- The Digital Media Center is home to one of SCAD’s newest majors — television producing.
The opening of the Digital Media Center has brought SCAD students a host of opportunities, including a new television producing major. SCAD already offered a major in film and television, but there are some slight differences between the two majors.
The main difference is that students in the new major are trained in producing rather than for production positions such as cameraman, writer, director, sound engineer, said Matthew Maloney, associate dean of the school of film and digital media.
“Though a producer is expected to have a little knowledge in all areas of production, the focus is more on producing the actual show — setting budgets, securing permits, hiring talent, controlling content, making executive decisions. Essentially
running the whole thing,” Maloney said.
However, Maloney said, television producing and film and television production complement each other.
“They’re different career paths, but they overlap a lot, and students can move
in between the majors as needed,” he said.
A wide array of facilities are available to the students in the program.
“[It] has a full three-camera HD studio located at the DMC as well as a lab with Digital Audio Workstations and Final Cut Pro,” Maloney said. “The studio is run through a master control room similar to what one might see at CNN or Turner. It’s very impressive.”
Joel Dobson, a third-year television producing student, said he chose to pursue the degree because of his experience working at his high school TV studio and his impression of the facilities at SCAD.
“We have an amazing TV studio with new high tech cameras and an amazing lighting
rig,” Dobson said of the equipment in the DMC.
Michael Cooke, a third-year television producing student, said because of the major and the equipment available, he has been able to begin work in the field.
“I’ve been assistant directing on music videos that come through to Atlanta. The
most recent video I worked on now airs on MTV and BET,” Cooke said. “The skills I learned in the television production major helped me become ready to take these positions.”
And the Atlanta location is also a big advantage for television producing majors, Dobson said.
“In terms of jobs, I think Atlanta as a city itself can help me prosper,” he said. “Turner Studios is here, with channels like CNN, Cartoon Network, etcetera. There’s a lot of opportunity.”
Some of the career paths for television producing majors include, line producer, story producer, associate producer and executive producer, as well as position in writing and editing.