Checking in for my traditional quarterly update. I think I actually missed the four-month mark since my last posting, which is certainly shameful.
So where has the time gone? Well, I have been working for the past few months at the much-heralded CBC (The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, The Mother Corp etc) as an editorial assistant in the 24-hour Newsworld TV operation.
It is an exciting place to be. Surrounded by household names and faces from the news anchors I work with every day to the radio and sports people I see in the buildings atrium or cafeteria. The CBC is chock-full of smart, ambitious, overly stressed people. I’m sometimes unsure how I fit into any of these categories, except maybe the third.
The EA job itself is not terribly challenging, and largely unrewarding. I serve as something between a secretary, and gopher. The main duties include printing scripts and rushing them to anchors, controlling the “autocue” prompter system which allows the anchors to appear like they have an entire hour’s news memorized, and answering phones. We also have to fetch and guide guests through security and the mazes of hallways to the appropriate studio or green room.
Journalism? Hmm…what’s that? Writing? Well, I do number the pages on the scripts I deliver.
The job, at least as it applies to me, also involves a lot of painfully early wake-up calls; my shifts usually start around 5 to 5:30 am. The benefit of being released by early afternoon is counterbalanced by the necessity of either mid-day naps, or 9 pm bedtimes, or both.
Complaining? Not I! The job is meant to be an entry point for people who haven’t previously worked at the CBC, a way to get through that hallowed door and stick around long enough to have real responsibilities. I’ve already seen it happen to a few EAs who were there before me, so I know it can happen. There is definitely some dark art between networking and sucking up to get to that point, and I’m not sure I have the fortitude for it all. But we shall see.
In the meantime I’ve kept chipping away at the freelance stone, though sort of getting into some ruts there too.
The way I see it though, overall, things are not bad: I earn enough to live in the big town, I am well situated for bigger and better things at the country’s “premiere” broadcaster, and I have time off during the day to pursue the writing career.
Plus it is FINALLY getting warmer. Time to get out, buy a bike and be happy the days no longer alternate between slush and snow.
Hallelujah.
