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12.22.2008

Long lost mail from RTV 09-07

Well, good day!

A while back I wrote and asked what the RTV folks were up to...what was happening in [your] lives...where you were doing your thing...what four corners of the planet had we all flung ourselves off to? After a short wait I received some pretty great emails - some with news, some responses just to say "hi" - but a small sampling of the RTV-09-07 crew.

Since hearing of Ray's death, I thought I should take the opportunity to share the responses I did get, just in case you were as curious as I am about our classmates.

Jill Beitzel sent an incredibly detailed report of her goings-on, and included tidbits here and there of some others. I edited here and there to make the reading ABC (points if you can remember what that stood for):

HI BETHHHHHHH. Here's the scoop... I still have my internship at 106.7 the FOX but [edited - 'it isn't all I expected it to be']. I haven't been active with it for the majority of the summer because my dad is still in the hospital in California battling leukemia. There hasn't been much progress on the subject but hopefully soon. I'm in fact in Cali right now filling this out in a hospital room haha. Starting September 2nd I will be attending Madonna University going for my Bachelors in Arts. My major is Broadcast Cinema Arts and minoring in Journalism. It may take a little while to complete but that's my ultimate goal. I'm hoping a new internship will come out of that.

In case Matt Dlugokinski doesn't reply his butt moved to Israel!!!!!! He visited over the summer and decided he loved it so he moved there. He said it's only temporary though, and thinks he'll be back in a few months or so.

Bridget and I still talk often and she has an internship with 93.9 the River and I keep making plans with her but they never fall through, I'll take fault for that.

Brenden just text me the other day because he just got unlimited text messaging on his cell phone, we talked about meeting up sometime when I get back, he still has the same girlfriend he did when we graduated. I'm happy for him! I still talk to Mark and Ed as well, Mark is still with his gf Lisa and seems to be doing well, he keeps yelling at me to follow through with plans I make with them but they just live so far away.

Ed is still working at the bowling alley and keeping in touch with me. Nothing to newsy on his end I don't think but he'll probably respond to you, he's good at that.

Also another funny, slightly ironic story, my best friend Heidi... her boyfriend is Colin, well his family went on craigslist to find a dog, and they found a girl who was giving away her dog because she was moving and couldn't take care of her anymore. Well his parents met up with this girl and she told them how she just recently graduated from Specs Howard and moved to BFE (Cadillac, MI - if your catching where I'm going with this) to be an over-night producer for a tv station out there. Well Heidi gets back to me and asked me on the slight chance that out of the hundreds or thousands of students from Specs Howard, I just might know this girl. She tells me that her name is Sarah and that she has red hair. I thought there was no possible way but just for the hell of it, I logged onto Myspace and pulled up Sarah VanRaden's and as crazy as it was it was her haha she had pictures of the dog and everything. I thought it was pretty cool!

My sister is now attending Specs Howard and just got to the point where she's had enough of the Will Allen types haha. I'm sure you wish that I had much more to say, so you're brain can go into complete way-to-long-email overload haha, but I'm all out! I'm sure in a week I'll have more. It was great to hear from you though! XoXoXo! Love Ya! –Jill

It was wonderful to hear from you, Jill, and I hope you don't mind I included so little of your note. ;^) She did a great job segueing to the next several people, so without further ado, I give you Bridget Clarkson -

Hi Beth!! Sounds like your doing great getting your foot and nose right where you want to be! It is taking me a minute to get the ball rolling as well but it is rolling. My internship has just ended with Fox2 and that was unbelievably informative and fun. Ive gotten a good feel for what I really like and really want to get into. Im in the process of locating equiptment to create a new and improved 'shooters' demo so if you have any suggestions Id appreciate them. I visited Specs and they really didnt care so I wasnt able to get any ideas from them...or a copy of my last demo (can you believe DD didnt know where it was!) I went to Colorado at the beginning of the month for a wedding and made my rounds to all of the prospective newsrooms and landed an interview and ultimately a part time entry level stage directing/ equipment operator position with CW2 in Denver. I am very stoked. I am attempting to keep my position at FedEx since it pays the bills so the guy is working with me really well and I have a few months before I relocate and begin. Im a little nervous because I want to be doing something in the time I have before I go so I am trying to get involved.

I have become great friends with alot of the Fox people and have helped create a movie for the Detroit 48 hr film festival. You can check it out at youtube under motown showdown. Its the first one! I am not in it but for a split second as an extra but I was busy helping direct, running camera and due to crunch time I was pretty much just a spectator for the editing but it was fun. We placed second and I am hoping to get involved with more of those.

So lets see...I feel like all that has ended and I need to find something to keep me going for the few months I have before I leave and begin out there...so I am just networking and getting out some resumes- again let me know if you have any great ideas, you usually do. Sarah and I keep in very good touch. She probably will write you back as well but she is doing great. I think she gets a little lonely up there all alone sometimes but we are working to get her mixed in with her co-workers and such. She loves her job. Because of my affiliation with Fox we sometimes get to chat and work on the same packages. We try to meet up every couple of weeks or so.

I think I have covered all my bases and am so glad you reached out. Keep in touch I love hearing from you. Take Care Bridget

See! You people are amazing! I was so glad to hear from Bridget as well, and I did let her in on a few ideas for getting some equipment for another bunch of demo footage, but I never heard back as to whether she managed to score some camera time before heading home to CO. I certainly hope she did.

Both Jill and Bridget mentioned Sarah VR, and she wrote, too. Up next is the vivacious producer, Sarah VanRaden.

Hey Beth! Thanks for remembering what I was doing. Here's my update: I live in Cadillac where I'm producing the morning show for 9&10 News. It's called Michigan This Morning. Here's the link if you're interested: http://www.9and10news.com/mtm. I'm heading into my fourth month there. I work overnights, which I actually really like. Overall, I really love my job and I think it suits me perfectly. And congrats to you, lady! Anchoring the news?? Way to go! It sounds like you've been really busy. I would definitely like to see your show somehow, so when you find out how to show me, let me know. Bridget and I made a trip to Specs last Friday. I was really excited to see everyone...only when we got there all the professors blew us off! They were all standing there and only Jose said hi, and while he was talking to us the others ran away! Jerks, I tell ya. Oh well, I understand they go through a lot of students and probably didn't remember us. Oh, and if you ever want your demo tape be prepared because Double D said "they were buried somewhere and he couldn't get them." At first, he said "they were long gone." Then, he said they were buried under a bunch of boxes of junk in his office and said to come back the next week to get it. I guess it's easier for Bridget because she lives closer, but for us folk that live far away, that's bull! He told us he'd keep them for at least a year, right? It was just frustrating. Needlesstosay, I was very disappointed in Specs on Friday. So, I'm glad to hear things are going well for you and I hope they continue to! Stay in touch. Sarah

Thanks, Sarah, I have lots of time on my hands, so I will have to get back in touch soon. I did send her a quick set of questions back in October to prepare for a job I was sending a resume package out for, but never/haven't gotten a response, so I may try again some day. And no, I didn't get the job, either, but I did receive the fastest ever 'thanks - don't-call-us-we'll-call-you note as a way of answering my $12 postage investment. Grrr.

I heard from Scott M several times, every time I send him a note, I get something - even if it is a line or two. He let me know he was going on an interview for a prospective NON-intern job with WYCD...and guess what!? Nope, you're going to have to read it yourself:

Hey Bethany I got the job at WYCD, yea it took awhile but my first night of training was last night. I'll be board oping at wycd and their net station phyic radio so thats realy cool. I finnly cought up with you blog, I knew you did some stuff with wolf man mac, but I still never seen it, it's weird I don't know mac personly but I used go to creepy clyde shows back when i was in high school, not to mention we have a few mutal friends, like all them guys doing wolfman's comic yea I know all of them (i'm still such a geek) good ppl and artists we're all in the same comic geek club and I know Tony Miello was on an ep as a lounge singer and he's got that cast in his internet comic gapo the clown, right now. wow casting director for Ren Fest that must have been cool, I love going there. I'm thinking since I'm only working part time I'm gonna go back to school, as much as I'm scared to, I gotta admit I don't see a reason not to. I'm gonna wait like a month or to before i start setting things up for school though i wanna do some more research first, like what school should and can I go to. I Talked to Tishena last week, she's working in health care again and Pregant, like 6 months pregant well keep in touch Toodles, Scott

Keep in mind this was written back in the beginning of October, so he has been there over 2.5 months! Very cool! Congrats, Scott.

Last, but certainly not least, I heard from Charles Belau in September, and I had to dig through a lot of movie-related email to find it, but here it is...a word from Charles:

Hey Beth...its Charles, aka " Peach Schnapps", haha. finally read the message you sent out. i read your blog a little to...sorry to hear you had to leave the Midnight Sinama, my uncle was friends with all of them. but im working for the city of Romulus right now, hopeing for better things. what are you up to?

Thanks, Chuck.

Just a note, I regretted having to end the stint with Nightmare SINema, too, but it was necessary for my survival. I would go back in a heartbeat if the situation ever righted itself, and I had a spot to go to.

At any rate, that's the news from the RTV group. Aside from A little gossip I was passed about a month ago. It seems [sic: nobody important] has gone and gotten himself engaged! I certainly hope all the t's are crossed and i's are dotted, and that he knows this girl as well as he knows himself before the big day arrives. [NOTE: It appears as though the couple can't read or understand writing style versus interpretive style, so let me make this clear. This was a congratulatory announcement...NOTHING else. The phrasing regarding "i's and t's" was nothing more than a carry-over from a conversation we had in class one day regarding "...marrying again someday." Somebody is getting their panties in a bunch, and that's your problem...not mine. If I continue to get unsolicited email, it will be forwarded to the proper authorities and you will be dealt with from a legal aspect. And this includes email from "the couple" as well as any other source.]

Hope this satisfied your reading itch for the day, cuz this is it for me...I have things to do.

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