fandomhigh | Careers Fair, Fandom High Front Lawn, Friday Afternoon, 07/21/06

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!event: friday events

Careers Fair, Fandom High Front Lawn, Friday Afternoon, 07/21/06

By lunch time, the booths were set up, the guests had arrived and there was quaint music playing from somewhere undetermined. Hawkeye is walking around with one of those portable microphone/speaker set-ups, roaming from booth to booth announcing the various guests that have come to Fandom to talk about their professions.

And despite what the mainland weather forecast said, it was definitely a nice, fine day.

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Dana decides they don't look so scary. She could take 'em.

"Hey there," Dana greets them with a smile. "How many of you actually watch Sports Night? Okay, I don't actually care because you're not in our demographic. Though, boys, you might want to start tuning your remotes to our channel as that eighteenth birthday approaches. Just a tip. If you do watch, though, you will see one of the most well-put together shows on television right now- and let's face it, this includes most network shows on the air today. A lot of the credit goes to a wonderful anchor team, but there's a lot you don't see, which is what goes on behind the scenes, where my team and myself run ourselves ragged every day trying to get the show written and cut and put together in time to go live on the air. It's exhausting and thrilling and I love every single second of it. So, any questions?"

Jamie raises his hand. "In your humble opinion as a New Yorker, What are three things the Knicks need to do this season to make it to the finals?"

"Improve their free throw percentage, run the floor, and tell Spike Lee to sit down and shut up," she answers.

[I love/hate you for that. *g*

"How long does it take to prepare and film each evening?" Rory asked. And mentally made a note to start watching it more when October rolled around, no matter how little she cared for sports.

"My job usually starts around ten am, but I'm told I'm a workaholic," she says with a smile. She's not joking. She calls herself a workaholic. "We have meetings, we have to prioritize and cut the film as it comes in... We cover sports sometimes from all around the world, and it can take a long time to actually get things up and going. And you have to account for all the last minute changes, of which there usually are about eighty-four a day."

Rory considered this. "Is it difficult to work with live television as opposed to pre-recorded stuff?"

"Yes. And that's part of what's so great about it. It's always different, things change in the blink of an eye, and you always have to be on your toes," Dana says, snapping her fingers as her voice speeds up. "Once you're live, that's it, your mistakes are out there for millions of viewers across the country and so are your best moments. It's great."

"What happens if someone swears on live TV? Or trips? How do you recover?"

These are major concerns for someone who might sorta kinda go into something like this, you know.

"If anyone swears then we have to deal with the FCC, which is more fun than being dragged behind a moving car, except I lie when I say that," she says. "You just have to roll with it. People flub reading the lines off the teleprompter, or someone's going to sneeze, or a turkey's going to fall from the lighting grid. You have to know how to ad lib and make it work for you."

Rory paused. "Did that really happen with the turkey?"

"It wasn't my best moment," she says. "Though I think we had just cut to commercial when that happened. Silver lining, right?"

"Eeeeeep," Rory said. "That's bizarre. My mom used to run an inn and so I thought I'd never hear anything weirder than the time we had a convention of Poes and the place burned down, but this is up there." She shook her head. "Um...what's your favorite sport? Out of curiosity."

"My brother plays football, so I think I have a bit of a soft spot for it, or at least I'm obligated to say so," Dana grins.

Rory grinned back. "I'm not so much a sports girl, but I can totally respect any sport involving guys in tight pants tackling each other."

"When talking about everyone but my brother, I can definitely hear you on that," Dana agrees. "There's a lot more to it than that, though. Though if it gets more women watching, I don't think I can knock it."

"I actually watched the Superbowl this year." She might have sounded way too proud about that. "But I actually really like Sports Night even if I'm not all sporty because it explains things to the athletic simpletons like me."

"And I'm sure the anchors don't hurt," she nods. She has to say it.

Rory laughed. "Not in the slightest, no."

Dana laughs. "See, there's the hook. So are you looking into producing, or in front of the camera, or did you just want to hear the crazy woman talk?"

"There's a chance I might go into stuff with live television," Rory said shyly. "Mostly of the political news variety, though. But I'd never talked to anyone in the field before."

"Well, field, in the booth, same thing," says Dana. It's not. "I do get to see it happen, though. I am but the lowly-but-not-really gift wrapper, when what you really see is the present. I like that metaphor. I should write that down."

"That is an excellent metaphor," Rory said, nodding. "Anyway. I should let you talk to other people. It was nice meeting you, Ms. Whitaker."

"You too... Brown-Haired Girl."

"Rory," she corrected before wandering off with a smile.

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Careers Fair, Fandom High Front Lawn, Friday Afternoon, 07/21/06

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