Tim and I have rolled onto USC's campus around 4pm. Michelle Obama is scheduled to address a group of students and supports around 5 in the Russell House Building. It's a nice setup, good size room, they've provided an audio feed, but where are the lights? You can't hold a press conference with ambient house lights. So I truck back down to the satellite truck for a light kit. After lighting the room I start shooting b-roll for our package. The one thing you learn early in this business is the mark your spot on the media riser. I did. So imagine my surprise when I went back into the room to discover an attractive young woman standing in my spot. As I began to set up my tripod, she said "you aren't really going to set up right in front of my are you?" She quickly informed me she was with MTV and I needed to move. Maybe if I hadn't been in the business for 16 plus years I would have been intimidated. I wasn't. She called me an "A" hole. Of course it's this A hole who set up the lights that allowed her to capture images on the cheap camera MTV provided her. She would later use this A hole's lights to interview people. So MTV hated us tonight, but ABC News loved us.
Tim and I got an exclusive interview with Mrs. Obama. Apparently ABC has been attempting to get her for months. A case of right place at the right time. I think setting up the lights helped as well. Once the network realized what we had and what they didn't, the bartering began. Of course decisions to share material are made at much higher levels. Like most industries this is a very small business. You never know when you are going to need a tape, battery or dub of an interview. So we've got an IOU from ABC and KMA for MTV.
AH aka MB
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