Sara Livingston is guest blogger for The Idea Hive.  She is an Associate Professor in the Television Department of Columbia College, Chicago and is the Director of the Television Arts Learning Community. Sara holds the title of Distinguished Teacher, and had been the recipient of the Teaching Excellence Award. She is a nationally exhibited video artist as well as a media activist who consults with organizations on using media as a tool for social change. Her work has helped numerous cultural and civic organizations use social media to achieve their institutional goals and make vital improvements in their communities.

In a business known for it’s toughness, what do Hollywood Studio Executives look for in a new hire? Heart!

I teach Television Arts at Columbia College in Chicago and was invited to take part in a three-day seminar for educators sponsored by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. This yearly event chooses 20 educators from around the country and offers them access to industry leaders on the cutting edge of creative development.

The conference, we felt, offered us peek behind the curtain and might reveal the secrets of medium’s new direction. We would then bring those secrets back to our schools.

I expected to learn about the impact of technology, the changes in the commercial and financial models, and the problem of the eroding viewership…and I did. But their projections, figures and innovations did not impress me as much as the answer to a simple question posed to a panel of studio executives: “In these times of turbulence in the industry, what are the most important skills you look for when hiring new employees?”

This is the crucial question for educators, since we are charged with the task of preparing the next generation of media professionals. The answer would have significant impact on our advising process, our curriculum design, and could even influence our hardware and software purchases. I waited for the answer, ready to transcribe all the words of wisdom the panel might offer.  Every one of them said essentially the same thing.

  • We want someone who’s a good collaborator, good team players.
  • We need people who can leave their egos at the door and work for the project not for themselves.
  • People who are kind—not just to the producer but also to the crew.
  • I will hire someone I want to have lunch with…someone who has a life, a sense of humor, is a good conversationalist, who is well read, who keeps up with current events.

What a surprise! Not a word about technical skills, writing ability, or creative problem solving. When pressed about these things they said that everybody who shows up at their door has talent, skills, and creativity–so how to choose among the best? Who knew the thing they wanted the most was collaboration and kindness—and from an industry that Hunter S. Thompson describes as:

“The TV business is uglier than most things. It is normally perceived as some kind of cruel and shallow money trench through the heart of the journalism industry, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free and good men die like dogs, for no good reason.”

This answer should have been completely obvious. The Television business, like many other businesses, is one that demands collaboration and cooperation. The industry runs on teamwork because producing a good product is virtually impossible to do alone. Have you ever seen the credits on a TV show with over 100 “collaborators?” The executives evidently understood something essential about their business.

I took this information back to my colleagues and we began to put together an experimental program in which collaboration was the central focus. We don’t skimp on the skills and creativity; those are a given and are still present. What we changed was the behavior that was rewarded. The assignments are impossible to do alone, so anyone who goes solo will have a deficient product. Some quizzes are taken with a partner to reinforce the belief that combined knowledge is powerful and efficient.

All homework projects depend on negotiated collaboration among student teams and are based on the “writer’s room” concept. The writer’s room is a model in which a script is read aloud and the whole team (rather than just the teacher) evaluates and contributes notes for improvement. This practice not only yields better scripts but it helps people practice giving constructive criticism in an atmosphere of team solidarity.

We called this experiment the Television Arts Learning Community. It is unique in the country and has been flourishing for five years. The first cohort of students graduated last year and many are working in Hollywood for the industry that requested professionals just like them.

I’ll be writing about the joys and challenges of creative collaboration and transformation over the next few weeks and invite you to comment about your experiences here on the Idea Hive Website.

For more information about the Learning Community, The Television Department of Columbia College Chicago, or our Semester in LA you may contact me at slivingston@colum.edu

Sara Livingston
Associate Professor, School of Media Arts
Columbia College , Chicag0

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/quinnanya/ / CC BY-SA 2.0

While watching Congress wrestle with issues at the health care summit, I started to worry…have we crippled this government with our lazy palate for dialogue?  What if the shock of modern media has blunted our taste buds to the point where real content now seems boring?  Is this just another example of the original not being as good as the imitation anymore?

It’s the same way the fabrication of the modern meal seduces us: with the temptation of shortcuts.  In In Defense of Food, Michael Pollan shows how the western diet leans toward refined grains instead of vegetables.  The luxury of highly-processed concentrated doses of stored energy is that they can be sculpted into any form imaginable, namely, the funnel cake.  How can leafy greens can compete with this flavorful figment of our modern appetite?

I believe that, just as in the production of food, it is in the process of democracy that integrity is upheld.  But real debate on this country’s political stage is reduced to bland slurry because we are happy to settle for whatever bold impression can be dreamt up through clever packaging.  I tell myself I want to see people having relevant, meaty conversations, but am still easily amused by the desperately-seasoned side dish of the mainstream’s bite-sized story lines.

Elected officials derailing each other in difficult political discourse is as surprising as professional athletes finding comfort in junk food during the Olympics.  It is as if we’ve created a processing plant for social issues, choosing consistency over health.  Is this simply a compromise inherent in government?  The only way Congress can begin to communicate is by agreeing on a set of rules.  But the boundaries that help legislators also limit the voices they represent.  The very act of aggregating ideas, while meant to bring attention to them, requires a common format.

So what would be the vegetable version of government?  Maybe it looks a little more messy than what we’re used to, maybe it has a shorter shelf life.  But if we really engage in these issues, maybe we won’t be left with that endless gnawing hunger we’ve come to expect from well-rehearsed talking points.

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Hey! Used Cooking Oil is sexy, gargantuan and here, now!

February 23, 2010

The event’s title caught my attention: Biofuels 2.0 from Garage to Gargantuan.
“Wow”, I thought, as I scanned the details of the event hosted by The MIT/Stanford Venture Lab (VLAB), “This is exactly what I am doing: helping to usher in the next generation of biofuels.”
My boss and I represented Sirona Fuels at the event. We [...]

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One Business’s Healthy Lunches Make Healthy Kids

February 17, 2010

photo credit: DavidDennisPhotos.com
The innovative food company, Revolution Foods, (aka: RevFoods) makes thousands of nutritious lunches every day for students all over the Oakland area. They also recently expanded their business to serve schools in Los Angeles and Baltimore. RevFoods demonstrates a sound financial and socially responsible business model in the school lunch industry.
Their impact [...]

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Celebrating Our ‘Inner Girl’

February 6, 2010

On the eve of Super Bowl Sunday – a day that celebrates, in excess, everything that is overtly masculine — I offer a shift in perspective to reveal one of the most powerful forces on the planet next to Mother Nature herself — the power of young girls!
Yes, I will be rooting for the underdog [...]

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Biodiesel Business Helps Earthquake Victims Start Fresh

February 2, 2010

When most people go on vacation, they try to get as far away as possible from anything that reminds them of work.  Not me– on my recent trip to Peru, I visited two biodiesel production facilities.
The first refinery I toured was in Pisco, located four hours south of Lima.  Pisco had been in economic decline [...]

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The Case of the Stuck Consultant

January 13, 2010

As one of the more practical Bees, Kas Neteler has decided it’s high time to share some insights from all the buzzed out coffee dates that we attend on a regular basis. We enjoy getting together with potential clients, collaborators and the like to share experiences and offer suggestions for tough organizational issues. If you [...]

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Swimming Against the Tide: Assessing Salmon’s Life Cycle from Spawn to Bagel

January 6, 2010

A first-time comprehensive study of the lifecycle of salmon consumption brings into question some notions about how to think about what we eat, especially in terms of long-term sustainability: “Even food has a lifecycle, and the world must learn to comprehend the full costs of it in order to design reliable, resilient food systems to [...]

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A Culture of Innovation is the Key to Our Future

December 30, 2009

photo credit: royryap
It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.
Charles Darwin
Massive tectonic shifts are underway that are beyond our control.
One billion people are hungry. Our oceans are overfished and full of plastic. Climate change is beginning to cause terrible disruption [...]

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Tackling (Holiday) Complexity with Pens and Paper…and Good Cheer

December 22, 2009

It’s a complex time of year. What to eat, where to go, which presents to choose, which holidays to celebrate? Will your niece appreciate gift certificates for Heifer International? Where did you put that brussels sprout recipe that your guests claimed to enjoy last year? Is this the year that you and Uncle Formsby can bury [...]

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