A year ago, my life changed for the better, and I owe it all to the School of Journalism & Graphic Communication.
I created “Beyond the Sky Entertainment,” a television show with five segments, powered by TV 20, the university’s public access channel. I serve as the curator, executive producer, host and editor.
I must than Edward Thomas, FAMU TV-20’s station director, who presented the idea of an entertainment show in j-school. I worked diligently day and night to make my show come to life.
At the time, one of my primary goals was to build a strong team of students to give them the opportunity to work hands-on in the entertainment realm.
I started out with 15 people on my production team for “Beyond the Sky.” I now have 40 crew members, and let’s say team work truly makes the dream work.
My crew consists of producers, assistant producers, camera women, hosts and social media managers.
I never imagined that I would create a show, not to mention have people working on my own team. It gets challenging at times, but I always put hard work in to continue to create something great. I never have all the answers to TV production, but with the guidance of Mr. Thomas and my team we all work together.
A day in my life as the curator is far from simple. I’m a full-time student and I work a part-time job outside of school.
Every day of the week I put effort into “Beyond the Sky.” I must keep the show functioning and running.
Throughout the week, I research content and oversee my producers and assistant producers to make sure everything is on track for filming day on Sundays.
Every Friday, the team meets on Zoom to run through content that was created for the segments and adjust the material for the episode.
“Beyond The Sky” thrives on preparation. My team prepares all week for the most important day: Sunday.
We meet at 2 p.m. Sunday in studio B in SJGC to record our episode that premieres at 6 p.m. every Thursday.
I always give my team a pep talk and go over the strict agenda for filming day. I then go into my office to look over content to prepare to host my segment. We then gather to record each segment, which usually takes about 20-40 minutes each.
After filming, I work on editing the show, which is normally 60 minutes or so.
As I look back and reflect on my journey with “Beyond the Sky Entertainment,” I feel an abundance of joy. When I started my college career, I had no idea what kind of journalist I wanted to be, but with the guidance of j-school and my very own show, I now dream of beckoning a multimedia entertainment journalist.
“Beyond The Sky Entertainment” is my escape. I look forward to working with my team because we are always doing something great and we are constantly learning from each other and becoming better journalists.
Keep up with “Beyond the Sky Entertainment” on Instagram and catch an all new episode every Thursday at 6 p.m. on Comcast channel 20 and YouTube.