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Issue #49

Weekly Newsletter

by L. Swift and Jeff McQ

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Student Successes

Here are just a few of the latest jobs & opportunities for RRFC students & graduates this week:

  
  • EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT OPENING @ HBO! – Los Angeles, CA
  • NIGHT ON-AIR PERSONALITY NEEDED/TOP-40 RADIO – San Francisco, CA
  • HIRING EVENT AUDIO ENGINEER – Orlando, FL
  • WANTED: FILM PRODUCER/MANAGER – Staten Island, NY
  • PRODUCTION ASSISTANT @ INDUSTRIAL LIGHT & MAGIC! – San Francisco, CA
  • MORNING SHOW SIDEKICK OPENING-COUNTRY RADIO – Phoenix, AZ
  • TV NEWS PRODUCER NEEDED – Des Moines, IA
  • PRODUCTION ASSISTANT FOR FX COMPANY – Santa Monica, CA
  • OPENING FOR RADIO BROADCAST PRODUCER – Providence, RI
  • ENTRY LEVEL VIDEO EDITOR – San Diego, CA
 

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When Jimi and Brian get you training hands-on in real productions, it helps you find your place in the industry! Read below about an aspiring film director who discovered on-the-job that his true passion was in set design, and whose connections have led to steady work in the Los Angeles film industry!

Student Successes
 

Film Connection graduate Tim Newton builds his future in film!

  When Film Connection graduate Tim Newton first enrolled the program, he had no idea how his prior construction skills would open doors for him, not to mention how those skills would help him find his niche in the industry.   Tim first came across the Film Connection while exploring different ways to break into film. “I was researching film schools,” he says, “and it looked like I was going to be ending up paying near $100,000 over a 25-year period. I wasn’t 100% sure if it was my passion, and I didn’t want to put $100,000 into something I wasn’t quite sure about. So I decided to search other programs, and I found the Film Connection and decided to sign up.”   Like so many who are pursuing careers in film, Tim thought he wanted to direct—mainly because he was unaware of other possibilities. “I was just unfamiliar with the film business,” he says. “I think that when anybody thinks of film and they think, ‘Oh, I want to work on a movie,’ you always hear about the director kind of thing…You don’t really get to ever hear about all the other jobs.”   Csaba BereczkyFrom the beginning of Tim’s apprenticeship with Csaba Bereczky at Hollywood Sky Entertainment in Beverly Hills, CA, he was immersed in the actual workings of the film industry (even his preliminary mentor interview took place on-set). “Working with [Csaba] was really, really fun,” says Tim. “He would be honest with me and demand that I did the best that I could. I was just willing to work hard.”   Learning hands-on with Csaba turned out to be just what Tim needed to clarify his own career path. “As I started to work on-set and saw what each of those person’s lives entailed, I thought, ‘Yeah, directing would be cool, but it’s not something that I would be.’… It’s not something that I could see myself doing long term.”   What he did discover while training on-the-job, however, was that he was very interested in the art department, and set design in particular. While working with his mentor on the set during a shoot for AT&T, he made a seemingly random connection that would change his focus completely.   “I ended up meeting up with a production designer who asked me about my background, and I told him it was in construction,” says Tim. “He called me a couple of months later and asked if I would come to work. And they saw that I was really good at building, and they said, ‘Hey, you want to continue to build stuff for music videos and commercials that we do?’ And I said, ‘Yeah!’   Since completing his Film Connection apprenticeship, that connection Tim made on-set has led to steady work in production and set design in Los Angeles. “The art department is not a lax job,” he says, but he enjoys the challenge, and sees himself continuing long-term. “It would be wonderful to be in the union on a TV show,” he says. He also likes the consistency of work that comes with the job: “Working on the construction side, you have five days of work,” he says, “so it’s nice because you get more days of work rather than just working one day if you were camera department.”   Working on-the-job with the Film Connection not only helped Tim figure out what he really wanted to do in film, but the connections he made led directly to his successes today. His advice for other film apprentices? Make connections.   “Get to know everyone,” he says. “Just talk to every single person. Get their email, get their phone number, and continually email, text, or call them and let them know what you’re up to. Ask them what they’re up to, because when it comes time that someone says, ‘Hey, we really need this. Do you know anybody?’, then you’re going to be the first name they think of.”  

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Mentor News
Melody Allen, one of our top mentors for the Radio Connection, is a passionate radio professional in the Los Angeles area who hosts “Wigginnout: The Hip-Hop Movement,” an underground hip-hop program on Adrenaline Radio. During a recent conversation with RRF, Melody talked about what her program Wigginnout and the trials of being a female in the radio business, and even took a moment to brag on one of her recent graduates, Brian Valdovinos. Check it out below!     RRF: What sets Wigginnout apart from other hip-hop stations? How do you go about finding certain talent that you’re not finding on mainstream?   Melody Allen: Basically, I see them on Facebook [or] social media,I might get a recommendation from somebody locally…just somewhere locally in the state of California that they want me to check out, [someone who] is really working really, really hard to get his or her name out there, and they just need a little push. I’m there to assist them and try to promote them. I think what sets us apart is we’re an underground, independent radio show, and we’re big on promoting underground artists and independent artists…We [also] allow people who have an interest in doing radio to come do our show. If I have a group of kids and they’re saying, ‘Oh, well, I would love to be a radio personality one day,” I give them that opportunity to do that on my show. I give them the opportunity to book the artists, help them set up the questions, just get a whole feel of what it’s like to be on the radio.   Melody AllenRRF: What made you pull the trigger on the Wigginnout concept? Was there a moment in your life where you said, “I’ve got to do this”?   Melody: Yes…When I was in New York, I saw so many of the hip-hop artists. They were mainly mainstream artists, but I saw them get so much recognition. And what I do admire about New York versus California is New York will look out for its own.   RRF: What about being a female in the radio business? Do you think the playing field is level, or do you think it’s still a boy’s business overall?   Melody: I think it’s still a boy’s business. I think that female disc jockeys, on-air personalities, whatever you want to call them, have to fight for their position. It’s not consistent with women…I think with males, being in the position that I’m in, when people decide to work with them in the radio industry, they pretty much are consistent and know that’s what they really want. It seems like when they’re working with a female, they’re undecided. They’re trying to feel it out, you know what I mean? They always have a back up plan.   RRF: So how do you think women can be stronger in the radio business?   Melody: Just being consistent. Not giving up. I think with women, too, we have to aim so high to get more celebrity artists than we do versus independent or underground artists. And I think that’s how we make a name for ourselves.   Brian ValdovinosRRF: Where did our apprentice Brian Valdovinos come into the picture? What did he do for you?   Melody: If I gave him an assignment like, “Follow up on this venue. See if we can have this venue on this day,” he did that. If I said, “Okay, call the artist, talk to the artist, tell me what your feel is on the artist,” he would do that. If I said, “Do some research about what’s happening in sports or celebrity news,” he would do that. I mean, there’s no job that Brian wouldn’t take on to support the show.   RRF: Where do you see hip-hop 10 years from now?   Melody: I think hip-hop would never die. At one point I did think hip-hop was just a phase that was going to come in and then go back out, but I see the longevity of it. It’s going to go to a level beyond where it’s at now…I see it as being there for a long time.     ADDENDUM: BREAKING NEWS! Another of Melody’s students, Maryam Shepardson, just landed a position at Power 106, proof-positive that women are fierce in radio! More on this in weeks to come!  

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Apprentices in Action
   
Apprentice Media
         

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