When ISU alumnus Corey Moss got a call from a publicist on a Sunday morning about going to a shoot, he called his buddy and told him they had to go.

Moss was unaware the afternoon would become the most emotional shoot of his life when he began to interview Something Corporate singer Andrew McMahon, who was battling acute lymphoma leukemia and was in between rounds of chemotherapy.

Moss hadn’t told his bosses at MTV of the shoot, but quickly began to work on a piece that was aired on Total Request Live soon after. The piece was followed by several stories on McMahon’s progress. When McMahon’s prognosis improved, he approached Moss with 40–50 tapes of footage he had taken with a camera intended to record time in the studio.

“He knew he wanted to tell the story and the story could help people,” Moss said. “I think part of the reason it took us four years to make was because Andrew had a hard time watching it and being subjective about it.”

McMahon worked with Moss and co-director Josh Morrisroe on the documentary film, “Dear Jack.”

“I think it took getting Andrew to a place where he was ready,” Moss said.

The news of McMahon’s diagnosis sent shockwaves through the singer’s Something Corporate fans.

Among them was ISU alumna Hillary Brown, of Des Moines, who had been working in Los Angeles at the time. She was scheduled to do street marketing ahead of Jack’s Mannequin’s “Everything In Transit” release.

“I really admired his drive and passion for music, as well as his talent,” Brown said.

She had been particularly looking forward to working on McMahon’s side project until it was put on hold.

“I thought, ‘This can’t be — he’s only 22 and he’s got a new album coming out and he’s awesome and invincible.’ But it was true,” Brown said.

The movie reveals strange coincidences that occurred during McMahon’s bout with cancer.

He had named his new band after a childhood friend named Jack, who battled leukemia. Lyrics on “Everything In Transit” refer to hospitals and being sick as well as McMahon’s figure not appearing in some photos.

On the same day he finished recording the album, McMahon was diagnosed with cancer.

The album was randomly released the same day as McMahon’s stem-cell transplant.

“Dear Jack” has had a strong release thanks to the long-held anticipation of fans. The film hit No. 4 on iTunes movies the first week it was released on Nov. 3.

“It was pretty surreal to see ‘GI Joe’ and ‘Up’ and then ‘Dear Jack’,” Moss said with excitement. “We’ve had a couple hundred comments and they’ve all been pretty positive.”

Moss worked in the arts and entertainment section of the Iowa State Daily his entire four and a half years at Iowa State, creating a section called High Note, which has since been turned into the Amuse section today. He also wrote for Ethos Magazine.

Moss graduated from Iowa State in 1999 and moved to Chicago where he began freelance writing for various magazines, newspapers and Web sites, including www.MTVnews.com. MTV picked him up full time and he moved to Los Angeles where he remains today.

He now works for Yahoo! Originals as an executive producer, where he created “Primetime in No Time” — the Internet’s highest rated Web show.

“When I graduated there wasn’t really video on the internet, so I’m not in a place where I expected to be,” Moss said. “When video online started happening I was super excited about it.”

Always a fan of documentaries, “Dear Jack” is Moss’ first, but not necessarily his last.

“I’ve definitely got the itch,” Moss said.