I dragged my stressed out and exhausted body back in to the city for one last day. This was it. 12 hours of torture and it would all be over. I grabbed that train in and was so happy that I was done with the morning wake-ups & run to the station routine.
We had to be there at 9:00 promptly. Why? The president of the Travel Channel would be speaking with us. EEEEKKKK! He was so low-key and came across as a guy you'd meet hanging out at Friday's. Not the president of a network. And he encouraged us to send in our clips. He wants our footage. And they may pay us for that footage. Even if they don't & they take it just for review--wow!
That's what comes with the class. We got the "1,000 Places to See Before You Die" book, a t-shirt that says TCA Academy, and the open door right to the network execs and their professional editors to assist us & listen to us & entertain our ideas. They ran this course six times in 2007 and have purchased footage from 17 people out there who had taken the course. Cool. And they said you never know--it all comes with practice. They said one woman in the Miami course didn't strike them as anything great but she shot footage & submitted repeatedly and they now want to hire her. ??????????? Oh I have to do that. I want out of Briar and this would be nice. Even if I am not using a camera--I'd answer phones for them. I'd set up those classes for them. I'd do anything as long as it's not where I am now.
So, my last piece: I had only six minutes of footage that was to have been at least twenty minutes and I had no soundbite because my guy didn't speak english. I was way behind when it came to what I was to have and what I did have.
I worked on it, edited it, learned a few new tricks, and was able to put together 42 seconds of clip with a voice-over. I wrote some little thing about the man who sits there and with no language communicates with his customers with ease. Blah blah blah. The group, including the TCP watched. And I slid under my table. Michael said, again, good angle and shots and even though I had such a rough time, my voice-over was written well. But, being an English Prof. I should know how to write. yeah--thanks. Everyone else laughed while I died.
I was done. It was over.
They asked me to do a testimonial and I giggled through the whole thing. I will let you know when it's posted. A group of 12 of us went to get a drink and we ended up at the ESPN Zone right in the middle of the Green Bay v. Giants game. The place was PACKED! and these people wanted a table for 12. Yeah right.
While we waited, we got to know eachother a bit more than the whole travel/film aspect. The newlyweds were so funny.....they told us all sorts of stories. And then G. Cracker showed up....that hottie professional who was assisting at the workshop. I was never fortunate enough to work with him and, as MT and I were chatting about how he was so helpful to her, he said to me "I was hoping to work with you but never got the chance". I said he could have helped me any time, as I probably drove the two men who helped my group nutty. He laughed. Then he told us how he has a bachelors in poetry, moved here from Michigan, and even worked on a farm out in Amagansett one summer. MMMMMMM.....I wanted to melt just listening to him speak. He seems so calm and sweet and like such an observer. If that's true, he must have picked up on me melting right there. Oh well. I didn't get the chance to chat more than that because the Groupie stepped in and then people swapping places.....and it was 9ish when they got a table & I had to leave. I wanted to stay but just couldn't hold my eyes open anymore. And had I stayed, I was not even close to the end at which he was sitting to find out of there is a girlfriend or Mrs. Cracker. So I left.
I didn't fall asleep on the train but I hit my bed so hard I swear I would have gone straight through the mattress.
Amazing amazing experience! I am already emailing people in the group just to see how their travel home went and I am dreaming of Mr. G. Cracker. Yummmm.
Maybe I'll have a new career.......who knows?!?
