Since I have been interning in WCBS' Promo department I have gained more experience then I thought I would from any internship. One of the first things that I learned how to do is the network and local radio spots for WCBS Television. The network radio spots are sent to us complete an entire weeks worth in advance. These are then combined with a daily local news spot. Both of these are thirty seconds each. What I didn't realize is that the radio spots are edited on video format. After they are edited it is recorded onto another computer that can send the spots over an ISDN line to San Francisco. After the people in San Francisco get it they distribute it to about twenty different radio stations in the New York City area. I find it amazing that these commercials have to go so far to come back to New York.
One of the next things that I learned is how to use the CBS Newsmaker. On that I would find where certain footage we needed was located, if footage came back from a shoot. You can also see what the rundown for the shows is and the script for the anchors as well as the scripts on individual packages. On we needed footage of nurseries as well as hospital security systems. Unfortunately we did not have anything so I was sent to the network archives. There you are not allowed to do anything. One of their union people has to search through the computer to look for footage and they then have to take it off the shelf for you. You are also unable to look at the footage there because you need a union representative to operate the tape deck.
Aside from looking for footage each day I would also help bring the Martin Short, Entertainment Tonight, and Martha Stewart feeds back for tagging. In October I was taught how to use the Sphere to tag these promos. At first Brad or Paul would watch me. After a few weeks I did them by myself. One of the other editing jobs I did was putting a few Long Island segments that appeared on the news with CBS promos. This was to show the Long Island community what CBS does for them.
There will be a new program airing on CBS in the fall of 2000 called Survivor. Sixteen contestants will be chosen to live on an island off of Borneo in the South China Seas for seven weeks. They are only allowed to bring with them what they are able to carry on their person. The group has to make their own shelters, hunt and cook their own food as well as create a new society. After the seven weeks are over either the last person on the island or the person that is most responsible for everyone else' survival will win one million dollars.
They, of course, were looking for contestants from the New York area. Keisha and I were put in charge of finding those contestants. We put together all of the applications and set up all of the posters and signs for the shoot. Unfortunately, we only got a few applicants. Keisha went out on a second day and only got one more applicant. Marc Smith asked us to go out one more time. This time we traveled to Queens Center Mall. We thought that we had a better chance of getting applicants because they were in such a rush. We still only received a few more applicants. The problem was not that the show is not interesting; the problem is that the applications are four pages long. No one wants to stop to answer so many personal questions.During the month of November I switched my days around. Instead of coming in on Thursday I came in on Saturday afternoons. During Sweeps we had to do advanced nightly spots. Lee Grossman was coming in to produce for the first time. So they wanted to make sure that he didn't have to be preoccupied with looking for footage. During sweeps CBS also bought time on cable for their spots. Instead of me bringing the tapes to Time Warner, we fed it thought the satellite each day. This rarely went smoothly. Either we didn't switch over to the right number or the cable stations had problems on their end. We only had fifteen minutes to send the spots because of the price. It costs $6,000 each minute!
Towards the end of my internship I appeared in two daily spots. The first one was about holiday catalog shopping versus holiday internet shopping. I sat in a chair and flipped through a catalogue. The other spot was about the little girl that was found in her boiler room chained up. There was absolutely no footage of her for obvious reasons. The girl was brutally assaulted plus she is a minor. Our editor Lew came up with idea of chaining me to a pipe in one of the stairwells. Jill the producer of the spot put make up my hands to make it look like I had bruises which I might add still hasn't come off.
One of the last things that I did was to coordinate the taping of the 5pm hosts for the advanced nightly spot. I had to make sure that the tape room had the tapes to tape it on. The scripts had to be printed and given to the two hosts, the director and the assistant director. I had to stay in the control room to make sure they were taping the correct thing. I had to be able to answer any questions like whether or not there was a camera move and how fast they had to say the script.
The only thing that I didn't like about this internship was that there was a lot of tension between the women in the department and the Promo manager. It seems that he has both a temper problem as well as a problem with women. Jill Shuck worked with him at CNBC and said that this problem has followed him here. I think that he has a problem with women that could be more talented than he is or that are looking to move up the ladder. He always gave the women a harder time. He really didn't bother me but I did feel the tension at times. I guess what I had to learn is that there are people like this out their and I will have to learn how to deal with them.
I do have one suggestion. Is it possible to have a book where we could read about other people's experiences at their internships? Maybe even be able to contact them. This was mentioned by one of the people that I worked with. It is done at his school. I think that this would make it easier for us to choose our internships.
I'm really glad that I was given the opportunity to intern at WCBS. It gave me the opportunity to see what happens on a daily basis when putting together a news program in such a large market. I also met a lot of talented individuals that I will definitely be keeping in touch with.