FWT 2016

Wrapping up my time at T Group this week, I got the opportunity to stand in front of the whole development team during the Thursday meeting and pitch my show idea I have been developing. I have been working on a deck for a few weeks for a show idea of mine and this week I got feedback on it, made corrections and presented it in the meeting. I felt confident doing the pitching and the overall reaction from the development team was good. They were excited about my idea and gave me some guiding questions for further development. I’ve greatly enjoyed working with the team, they are fantastic people who do their job with passion and my experience of working with them motivated me to become a hard worker. I feel that my pitch showed that and I am excited to keep on developing it and keep in contact with T Group.

My week consisted of a lot of paper work. With the other interns, we collated a lot of appearance release forms for a show that was shot this week. Unfortunately I was not allowed to go on set due to the small space of the set. However, I worked on the behind of the behind the scenes (in the office).

I received a tour of cameras and filming equipment. T Group does have some equipment on hand but they also rent the bigger, more expensive cameras for filming reality shows because it is cheaper than if they were to invest in their own. It was insightful to see all the equipment they do have.

An assignment I got this week was to work on some of the ideas we came up with for T Group’s digital content. I got to develop some of the ideas and write out scripts for possible episodes for the digital show.

I finished building the deck for one of my original show ideas on Keynote. The most challenging part to it was figuring out the episode format and writing it dense but brief. I had the vision of the show and the episodes played out perfectly in my mind but it was a challenging task to write it all down in a couple of sentences in a way so that the reader (networks) could also see it exactly the way I myself envisioned it. The rest of the week it was busy around the office. With other interns we photocopied hundreds of appearance release forms, highlighted each copy for talent’s signatures, made flashcards in preparation for a shooting, researched for new shows, researched and contacted bloggers in regards of advertising our show Paging Dr.Andy, and the week flew by.

Weeks are flying by and in this blog post I would like to mention my experiences of FWT outside of the T Group office. Living in Los Angeles had been an eye-opening experience. I am exploring the city, learning new things, taking photographs, gaining culinary experiences, and meeting interesting, creative people. I commute to my work place by bus, which gives me about 3 hours every day to take in the view, the people around me and get lost in my thoughts. I have had numerous conversations with strangers I met at bus stops and generally, the area my bus goes through has a lot of people that are less fortunate and many of them homeless. It does not take long to realize that everyone is on a tough journey, some on tougher than others, but for every individual, their own journey’s experience is the toughest.

I have spent a lot of time reading books on the bus too, most recently The Untethered Soul by Michael A. Singer and The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle. I am currently in the midst of figuring out more about myself, contemplating my future and my spiritual self.

Recently I met with Sayeh, the founder of The Office Stylist. My first choice internship was with her but last moment I decided to go with T Group. I do not regret it, I am incredibly happy with my experiences here, but when Sayeh reached out to me about an opportunity to write for her, I was over the top joyous. She is also based in LA and I find it amazing how everything is unfolding so great and I give credit to this inspiring location, this energized, creative air that surrounds me in LA. The meeting with her included topics personal to both of us and we had a good time. I look up to Sayeh because of how honest she has been with me related to her personal life and business. (Disregarding the fact that I chose another internship over hers in December.) She explained to me how as of now she was still exploring herself (as a person) and her passion for her business. She is making the changes to her business to truly do what she loves for work. Some people work on building their business for years but even they it might not be turning out to be their true passion. It was inspiring to hear about her stories with her name (She is originally from Iran and struggled quiet a bit with her name and its spelling, similarly to me) and she pushed me to accept and flaunt my name instead of changing it.  

I have become close to one of the other interns at T Group and we are both passionate about blogging. We have been going to amazing places in LA such as the Pink Motel and the El Matador Beach for photo shoots for our blogs and social media. I have not only been learning a lot about the television part of the entertainment industry, but with the help of the people I am meet in LA, about making a name for myself, my blog, how to manage my social media and stay on top of everything.

Throughout the week, I continued helping out at the office, photocopying, researching and address envelopes for talent payments. I attended meetings and learned that television is changing. All TV is going digital because we are entering a new era where watching shows on laptops, tablets and phones are more common than actually having cable TV at home. Numerous laptop and phone show platforms are rising and television production companies are focusing on going digital. T Group has recently begun brainstorming on taking this new direction a meeting was held for a group discussion and throwing ideas onto the table. It is all about finding a hook, a twist to a show to make a new successful show. I find that group brainstorming sessions at T Group always spark new ideas in me. Teamwork is an important factor to working in development, as collaborative minds create the best show ideas.

On my third week, I went to the set of Paging Dr.Andy, a digital show produced by T Group Productions that airs on Verizon’s go90 app. It was an exciting experience as I got to observe the shooting process, help out on set and talk to the producer, executive producer, camera operator, production assistant, still photographer and audio mixer.

The week started with a reality television boot camp. I learned the vital key to being in the entertainment industry: knowing everything about pop culture, celebrities and shows by reading and watching. Staying active on entertainment news websites, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, go90, Facebook and knowing what is viral and the current stars of social media platforms are essential when developing new shows. Knowing what people enjoy watching in the present is the first step to creating a show that networks will want. Familiarizing myself with networks and their audiences can help with pitching: a sports channel will not look for the same shows as a cooking channel.

I learned the use of industry terms such as ocu-soap, docu-soap, close ended, arced and self-contained episodes, competition series, specials, and log lines. Next, was a presentation on building decks. Decks, also called treatments, are a quick, visually engaging, presentation of the outline of a new show. This deck is used to pitch new shows to networks.

Design is also important when making treatments. Each network has their own style and when pitching the same show to different networks, the key is to make the design of the deck using the theme and color scheme similar to the one of the network’s website.

My task following the boot camp was to start developing some show ideas and accustom myself with making decks. It’s interesting that once you start making the deck, you find out whether it is a good, clear show idea.

I have settled in at the office and have been working on various tasks throughout the week: I organized cards of all US networks on the wall of the conference room; I did paperwork; photocopied and scanned appearance release forms; and archived T Group’s past developed shows.

At the end of the week I received some constructive feedback from my supervisor. I was assigned a research task for which my responsibility was to research current conflict zones in the Middle East for a new reality show that was about to be pitched to networks. I spend a couple of hours researching but felt uncomfortable with my ideas (I find myself not being satisfied putting down something on paper that has not done to my best ability) and did not hand it in at the end of the day. I was aware of the time crunch and I knew the deadline. The following day, a conversation with my supervisor shed light on this issue. As an intern, (and a paid employee later) I have to push myself out of my comfort zone and if struggling, ask for more assistance. It is unreasonable to have nothing on paper to hand in for a deadline in this industry. We came to an understanding and I learned that there is no ‘bad work’. All of my ideas could contribute to T Group’s projects in some way and I mustn’t be afraid of getting out of my comfort zone (ideas are always thrown around and that is a great way of brainstorming ideas for collaborative work). I have a unique background and so my contribution could be very applicable to T Group’s projects.

My first week at T Group Productions consisted of getting to know the company and its work. On my first day at the office, after receiving an introduction, a tour of the office and signing a non-disclosure agreement, my first task was to browse through the company’s files on the reality TV show projects they have and are currently working on. Knowing what work the company does is of importance, as I will be working on these while my time at T Group Productions.

Throughout the week, I completed a few assignments such as doing research for a new show that is being developed, brainstorming for another, and transcribing videos for yet another.  I attended my first development meeting where I met the members of the development team of T Group.  I listened in on the discussions of current projects and participated when was asked for giving my opinion.

T Group’s office; my home for the next seven weeks.

For my second Field Work Term (FWT), I decided to take on the challenge of interning at a reality television production company. My first FWT was a volunteering position, which was very different than what I expect this term’s FWT to be. Getting used to an office environment, signing a non-disclosure agreement and jumping into the entertainment industry, learning about how its whats and hows, I cannot feel anything less but thrilled. This FWT is related to my Plan and that in itself is a motivation for me. I feel that I am working towards my goals and what I like to call my dreams.