Where are they now?

Crisp fall weather, football and tailgating before the game are all part of the Hoosier Homecoming experience. The week leading up to the big game is packed with events, including the Nearly Naked Mile and concerts performed by local artists.

To many returning alumni, however, the significance of Homecoming is returning to a place they once called home.

IU alumni Dave Neustadter and Larra Overton returned to Bloomington to speak at the “Lights, Camera, Action” Alumni Career Panel on Oct. 4, an event highlighting four alumni that have careers in the entertainment industry.

Dave Neustadter
Neustadter is the vice president of production at New Line Cinema in Los Angeles.
Neustadter graduated from IU in 2001 with a bachelor’s degree in theater and minors in Spanish and film studies. He began a graduate program but dropped out and moved to Los Angeles to pursue a screenwriting career.

“I really didn’t know what I wanted to do, and Indiana had many classes to choose from,” Neustadter said. “When I got my liberal arts education, I learned a little bit about a lot.”

This broad education helps Neustadter in his current career writing screenplays for movies.

After he made the decision to leave graduate school, Neustadter was working one last shift at Scotty’s Brewhouse before moving out to Los Angeles. During the shift, he met and talked to a customer who had a son that worked as a screenwriter in the Los Angeles area.

Neustadter was put in contact with the customer’s son, who worked at New Line Cinema, scored an internship and has been working there for the last nine years.

Upon returning to Bloomington for Homecoming festivities, Neustadter is looking forward to eating Scotty’s loaded waffle fries and visiting Nick’s English Hut on Kirkwood as well as “hopefully shaking Tom Crean’s hand,” he said.

Larra Overton
Overton is a Big Ten Network correspondent and freelance reporter who was also a member of the panel.

She is the web editor for the National Sports Journalism Center based out of the IU School of Journalism at IUPUI. The website keeps track of top trends in sports journalism for professionals.

Overton is also an analyst for Fox Sports, reporter for the Fox 59 morning show and in-game host and emcee for the Indianapolis Pacers.

“Having a background in sports really drove me to have a career in the sports network,” Overton said. “I combined my passion for journalism and sports.”

A “born and raised Hoosier,” Overton attended New Albany High School in New Albany, Ind., and, upon graduating, considered many colleges based on track and journalism programs.

“IU had a well-respected journalism program as well as a sports program,” she said. “I could get my feet wet in the field as well as exploring my potential in track.”

Overton attended IU for her undergraduate and graduate education and ran track and cross country. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism.

An injury during her junior year resulted in Overton redshirting a season, allowing her to run a fifth year of track while earning a master’s degree in sports communications through the School of Public Health.

“I was in no hurry to leave,” she said.

Having only had time to return to Bloomington for work, Overton is looking forward to spending Homecoming weekend visiting her favorite haunts.

A particular stretch of the outdoor track, the 100-meter backstretch out by the 200-meter mark, has fond memories for Overton, she said. Stone pillars stand along this stretch, and Overton would stand beside them before she started a workout or began a 1,500-meter race.

“There were days that the leaves were falling, there were days that snow was covering the ground around the pillars,” she said. “It is the most gorgeous view to me.”

Overton vividly remembers when the basketball team beat Duke during a NCAA Sweet Sixteen game in 2002. She was a freshman that year and was watching the game at a teammate’s house with other members of her track team.

When the game ended, Overton and her friends heard a thunderous noise outside. People were out on their front porches celebrating the win. Overton remembers people standing around Showalter Fountain, shoulder to shoulder, celebrating the Hoosier win together.

“I was so proud to be a part of Indiana, a school that is so passionate not just about sports but about tradition,” she said.