When I was 17, an internship position at a local production house in Seattle known as B47 Studios turned into an unexpected opportunity I was vastly unprepared for. I had graduated high school early, and wanted to take a gap year to work before entering college. One day while I was filing paperwork, the owner of the company, Kevin, walked in with a very professional and color-coordinated fellow. With bright blue eyes, a blue pin-stripe button down shirt and navy blue slacks, I came to know this man as “Bob from Microsoft.” Kevin and Bob seemed deep into a serious business conversation, so I didn’t expect either of them to pay attention to me. I returned to my paperwork, only to look up a couple moments later with both men standing two feet in front of me. Bob From Microsoft’s eyes beamed at me, and almost yelling, he exclaimed “You’re perfect!” Kevin introduced me and mentioned their idea to team up and create a news company that would be hosted out of B47 Studios, that later came to be known as Penta Tech (Or Penta News on Youtube.)
Bob mentioned that they were both looking for four young on-camera journalists to embark on this adventure with them, and I jumped at the opportunity. I felt like I’d caught a “big break” of some kind, but I had almost no work to show and my only credential was a single journalism class I’d taken in high school. I could give you a vague explanation of the “information triangle” but that was about it. My position included producing and completing three to five stories per day, all of varying subjects and lengths. I would brainstorm and get stories approved by Kevin, write them, report them in front of the camera, then go directly in to post production to edit them all myself (our assistant editor did most of the organizing and audio sync, the journalists did the rest).
The advantage of working in a start-up news company that didn’t know what it wanted to be was that we got to try everything. Once Bob and Kevin hired three other journalists – all older college graduates with writing and journalism degrees – we learned that the leaders of the company had more of a scatter-shot approach, where we reported everything from social media friendly app reviews to tech company drama, to VR/AR and more “hard news” subjects. I was the only journalist interested in covering the hard news. I went undercover on Facebook to report on illegal gun sales, I interviewed a medical professor and doctor from UCLA on emerging technology for brain health, and interviewed the app developer company that shared our building on the (at the time) very first version of the Oculus – and even got to try it for myself.
The story I spent the most time on, was this undercover gun sales project. At the frustration of my employer, it was taking too long, so when I finally rushed into the studio to shoot it, for some reason it didn’t feel finished. I asked our DP his opinion, and I was lucky at how blunt he was. He mentioned as someone who had served in the army and was somewhat pro-gun, that my story had come off extremely pointed, which was my first time hearing that term. I was embarrassed and hurt, but I understood what he said once I read back through my script. It was a valuable ego check, and I thanked him for it and immediately went back to re-write. Once I re-shot with our DP in the studio he did mention it was a bit better. For the sake of time and not to further anger our employer, I went along and posted the final story. This experience made me realize just how important it was to find people I trusted to tell me the hard truths about my work, regardless of my identity or the potential to hurt my feelings.
I learned that among many other things in the six months before the company went bankrupt. We hadn’t heard from Bob in weeks and it was clear he was abandoning his love child, and the money seemed to follow. Looking back on this experience, it was an invaluable way to spend my time, and I’m extremely grateful for all the hard lessons along the way.