I was fortunate to get an opportunity to work on the landmark 10th season of American Ninja Warrior as a story producer. I worked on the Los Angeles and Vegas episodes (1001, 1007, 1013 and 1015), and got to work in the field in 5 different cities! One of the best things about working on this show is seeing the same competitors come back year after year, and getting to see how they grow and change. This can also be a challenge, because you have to come up with new creatives stories to tell for them each time they return.
Responsibilities:
- Pre-interviewed and developed unique stories for around 30 contestants
- Worked in the field in Los Angeles, Indianapolis, Philadelphia, Minneapolis and Las Vegas.
- Producer/shooter for friends and family audience reactions, crowd reactions, reactions of other competitors watching, and competitor warm-up shots (Panasonic EX3)
- Produced hero shots for 100s of competitors in multiple cities in a tight time frame.
- Conducted interviews in the field
- Produced hometown shoots remotely, ensuring that field producers had all necessary questions, shot lists, clearance agreements and permits before filming took place
- Trained new APs on best practices for handling friends and family in the field, and procedures in working with On-Camera Audiences
- Produced around 30 feature profiles, often sourcing acquired media from competitors to flesh out their stories
- Wrote and worked with editors to shape competitor “runs” on the course
- Responsible for clearing contestant photos and videos and obtaining appearance releases for any friends and family
