Today's Production Meeting

Today I had my first meeting with Erroll as Assistant Producer of All Sides. We discussed the responsibilities that I am expected to uphold in my new position. Erroll is close to closing five sponsors for the show so as soon as those deals go through he will let me know what my salary will be. I am not too worried about pay right now because my main concern is getting as many clips as I can before spring break. That is the time I will have my completed reel together so that I can shop it for my hosting job.

Some of the topics that we discussed were target audience, show suggestions, demographic, set, and sponsors. Erroll explained how he got on at Charter and why they are allowing him to shoot the show. He explained the process of getting sponsors and how to sell commercial spots. He asked me to assist him with a marketing campaign which I will have worked out by next week. We are also preparing for a 12/15/06 shoot date for show number four. We still don't have a topic.

Show Number Four

Show number four pre-production is underway. I still haven't gotten a show topic, but I am preparing by researching some interesting topics that may strike a chord with a younger audience. I haven't thought of any ideas, but I was approached by Erroll and asked to be assistant producer for All Sides. I am stoaked. I will have a plethora of responsibilities that will include segment producing, contacting guests, and soliciting ad sales. This is the part of being on a show that I am most excited about. My company along with my sister, MadBrooke Productions hopes to produce our own shows starting in 2007 so learning the aspect of production and fundraising may be the most important part of my internship yet.

As far as field reports, I haven't had the chance to delve into them yet because of lack of funding. Hopefully when we close some of the sponsorship deals this will become a reality: although I'm not really interested in field reporting.

High School Football Star

Cool Slideshows

Talk about meeting deadlines, this show was the best description of my ability to work well under pressure. Friday's show on sports afforded me the opportunity to interview a high school football star from Long Beach Poly. Donovan Warren is a Senior at Poly and is one of the top 100 athletes in the United States. He has yet to select a University to attend but has made three official visits. His number one choice was USC until he branched out to Arizona and Michigan. He loved the small town life in Michigan away from the hustle and Hollywood bustle of his home town. His last visit to Cal was extremely influential and he is really leaning towards the option of going to a school far away from home. I learned a lot of interesting things about Warren. He was moved into the Varsity division of Poly's Jackrabbits in his freshman year during the playoffs. His position of running back and defensive back is secure as he is the only athlete on the team to be ranked in the top athletes. He is experiencing the pressures of being recruited, but both of his parents are behind his decision 100%. He says his decision wont rely as heavily on football as it will on academics. He has a 3.5 GPA.

When I got the assignment to interview Warren I had a day and a half to come up with questions and interview those that know him. I was able to interview both parents by phone. His mother, was a great interview. She was very excited about his success and talked about how she wanted him to stay close so if he needs anything she could help out. I brought this up during the interview and got a great response out of the subject. Mr. Warren also played football for Poly in 1987 and he attended the show with Donovan. This was Donovan's first television appearance and he did extremely well.

As for my conduct during the interview, I would give it a C+. The camera caught me looking down at my notes a lot and I nervously bit my lip during the subjects responses. I took my professors advise and tried to smile less. It worked when I was conscious of it. I forgot to bring up a few important points like Donovan playing in the 2007 Army All American Bowl in San Antiono Texas. He said this was a major goal for him. But with only 13 minutes to work with I didn't get to touch on it.

All and all it was a great experience. I was also invited by the Director Dave Chapman to do some guest hosting and voice overs for Charter. So I can see my internship growing into something more already.

Slow at All Sides

Things are really slow at my internship right now. I am just working with Erroll on show ideas and attending community meetings to get an idea of what is going on in the City of Long Beach.

Will Show Number III Be a Field Report???

Show number three should go a whole lot smoother. I am preparing a new segment to enhance the field report aspect of the show. Erroll has planned a field report for the past two shows, but to no avail. There has been a bit of a challenge with finding a camera operator to coordinate time to go into the field and shoot. Once we get the secure story we're going after it should be fairly easy to put together a show. I am very excited about the opportunity to write a package and get into the field and report. Since I completed the Television News Production class I haven't had a chance to write a news package for TV, so this should be very useful.

This internship has helped me so much in the field that I am already preparing to go into. My research skills have been enhanced considerably. I am ready to add to my profile a bit more writing experience. Although I write for the various magazine outlets, the style of writing varies drastically from news-writing. When I first got into magazine writing all of my stories sounded like news articles instead of the narrative voice. So I plan on making an acute balance in my writing by doing more field reports and packages.

Show Number Two

Show number two was a complete success. I studied the background of the Young Black Scholars program drawing a fine line between hand-out programs and true academic enhancement from programs like YBS. The difference lie in the students potential for success in the college system. These students typically have a GPA of at least 3.0. They must then show an ability to keep up with college preparatory courses on the freshman study level.

In preparation for the show I set up a pre-interview with my guest. I initially scheduled Patricia Rillera the director of the program, to the show. She agreed to come on sending me the link to the programs site. From there I found information on the programs backround and which included, 100 Black Men of Los Angeles. This organization takes on various non-profit ventures and YBS is one of them. After researching the various non-profit organizations, I read the history and statistics of student education on a racial statistical finding. Following 10 hours of research and phone interviews I had the show prepared. I was even able to get an outfit donated to me by Magic Jeans in Long Beach.

I met with Erroll regularly. He constantly challenged me on the questions that I would ask and they way I shaped a central argument. He also suggested that I try interviewing two people. I then requested a second person to accompany the director. She agreed that she could provide a "success story" student into the fold. The day before we shot the show Rillera canceled her appearance with on the show with me by email. She referred the Senior Program Manager Latrice Jordan to come in her place. Antoinette Ball also came along and the interview was a success.

When I first met the ladies it was a bit of warming up in order. I tried to make them comfortable going over the interview questions again with Latrice. She was added just the day before so I had to get her prepped. Since I felt so much pressure with the first show I tried to swing through my intro without any stops and retakes. It wasn't the smoothest, but a heck of a far cry better than the first show. I didn't allow any pressure to get in.

In my meeting with Erroll after the show for my critique, he told me that I do indeed smile too much as my Professor Kingsley said. He said I should also address both guests more evenly. Don't spend too much time on one guest. He also scolded me for not arriving to the studio at am. to rehearse the questions. All and all I learned a lot on this show.

Young Black Scholars (Pre-Production)

On Friday Erroll and I had a meeting to prepare for the next show set to shoot on October 27, 2006. In the meeting he proposed my next task of setting up a meeting with the Executive Director of Student Development, Patricia Rillera. She is over the African American Scholarship program of Southern California. This program is set up to contain scholarship for African-American students for their future educational endeavors. I am so stoked to be interviewing and researching a program such as this one. The main reason that this topic interests me such a great deal is because of the assistance that I received to pay for college, tech school and any other activity that I have sought out in efforts to advance myself.

During the meeting, Erroll gives me tips on how to prepare a good set of talking points for interviewing in-studio guests. This preparation process usually takes about two weeks. First, I have to think of a reason that this topic will be relevant to the viewers of All Sides. Secondly, I have to outline where funding comes from and how it is being affected by budget cuts. Thirdly, I must play the devil's advocate and find out why programs like this one are still needed.

This entire process usually requires at least 5-6 pages of questions, leads, notes, etc. This is one part of reporting that you learn only a little about. I am rarely given contact information on my subjects. Erroll makes that all a part of my job. So in investigating my subjects, my skills as a reporter are strengthening. I get them reeled in no problem, we shoot the show, and then look for the next hot topic.

So I will update you on how hard it was nailing Patricia down, and what I've learned about Scholarship just prior to the show. At that point I'll outline the key points and prepare for a stellar show.