Inteviews/Interactions with Electronic Media Professionals - Elliot Levitt

THE CIMARRON GROUP / CIMARRON ENTERTAINMENT

Elliot Levitt works for a film marketing company called The Cimarron Group located in Hollywood, California. Levitt and I met at The New York Film Academy in 2004. I was studying directing for film, while Levitt was studying the art of editing film. I will use his interview as an example of an electronic media professional.

The company Levitt works for, The Cimarron Group. is where he will eventually be working as a film trailer editor. For now he is starting in the Operations Department, where he picks up and delivers film footage to and from the studios. Plus, he does some freelance editing on the side.

Levitt realized his talent and passion for editing in high school. He started out wanting to direct films, and took a weeklong editing course at The New York Film Academy while in high school, where he edited the projects he directed. There he fell in love with editing and as he got better and more comfortable with it, he decided it was what he wanted to do for a living.

He continued to do a lot of editing in high school and college, mostly on his own projects, and spent his college summers doing a variety of internships. Most of them were editing-related. In fact, he gained a great idea of what is required and expected of professional film editors. He also learned that working at a film marketing company would be a perfect stepping-stone to what he ultimately hopes to do one day, which is to edit feature films.

What Levitt likes most about his job is the feeling of being very much on the inside of the film industry. He enjoys getting to see bits and pieces of big movies before they come out, and walking around the major studio backlots every day to pick up and deliver footage. Levitt expresses that he is not really sure if there's anything he does not like about his job, except for the fact that he would like to be editing feature films eventually.

Furthermore, he admits that all sorts of technologies are changing and all sorts of things about the industry are changing as well. Three-D is the biggest deal these days. The main impact is that audiences will be seeing a lot of Three-D movies coming up which makes a movie in a theater instead of on ones television or computer more of an exciting, special experience. The other major change, which greatly affects people who work in post-production, is the growing number of ways that people watch media. Instead of just seeing things on a movie screen and on television, people (Levitt included) now watch things on DVD, Blu-Ray, on their phones, on portable players, streaming over the Internet and dozens of other ways. Part of what this means is that the people producing movies and television shows have to figure out how to get the most out of every one of these devices, and how to get their media onto as many of them as possible.

In addition, Levitt states that it depends on what exactly one wants to do, but he thinks, “Two golden rules are a) Expose yourself to a lot of the media you hope to create. Aspiring filmmakers should watch tons of movies, aspiring TV types should watch hours of TV, etc. The more you familiarize yourself with the best of the art forms you hope to create, the better you'll be at making it yourself. And b) Get as much practice creating as you can while you're still a student, so you're a step ahead when you try to break in professionally.”

Most schools will present students with some opportunity to practice whatever it is they want to do professionally, and there are many media internships that can give students the connections and experience that will help them later on, states Levitt.

He stresses that experience is important! If one can't get experience creating the type of media they want to create, they should at least find a way to watch others create it and learn how others ARE creating it. He is not sure if there is a best place, but he would certainly recommend getting experience, if it's possible, in the place where one hopes to be working someday, whether it's a certain city or a certain company.

In addition, Levitt thinks modesty can be important. Everyone starts out as the lowest rung on the ladder, so it's important not to think too highly of ones self, regardless of how good one may think they are at what they do. At the same time, it's important to show how enthusiastic one is and how much one wants to do what it is that is expected of them in their profession. Companies do not want to think one wants to just skip straight to what they want to do without putting in the hard work first, but they also want to know how bad they want to be, for example, a writer, director, actor, etc.

Levitt reads Variety every day. He also reads a lot of editing blogs (twenty at his last count) since that is his area of interest. There are usually smaller magazines or at least blogs that cater to specific fields of media.

All in all, Levitt is a very happy hard working individual in Hollywood, California. Whenever I talk to him he is always in a good mood and ready to succeed as a film editor who is ready to put in the work and do what it takes. He made the move from Maryland to California and I believe he has a bright successful future ahead of him.

edited by...

http://www.cimarrongroup.com/

Inteviews/Interactions with Electronic Media Professionals - Tere Mele

I interviewed Tere Mele, a stage manager for WNBC Local News, New York, New York. Mele has been a family friend for years and when I asked if she would be interested in answering some questions about being a media professional she was more than happy to help. Mele’s stage managing job requires her to cue talent and to make sure they are in their positions at the appropriate time. She must be sure that the talent are looking at the correct camera, they are “mic'd up,” and that they can hear the producer and director in their IFB (ear piece). Plus, she has to make sure they have their scripts, any other information needed for the segment and then cue them to end the segment in the given amount of time.

Mele started working at NBC in 1994. She had just finished working on the morning show, Fox After Breakfast, and the Supervising Coordinator told her about an opening for a weekend stage-managing job at WNBC. Mele then found out who the manager was and sent him her resume. She finally had the opportunity to interview with him and booked the job.

Furthermore, Mele had been a stage manager, floor manager, floor director (all different titles for similar positions, but different jobs) for five to six years prior to being hired at WNBC. Initially Mele wanted to be an actress. After auditioning and running to meetings for years she realized she needed to learn something else "just in case". Tere then started working behind the scenes for anyone and everyone who would let her work. She answered to ads and looked through papers about production companies. Tere made sure to send her resume to anyone who she thought could get her some experience. All of this determination led to her first stage manager's job with Court TV... then the rest is history.

Fortunately, Mele loves her job. She loves working with talent, getting them ready, being "in the know" when it comes to work, feeling needed, hearing all the news first-hand, discussing news in between the commercial breaks, discussing jobs and other news organizations.

In the future Mele definitely thinks that technology will affect her job in the coming years. WNBC, as well as other stations, are trying to do without a large number of people by giving stage managers extra duties. Eventually stage managers will not be needed on local news. Mele said she would imagine that directors can be cued in the talent's ear, however, stage managers are beneficial because they keep things organized, running smoothly and efficiently. Some of the newscasts throughout the country do not have stage managers or other job functions and they almost always get "caught" on the air with mistakes. Getting “caught” includes not having their microphones on, not talking when they are supposed to and not getting off the air in the right amount of time. Mele’s stage managing job makes the show run perfectly. Stations without stage managers in the control rooms are trying out different types of "boards" and using one or two people, probably a director and or technical director who will "push buttons" to do everything. However, this will add no creativity to the newscast, but that is the way of the future according to Mele. She admits that in the future she will have to find work in other venues like talk television, etc.

The recommendations Mele has for students are to learn as much as they can and learn how to do all the jobs involved. These jobs include producing, writing, audio production, reading, on-camera, shooting, editing, etc. A year and a half ago NBC had a huge layoff and within a year they let go almost one third of the number of people who worked in news, especially the people who had worked in the news for a long time. The new people hired were people who could write, produce, edit, in other words do it all. Therefore, she stresses learning everything and figuring out what kind of work one might want to do. Mele also suggests interning the first year or summer of college and try to do things that relate to what the student might want to do when they graduate. When hiring interns they are interested in what the student might want to do, however, there is no specific formula in how to get an internship or work. The best way to succeed is to intern as much as possible, be nice to the people one works with, including the production assistants, because they could be one’s boss at their next "gig". Mele also advises interns to learn to keep in touch with people, send resumes out all the time and read the trades.

Of course, experience is great to have, but at some point one is new to the business. However, this is not an excuse, because if one is new one should be taking classes in this field, doing internships during the summer, or after school, or possibly working for someone in this field. Keeping contacts is crucial as well as getting to know people through social networking sites, attending events, plus taking extra classes outside of school where one can possibly make new contacts. The goal is to meet many different people and getting them to trust the student who is a new person to them enough to give them a job or even an unpaid internship, which is difficult to achieve as well. In order to have the best chance for a summer internship it is smart to apply early in the year when a company begins to look for people to fill the few slots that will be available.

The main characteristics that employers are looking for are people that are nice, honest and are willing to work hard. It is also important to be willing to do whatever they ask one to do, willing to learn whatever they need one to learn and being eager as well as helpful. Not every job in television is fun, especially beginning work, which is considered "gopher" work,” but one must be helpful to the higher ups

Mele states that there are not really trade publications for television jobs. Some people send resumes to all the television stations, read papers, magazines and if there is something about a new show starting, they will find out whom the production company is, which takes a lot of detective work. There are so few jobs that companies do not want to give out information, therefore, one must learn to find out all of this information on their own by being one’s own detective. In fact, there are more websites today rather than newspapers or magazines regarding jobs. Websites such as MANDY, Production Notices New York, Craig's List, or by easily using Google by searching Television Work in NYC, and some job possibilities will show up. In order to be successful in television Mele’s advice is to, “Keep a positive attitude, work hard, try hard and things will come your way eventually. Good luck.”

http://www.nbcnewyork.com/