In mid-November I finished up the Manhattan Neighborhood Network’s (MNN) “Creating a TV Show Bootcamp.” The class is 4-week intensive teaching students how to use studio equipment and edit on Adobe Premiere Pro. The class culminates with a final capstone project of a 3–7-minute episode applying and demonstrating your knowledge. Let’s Write About has been on the network, but I wanted to take the next step to use the studio spaces of the network and better familiarize myself with a professional production.

Gray brick entrance to the Manhattan Neighborhood Network.

The class was really wonderful! It was a smaller size than usual due to COVID restrictions, so we had 5 students total while typically there are 12 students per class. This smaller size meant that in our studio practices we were always on a piece of equipment, giving us a truly hands-on learning experience. I was always working on either a camera, the control panel and switcher, the audio board, or being the talent in front of the camera which was also a cool perspective. Filming in front of my phone and filming in front of four professional cameras with studio lights on and around me are two vastly different experiences.

I was thankful for all the practice and repetition. I was pretty nervous about working on the equipment at first, especially the cameras. I have little to no experience in a studio setting and this is some expensive, high-end stuff. But with practice and supervision, the roles came easily enough. It’s also helpful to know that the studio has facilitators who are studio professionals employed by MNN to do most of the technical work and set-up of the equipment itself, so community producers and their crews are really doing the specific work of moving the camera, focusing them, setting up mics and getting levels on audio, and directing/switching on the control panel.

Cameras arranged in a professional TV studio.

On the software end, I came in with a fair understanding of Adobe Premier. However, I really just threw myself into it to make video content over the lockdown and subsequent job freeze, so it felt nice to take a big step back and get a full rundown of the basics of the program. Our instructor also took time to teach us her organizational strategy and gaining that insight from a media professional has already made my workflow so much better. Honestly, my workstation and cataloging were a bit (read: irredeemably) messy, mainly because I couldn’t conceive of a better system. As usually is the case, the simplest solution is the best and taking the time to rethink my set up with a clear model has made my editing flow smoother.

The final project was a cool opportunity to test the capacity of the studio. I decided to bring my collaborator Frankie into the studio with her partner and puppeteer Jim!

The project gave us an excuse to consistently rehearse together and also gave me an excuse to make my first official script rundown. Previously, Let’s Write About episodes involved me doing all the puppeteering with voice acting work from Frankie and other collaborators. In part because the show began during the COVID-19 lockdown and in part because filming more than one person or figure with a phone camera can be difficult, especially in an apartment without the space to arrange or rearrange a set. This change felt markedly different, the studio space and resources gave us the room to easily act together, delivering a more polished and professional performance which I’m excited to bring into all our future episodes.

Another thing I wanted to try out was playing music through the studio itself. Previously I would start and stop the music on my laptop, over-filming to later edit my movements, and then Dane would adjust the audio and layer over the song in his audio post-production work. Now, the music can be seamlessly recorded at the same time we, in the studio, hear it live. It sounds small, but from a production/stress consideration it’s huge! No more stopping and starting or going back and forth. While the cueing will take a bit of practice, this first run through of it for the final project was wonderful and promising for what’s to come.

Finally, when we film our episodes, we’ll be able to arrange the lights and make use of the green screen in the studio! These are roles facilitators cover since they require quite a bit time, knowledge, and ladder climbing, but I’m looking forward to playing with some professional green screening after my early DIY attempts with Space Cacti episodes.

If you’re considering making some TV or even just curious about what the process is like, I highly recommend the class! MNN also offers a range of other courses for beginners and experts alike, so check those out too!

And, of course, stay tuned for more Let’s Write About!