in this edition of Ex-TVNewsers we are talking to a woman who left her TV news
job she started her own business and likes to fly drones on the side
hi I'm Jennifer Moore Ex-TVProducer we are here with Renee Stoll and Renee
used to be a reporter and then she decided to leave and do her own thing
we're gonna talk to her all about her business and what it's like to leave and
transition to something else Renee thank you so much for being here
well thanks for having me Jen I like that we got to talk a little sewing to
on the side I know you're like probably one of the so I case you guys aren't
aware I like to sew and I have a sewing channel as well and I rarely meet anyone
else who works in TV news that has any knowledge of sewing or like quilting so
when Renee said she had experience I was very excited because you just as you
know you don't need a lot of people in this business that do a lot of like DIY
or like handmade stuff so I'm sure I'm sure for you it was definitely a stress
reliever as well during their time in the business I know I used it as sort of
a form of therapy well Renee can you tell us a little bit about your
background and like what what kind of jobs you've had newsroom's I have had
just about every job you can imagine in a newsroom I went to USF yay and then I
my first internship I was really fortunate I worked at one of your
previous stations and ABC Action News the Kevin Bacon of the TV news
apparently hey I learned a lot there on all different sites and then when I got
my first job in News it was not as a reporter I actually went to school
thinking I was going to be a director I wasn't into being a reporter or anything
like that I wanted to sit back and you know look at all the screens but then I
got my first job in news and it changed me a little bit it wasn't reporting
though I worked in in Fort Myers at the Fox station there and I started I've
done everything and from the audio board I've been an editor I have run the deco
board I was a production assistant I moved cameras around on the morning
show at 4:00 a.m. I even had as a production assistant I even had to sand
the studio floors and recoat them with glaze I mean for
my whole $11 an hour so you know again you're a real DIY are there I did
everything I did everything and then eventually I became a reporter at the
station I worked my way up became a reporter after that I worked at another
station also in the same market then I went to Orlando work that wouldn't be
the toughest stations I've ever worked at channel 9 there I really enjoyed my
contacts there though and then yeah I thought ok I'm gonna try and go to New
York I'm just gonna you know try and see if I can get a job there and luckily I
did I worked at WABC the number one station in the country it was amazing it
was brief but it was amazing I really enjoyed I'm from New York so I enjoyed
going back there and and but that's when the gears kind of changed so I I was
finding that it may be my time and news it was past I needed to try something
different wonderful and what was it about the TV
news business that was appealing to you and made you want to want to get into it
I was actually when I was interning at ABC Action News I thought I wanted to be
a director but then I was interning with one of the anchors there and I went out
to with her on a story and I just realized how much I really liked talking
to people I just I like talking to people from all different backgrounds I
like sharing their stories I like creating a bond with these people and
knowing how to talk to them and figuring out ok
I need this interview you know how do I get this person to do an interview with
me on camera so it was a little bit of just really learning how to talk to
people and that's my favorite aspect of it I really enjoy just meeting people
from all different areas and especially when I worked in New York and I traveled
all the borough's and just meeting so many different types of people that was
an even by far that's the part I miss the most now oh alright so on the flip
side can you share with people some of the maybe the downsides about working in
news well you know when you work in news you
you give up your life to your station basically you they dictate if you're on
air they dictate how you look you know what color your hair is gonna be or what
length it's gonna be sometimes what outfit seal where and they also dictate
your schedule and you really have to be on call almost all the time
you work holidays you work all those days and I just found that that was it
was taking a toll on me because a lot of times you work in stints cities or
states that aren't close to your family and you're working on holiday so you
don't get to see your family for those holidays and so that's a big bummer
that's one of those things that every holiday when you're working it and you
see other people enjoy it or you're covering the Christi you're doing your
like holidays you're like last-minute holiday gift package or something to me
that's that's the big bummer working in TV I mean there's other things where I
think also towards the end of my career it was they were just trying to really
encompass so much because social media is now becoming such a huge part and no
one you know you have to do so many tweets a day you have to like that John
Oliver's sketch about journalism have to you have to do tweets you have to do one
station had to actually make packages on my phone and those and update the
website and do all this while you're also covering the story while you're
also trying to talk to witnesses while you're also trying to enterprise stories
so I think more and more gets put on your plate and not a lot gets taken off
towards the end of my career for me others and that was it was a stressor it
was a big stressor that definitely seems to be a trend in newsrooms is people
have to do more for the same pay and the workload just never lets up and I think
that's definitely something that people don't realize if you don't work in the
business or if you've never been in news and it's it really thins people out fast
you know because not a lot of people can put up with that for
sure and is there something you know I know sometimes the media gets a bit of a
bad rap is there something that you would like the world to know about the
TV news business that might not really be a parent um you know I for me and I'm
speaking strictly from a reporter position is that I would have a lot of
people think that I was just a talking head that I did not enterprise my own
stories or anything like that I lived at the courthouse I was there I worked a
night shift but I was there 8:00 a.m. talking to the bailiffs talking to you
know the attorneys that had big cases looking stuff up reading tons and tons
of our reports and I think that I there would be people who'd be like oh they
just give you the story it's right yeah you know at the network level it does
work more like that but I like I think that's something that I like like I like
talking to you guys because the people especially who work in local news your
work you're bought off every single day and you guys don't know like you know I
know reporters you should have to keep several sheets of clothing in the car
because you don't know where you knurl you could be at a fire so you got a
really like it's it's such an all-consuming thing to do right you'd
have your you're waiting boots outside gear because if you're reporting in in
Florida you don't know if all the sudden you're going to be covering like the
rain has caused a flood somewhere or something so yeah people I guess people
would just assume you know what you're going out on and you just go do that one
story probably had hours of setup on my end when I'm not working when I'm not
getting paid to set it up in order for that story to come through so I think
that's one of the things it just irks me a little because I'm like no I did a lot
of work for that story and that that is a really good point and also you could
be on multiple stories a day like like I've seen this all the time your story
gets switched several times you end up starting off on one story then that
doesn't well sir or they switch you to something
else you know if I you know I was kind of glad to be back at the newsroom cuz
at least I was like at least I was in one spot but I really feel for a lot of
the reporter that those reporters especially the one-man bands that's even
that's even rougher that happened more times and I can mention I mean every day
your story go out on one story and it's a story that you worked so hard
oh we're just gonna both saw that and now we're gonna make like come on well
is there out of all the stories you've worked on is there one in particular
that just had a really big impact on you
just strange I mean yeah you were in Florida so for the look I mean my
favorite stories were early in my news career I they were back-to-back I got to
rappel off a 30-story building and I didn't really know I was gonna be doing
that that days goes on so I was rappelling in my heels and like wow that
was so awesome though those firefighters I would put that day I still see them
sometimes cuz I'm back in the same area and then the next day I flew a world war
ii fighter plane we put it up in the air and he let me fly it for a little bit
it's awesome you never I guess you you're right you never know what you're
gonna do do you have any tips for rappelling in heels though that was that
was fun but then there's stories where I had a guy who had been arrested for
allegedly trying to kill his girlfriend and I did a jailhouse interview and he
looked me right in the face and confessed to everything and my video
wound up being used by the State Attorney's Office so you have things
like that on the serious side that stick with you or the time that somebody
yanked my mic and almost yanked my arm I don't like all those things start to
come back to my head when you say that III hope I'm not giving you some sort of
bad flashback series well let's um let's talk about viral stories
I'm sure you've been a part of some and you obviously have seen so many go
through the new cycles what kind of attributes do you feel like some of
these have in common you know it's hard to say I did have one really good viral
sore story and I can see why that one became viral it was it was about maybe
six or seven years ago and it was it was the time when a lot of people are being
foreclosed on by the bank it was you know the economy was horrible and there
was a homeowner who Bank of America messed up and a the homeowner who didn't
owe any money and Bank of America was trying to foreclose on him so he took
them to Corky one and then he never got paid by Bank of America for his port key
so he tried he closed he foreclosed on Bank of America he switched oh my gosh
so they came to the bank with a moving truck and deputies to start you know
hauling stuff out if they need to and in it was at a time where that really
struck such a chord with people I still see that story passed around once in a
while on the web and now and has like 30 million views or something but it's it's
just usually it's something that really strikes a chord right now with people
and I love a good viral story I looking at it a lot of times the viral stories
are something that make makes people feel good because they want to see
something that and they want to share something that makes them feel better so
that story definitely did it I mean it's hard to say so it's just so hard to say
what will become viral and it's like if we knew how to create by like surefire
viral stories you know we would all beat we would be rich right well that's
interesting cuz I've been talking to I've been asking everyone that and
everyone has a slightly different answer but the general theme definitely seems
to be story you know stories that make you feel good someone said stories that
you can't see anywhere like show me something I can't see anywhere else
recently there was that video of dr. Larry Nasser that Michigan gymnastics
doctor with that guy going out so it's like stuff like that or I find it's
people like like that guy they're like way to
go dude you know way to see that doctor you know so stuff that kind of gets
people feeling something I think I agree I agreed something that like that Nasr
thing I'm sure like the same thing so it's like if I was in that situation
would I do that mmm-hmm no I don't know I personally
thought they should have let him let him keep going but you know but it went by
rolling in he had a GoFundMe page and everything no so there's Dan I'm sure
you've covered lots of weird Florida news over the years together I'm just
yeah I know or like that yeah like the weird the animal store floor it always
has good animal stores too oh I had one that went by that was a 91 year old
woman from an alligator oh my god and oh geez but she she lived which was
shocking and yeah so there was always an animal story somewhere in Florida trust
me yeah and I remember in st. Pete Wade that missing remember the missing monkey
for a while the busy monkey of st. Pete and somebody started like a Facebook
page for the monkey and was like pretending to videos I know I just I
just love those those are always my favorite so obviously you are now
working on the other side and you're helping to tell stories for people
watching that may be working in media relations public relations or marketing
and want to develop better relationships with media outlets what kind of advice
would you give to them from your perspective as a news reporter from I'm
sure you can probably you probably feel the same way how many how many press
releases did you get into your inbox that you're just like delete delete I
think the main thing is you know I think some people think just keep it to go and
give the who what when line but really the thing is tell a story tell me a
story give me give me some kind of local connection give me a person I can
interview first of all you gotta have that element somebody local
that it has a connection that you can interview it has to be some kind of
thing that it changes people you know either for the better or maybe with
something really bad that happened give me that moment and tell me the
background and set it up like a real story like you're telling me it's great
and I'm like really that's interesting you know and and and yeah just have that
person keep it short if you're trying to get the attention of media don't get me
you know a paragraph we don't we don't have the time for that we didn't have
the time to read all that that's the thing is I don't want to sound like a
jerk but reporters producers everybody's really busy my newsroom so I feel like
you got to make it easy for them I'm not saying do their job but you got to make
it easy for them to say I have this person they're ready to talk we can do
this here here's the story behind it you could really got to tell a story that
about some kind of emotion yeah and it is a little bit sad because I feel like
from my first because I worked on the assignment desk and as a producer and a
lot of I felt like a lot of these people who are pitching us they felt like they
were media savvy but it couldn't be like they thought they're they're like yeah
yeah I'm good at media relations but they were not they were not good at what
they were doing and they were definitely not using approaches that worked and I
think a lot of people think they understand media but they they really
don't or or I hate it when people would call you and they'd be like oh I like
I've seriously had people be like oh I know I know what how journalism works I
have a master's degree in broadcast journalism or the people that are I
remember one guy said I know how it works because I have a degree in theater
and I was like man and like it's like the people like that it's like no you
you have no idea man like until you actually get in a newsroom is such a
different beast you know and it's just like any job it really until you
actually do it I don't think you understand the film no definitely not
okay so obviously this is a YouTube channel and there might be a lot of
youtubers watching and some of them are trying to maybe develop
also try to get attention from TV stations or TV networks if like I say if
you were youtuber what are some ways do you feel like youtubers might be able to
get noticed you know I was thinking about that and that's a difficult one to
answer because there are so many there's a lot of youtubers and I'm trying to
figure out how those people get attention from local because most of the
time when you have a YouTube page you're trying to you know reach out to all over
the world you know so I was thinking you know for a youtuber what's the latest
trend what's going on right now you're doing a YouTube video your YouTube
concentrates on is it you know we have the Emmys coming up do you concentrate
on styling you know maybe you could tie that in and get some kind of attention
for that see the u-kiss men my dogs probably gonna start barking alright
alright hey you know I've got a I've got a cat wandering around in the background
you didn't ring the doorbell so we're good alright okay I appreciate the
answer and I think you know it's kind of interesting because I guess from my
perspective now being part of the YouTube community and being a former TV
news person I feel like my TV news peers didn't really have YouTube on the radar
like they watched YouTube videos and when there was a viral story everybody
knew about it um but I think I feel like TV news folks should make an effort to
get to know who the big youtubers are because well they you might not think
they're a household name everybody under 25 knows who these people are and
sometimes when I would talk to people I'd be like hey have you heard of Philip
DeFranco or Casey nice dad I would get a blank stare and I'm like look these
people get more views than a network news show you should know who these
people are at least try to know what the big ones you know know who know what the
channel ryan toysreview is know who pewdiepie is and at least have a basic
knowledge but I felt like a lot of these people just weren't on the radar in
newsrooms and I thought that was interesting
just because these people are you know like again i i'm i'm sure in newsrooms a
few weeks ago people were google who Logan Paul was I already knew who he
was obviously I don't really I'm probably not his target demographic but
you know those folks when you have 1015 million subscribers that's not a small
audience at all so it's kind of interesting to see how traditional media
is trying to play with new media I don't know it's just it's kind of interesting
that's such a good point I didn't think of it that way but these people have
more viewers than the number one station some of them so they are big names and
some things I feel like in a newsroom people because a lot of the people
aren't of that generation that they might just kind of roll their eyes at it
or be like if ever but that is becoming the generation so that is becoming now
so I really think it is important for those people to be on your radar and
know what they're doing because they are making major headlines yeah and they're
making way more money than we have / - Wow
you know I mean these people there's so much money going into that space I mean
I do think on the flip side TV is trying to defend itself you know because the
advertising dollars are moving and of course you know some people feel like
TVs getting left behind so I don't know and I haven't really seen TV any I
haven't really seen a lot of TV stations really leveraging platforms like YouTube
very well but I do besides just putting packages and raw video up and put a link
to it but they really should consider the bigger picture here because I mean
let's face it a lot of people are doing the so-called unplug I did it because
why I don't have cable currently I really did and then I got so used to it
and I enjoyed not yeah now with all these with all these entertainment
platforms like you're like okay I'm good with my Amazon Prime and stuff or I'm
good with Hulu or now you can even get like HBO a la carte so like a lot of
people unless wait all right when is Westfield
coming back because we're actually trying to time getting HBO when some
shows are waiting we're waiting until these things are already out but I mean
when you talk to someone under 30 a lot of them don't watch TV at all or they're
getting their news so you know I don't know what the answer is for the merge
there but yeah they got we they got to figure out something well okay so there
are still some people that are looking into getting into TV news in fact I've
had people reach out on LinkedIn asking how to be a reporter how to get into the
business what advice would you have in 2018 for trying to break into TV news I
you know I would say and again this is just from the reporter standpoint well
first of all I really enjoyed all the other jobs I did too I loved having such
a rounded idea of the newsroom I love that so I would definitely consider that
start in a small market do as much things as you can with people in in you
know different areas and learn more because to me that was invaluable I
would also say that don't if you want to be a reporter don't do it
this is my biggest step you guys say about reporting or people trying to get
into it don't do it because you want to be on TV you know that should be a
byproduct of the fact that you really enjoy being a journalist because hey you
may not always work on TV in TV and or you might be doing web stories or you
might wind up you know doing online for a paper or something that should not be
your main goal is being on TV in fact for me I really I didn't I didn't care
for it as much because I hated doing hair and makeup like the first time I
did hair and makeup and a long time for you so you know what yeah I've I've
noticed like I will try to film lots of stuff on a day I actually write look I'm
like all right what can I bang out today so I don't
I'll make up tomorrow right once you get out the news you don't have to do what's
so nice so I you know that should really be not your main goal you should if
you're doing it strive to do your best presentation on camera but really if
you're a really good journalist I think that is gonna come forward
much more that you're into the story you enjoy the story you're knowledgeable
into the story I that to me is kind of a little bit you know you get an intern
once in a while into the newsroom they'd be like well yeah I'm like yeah and
we've all worked with people that wanted to do the fun stuff but didn't really
want to do the grunt work I think we're seen talking to you you've
had the kind of experience that's a little more humbling and you can tell by
talking to you that you know that that's not you're not all about that and I
think that's a good experience to have for anyone on air have off-air jobs too
because um you know that will affect how you treat other people in the newsroom
and how you know like you'll have respect for those other P and realize
that you're not doing it alone you know but I've worked with people like they
wanted to do their story and do live shots but they didn't want to do the web
story you know they don't want to do any you know again and you know that
somebody's got to do it and I don't know if just some there are like there's
definitely difference between people that want a story tell and do journalism
and people that want to be on TV and be famous right and you know there's so
many relationships that I made with people that were from those different
departments that are still resources to me now especially now on a whole
different scale just when I get stuck with an audio issue or any kind of issue
when I'm creating videos now those people are people I turn to that help me
now so I it just makes you such a more rounded journalist in general and just
having so much more knowledge of how other people do their jobs you have
patients when there isn't a lot to go around in the newsroom some guys so
although my patients couldn't get real thin um but yeah I just think that
should not be your main goal well that's that's a really good advice although if
you were if you were starting out now what do you think you would have do
different with with everything with technology and social media
do you like cuz I think about that all the time I'm like if I was twenty-two
now what would I do and I probably would pick a different path but not because I
didn't like not because I didn't value the experience but more just because
things have changed so much too you know I really think people who are trying to
start out now just because there's so much technology I you know learn that
technology to the best ability is that you can take classes in how to use you
know this is actually something interesting that when waystations did
they had somebody come in and showed us all these different techniques how you
could use Twitter to help you find somebody in that location where that
crime scene had seen happen to might be a good witness to talk to there's
different ways that you can use Twitter and Facebook to search for people that
would help you with your story other than just posting about your story so I
would if I was starting out now in 2018 I would say learn how to use those
resources better because it will make your job easier yeah no definitely um
okay so let's talk about why you decided to leave the business I know you did it
a few years ago and you posted a you posted something about it on LinkedIn
recently that seemed to get a lot of a lot of engagement so people really
seemed to resonate with that you know when I was in news I think every time
for a long time when I was in news I had a side hustle going on I always had
something else I was a realtor at one point I do a lot of currency trading I
always had some other thing that I was into also and I think that helped a
little bit to make the transition but when I when I decided to leave news it
wasn't actually I worked in a station where my news director honestly didn't
want me there anymore and I didn't want to be there anymore and I think that
showed so wasn't like I wish I could have been able to just make the big jump
and do it and just get it over with but I really wasn't a lot of people are not
prepared to do that in news just get out and leave they want to have another job
as a backup I did I tried to start making my transition but for a while I
took off and I think just having all that time off I mean I thought I was
going to go to another news job but I just really enjoyed the freedom once I
got the news it's addictive to really have that freedom of holidays it was
actually around Thanksgiving and Christmas that I took my break and I was
like I want to go back this is kind of nice you know and so getting out of news
I just yeah I'd like telling stories but I just didn't like what I was doing in
news anymore it was like wherever the surveillance video is I worked in the
number one station and there was surveillance video of guys dog that was
stolen I'm like this my story really you know I mean I mean anyone with
surveillance video may makes it apparently makes it sexier and WABC did
really like they do really like their surveillance video stories yeah and that
was that in you know I love that station and everything but that was just that
was a turning point I think mentally for me and so when I got out and all this
happens and I took my break I thought I was gonna go get another Japanese I'm
like I gotta find something else and I was doing freelance actually and that's
a great way for people who are looking to get out of news is I was doing
freelance writing for people and creating videos because I've always kind
of done videos on the side I have a lot of gear and I one of my clients said you
know you should really think about starting your own business and just get
out of news you know and I thought I don't know if I can do that so I just
did it I just jumped and I just did it and I have not regretted it one second
it took me it's I just had my two-year what you were referring to and LinkedIn
I just posted that I had my two-year my second year in business for myself with
my company and it's taken me so many different places I've seen so many
different things creating videos for people but it's actually taken this two
years to even build up a decent clientele too so it doesn't happen
overnight but I was so determined for myself not to go back to the newsroom
because I felt like it was stifling to me and I really enjoy I think I was
always kind of an entrepreneur on at heart and I really enjoyed doing this
and getting out of the business and even though you are technically I feel like
working harder than you did in news because you're working for yourself it
doesn't feel that hard yeah it feels so much different and the fact that you're
not answering to someone and we've all had management where you you know you
don't really like the direction you're being told to go in or you feel like you
know you couldn't work on the types of projects you would you know so it is
very it's very difficult to be in that situation and like you were saying have
no life you know and be working 24/7 that's once you get that taste of
freedom and trust me I never thought for a long time I never thought I would
leave news because I thought oh the people that leave news they just can't
hack it anymore you know and that's what I told myself and once I got out I was
like okay you know this is great and I have a lot of friends that are still in
the business and I don't I don't you know I I'm so glad that they are so
successful in doing so well at it but for me I just can't I can't I can't do
that grind I'd rather do my own cry yeah we're working we're we're if you make
extra money or you do something extra that goes to you and it doesn't you know
like no matter how hard you worked at WABC they didn't pay you anymore for but
if you work harder at your own business you get to keep all of that it's so it's
just so much more rewarding and being somebody like I didn't I didn't know
anything about business I had done some accounting for a company I didn't
into news until I was in my 30s Wow I had done other work you look like you're
in your 30s with that so anyway it was just you know it's just if people are
looking to get out of it get your side hustle going on get something on the
side going on and then eventually you just have to make the leap and you at
least for me I don't know well hope this is encouraging for people watching and
I've even talked to several people recently like ever since I quit my job
and kind of made it public I've heard of at least three or four people I know
personally deciding to leave as well you know I do think there's something and
again as we know TV news for most people does is not super lucrative so it's not
like one of those things where you're walking away from tons and tons of money
you're really not and I think that's another misnomer about TV news is that
people on TV make a ton of money there's very few people that make a lot of money
and news so like leaving for a lot of people in
fine you know an equivalent pay you know paid job or finding something that's
just as lucrative in TV news it's not really hard especially if someone's
working at a smaller market you know I'm a guy I know he left a few months ago he
got a job he was like this kid was like phenomenal he was like probably 23 or 24
he was already working full time but going to school for public relations
though he ended up getting a ended up getting a job in PR for an airline and I
was like you need to do that there's so many more there's just so much more room
for upward mobility there you know and once you get into it then you can get
other PR jobs too and it's just sad it's sad that TV news is not it's just at a
point where it does not pay very well I you know where you feel like okay I have
a backup and I'm good that's why yeah it'll state school while I was working
because I wanted to have something if I wanted to get out I could
go too yeah yeah and for me I had started luckily at CNN they allowed me
to have a youtube channel I know for someone like you you weren't allowed to
do that on the side which kind of kind of could stink because you're on-air
brand is something that you could use to build but a lot of these people are in a
position where they can't do that but luckily I was where I could have the
YouTube channel for a couple years and start growing it I do think I do wish TV
stations would kind of loosen up with that just because it's you know it's
it's kind of unfortunate for people because again like someone like you or
someone you know someone who's on air would be a great fit for being on air
doing something on YouTube or doing you know building some sort of personal
brand where they're on camera but you know a lot of these people like people
are like you know why don't why doesn't so and so from channel 8 have a youtube
channel this is why you know a lot of these people aren't really loud or I was
talking to somebody and people are afraid about coming off wrong or doing
anything that would jeopardize their job so there is a bit of fear among people
on air that they will do something or you know even one thing that just comes
off you know negatively and that could be it for them you're so great about
that there would be things where I would get a nasty email because I didn't have
nail polish on my favorites or something so it's so judgmental sometimes and and
it can be scary to try and do that and put yourself even more out yeah yeah cuz
then and again we've seen people are making you know st. Athena's not
pregnant weather ladies or you know what do you have any authority that stick out
in your mind as far as like really weird emails or letters and I got an email
just tell me how bad I was that I didn't deserve to do anything TV and that I was
a loser it was just it's it's still this is like ten years ago and it still
sticks with you no that's horrible I feel like the people who and I've dealt
with all two crazy people writing and calling I
bad for you guys because you had to deal with it in person out in the community
having people come up to you and say weird stuff but I don't think people
realize how hurtful it is you know and how much it affects the people you're
saying this to you know you're a real person they won't say it to your face
though they'll say to you email Facebook or your Facebook page or whatever you
know and it's like you know I don't know it's I feel like that I don't know I
just think it's people are wasting their time and also I don't I think they don't
understand how just how much it hurts people and I wish people would realize
you know what this is not the answer you know like I've gotten a lot of negative
comments on YouTube myself mostly about my eyebrows and I just I just deleted
them at this point I'm like you know I don't this person obviously is nothing
going on your opinion means nothing try and you know it's hard like in a couple
of my videos I had like you know my eyebrows are very hard to pencil like
try to fill in and every time it's different but I've gotten a few I've
gotten I get at least three comments a day about the eyebrows I thought about
making like a troll video about it but I don't really want to acknowledge you
know what I mean like like a video like my eyebrows suck or something I don't
know we'll have to see but I I almost I
really don't want to like give these people dependents the doubt I just
delete their comments and just get them up because what happens is you click on
there and I'm sure the same thing with you the people who are writing you I'm
sure they probably have a lot that you could criticize about them but you keep
me obviously that's not something you can do yeah it's like just get a real
life stop emailing these people I talked to another gentleman he said he got an
email or something or a letter about his pit stains like it's like it happens
people you know what like they know you're in Florida it's like 95 degrees
exactly well this has been a great conversation so I want to ask like how
can you kind of tell people about your businesses that you're going on
well it's I feel like my business has evolved since I started it but basically
I make I create videos marketing videos for people's products places events and
people at their company I've partnered with a lot of great people who I now
help them create videos for their clients and I have clients of my own I
since I do have my real estate license and I do practice in real estate I have
created this niche I guess and I'm learning now that it's good to have a
net oh yeah it's I do a lot of creating videos because I am an FAA certified
drone pilot as well so which is doing it but I really do think if you are gonna
do it even if even if it's just for fun you really need to know yourself because
you can get yourself in so much trouble and yeah we've seen the people who
inadvertently get themselves into trouble it's like I really think I'm
because you don't have to know aviation you have to know how to read aviation
maps and all this kind of stuff it's really hard actually but for me it was
but I think that's important but now I have this niche where I do a lot of work
that I do I'd say probably about half my work I do is media and marketing
different not just videos but also website content and social media content
since I've learned enough of that from news but doing a lot of that for people
who practice in commercial real estate they have large parcels of land and
they're looking to have them develop they were sold and so I create a lot of
videos that sell basically a story about that land where that says what are the
attractions what makes that land by you but what's it near that kind of stuff
and I use a lot of drone footage for that as well I mean I work with lawyers
I just before this I did a webinar a hosted a webinar I do a lot of just
anything that has to do with video I'm on it you know Renee I'd love to see you
on YouTube come on come on girl I need know what drone drone footage on YouTube
is super popular - really I have on my youtube channel I mostly
have just the videos that creative marketing means I will have a link to it
I'll find it I I'm sure I can find you I think they're imaginative and for drone
video must be pretty good because it seems like everybody wants their own
footage of stuff now yeah and the thing about video is in real estate the time
that there was a lot of development was about was before the bust and that was a
time when drones really I mean they weren't for commercial use for you and I
to use so the drones didn't exist and when we had a large boom in real estate
well now real estate is getting back to normal so now oh look we have drones and
we can do all the stuff so people definitely want it so I love doing that
aspect of it and I think the video and the pictures that you get from there
it's just awesome you can can't get that on a ladder with a camera I love
watching I personally love watching Joe did it take you a long time to get the
license and everything it took a couple months because I did a course on it and
you don't have to do the course to get the to take the test but I wanted to
make sure I passed and it takes you a little while and then you you've got to
practice a lot because I have crashed drones I'm on drone number five Oh No
yeah I mean it happens it just happens and it doesn't really happen much
anymore but in the beginning it really happened because I was still getting
used to doing it so let's say I see my husband was interested in doing that and
we were thinking of like getting him like a like a toy drone just to like you
know practice on before you got what kind of drone recommendations would you
have I'll be honest with you I know that a lot of people they use DJ DJI maverick
those are you know over a thousand dollars for roams and just in my
experience if I crash it that was another Joe and I'm gonna be a little
ticked or cuz even birds that actually want to dive-bomb these drones sometimes
you know it just makes me a little too nervous to
have something so I actually I'm very old-school I used the Phantom 3 standard
drone it's about you know four or five hundred dollar drone and I you know get
different parts and add to it and everything so I to me it does the job it
really does and if I if it crashes I don't feel like you know because at
least you're making money from the videos to say all right
over time recouping your cost yeah you just especially in the beginning because
I was you know getting more and more equipment all of that's expensive and I
was just trying to keep my cost down and I just stuck with that drunks I know
that drone really well you know how to use it really well so yeah that's so
interesting because it's like we've dreamed about getting we're like we want
to get a drone we haven't bought one yet but we both think my husband I both
think it would be a lot of fun although I would be a terrible drone pilot so we
have to be the one I can barely drive so I have to be the one doing he'd have to
be the one doing that I don't think I would be the one getting in trouble like
I would be the person that would accidentally fly the drone into a
stadium or something like those people yeah that would be me and I I'm totally
self aware of that me like it would be cool at the toy one like just a little
one that I couldn't do much damage with I I do think it would be a lot of fun no
you could be the spotter nice to have a spotter when you're drowning so okay so
maybe I can do that I can be the what I don't know I'll to figure something I
can certainly edit the drone footage for sure and I just think drone video is
bringing vlogging to this like every vlogger on YouTube now uses drones for
like daily vlogging which is really cool I just hear you know what though a lot
of these people are especially when you get bigger they're paying people do the
editing in fact there's this service people are starting to use called vid
chops and you can pay someone like 800 dollars a month to on to edit unlimited
videos like it's interesting so apparently you like drop I guess during
the beta it was $500 at this point I'm lucky I can't justify
paying someone like I could put out more videos but at the same time I'm like the
reason I'm doing this is so I could do the editing myself but during the beta
they were offering a monthly subscription for five hundred dollars
you can only submit one video at a time but as many as you could basically when
they were done with your project you could submit another one
but you Dropbox some of the footage tell them what you want and they send you
back a finished product I've heard people using it and they liked it now
after the beta ended it they upped the price to $800 but it's good that's
actually pretty cheap for month I do think there's a lot of opportunity for
people like us in that space because there are a lot of youtubers that are
making enough money where they get outsourced things like editing or
graphic design or some of the producing you know there's a lot with that and I
do think there's you know for people like us there's some upper definitely
some ways to you know transition out and do something else but uh it's funny like
you see these people like Casey Neistat and they're making these like film
quality but yeah if you haven't checked them out Casey Neistat
is one of the better vloggers there's also a guy named Devin Supertramp he has
made some of the coolest videos I've ever seen in my life using drone like he
has he did like a Superbowl ad with Papa John's and Pepsi I'll send you the link
after this and I'll link it below I don't even like football at all but this
was like the coolest so they had the premise of the video was they they were
in a plane they actually had to so he has like a behind-the-scenes video where
he talks about setting this thing up they had two planes one to shoot the
other plane and they made it look like all these retired NFL players were
skydiving out of the plane and throwing a football to each other and then they
land in a stadium it was like the coolest thing I've ever seen in my
entire life and this guy shoots on like an $80,000 camera set up for something
crazy but there are some people that are doing some amazing things and it's it is
funny how everyone is now using drones for like
rant you know like time-lapse shots or the video testing I stood on dude oh you
probably saw this viral video it was a few years ago snowboarding with the NYPD
so but like I watched his behind the scenes video and they had to time the
drone with like them snowboarding behind the car like it was just great like
others I have so much appreciation for people who are making those kind of
videos it's so cool and you I just you and I from that standpoint you you know
how much it takes to just make a video sometimes and and just making the video
that elaborate I mean I just have such a more appreciation after now editing and
shooting and do all that stuff and seeing that that makes me think wow and
then that is a good thing about I think having these platforms is you can do
whatever you want you know if you wanted to make a rate like that's something you
could never do it at a news station they wouldn't they wouldn't let you do that
but there's so many things you can do on your own that's just so exciting I don't
know it's just very cool well what's your favorite social media platform
right now I you know it's funny I have an Instagram page just for myself and
news and everything you have your work Twitter your work Facebook your aren't
you all that but I had just my own Instagram account that's that's the only
one that I have for myself I haven't even created one for my business now
which I probably should but that is what I can get lost on and just thrown out
and be like you know you know drooling person just all these Photoshop people
in photos and you're like everything looks so perfect I go let me just get
that wrinkle off my face you know and post it you know but it's I just you
know Instagram is just it's it's just such a visual medium you know it's all
pictures and videos and I just couldn't get lost sometimes because you'll see
something that comes up in your feed that says what's new and happening and
they're not necessarily people who are your friends so you just find it from
people that way or I I try and I try and be a vegetarian I try as much as I can
so I started clicking on one person's Instagram and then it took me to another
person's and I learned more cooking stuff on that person's and it took me
you know it's like that that never-ending chain that you can get
stuck in so I like it and I hate it for that one it is definitely a bit of a
time suck but it's a fun especially the food photography accounts like wow this
is and the things people are doing are incredible like you just realize how
talented people are right folks out there that are like their photography is
amazeballs they're making like I saw found this
lady's account even yesterday it was like sweet oppa Lita or something she
makes like crazy cakes but they're like awesome and she makes she makes them
sells her own sprinkle comment like she makes like her own sprinkle mixes and
sells them online like she had one called like the rock clam cake it was
purple in black it had black frosting and it had like like just super cools
like silver sprinkles rainbow sprinkles you know there's just so many accounts
that are fun and they're just there's just so many interesting people and I
think that's something that social media definitely like opens you up to that you
didn't know it was out there I guess my favorite but he he's a fisherman on a
boat and I guess they are in this area they just have these oddest oddest fish
and animals that they bring up to the surface and I'm always showing somebody
I'm like look at this Levi eyes and you know so that's it just you see things
that make you feel more connected with the rest of the world even though you
haven't left your house so I'm like alright I'm in my PJs but I'm this is
getting exciting here well what are you can you share your social media handles
your website with everybody and I'll link it I'll link everything my my
website is use big red my company name is called big red meat it's named after
actually my brother named after me I'm like I'm not flexing I figured it was
after your hair color but I wasn't shoe man actually I feel like people ask that
and I'm like I would never be myself you know I just
feel like that's so like get over yourself so it's actually named after my
brother passed away in 2008 blaming red hair so we're a bunch of redheads such a
nice tribute very yeah it's uh it's a long story behind it but I named it
after him I always knew I was going to do something and named it after him I'm
glad I got to tell you that cuz I don't want people think I named it after year
after year because I didn't know she had reddish hair in your photo so I was like
okay that makes sense but so my my business name is called big red media
and my website is use big red comm USC i GRE deep calm and actually if you go to
that it links to all my social media all right let's do my LinkedIn my Twitter
which is Renee stole TV to tell you to I can't remember if my Facebook is for a
nice total TV to but it should be but it's all on there and then I'm on
Instagram and you know I'm a private Instagram but I'm pretty open to if you
want to find me on there I'm nipple day and I ctle underscore an A and a y so
alright and uh I know her and we touched on this a little bit earlier but um what
do you think do you have any ideas of what the TV news business could do to
stay relevant in to survive you know Jennifer I know we would all I asked
somebody that he's like no I would do my own news thing if I knew that I was like
what you can sell he's like no I would create my own thing you know I have a
friend who is doing something that I think is gonna be more popular she works
at basically a virtual news station and she she anchors the news and the new I'm
not I'm not a hundred percent sure how it works I just saw that she was working
there in some details from her social media but it seems like basically they
anchor any you know some some towns are small and they don't have a local news
station or sometimes you know you downsize so much because the cost is so
great that you don't have enough people to work
so maybe you just want to have that anchor base there and then have the
reporters go out and do their job and that saves them from having the higher
an anchor so so that's the premise of it but it basically you can be she's the
anchor for so many different cities and she does the news and it gets sent out
and I'm sure it probably looks like it's there in that city so I think that might
become more prevalent the virtual newsroom and like we were talking about
before these stations need to get on YouTube they really do they need to do
more with YouTube they need to have their know more than just their package
being on YouTube they really mean you tap into that market and figure that out
yeah and I think I'm TV stations need to create relationships with people and I
feel like many of them are not doing a very good job of that
like they post stuff on Facebook there are some journalists I've seen doing a
great job on Facebook with interacting with people I think we there's other
ways to do it too and just to create specific content for the platforms
rather than just burp out whatever they did in the newscast and just post that
and the other thing people don't realize is that longer videos do well on YouTube
so these minute 30 packages you know YouTube doesn't really YouTube kind of
likes videos between like five and ten minutes I've been writing and again as
you and I as you and I know that wouldn't you could never do a
five-minute story retention where what the sweet spot is and for YouTube you
can really be more expressive there and just think of all the stories you did
news where you would love to really told the story but you only had a minute and
15 seconds and you had to cut out so much and then
to me as a journalist at that time that would just be heartbreaking tweaks I'm
like oh I just want to give all the details and that's why I like this sort
of format of what we're doing now is because when you I'm sure when you left
your last station they didn't give you an hour to talk about whatever you want
you know just the business like there aren't very many platforms to allow
journalists to really you know express themselves in
longer format way you know so I kind of like I kind of like what this is doing
because again we can have conversations I've had I've interviewed people that I
worked with and this was the longest conversation we've ever had at work you
don't really have time to chit you really don't have time to chitchat with
people like you know there's really no time like occasionally you can have some
conversations but they're not not usually that long so some people I
worked with for a year or two like I barely I still barely knew them yeah I
think my longest conversation you know that's about it it's you know and that's
the thing I think newsrooms are so you know hurry up hurry up somehow there has
to be some slowdown in the sense they have to take you know read the
temperature of what's going on in you know the platform world and figure out
how to tap into that because who knows if news is gonna I mean it's not gonna
be the same and it's definitely not gonna be the same so you know it's it's
easy to say that now from this side I'm sure if I was working in the newsroom
and somebody told me that be like please get over yourself you know I'm busy you
know so I I just I don't know what the answer is for where this is going and
how they can really change what they're doing yeah I I think at least if they
stream the newscasts on YouTube or on online somewhere I think like I noticed
one station in Fresno started streaming all of their newscasts on Facebook again
I think it's smart I think eventually Facebook will start to monetize more so
like that's the thing like there is money by doing that you know from the
ads there's ads on YouTube you know snapchat hasn't really monetized at this
point so it but that's the thing most of them will eventually I do think it would
be interesting if Facebook starts letting people make more money from ads
there will definitely be more video content there I think the cost sometimes
of just when you're in a newsroom you you don't want to adapt to something
you until you absolutely have to do because there's just so much to do and
to keep on you know and that's just from my standpoint I wasn't a manager so
think about from the manager standpoint it's not just us
they're tough thinking about the reporters are thinking about their
budgets and you know all that kind of stuff so who knows I'll be tuned in I
know right well I really appreciate you taking the time out I want to give you
the opportunity Renee to ask the people watching right now any question you
would like does not have to be related news can be literally anything I know I
would love to know on my website I I like to give tips to people who try and
do it themselves because I've been a big dy DIY person myself and you know not
everybody can afford to hire me for a video what have you so I like to give
tips to say hey if you're trying to do it yourself
this is how you can shoot a whole video on your iPhone you know that kind of
thing give me topics I would love to write
more about different topics different things that I can help people out just
how to do it themselves and figure it out so oh that's a good one so like if
you are trying to create videos on your own your own market yeah what kind of
what kind of how-to videos would you like to see if you're watching feel free
to comment below and I'll make sure Renee gets them and if you really
appreciate you guys watching hope you enjoyed these types of videos i'm
jennifer moore x TV producer and if you are also an ex TV news ER and want to be
featured on the show let me know in the comments or you can hit me up on twitter
but Renee again thank you so much this has been such a great conversation and
now you really make me want to go out and get a drone I know that too that too
so yeah we did chat about that I you know I maybe you could post some stuff
and stuff on your Instagram oh and I'll send you
I once you start looking for sowing accounts on Instagram you know six hours
will go by gonna be like you're like wow what happened here well again thank you
so much and I will see you guys next time thanks Jen
you
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