When the News Broke. . . "I was home for the Christmas holidays. When I woke up my mom had left me a note at the kitchen table: 'It's been announced. You're out of a job. Good luck!' " That's how Eolin found out. The news had leaked to the world that Jerry Seinfeld wasn't going to continue his show after the current season. "In all fairness," she adds, "I did get a message back here on my machine apologizing, saying that the word got out early." "And who was the message on the machine from?" Doty prods. "Jerry. Mr. Seinfeld. It was a very nice message saying the announcement wasn't supposed to have happened that way." "Jerry . . . pulled me in and said, 'Hey, we're done." Doty was still in the office, working the day before Christmas Eve, when he was told the official news. "Jerry first called up all of the execs at NBC and Castle Rock and told them; then at the end of the day he pulled me in and said, 'Hey, we're done.' " Of the three Ithacans, it was Rogers who actually had the first scoop. "I came upstairs and people were still here working. I went into the kitchen to get a snack and I overheard Jerry, who was talking to a couple of the executive producers right outside. So picture this: I'm eating a Ding Dong and all of a sudden I hear Jerry saying, 'Yeah, it's just right. This is the time. It just feels right.' I'm, like, shocked. A few minutes later I see a writer and I ask, 'Is he just saying what I thought he said?' He goes, 'Yeah, just wait for the official announcement.' I thought it would be a few days, and then the story broke the next day on CNN. I hadn't told a soul." "The worst thing was that everybody I knew wanted to know immediately what my plans were for the future," says Eolin. "I go out to dinner with my parents back home and everyone is saying, 'Oh, my god. What are you going to do?' And I'm like, 'I don't know, I'm just trying to eat my dinner. I haven't planned that far. I don't even know what dessert is yet.' " Even as April 8, when the show's finale would be filmed, approached, none of the three appeared overly concerned about finding post-Seinfeld employment. "Jen and I both want to be writers," says Doty. "Our goal is to be staff writers on a show next year. For those kinds of jobs it's not a traditional thing where you send out a bunch of résumés. You write some spec scripts and take them to agents, and the agents get you meetings, and you shop yourself that way. The writers here have been very helpful to us, reading our work and recommending us to people." "Part of the joy of working with [the Seinfeld writers] is that you learn a new way of thinking, of putting together a story," adds Eolin. "It has seasoned us as to what is funny and how to put together something to make it funny." Eolin intends to stick with comedy -- "I've tried dramatic and it just comes out sarcastic" -- while Doty would like to eventually sink his writing teeth into drama. "My situation is a little different," says Rogers. "I have a good relationship with Seinfeld's editor and we've worked together on some pilots. So if he goes to another show, he says I'm welcome to join him. Editing is 75 to 80 percent in the eyes and the rest just pressing buttons. I can show someone, 'This is how you mark it in and how you mark it out, and that's how you lay down a cut,' but what makes an editor is the artistic decisions. In my filmmaking courses at Ithaca we learned the aesthetics and the creativity involved with editing, and without that knowledge I couldn't do what I'm doing now."

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