Critiques: Get Them While You Can - And Get Your 1st Job!

Many people will intern at a station, or several, before they get into "job-hunting mode" for their first TV news or weather job.  At those internships you will (make sure this happens) tape yourself trying to do whatever it is - be it news or weather - that you want to ultimately do.  The next step after that, and the hardest, is to then submit your best work to the experienced anchors and/or meteorologists that you intern with.  That is how you get critiques, and critiques are you how will get better at your craft.  This is an excerpt from the book that kicks of the section on the value of critiques as you set up your resume tape:

Once you are able to get an internship there are a number of valuable assets you will have at your disposal. Make sure you take advantage of ALL of them! One of those assets is the experience of other anchors and reporters and meteorologists at the station you are interning at. They all have more experience than you and there should be at least one, if not several, who are willing to look at what you are doing and give you their advice on how to get better. If you are in news, try putting together a package using video other people have shot – but write your own script. Put it together in a package format and see how it looks. Then let someone else critique your voice & writing style. If you are in weather, use the weather show from the 10pm news and record that. 

The section goes on from there, and can be read in-full in the book, So You Want To Be A TV Star?  Critiques are essential to getting your first job, especially when you still have time to get in and record new material before your internships end.

Check in soon for another post & excerpt from the book!  If you are interested in seeing more of this book, you can purchase it using the link at the top of this page.  You can also visit http://tvbook.aaronshaffer.net where you can see the table of contents, additional sample pages, and are able to purchase it through the publisher.

~Aaron Shaffer