i make videos

Let me tell you about what I do for a living, because I don't think I ever have.

I make videos.

I wake up most days at 9, connect my TV to my computer and then I copy clips off my TiVo from an assortment of shows. The shows I watch every day include Rachael Ray, The View, Martha, Ellen, Tyra, TMZ, The Insider and Extra and whatever was on in primetime the night before. Then I put the clip on the server and I tell my editors about it. A few times a week, an opportunity for a mash-up will present itself and I cut together several clips into one video. This can be time consuming, but it gives the user a better idea of what happened on the show.

I also am a videographer, which I guess means I make videos about life. Parties, red carpet, street fairs, concerts, man-on-the-street interviews, whatever. I do anywhere from 1-4 of these a week now, depending on what's going on in the world. The first half of December has been sloooow. Hollywood is dead these days and the writers strike isn't bringing in the hits anymore.

For the most part I am responsible for the entire piece from start to finish. I usually scout my own events, although sometimes suggestions are made by other people in the company. When I first started I had little editing experience, less camera experience and no reporting experience. Basically, I was a "film major" (I was but... it was kind of fake) who had been writing non-stop for 4 years and had just come off the heels of a failed web venture where I had access to an excellent creative team and even better editors. Friends keep telling me I've earned this job because I work hard, but I still feel enormously lucky.

I've been making of this job what I can, because I love working for this company and I really feel like I can become one of the best at anything I put my heart into. Thankfully, the more I am discouraged, the harder I want to work and keep trying so I can prove that I am excellent at whatever it is that I'm doing over here, even if it's just to myself and even if it is just watching TV and going to parties with a video camera.

In the quest to improve my videos, I've been thinking of things I can do to spice things up. I've decided that I'm going to buy fake mustaches and always wear one when I interview people. In 2208, when kids are studying me in history class, they will refer to this time as my "mustache period".

I'm being completely serious.