Bad News Good News?

Ever waited for a phone call that you thought would never come? I have. That was me waiting to hear back from the Pittsburgh Pirates regarding my summer internship. There is nothing worse then waiting or for that matter not knowing. When three weeks went by I thought that I didn’t get the internship and my hopes were fading fasting then President Bush’s approval rating. But little did I know this would all change. It was Tuesday evening around 7:30. A time when you really would not expect an important phone and sure enough one did. My phone rang and I did not recognize the number but from the area code I new it was from Pittsburgh. So I answered it and to my astonishment it was Eric Wolf the person who interviewed from the Pirates. After confirming it was me Douglas Kunst he was speaking to, his first words were “I have some good news and I have some bad news.”

How could I have good news and bad news? This didn’t make much sense to me at all and as you can imagine I was a little confused. Mr. Wolf went on to explaining that they hired a person for the internship and that they decided to go in a different direction. Now whatever that means I have no idea. They "decided to go in a different direction" was this a nice way telling me I was not the man for the job? Either way I was not happy where this conversation was going. But then I started thinking, he mention good news too. So what could that be? Mr. Wolf told me that he loved my interview and liked what I had to say. He reiterated that judging by my resume alone that I was more then qualified for the job. And because of this, he said he wants to keep me around as part time and work extra games when they need help. Holy shit that’s awesome!

Now I could be wrong and this is just the way I took it. I did not get the full time internship but they liked me so much that they decided to create a job for me to have me around. For me, I kind of have my foot half way in the door and the other out. But the way I see it, this is an enormous opportunity for me to network and to sell myself. Not to mention a chance to do what I have been learning for four years.

I have to say I am a little nervous about it. Will my work be good enough? Will they like what I do? I’m I going to learn fast enough? What if I mess up? How will others treat me? Will all my four years of work here at College shine through? These are all thoughts I been having. Which I think is normal because I truly do not know what I am capable of. Maybe I’ll be amazing who knows…either way I’ll do my best. As they say, I have one chance to make a good first impression.

Amazing Race: Audition Tape

In my first blog I mention how I needed to make an audition tape for the Amazing Race. Tom and I (my partner) finished filming it last week. Most people when they make an audition tape for a reality show just stand on camera and talk about how they feel they would be perfect for the show. Which is pretty boring and it really does not single you out if everyone else is doing the same thing. But I had a different idea. Instead of just explaining on camera why Tom and I would be great on the Amazing Race why not demonstrate our best qualities? What we decided to do was to have our own race, and kind of make it a really short story. The plot is Tom was to have our application sent in already but as I discovered he didn’t do it. It’s the day of the dead line and the post office closes at 4:30 pm. As luck would have it, we only have 3 minutes to get there, and then the race is on. Our adventure to the post office, challenges would face us and will have to be met. Through the video we will illustrate our skills that would help us win on the Amazing Race. Now I know this might not be exactly what the producers of the show is looking for but the idea of this project is for us too exemplify our talent in making videos. I think what we are putting together gives us a lot of creative freedom to show what we can do.

The County Line: The Art of Directing

Imagine this, fifteen people all waiting on your breath and cue; (Roll tapes! play sound! mice and cue!) Eveyone from the anchors to the floor director; Technical director to tapes and all the other moving parts of the show. Every word you say is final. A possible 35,000 homes could be tuning in. At this point the responsibility of the show is all on your shoulders. By 7:30 pm you are going live, and you are the director of The County Line. Welcome to my job, this is what I do on a weekly base.

Sometimes I am not to sure if people really understand what I do when I say I’m one of the directors of The County Line. When you are the director, you are the coach calling the plays; you are the one making the decision to go for it on 4th and one. When you are the director, you are the one who orchestrates the show. It is not an easy job at all, one that can come with a lot of pressure when you’re doing a live show. What makes doing a live show fun is the unexpected. Not every show goes according to plan, and when a show does go bad this is where a good director shines.

See, every show needs to be timed out for thirty minutes so when we go black (or off air) we finished all our stories and said out goodbyes until next week. But this does not always work like that. A common problem in doing a show is the balancing act between entering each block heavy or light. Through out a show you could be extremely heavy (meaning your show will run over the thirty minute mark) or Light (meaning you will fall short of you thirty minute mark). As a director you have to make fast hard decisions. You need to be able to think on your feet quick or else it’s too late. When a show is running heavy an easy way to fix it is to cut a commercial. Then the question is how many do you cut? Well this depends on how heavy you are. Now sometimes when a show becomes light and you’re in E Block (the final segment of the show) you can have the anchors read fill stories to balance out the time (fill stories are extra stories for back up). The whole goal is to run a smooth show with no hiccups, and when a problem arises find the best and fastest way to fix it.

Not every show will be great and not every show will be bad. But when you’re the director you have to take full responsibility for whatever the out come is. That is just part of the job. Don’t get me wrong either; it’s a tough job but a fun one too. When you work with great people and you take pride in what you do, it makes for a great experience. I hope now you have an understanding in what I do and what a director does. So here’s the headset, do you think you can make the calls?