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.”
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