Too Pooped To Pop
People often ask me for advice on getting into television. I tell them "Don't, especially if you want to do sports." Football season isn't even a week old, and I'm already exhausted. You have to really love your job to survive, especially this time of year. A sampling of the last week or so in my life:
Monday: Work a quite normal shift. Show up around 2:30, leave around midnight. (9.5 hours)
Tuesday: Wake up early for wild goose chase regarding Auburn University Football press conference. Head to Auburn around 11 am or so. Prepare 2-minute news segment on Auburn's opening game. Write and edit college football segment for Friday's "Sports Overtime." Write all intros, teases, and show close for "Sports OT." Leave work around 10:30 pm. (11.5 hours)
Wednesday: Day off. Sports Director calls once.
Thursday: Day off. Sports Director calls three times.
Friday: Back to work. Awoken at 9:30 am by call from frantic Sports Director. Show up at work at about 1:00 pm, work on Sports Overtime until 6pm, cram dinner in my face, then shoot two high school football games. Deal with utter mayhem at station in attempts to produce 20-minute show. Co-Anchor 20-minute show. Write, shoot, and edit promo for next week's show. Clean up mess. Leave at about 12:30 am. (11.5 hours)
Saturday: Return to work before 12 noon to start recording football games. Do we have someone else that could do it? You'd think so, but every time I've trusted someone else, it hasn't gotten done. Spend two hours cleaning sports office from Friday night mess (including a 20 minute search for the cockroach living on Dave's desk). Produce and anchor newscasts. Dub file video. Enter news stories on station website. Be thankful that I didn't have to leave the station to shoot anything. Leave at 1:00 am. (13 hours)
Sunday: Return to work before 1:00 pm to start recording Braves game. Did the same stuff as Saturday. Leave work as quickly as possible after newscast, 11:45 pm. (10.75 hours)
Monday (Labor Day): Call station in hopes that someone can roll Braves tape for me. Can't find anyone. Drive to station to record Braves game at 1:00, then return home to shower. Come back to station at 2:30, do my usual gig, stay until about 12:30 am. (10 hours)
Tuesday (Yesterday): Leave at 9:15 am to attend Georgia Tech press conference. Return to station, help Dave edit video for 6pm show. Leave station at 4:45pm to go home, eat and take nap. Return to station at 8:00 p.m. Write and edit stories for Sports Overtime. Leave at 10:30 pm. (10 hours)
Yeah, I know, cry me a river, right? It'll get much worse before it gets better. This Monday, Monday Night Football Starts. That means our usual 11:00 pm newscast becomes more like a 1:00 am newscast... and I have to get up early the next day to go to Auburn.
Busy, busy, busy, busy, busy. If I don't seem to be blogging regularly, please forgive me. I'm probably either working or sleeping.
People often ask me for advice on getting into television. I tell them "Don't, especially if you want to do sports." Football season isn't even a week old, and I'm already exhausted. You have to really love your job to survive, especially this time of year. A sampling of the last week or so in my life:
Monday: Work a quite normal shift. Show up around 2:30, leave around midnight. (9.5 hours)
Tuesday: Wake up early for wild goose chase regarding Auburn University Football press conference. Head to Auburn around 11 am or so. Prepare 2-minute news segment on Auburn's opening game. Write and edit college football segment for Friday's "Sports Overtime." Write all intros, teases, and show close for "Sports OT." Leave work around 10:30 pm. (11.5 hours)
Wednesday: Day off. Sports Director calls once.
Thursday: Day off. Sports Director calls three times.
Friday: Back to work. Awoken at 9:30 am by call from frantic Sports Director. Show up at work at about 1:00 pm, work on Sports Overtime until 6pm, cram dinner in my face, then shoot two high school football games. Deal with utter mayhem at station in attempts to produce 20-minute show. Co-Anchor 20-minute show. Write, shoot, and edit promo for next week's show. Clean up mess. Leave at about 12:30 am. (11.5 hours)
Saturday: Return to work before 12 noon to start recording football games. Do we have someone else that could do it? You'd think so, but every time I've trusted someone else, it hasn't gotten done. Spend two hours cleaning sports office from Friday night mess (including a 20 minute search for the cockroach living on Dave's desk). Produce and anchor newscasts. Dub file video. Enter news stories on station website. Be thankful that I didn't have to leave the station to shoot anything. Leave at 1:00 am. (13 hours)
Sunday: Return to work before 1:00 pm to start recording Braves game. Did the same stuff as Saturday. Leave work as quickly as possible after newscast, 11:45 pm. (10.75 hours)
Monday (Labor Day): Call station in hopes that someone can roll Braves tape for me. Can't find anyone. Drive to station to record Braves game at 1:00, then return home to shower. Come back to station at 2:30, do my usual gig, stay until about 12:30 am. (10 hours)
Tuesday (Yesterday): Leave at 9:15 am to attend Georgia Tech press conference. Return to station, help Dave edit video for 6pm show. Leave station at 4:45pm to go home, eat and take nap. Return to station at 8:00 p.m. Write and edit stories for Sports Overtime. Leave at 10:30 pm. (10 hours)
Yeah, I know, cry me a river, right? It'll get much worse before it gets better. This Monday, Monday Night Football Starts. That means our usual 11:00 pm newscast becomes more like a 1:00 am newscast... and I have to get up early the next day to go to Auburn.
Busy, busy, busy, busy, busy. If I don't seem to be blogging regularly, please forgive me. I'm probably either working or sleeping.
Labels: Being the Sportslady
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