-: The key thing (chuckles) that I would recommend
for people that want to get involved with what I'm doing
is getting involved in as much as possible
when it comes to your field.
So when you are a TV student here
or a journalism student here, there's a host
of student media organizations that allow you
to build a portfolio and really develop those skills.
If you're not participating in those early,
it's gonna show through when you graduate,
and you're not going to really be able to shine above
the rest of the field to get those jobs.
It's all about the work you do, the portfolio you build,
not as much so the grades.
Teachers hate to hear that, but really it's about
that product.
News directors and bosses want to know
that you can actually deliver and produce for them.
The first thing you want to have in a reel
is a set of stand ups that are attention grabbing.
News directors get tons of reels sent to them,
emailed to them, Facebooked to them, LinkedIn.
They see a whole bunch of them, and honestly,
just like you do when you see a video on social media
that may not grab your attention, you swipe away,
you scroll away, you keep going.
You want to make sure that they see must-see TV
when they see your reel, something that really grabs
their attention.
So active stand ups.
Multi-part stand ups where you're actually
going to be MMJ-ing, multi-media journalism.
So you're actually gonna be trying to put
some more creativity behind your stand ups
and doing some multi-camera shots, some sequencing.
If you show that to a potential employer right away,
that's what they're looking for,
and you're gonna stand out from the rest.
Making sure you look the part, you're presentable.
And the thing about that too, is, you don't have
to have money to do that.
I was not at all financially well-off in college.
I don't think any college student is.
As long as you have one good shirt and tie,
or two or three.
You can go to Goodwill, you can go to a lot
of different places and find some good dress clothes.
Doesn't have to be anything fancy.
One good jacket, and do some stand ups.
Go around campus, do some different things,
talk to people, and see what you can come up with.
They understand you're a college student,
you're fresh out of college, but they want to see
that professionalism and want to see
that you can produce a good product from them
because what they're looking at is their bottom line.
What's gonna be the best for their viewers,
what's gonna be the best for their audience,
and their overall station brand?
If you don't fit that brand for them,
then they're not gonna want to attach
to yours at all.