A Day at Warner Bros. Discovery with CenCom!
By: Melissa Fishman
Hi my name is Melissa Fishman, I’m a Fellow at the Center for Communication, and this is my experience attending my first On Location on Oct. 5 at Warner Bros. Discovery:
On the drive into Manhattan I marveled at the skyscrapers rising above me wondering which one was our destination. Each of them undoubtedly held the world’s most important and influential companies and I was heading towards one of them: Warner Bros. Discovery.
As the car came to a halt in front of the Hudson Yards branch of WBD, I held my breath as I stared up at the imposing structure before me. I remember thinking to myself how exciting it would be to work in any one of the office spaces above. If not for the prestige of the company, then for the incredible view it undeniably had at the top.
Entering the Warner Bros. Discovery lobby, my reflection gleamed in the polished white marble and I composed myself enough to take a breath and begin greeting the participants of the day’s On Location.
I remember passing between each of the students and introducing myself, asking where they went to school and what their majors were. I was so impressed with their responses. Students coming from several prestigious Universities including NYU, Fordham, and even one young lady, named Gracie Lowes, who traveled to New York all the way from Canada just to join us that day.
Once our group was all assembled, we received our golden wristpasses and headed up the elevator with our tour guide, Jackie Shaheed, Early Careers Manager at Warner Bros. Discovery. At the top, we were led into a small screening room where we found mini swag bags waiting for us on our seats.
Before us stood four chairs and a screen proclaiming that we would be participating in the “Hear From The Team” Panel. As we waited for the panelists to ready themselves, Jackie took some time to tell us about WBDand answer any questions we had.
When she finished, our panelists stood before us: Angela Chang, Cesar Vazquez, Taylor Mazzarella, and Gaby Flores-Sanchez. Taylor and Gaby introduced themselves as Early Talent Recruiters while Angela and Cesar both said that they were current interns at Warner Bros. It was especially exciting to meet them because Angela is a CenCom alumna and Cesar is a recipient of the Emma Bowen Fellowship.
Gaby, serving as the moderator, spent an hour asking the panelists questions in order to give insight as to what daily life is like at WBD and how audience members can take strides to one day be in their shoes.
For me, one of the most interesting points of the panel was when Cesar shared that he was recruited to his current role at Warner Bros. by Gaby. Although this was his second internship at Warner Bros., he shared with us that like myself, he experiences bouts of imposter syndrome. I found it interesting to know someone so young and yet so accomplished could feel as if he maybe didn’t deserve to be in the position he’s in. However, even as a stranger, I could tell that Cesar deserves his job and that he worked hard to get it.
Taylor and Angela also raised interesting points about being one’s most authentic self both during the job application process as well as after when one starts a new job. Taylor’s point about being an extroverted-introvert really struck a chord with me because I too feel like I am that sort of person but often feel drained from being one or the other for too long.
After giving our panelists a hardy round of applause, our small group was ushered out of the screening room and down a long hallway. It was at the end of this hallway that we came upon our first workroom, the makeup lab. We each did a quick round about the room and spoke to the makeup artists about their abilities to transform the on-air talent each day to look their best.
Next we visited a video lab and spoke with the friendly editor whose workspace it was. Although the room was dark, he lit up the place by answering our questions with honesty and a welcoming smile. He shed light on what it is like to edit videos for CNN and told us of his own journey to Warner Bros. Discovery.
After exiting the video lab we were ushered into the studio that houses none other than CNN This Morning! It was an incredibly beautiful studio whose spaciousness allowed for a jib camera, whose crane-like neck allowed for beautiful tilting shots or slow panning. We each grinned and snapped photos as they showed our faces on the screens.
From the CNN This Morning set, we crossed the hall to our final destination: a huge control room. The room was filled with several rows of computers facing a wall of 40 monitors. Each monitor displayed a news feed, both from CNN and other news stations. The gentleman led us explaining the various functions of each screen and the corresponding buttons he motioned to on a large sound and graphics board.
I was amazed by the wide array of equipment before me and tried my best to wrap my head around how all of this somehow combined to create the visuals and audio I see on TV every day.
Once we left the control room behind, we took the elevator down to the lobby and said our goodbyes to the wonderful staff at WBD. I remember noticing as we each made our way out of the building how everyone was still glowing with excitement and chatting to their neighbors about all that we had seen.
Truly it was a day I will never forget!
