Newhouse Alumnus Achieves Goal of Working “Percy Jackson” Disney+ Series Premiere

Liam Crowley ’22 is a self-proclaimed go-getter. In January 2022 he sent a single, straightforward tweet on X (formerly known as Twitter): “I will work the red carpet premiere for the Percy Jackson Disney+ series.”

In December 2023, the broadcast and digital journalism alumnus fulfilled that goal, working the blue carpet for the extravagant “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” premiere at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Crowley has been a fan of the fantasy book series that the show is based on since he was 8 years old.

For those almost two years in between the tweet and the premiere, Crowley worked toward reaching his objective, whether in his Newhouse classes or his involvement in student-run CitrusTV. After graduation, he joined ComicBook.com—a pop culture news website—as an entertainment reporter, and worked “to cement myself as the leading voice on [Percy Jackson coverage],” he said.

Crowley spoke to Newhouse and answered a few questions about working the premiere, his favorite Newhouse class and what he’s looking forward to in the future. Watch more of the interview here.

What was the “Percy Jackson” premiere like?

I was fortunate to talk to just about every single person that was there! I didn’t have to prepare a single question in the sense of I knew what I wanted to ask going in. I knew that if I’m approached by an actor who plays a role in the show, I’ve written and talked about this role for the past year, so I can come up with really good questions on the spot. I think I ended up doing like 14 or 15 interviews on that carpet. After that we went into the theater and watched the first two episodes. Then there was a very nice after-party at the Met where the cameras were off and we got to have one on one conversations. Me and Walker [Scobell], who plays Percy, talked about Fortnite. I talked with Charlie [Bushnell], who plays Luke, about our gym splits. It was nice to talk to these people like human beings, you know? It was an amazing night. I’m glad that I get asked about it so often because I’m not going to ever forget it.

What skills or classes from Newhouse have stuck with you?

The class JNL 400 taught by Marquise Francis. I cannot sing Marquise’s praises enough. It was so refreshing to have a professor who was embracing the digital side of our industry, and telling us that this is the future and also the present, and let’s hone in on these skills rather than catch up on those skills when it’s too late. In the class I did a lot of Marvel and wrestling stories and eventually he was like, ‘Do something that’s going to make you go out of your comfort zone.’ And I shocked him by doing a short form podcast piece on Pop Smoke’s first posthumous album breaking some Billboard record. I had so much fun with that piece and it solidified that [being an entertainment reporter] is what I want to do. I was put in a position where my two most passionate beats at the time were taken away from me, and I still found something that I was like, ‘This is awesome, I can sink my teeth into it.’

What projects are you looking forward to?

I’m looking forward to things slowing down a little bit! I remember when I would starve for interviews and be like, ‘I just want like video content, I want to do something fun.’ And then you get one after the other after the other and now I just have such a backlog of clips I need to get out there into the ether, once Percy wraps up. I mean, my dream is still to host a panel at San Diego or New York Comic Con. I’d love to host a press conference. That’s on the list of goals. It’s hard to say what comes next, but I love what I do. And I’m just looking forward to finding those new projects like sink my teeth into.