Videoholic...

...you suck.

Lol no, I just wanted to ask you something. How did you get into the business you\'re in? And what exactly is it you do nowadays? I know you\'ve been a news cameraman or something like that before. Was that how you started out?

Hope you don\'t mind me asking.

He sucks? You wish Samwise...

[videoholic]

University of Florida has a kick ass broadcasting school.  Virtually a must if you don\'t want to run an in-studio camera now-days.  Everyone has a degree from somewhere, except for the old timers.  

I started in Ft. Myers making pennies.  I just wanted in.  I worked there for 2 months before landing a gig for NBC in West Palm.  Still making pennies, but at least I was shooting every day.  I then got into sports and developed my style.  I lasted there for two years.  Went to the Sugar Bowl, Super Bowl, NBA Championships, etc..  It was awesome. 23 years old and on the side lines of the super bowl elbowing my way in for the shot.

I then went to Tampa to work for ABC.  They doubled my money so needless to say I packed up the truck and left for Tampa.  I worked in News and Sports for 5 years, but got burnt out.  

I am now working for a production company.  Stress is still there, but the money cap is no longer there.

I got stuck at 40k in the news business.  You get a free car and lots of perks, but I was never going to get a substantial raise other than the cost of living increases each year.

Now I am in a production company where I have no ceiling.  That is probably the best perk.  Bonuses, etc..

Do you want to get into news, or do you have no clue?

It\'s a very tough field to get into.  You have to be very creative or you will just fall into the pack with the rest.  You have to always think outside the box.  You want the other camera men looking at you to see what you are doing.

Let me know what you want to know specifically, but that is my background.

Man getting payed to take shots at the Superbowl or Sugarbowl, what a tough life you used to lead. That would be just frickon cool, but if you like the job you have now even better than thats whats important.

Thanks for the reply Video.

I\'m not looking to get into news specifically, but I\'m very interested in the filmmaking scene. The problem is that it\'s friggin\' hard to get into the business... we have a national film school, but in order to get accepted you have to have done some previous work... doh! I want to go to filmschool to make movies, not to make them before! Well, they only accept 6 people in each \'class\' (like directors, editors etc.) every second year, so it\'s not like it\'s easy to get accepted anyway. At least it\'s free.

In a few years (when I\'ve finished my education and gotten a real job) I might deal with the problem differently - indie filmmaking. I just need some 10k to get started with equipment and such. I could make my own production company.

*dreams on*