Bio-hoedown - 2nd draft ABOUT ME

"The television business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side."
                                                                                                   - Hunter S. Thompson

I was born in Ft. Worth, Texas to an out of wed-lock 16 year old girl and given up for adoption. My adopted parents brought me to San Antonio and divorced a year later.  I have no recollection of them being together without suffocating tension in the air.  Sounds bleak - like the profile of a serial killer, doesn't it?  It gets better.  My mom met and fell in love with a businessman she was introduced to on a blind date.  They married by the vicinity of  my fourth birthday and soon after we moved to Oak Ridge, Tennessee.  I spent summers and holidays in San Antonio and Albuquerque with my dad and his family.  Thankfully, I was tall for my age and my parents were able to trick the airlines into letting a 4 year old kid fly alone.

Hold tight.  We're about to play a little "moving-van ping-pong".  We moved to the San Francisco area by the middle of my fourth grade year.  We spent nine forgettable months there before moving to Lincoln, Massachusetts just outside of Boston.  We moved to Los Angeles at the end of my sixth grade year.  At the end of my seventh grade year we moved across the pond to Lausanne, Switzerland.  I went to a British private school where there were just over one hundred kids in kindergarten through the 8th grade.  There were eight kids in the entire eighth grade class!  We moved back to the U.S. during the following summer.  Weeks after arriving on unnaturally familiar shores, I decided to live with my dad in San Antonio.  My argument - I didn't want to do any more moving.   It is said that culture shock stings most when moving back to your own country.  This, I can say with authority, is true.  I attended a public high school with more than 4,000 students.  There were 1,500 in the freshman class alone juxtaposed to my eighth grade class of eight.  Mentally, I crawled under a desk in the fetal position, rocked back and forth and repeated, "take me to my happy place".

I survived, as most of us do and decided to go snow skiing after graduation.  Coincidentally, the University of Denver accepted me into their undergraduate program.  I majored in film production and minored in art.   It was the best of times; it was the worst of times.  I skied.  I partied.  I went to rehab.  You know, the usual college experience.  I graduated in 5 years and moved back to San Antonio to look for work.  I found a part time position with the ABC affiliate running camera. Meanwhile, I planned to write some scripts and shoot a few shorts to craft a nice reel.  There was, however, a flaw with my scheme - the television control room.  It looked like the bridge of a star-ship.  I took one look at the video switcher and it was sealed...I wanted to direct the news.

I got screamed at.  Objects were thrown at me.  I almost got in to a fist fight with a sports anchor.  But, like prison (I hear only!), you have to hold your ground to gain respect in this business.  I learned the studio duties to the point that I could change a lamp, prompt, floor direct and run camera blindfolded.   I bugged directors to teach me how to make the switcher purr.  Perspiration, patience and most of all humor finally afforded me the title of director.  I spent every waking moment, much to the chagrin of my then girlfriend now wife, at the studio creating new effects to use in the newscasts and for my resume tape. 

GVG Kalypso

After sending my resume tapes sent to the far corners of the continent, I landed a director job in Minneapolis.  Here begins part two of "moving-van ping-pong" and me eating my words.  I spent two years directing a morning show start-up in the "Minny-Apple" that was fun, but the diva factor was extreme.  Soon after arriving, I married the girl of my dreams.  After Minneapolis, we moved to Omaha, Nebraska.  I was lucky enough to land a Production Manager job with the FOX affiliate.  It was a job of many hats really.  I directed the newscasts, created graphics, designed animations, managed & scheduled the crew and got saddled with building sets.  Omaha is certainly noteworthy because it is the birthplace of my twin sons.  I interviewed for a job in Washington D.C. for ESPN's Around The Horn.  I wasn't chosen because I specifically lacked Kalypso switcher experience.   I made it my mission to find a station that had one and to learn it inside out.  After almost 5 years in Nebraska, we moved to Memphis, Tennessee.

Now, six years later, here I am writing a blog for a grad school program in Interactive Media.  I got my Kalypso experience, but I lost the fire I had that day I saw the control room for the first time.  Local news is showing signs of wear.  Likewise, broadcast journalism isn't what it used to be.  Ethics and integrity have been replaced by contests and sensationalism.  My grand plan - be done with TV news and discover a work environment where I can be surrounded with creative thinkers.  Hunter S. Thompson would be pleased as spiked punch to know his proclamation continues to describe broadcast news with laser point accuracy.  The future, with TV behind me, is indeed bright.

If interested, you can see a 90 second collage of my effects I put at the beginning of every resume tape here.  Keep in mind these are from 1998 - but I think they still hold up.