2013 spring semester.

Newbill earned his bachelor’s degree in radio-television from the University of Central Florida in 1982. He is the executive producer, founder and president of 310 Entertainment. He is also one of the founding fathers reality television and has worked on shows, including: “Shark Tank,” “The Mole,” “The Bachelorette,” “Road Rules,” and “The Real World.”

To learn more about the UCF Nicholson School of Communication Alumni Chapter, visit www.ucfalumni.com/nicholson. To view a list of past Nicholson School of Communication Hall of Fame honorees, visit http://communication.cos.ucf.edu/about-us/alumni/.