Dreams come true, a look back at 2012

Today marks the end of 2012, and marks the first full year that I have lived in Atlanta and didn’t work for CNN. It was a journey that I couldn’t have gotten through without my friends, family, and some of my former CNN colleagues. I started 2012 freelancing as an editor for The Weather Channel. I started my first full shift over there on January 17th, the day after my birthday. In the beginning of the year, work was scarce. I would have 0 or 1 shift to work on any given week. Sometimes if I was lucky, I would have at least three shifts in any given week. One thing I was surprised about was that I didn't lose my touch on editing when it came to using Final Cut Pro. Even though I didn't touch a non-linear editing machine for two months, I was able to edit VOs, SOTs, and packages for The Weather Channel after using it for more than a year at CNN. Along the way, looked for other jobs and continued my quest for full-time employment. I applied for and interviewed for an editing position at WSB-TV and for an Associate Producer position for Fox Sports South/SportSouth. I felt that the interviews went pretty well and I got a tour of both facilities along the way. I felt like I had hope for either one of those positions. Unfortunately, both of those positions were put on hold. I never got an answer on whether or not I would have been offered one of those positions. All I could do was press on and find a new place to work again. I also applied for a full-time position for one of the six video producer jobs at The Weather Channel. I did not waste time and I got to work on my application for it in January. After a month of waiting in February, I did not hear anything. Half of March went by, nothing again. I waited, waited, and waited some more to see if I was going to get an interview. Unfortunately, all six positions got filled and I didn’t even get an interview. At the time that was discouraging news to me. I didn't know what to think. All I could do was keep working hard at The Weather Channel and hope that someone would see how good I was. Looking back, I might not have been the right fit for that position in the long run. I think my lack of producer experience hurt me in applying for the position. I was still a freelancer at The Weather Channel going into late March. I moved from an edit bay to the newsroom where I edited and produced some videos and averaged at least three shifts a week. Most of the time, I provided some editing support for shows. Occasionally, I would tap in to iWitness from weather.com and produce and edit videos from that user generated website. I wrote my own scripts and offered those segments for air on any show that wanted them. I edited Packages, VOs, SOTs, SOT/VOs, stillstrings, all the usual things I used to edit for CNN. In July, I interviewed for the temporary video editor position here at WGCL and got it. I was a temp for a month before I earned full-time status here. I thank my former CNN colleague Katharine Dorsett for e-mailing me the link to apply for the temp position to get me where I’m at today. Before I accepted my temporary position here at WGCL, I interviewed for the AP position for HLN’s Weekend Express. I interviewed on the same day the Colorado movie theatre shooting happened. I interviewed with Executive Producer Valerie Butler and it felt very comfortable. I felt like we were having a conversation the whole time I was interviewing for a job. Needless to say, I lost out on the position to an internal candidate, but I am happy with where I am here at WGCL. Had I got an offer to work for HLN, it would have marked the first time in my life that I successfully returned to a place that I left behind or moved away from. My regrets are few, but here they are. I regret that I didn’t get a chance to show enough people at CNN that I have changed. I didn’t get a chance to show people that I could become a better, more creative editor. I didn’t get a chance to show the right people that I improved my communication with co-workers and that I was able to work with them better than I did in 2010. I felt that I had left CNN without finishing the job that I started. The dream of full-time employment is realized with CBS Atlanta News/WGCL-TV. I hope to continue on the good things I have done here at the station and for the work that I did for The Weather Channel. Happy new year to all of you and I will be back for more media fun in 2013.