Today was the first of three days I will spend with Trailblazer Studios. Today I spoke to people in their production department. When I first arrived I met with Tom Waring, the CEO of the company. He game me a tour of the facility. They have one large sound stage that they can rent out to companies that want to use it. It is one of the largest stages in the Triangle area, rivaling that of a stage in SAS. They have another smaller one which they have converted into office space for some of their production people. They also have many edit bays, both online and offline, as well as two sound studios. One for surround sound and one for music. They also have a few rooms called “Finishing Rooms” where people do color corrections and other final edits as well as show the final product to the clients. The building had a much different feel than the news studios I went to last week. It felt much more relaxed and casual. Even so, the Trailblazer office felt much more closed compared to the open concept that most of the news rooms had.

After the tour, I spoke with the executive producer of the show Salvage Dawgs. She went through the process of planning out shoots and episodes. She showed me an episode and explained to me what sorts of notes she takes to send back to editors who make the final cuts of the episodes. She also explained how the channels order shows and how long they have to be. After I met with her, I spoke to the producer of Kate + 8. She went over budgeting and scheduling with me. She and most of the other people in production are in a “dry spot” currently because they are all between shoots. Either that, or they are out shooting on location.

After a nice lunch with some of the other employees/interns, I spoke with the producer for Salvage Dawgs. We sat in their main studio for a while talking about the film industry. college, job opportunities, as well as what he has been doing at Trailblazer. I then sat with the show-runner of Kate + 8. He went over how they handle shoots, how they plan them , and what his role is between the companies and the talent. Then, I spoke with a production assistant who works on promos and write ups for new shows. He was saying how he enjoys his job despite being on the bottom of the totem pole in this case because he can work with all the departments.

Overall, I really enjoyed the day. I look forward to working with their post-production team tomorrow.