Fox Movie Channel chose several film students to share the co-hosting responsibilities on life after film school. That means that each of us will miss out on the opportunity to appear on certain episodes. Naturally, we’re all eager for our first appearance on the show. But, even though I wasn’t chosen as a host for the taping of the 2012 premiere, that day turned out to be awesome. The entire cast was invited to attend the taping, to observe and learn, and to share the experience with our fellow student hosts and the crew. I jumped at the chance, knowing it would better prepare me for my first episode.
While I don’t want to give away anything about who the guest was, I can tell you that it was a very entertaining and informative show. It’s also exciting to be on this year’s cast because life after film school has undergone some changes that are making it better than ever. It was also rewarding for me personally to see how similar the equipment is to what we use at LMU SFTV. Not only that, but because I work in Lighting and Grip, it was satisfying to me that I could name, and knew how to operate, the vast majority of it. I was the proverbial kid in the candy store. As the taping wrapped up, I felt overwhelmed and honored to be a part of a show with so many talented and dedicated professionals.
Then, just when I thought the day couldn’t get any better, an FX executive who was there to view the taping informed us that we were invited to an FX holiday party which was already in progress in Studio City. As it turns out, I was the only student who actually went and it was almost over when I arrived. I was there long enough to discover that I am not a very good bowler, but hey, at least I bowled two strikes. The other thing I discovered is that I’m a pretty lucky guy, because working on this show is going to be an amazing experience.
As the party at the lanes was breaking up and I was preparing to head back to the dorm, our host (the senior FX executive) personally asked me to come along to the smaller annual holiday dinner and after-party at his home — a totally unexpected privilege on my first ever day “on the job.” Over the course of the entire day and evening, I met so many friendly and creative people and had so much fun that it was a day I’ll never forget. Like I said, I’m a pretty lucky guy!
In the end, it absolutely felt like it was the first day of the rest of my life.
