Assistants Row
Posted: Monday, March 12, 2007 5:22 PM by Jaclyn Levin
(From Emily Goldberg, TODAY Assistant)
My name is Emily Goldberg, I'm 23 years old and I'm an assistant on TODAY for the 9AM Senior Producer and head of TODAY bookings, Marc Victor (that’s Marc with a C and not a K!!) Whenever I tell people that I work as an assistant on TODAY, they immediately say,
“That’s soooooo cool!!!! An assistant!!!!”
Then silence. Awkward pause… “So what exactly do you do?”
To tell you the truth…It’s kind of hard to describe just one “I Do” because there are lots of “I do’s” (like Starbuck's runs, scheduling meetings for my boss and I’ve gotten quite good at making those impossible last minute lunch reservations.)
But, I've also enjoyed the opportunity to write segments and “opens” (shorter segments around 2 minutes each. Did you see Ms. Pac Man or today's Cat Fur Sweater?) It may not be as glamorous as an interview with Drew Barrymore, but it’s still cool! I have also assisted TODAY producers with their segments, including interviewing people on the street, or as we call them MOS interviews. Also, once every three weeks I arrive at the studio at 6:30AM for Green Room duty. (This is where I insert that last week I met Jennifer Hudson and James Cameron!!!) One of my favorite parts of the position is pitching story ideas, though when I first started suggesting stories for the 9AM hour, probably 7 out of 10 of them got the boot. Once I figured out what Marc was looking for, finding potential stories suddenly got much easier.
The next question I usually get from curious friends, family and acquaintances is, “Wow, sounds cool…how did you get this job? Who did you know? You must have been a journalism major right?” To which I reply, “nope, no journalism/communications degree here” (which is not to say that it’s not an awesome major.) I was a History and Gov/Law Major at Lafayette College, a liberal arts school. After graduating college I was an NBC page for a year where I rotated through many different studio assignments, including the TODAY green room where I fell in LOVE with the show! Because of that assignment, I knew that my dream job was to be a TODAY producer. But, you have to take some baby steps…so rewind on the dreams…my new dream job is to be an ASSISTANT on TODAY.
As an assistant, you put in long hours, walk long blocks (cabs are expensive!) and postpone even the thought of a 401k. However, this job really is a dream job. You really get a feel for the show, whether it’s learning how to read a run-down, cut b-roll and all together learn the ins and outs of TODAY. Overall, it’s an AMAZING job, an INCREDIBLE environment and I could not be more obsessed.
Be sure to catch some of the other assistants' blogs down the road.
