>> My name is Patty Ivins Specht.
I'm a TV producer and a writer in Los Angeles.
Absolutely I own, with my best friend, a TV
production company called PB&J Television.
We've been in business for 5 years.
It is primarily focused on
documentaries and realities television.
And we love-- I just love reality television.
I love real people, I think
real people are more interesting
than scripted people any day of the week.
This is a great area to work in.
What I love about my work is that everyday
there's an opportunity to do something creative.
I could be driving down, going to
Starbucks and see a really quirky person
and that could start an idea or-- the hard thing
about what I do though is
that I can never turn it off.
It's like-- and if you're reading an article
or a Sunday morning I'm reading the newspaper
and it's like, "Oh, there is an idea.
Oh, there is an idea."
And so it's constant which is the great thing
about it, and it's also the hard thing about it
because you're never off, you're always on.
So it's an awesome field.
The hardest part of our jobs, honestly is it's
a customer-- it's a client service business.
So we have network executives and
studio executives and, you know,
everyone wants their say,
which can be very frustrating.
So it's-- you have just be really calm
and patient and collaborative and willing
to really hear everyone out and [inaudible]--
it's quite-- you have to be really a diplomat.
The type of person that would succeed in this
field is someone who is eternally optimistic,
hardworking, doesn't quit easily.
You really have to have perseverance.
I think you really have to be sharp because
you really have to be willing and able to deal
with a lot of things coming at you at once.
And you have to always be assessing
something on most the levels.
Not only is it interesting,
is it creative, is it visually
and aesthetically pleasing, but is it legal?
You know, what is the status and practices
I'm going to say, I mean there's--
when you're a producer, you have to filter out
a lot of the information constantly any moment.
So you really have to be able to jug
all and multitask extremely well.
I think the best way to prepare yourself
to go into television and to be a producer
or a writer, well specifically a producer is
really not necessarily to go to school for it.
I think that's great if you do but again I think
part of being a television producer is a lot
about observing the world around you.
And I think it's almost more like sociology
than it is about filmmaking sometimes.
I think it's great if you can
have an equal interest in both,
because a lot of the most interesting programs
out there are programs that reflect kind
of what we care about as a society,
or what we laugh about as a society,
or what scares us as a society.
And I think that there's a lot-- I
think you have to be the kind of person
who knows a lot about-- a little
about a lot of different things.
It makes you-- I think that's
one of the fun things
about this business is because
you really can learn.
You could be on a project for
six months, all about science.
And you come out of it feeling like,
"I have a mini degree in science."
And then the next one, you could
be doing a project on design.
And you could do that for a year and you wave
going like "I'm a [inaudible] architecture
and design now and-- so I think it's really
great profession for someone who's willing
and able to be very well rounded,
and well versed, and well read,
and can hold conversations with
anybody and can kind of jump topics,
kind of like I'm jumping right now.
I-- especially for young
people getting out of college,
I really think the most important
thing is to get great internships,
be willing to work carefree
because it's so competitive.
And truly, it's one of those fields
where it really is all about hard work.
But it also is about getting a good
break and meeting the right people.
And I think, you know, you have to
really just trust your intuition
and just give everything you can to every job.
And so you know strategically some people I
know, it may be really smart to start in turning
in all of the big businesses and like, you know
networks or studios during your college years
and then go work somewhere small after
college so that you actually can do more.
Because if you always get stuck at the
big places, if you only work at NBC,
you are never going to get to do anything,
you're going to answer phones,
fax and photocopy.
It's really great for smart
[inaudible] people to get those big--
big network experiences in college and then
find a great company, kind of like ours
or there's a lot of other ones out there
where you can be scrappy and learn a lot
and get your hands dirty from the ground up.