Working with the pros

By Judy Taylor Cramer
Managing editor, Florida State Times

The lights are hot and the melting makeup needs to be touched up. The audience is squirming and needs to be put at ease. The director is barking commands in your ear. The floor director is counting down to the cue. The camera's red light flashes on.

Welcome to the real world.

On April 24 some FSU students experienced the real world of television production when "Inside the Law" taped seven 30-minute shows in a little more than seven hours at the Public Broadcast Center.

"It was a chance for them to have a real-life experience in real time," said Avon Killion, WFSU-TV program director who teaches a course on advanced TV studio production techniques for the College of Communication. "To see the stress, to feel the stress."

But not too much stress. "I wanted to make sure they were successful," he added. "So I created jobs that were low stress but gave them the opportunity to be a part of the production."

Of the 30 people working on the taping of the show, nearly half were students.

"What better way to learn TV production than doing production," said Darren Hoffmeyer, a media production major who worked on traffic control. "Seeing our names in the credits will be a nice segue between school and work."

Jeff Newman, a communication major who worked as a camera operator, noticed the difference between this production and local ones he's worked on.

"It's a lot more intense," he said. "The degree of directing goes up a level."

Though they were surrounded by "big-time producers" and Jack Ford, NBC News chief legal correspondent and host of the series, the students said they were treated as equals.

"No one's talking down to you," said Newman. "It's nice to be accepted."

Audra Perry, an intern at WFSU-TV and a media production major, served as Ford's personal assistant and makeup artist. "Now I can say I've done makeup for an ambassador," she said, referring to panelist William J. Hodges, U.S. ambassador to Panama.

Jane Tronnier, a media production major just days from graduation and an internship at CNN, was so excited about the project that she invited her father to be part of the studio audience.

Florida State University students, which received a grant of nearly $200,000 from the Jessie Ball duPont Fund to produce the "Inside the Law" programs dealing with juvenile crime, prison conditions and sentencing issues.

Panelists included FSU criminology Professor Thomas G. Blomberg and David W. Rasmussen, director, of the FSU Policy Sciences Center.

Participating via satellite from Washington were the Rev. Jesse Jackson of the National Rainbow Coalition, U.S. Rep. Bill McCollum (R-Fla.) and U.S. Rep. Melvin Watt (D-N.C.).

Other students who worked on the project were Parry Silcox, Rich Sheldon, Jennifer Stewart, Illyssa Bozza, Kevin Joseph, Bill Furlong, Ann McDuffie, Nell Belue, Amy Costantino, Keely Walker, and Clark Smith.

"Inside the Law," produced by Emmy-award winner Gary Nenner, is broadcast nationwide on more than 120 public television stations. The series, underwritten by Reliance National Insurance Company in cooperation with the American Bar Association, is scheduled for mid- to late summer.