12/100 - Podcast Highlight #1

“I think fiction, literature, film - every art in a way - is concept and a way to get out of our only dimensional existence in time and that’s why we love it. We are addicted.”
— Alejandro González Iñárritu (KCRW's The Treatment)

I am a big fan of podcasts. The Stitcher app on my phone is full of subscriptions to all sorts of podcasts. One of my favorites is KCRW's The Treatment with Elvis Mitchell. He asks the best questions of filmmakers and actors. It always ends up being a great conversation. A 30-minute episode with Alejandro González Iñárritu and cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki is one such episode. 

11/100 - #TBT Amanda Palmer at the Wonder Ballroom

“Artists connect the dots - we don’t need the interpret the lines between them. We just draw them and present our connections to the world as a gift, to be taken or left.”
— Amanda Palmer, The Art of Asking
upload.jpeg

In November I saw Amanda Palmer at the Wonder Ballroom. The show was part of her book tour for The Art of Asking. It is a wonderful book, I own a very highlighted copy. In addition to the physical book, I also purchased the audiobook. I finished the audio version this morning. I highly recommend the audiobook. It is filled with performances and so much emotion. I'm definitely a fan of Amanda Palmer's and I like the way she works and creates.

10/100 - Producer File: 3 things that happen during the commercial break in live tv

upload.jpeg

I'm job searching and I find that a lot of people don't always understand what a Producer does. I currently produce tv news, but I'd like to move into the production of documentaries, sitcoms and dramas. A Producer is responsible for a lot of things, especially in an environment where fewer and fewer people, have more and more job roles. As a Producer in tv news, I not only Produce, but write everything the anchors are reading.

Here are three things happen during the commercial break of a live broadcast. There are many more but for now, I'll focus on three.

1. Write a breaking story: Just because you are in the control booth and the show has started, doesn't mean your job is done. I've had to write a story during the two-minute commercial break when breaking news hits the newsroom.

2. Answer questions: You have to know the details of every story in your show. Sometimes an anchor will have questions about a certain statistic in a story... or an Executive Producer will want to know what technical glitch caused the video not to roll on a certain story. The list goes on.

3. Evaluate time: Some people say a Producer's job is to start the show on time and end the show on time. There's much more to it than that, of course. However, sometimes a reporter's story is longer than everyone thought, or there's a lot of banter surrounding a fun story... and before you know it your show is two minutes longer than it should be and you have to make that time up somewhere. That's when you drop stories from the show.

BONUS: You stay calm: You're the one holding the show together so you have to stay calm and give everyone the direction they need. That includes the director and the on-air talent. I can stay calm through all of this and that's part of the reason I'm searching for a new challenge in the form of a new job.