As cliche as it sounds, that piece of advice is what landed me a position as a junior reporter at Fox 29 in Philadelphia. I had applied to internships within their newsroom twice without being selected. I had a friend who was in the junior reporter program, who encouraged me to try out for that. Fox 29's HR department also informed me of the program and invited me to the initial interest meeting.
Twelve of us came to Market Street in Philly one afternoon in December to meet with the producer and learn about how to audition. We were given two weeks to pitch three story ideas. If they liked our ideas, they would green light us to go out and produce it. It would be due within two weeks after we heard back.
There was an upcoming send off show for competitors at the United States Figure Skating National Championships. I pitched that. I also had fallen in love with the new cat cafe in Philadelphia and wanted to do a story on that. My third idea was to feature a local jewelry business in Newark, DE that is part of a larger organization, Water is Life Kenya. The founder had come to speak in one of my fashion classes in the fall, so that's how I learned about that.
Fox gave me to green light for Water is Life Kenya. Here is the package:
Twelve of us came to Market Street in Philly one afternoon in December to meet with the producer and learn about how to audition. We were given two weeks to pitch three story ideas. If they liked our ideas, they would green light us to go out and produce it. It would be due within two weeks after we heard back.
There was an upcoming send off show for competitors at the United States Figure Skating National Championships. I pitched that. I also had fallen in love with the new cat cafe in Philadelphia and wanted to do a story on that. My third idea was to feature a local jewelry business in Newark, DE that is part of a larger organization, Water is Life Kenya. The founder had come to speak in one of my fashion classes in the fall, so that's how I learned about that.
Fox gave me to green light for Water is Life Kenya. Here is the package:
A few weeks later, I learned that I was not one of the 5 or 6 selected to participate in the program. While the quality of my shooting, editing, and reporting was up to par, the package was lacking in interviews and seemed too much like a commercial for the store versus a feature story.
Luckily everything worked out internship-wise for me and I ended up taking a position with WHYY's "On Tour" show for the spring semester and one with WRDE Delmarva's NBC station for the summer.
In April, Fox 29's HR came to speak in my documentary film class. She informed us about the junior reporter program and said that auditions would be taking place soon. I spoked to her after class and she encouraged me to re-apply and to not give up. My professor/advisor also encouraged me to audition again as it is a very good program that can land students on market 4 television.
Taking the feedback from my previous audition, I went through the process again. This time, I was asked to do my pitch on the 1st State Ice Theater team. I incorporated 4 interviews to this package and kept it concise and to the point. This time, I was 1 of the lucky 4 to be admitted into the program. Watch my package below:
Luckily everything worked out internship-wise for me and I ended up taking a position with WHYY's "On Tour" show for the spring semester and one with WRDE Delmarva's NBC station for the summer.
In April, Fox 29's HR came to speak in my documentary film class. She informed us about the junior reporter program and said that auditions would be taking place soon. I spoked to her after class and she encouraged me to re-apply and to not give up. My professor/advisor also encouraged me to audition again as it is a very good program that can land students on market 4 television.
Taking the feedback from my previous audition, I went through the process again. This time, I was asked to do my pitch on the 1st State Ice Theater team. I incorporated 4 interviews to this package and kept it concise and to the point. This time, I was 1 of the lucky 4 to be admitted into the program. Watch my package below:
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