From Intern to PA

I'm done being an intern, once and for all. But luckily my time at 30 Rock is not over--I've actually been hired as a temp production assistant! I'm going to go back in a few weeks over the holidays to help out. It won't be for long, but I think it'll be just right. Just enough time to continue helping out, making contacts, and adding an actual job title to my resume.

In the mean time, I still have lots of odds and ends to get done. I've started to put together a kind of database thing to organize my contacts. I'm also organizing all the advice I've gotten from people so I don't forget it all. It's a pretty mundane task, though, so I'm really trying to force it out.

I'm very easily distracted. I think I'm going to get a digital camcorder for Christmas, so I've been comparison shopping like a freak! If anyone has any tips on what I should look for or where to get the best deal, let me know. I can't wait to get it!

And something I'm definitly looking forward too--coming out to WC for the final County Line! I have missed it so much that I just can't wait to get in the newsroom and studio again! And especially to see all my fellow BC-ers.

That's all for now! Stay tuned for more updates.

The week before the turkey...

This weekend at the internship, I showed my resume tape to Natalie Morales. First of all, she’s amazing. She’s so much more than a “talking head.” She’s put in her time at small stations where she did everything herself. She’s very intelligent about the business and passionate for story telling. And plus—she’s just such a nice person! Anyway, she gave me some more good feedback on my tape—some makeup tips, and yet again, the tracking issue. That’s been drilled into me so much recently that I think that’ll be a major focus for me when I get back to school. She also said to not be afraid to over exaggerate emotion/facial expressions since TV is 2 dimensional and a lot can get lost in that.

The other night, a transformer blew up near my house. The entire area lost power for a long time. It felt like breaking news—I heard the boom and saw the sparks and lights and immediately jumped in the car to go check it out and get some digital pix! I’m obviously aching for some breaking news excitement!

But anyway, the lack of electricity gave me some time to think about my senior project. I managed to write out an outline of Intern Tips. I could probably write a book! I’m thinking that for my presentation I’ll just do a power point with pictures and some actual experiences from my internship. It’s not all that exciting, I’ll give you that, but it’s easy to make nice and organized, which I like. I’ll have to be careful, though, that it doesn’t become a story time, where I just go on and on about the cool things that happened. I want it to actually be useful.

Next up for me: Last weekend of the internship (sad face), keep working on the senior project, work on the alumni project, fix up my paper resume, put together all the info I’ve gotten from my internship (contacts, advice, etc), survive Thanksgiving, stay afloat in my classes……and that’s all I can think of for now.

Ask the Experts...

I have gotten so much information and tips in the past two days. Yesterday I met with the leader of the Page Program. It was an informational meeting, show-my-face type of meeting. He suggested that, since I graduate in May, I should apply pretty soon. So basically, I have to do some mega decision making asap. Today I followed the Weekend Today pages up to the page offices, locker room, and to grill them with some questions. There are so many pluses and minuses, I honestly don't know what to do right now or how I will ever be able to decide what I want to be doing 6 months from now!

I've also gotten some more feedback on my resume tape. I got some excellent advice from Amy Robach, who is such a talented anchor and just an amazing person--I really admire her. She suggested that I put a longer montage of myelf in the beginning of the tape, so I need to do some more stand-ups and maybe put more anchoring in there. She praised my on-air presence and voice-quality. One thing that pretty much everyone has told me (which luckily, I already knew was an issue) is that I need to make my tracked voice have the same energy and pace as my stand-up voice. Mr. Weaver and I used to talk about this. It's difficult to be as energetic and peppy when you're recording something in the audio booth. I need to re-track my pieces, using some techniques I've heard from various people (holding a cell phone or looking into a mirror or a picture to act like I'm having a conversation).

I also took a long stroll with Brian Balthazar, Today Show producer and occasional correspondent. He gave me loads of tips and information--I couldn't possibly share it all here! One thing that I hadn't thought of before was to get headshots done. Unfortunatly, the business is very into looks, so I have to play along--at least for now. He also suggested I look out for hosting jobs, which is another thing I've actually been considering. So, I'm definitly adding to my list of places to look for jobs (hence my complete inability to make a decision!)

Phew! That's all I'll write about for now because my blogs are getting way too long. But basically I've been showing my tape to everyone I can to get feedback and info from those in the know. I'm sure there's more people to meet with before I'm done with my internship, but right now there's one main person I'm waiting on. He's quite a busy guy, so I'm waiting for him to get a free second for me! More about that later...

Christmas Came Early this year...

So I was ridiculously excited about election day. Oh how I love days dedicated to civic duty--and expanded news coverage!

I really need my own video camera because I had such an opportunity for a great little package. I helped my mom take a class from her preschool on a walk a few blocks from the school to a polling location to watch us vote! It was so funny to hear what the kids thought about the election, especially since most of them thought George Washington is our president. But point of the story is, it could have made a great package and I could hear and see every piece of it!

And this is clearly not something I should be publicly admiting, but, as if election day wasn't exciting enough, Britney Spears gets divorced on the same day?? I'm so excited! It's like Christmas came a month early. I know, that's pretty terrible to say, so I'll limit my comments on it. But it deserves a major "You Go Girl!"

Okay back to seriousness. I had three goals for this week (see my previous post.) I've done 2 out of 3. On Friday I'm meeting with the head of the page program, just to get some more info from him and such. And I've started working on some of an outline for my senior project. I just have to work a bit on my alum project next. I've also been adding to my list of future places of employment. I've been searching for various other news-like outlets where I might want to work some day. I like having a whole list of possibilities to search through, because I feel like it helps me narrow down exactly what it is I want to do.

Enough about Pat, let's get to me...

Sorry for the double posting today, but I felt the need to update you on what's been happening with me.

Yesterday was amazing. I went to this tribute held in the SNL studios for the 50th anniversary of The Huntley-Brinkley Report. First of all, I am so fascinated with that show now! I love learning about the way evening news used to be. It's completely different now and still changing, but I think all journalists can learn a lot from the show and those involved with it: Chet Huntley, David Brinkley, and Reuven Frank. What amazing men, especially Mr. Frank. And to be in a room of people who knew them and worked with them was just incredible.

But the Huntley-Brinkley news duo is one of a past generation. If you ask me, my generation's Huntley-Brinkley is the Brokaw-Williams duo. Well, the duo spoke at the tribute yesterday, so once it was over, I thought, "I am going to meet them right now!" So I did. I went right down to where they were, shimmied my way through the crowd and introduced myself to both of them. Even got to have a bit of a conversation with Brian Williams. And I can tell you first hand, they are two genuine, friendly, hard working guys.

Anyway, back to reality a bit, here's what I'm working on this week(ish):
1.) Getting interviews with some key people at my internship--but I don't want to say who until they pan out.
2.) Putting together my alum project.
3.) Mapping out my senior project so I have a basic outline of what I'm doing.


I leave you now with a quote from Chet Huntley on his final broadcast of The Huntley-Brinkley Report: "Be patient and have courage--there will be better and happier news some day, if we work at it."

**DISCLAIMER: Obviously I write a lot about anchors and shows from one particular network. However, I would like to note that I enjoy a plethora of different networks and their people. Just thowing that out there. :)

Legendary Capstoner Patrick Sandora!

This is not at all a shocker, I’m sure. I’ve decided to review Pat Sandora’s blog. I feel like I have been following in his footsteps since I got to Westminster. The first thing I remember about him is seeing him and Tandi do crazy stuff On The Road for The County Line my freshman year. He was absolutely magnetic on screen. Behind the scenes, he was a go-getter who meant business, but still knew how to have a blast. We made an amazing County Line/Titan Radio anchor team, if I may say so myself. We both went to NBC in NYC at the same time last summer (him as a Page and me as an intern) and we’re both back there again (him as a real live employee and me as an intern yet again). I admire him so much and, looking back into his old blogs, I’m reminded why.

Pat didn’t always know what he wanted to do and, from speaking with him recently, I believe he’s still not absolutely sure. But something that I admire about him is that he doesn’t seem scared about that. He’s open to new possibilities and goes for what he wants. Back in 2004, he had an internship with WBUT. It didn’t turn out to be what he expected—so he quit. He wanted to focus on things that made him happy at the moment, which I think is an incredibly strong, smart thing to do.

Since he didn’t know exactly what he wanted to do, he prepared for everything. During his senior year, he was working on resume tapes and things for many different positions: reporter, producer, radio, television. And he tried to get feedback on his tapes from anyone he could. He updated his progress with all of this on his blog.

After looking at Pat’s old blogs, I realize even more how useful the blog can be. It’s a great place to organize your broadcasting efforts and achievements. Also, it’s another way to get your name on the internet (in a good, PG-rated way ;)). This way, future employers can Google you and get to the blog to see all your achievments right there! (Which also means you have to be so careful with what you say.) So I think I need to do more with my blog. Yet again, I want to be like Pat and make my blog what he made his during his senior year.

This blog is too long already and trust me, I could go on about Pat, but I’ll spare you. All in all, I think he probably got a lot out of his capstone experience for one simple reason: he put a whole lot into it. Pat Sandora goes full steam into everything he does and that’s what gets him to the top.

Hopefully, I can continue to follow in his footsteps—cuz he’s got some fabulous feet to follow.