It's all about who you know...

Up until last week, I always thought people said that just to feel important about the "famous" people they knew. But I've come to realize...that's really the best way to find a job especially coming right out of college.

Last friday, I was working at the info desk and a man stopped by to talk to me in passing (like most people do.) He asked my year and major so I told him. Then he asked what kind of things I've done, I told him. Then he asked me if I wanted to go to New York. I said, "YES!" He then tells me that he lives in New York, knows the producer for Katie Couric's CBS Evening News, AND he lives next door to Stephen Colbert! He hands me his card and says, "Send me an email with your resume and I'll see what I can do for you." I asked him how he knew about Westminster and he told me he graduated from here and he is now a trustee at the college!

I tweaked my resume and sent it off to him on Wednesday. All I can do now is wait and see if anything comes out of it. So it really is all about who you know. So really with 2 degrees of separation...I know Stephen Colbert!

Real World Experience??

So I was an anchor for this weeks edition of The County Line with my good friend, Chris Norris. I was really excited about this week because I love working with Chris; we get along well and work well together. Those good feelings didn't last long. We got to the pre-show meeting and were going over the rundown. We only have two play back machines, but we wanted to run a VO and a VO-SOT back to back. Needless to say this required precision on everyone's part to work well and look good. During the run-through we didn't run the tapes all the way through for that particular transition, we just went through the script. So, when it came time to go live Chris and I were confused and the packages didn't go well and we looked like idiots. During our post production meeting Chris and I, along with a couple others, were called out in the middle of the meeting for being responsible for the failure of this transition. Initially, I was shocked and a little appalled! That's rude to call somebody out in the middle of a meeting, especially for something that wasn't entirely their fault. If you have a problem with them pull them aside and talk to them privately.

But the more I think about the situation the more I realize this was a valuable learning experience. I'm sure things like this happen in a real newsroom all the time. I need to learn to take responsibility for my mistakes and be willing to admit when I've done wrong. While there may have been other ways of handling the situation I think it happened this way for a reason and I'm a little wiser for it.

Expanding my Media Literacy

One class I'm taking this semester is called Mass Communications and the purpose of this class is to help us understand and expand our media literacy. To help us begin this journey our professor brought in an episode from an 80's show called Max Headroom.

The concept of the show is kind of cheesy and the actual production is totally bad 80's, but the underlying message still rings true today. The episode we watched was called "War." In this episode there are two TV stations fighting for the top ratings during the all important "Sweeps Week." One station is a network station while the other (I'm assuming) is the equivalent to a locally owned station. The network was using a dog show for their lead while the local station was using war stories; clearly the local station was winning the ratings war but this was only because they were in league with the "bad guys" who started the war.

While this may not sound like it would relate to our world today, what I took out of it was this: don't worry about the ratings. Worry about telling both sides of the story and getting to the truth. Even if it means you suffer a bit in the ratings.

Getting Back Into the Groove

Classes started back up this week and there is one class in particular that really made me think. In Capstone we began discussing how our projects were coming along and what everyone was planning on doing after graduation in May. It's scary to think that in about 4 months I will be starting a new chapter in my life...all on my own. My dad told me before I came back to school that it was about time to start thinking about what I want to do and where I'm going to do it. I really don't know what I'm going to do; I like making documentary-type videos and my project is focusing on that. I'll be creating a video essay for the New Wilmington Chamber of Commerce to use on their website. With that in mind I was talking with a fellow classmate and he said he knew someone that was doing the exact thing in Cleveland. So I have another contact (or will soon) and maybe that will give me some sort of direction in my life. We'll see I guess.

In capstone we also talked about what reality show we would audition for if we could apply for any. I think I would probably audition for The Amazing Race; I would love to be given the opportunity to travel all over the world...and of course the chance at a million dollars. That would definitely help with student loans. Maybe that's what I'll do after graduation. Hey, it happened to Amber Brkich!

Alumni Advice

"Beginnings are usually scary and endings are usually sad, but it's the middle that counts. You have to remember this when you find yourself at the beginning."
~Sandra Bullock, Hope Floats

For Capstone this week I had to give a presentation on a Westminster alum who is in the same field I would like to one day be a part of. I had a hard time trying to figure out who to contact because I'm still unsure what exactly it is I want to be when I graduate. I've come to realize that editing and shooting are my true passions and being on air is just a perk. With that figured out, I
talked to some of my professors about who I should contact and Mark Finklepearl was brought up. He is the VP of Productions and head of the East Coast division of Beyond Productions. This is an Australian based company in charge of producing shows for the Discovery family of networks, but most notably "Mythbusters" on the Discovery Channel. He seemed like the perfect person to contact! I love what the Discovery Channel and it's other affiliates offer and the work they do.

To make a long story short I got in contact with him and he was an awesome resource! He has done so much in his career and was able to give me some really good advice. He made me feel better about what the future might hold for me. The most important advice he gave me was this: "Don't be precious." He said I have to be willing to work on all sorts of projects and not just the high end ones; he's worked on some high end stuff and he's worked on some crap. But he learned a lot from the crap. He also said to freelance in the beginning; it's the best way to work yourself into as many different networks of people as possible; and that's what will keep you employed.

Live from New Castle...it's Thursday Night!!!

I recently had the amazing opportunity to do another live remote for The County Line. Thursday Chris Norris and myself were the co-anchors for New Castle's Light Up Night. I work with Chris every week on the radio as we have a morning show together. We both LOVE Christmas (we've had a countdown going since October) and this was such a fun experience! It was another chance for me to experience what it's like ad-libbing for an extended period of time; ad-libbing on the radio and ad-libbing on TV are two totally different things. Chris and I were joined by retired band director Dr. Tom Zumpella for the narration of the parade. He was a little pre-occupied with the parade and didn't talk as much as we would have liked him to, but it was still an awesome experience. I was a little worried about whether we would be able to fill the time, but with all of our Christmas spirit along with some great stories things worked out very well! So not only did I get to take part in yet another live event that will go on my resume tape...I am now officially in the Christmas spirit!

Cloning would be nice

This past week was ridiculously busy. We had to do live coverage of our school's Mock Convention. This was my first true live experience. Our news is done live, but we have a teleprompter. Mock Convention was all ad-libbing and working in conjunction with so many other people. It was a little rough at times because we weren't getting very clear signals from the people in the truck as far as what was coming up next so things were a little hectic for awhile, but overall I think things went relatively smoothly.

In addition to all of that I was also involved in Theatre Westminster's production of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. Opening night was Thursday; so was Mock Convention. So as soon as Midsummer ended I had to run down to the gym, change and get ready to go live in an hour. So it was a little crazy, but things went well. There were times this week where I wish there were two of me so I could get everything done, but it was a nice lesson in time management. And this live opportunity provided great material for a resume.