Wetlook World Forum

Do you know who has the highest paid tv job if you work in the production room for NBC Sports, ABC Sports, CBS Sports or Fox Sports....it's the guy who has "ants eyes" (hundreds of smaller eyes within a big eye) and can watch 40 tv monitors the same time from a live shot at a sports game, and knows what buttons to press in an instant to decide which camera angle goes out over the air. One of my camera crew guys works for Fox Sports as a robotic camera operator...so he tells me this.

I don't quite have that ability to scan 40 monitors at the same time. My "video wall" comprises of just 6 tv monitors and vcrs, and while I don't have "ants eyes" I probably have eyes like Marty Feldman, cos I can highspeed scan 6 vcrs at the same time to watch 6 monitors simultaneously, and I rarely miss a clip (unless it is a subliminal 1 second flash on a music video).

I don't spend all day watching nor monitoring tv...am too busy video editing on the pc for that. It's just a simple matter of firing up 10 to 12 vcrs in a bank and letting them run all day on the "hwp" channels (thats wetlook lingo for "high wetlook potential" channels....i.e. latino channels = yes, shopping channels = no)....and "trawling" like any good fisherman does at the end of each day....scanning 6 tapes at a time.

Just like fishing...i.e. throw the little fish back into the sea (e.g. any rain scenes shot at night, or clips lasting less than 10 seconds).

My pc is also set up in front of my video wall....so it takes a bit of practice to high speed scan 6 vcrs & monitors while answering emails at the same time (and people wonder why I make spelling mistakes). I only get screwed up when the phone rings (damn those junk mail callers...ha ha...they bugger up my scanning activities).

I do have a LOT of help though...i.e. my wife catches many clips for me too, plus I have an email network of 500+ tv traders who often email tips to me too. We try to spread the workload around...cos nobody can cover all 500 channels on the air in the USA these days...so I have friends who we designate to cover certain channels or shows...i.e. I have one guy specializing is covering the daytime soaps, another who specializes in vintage tv and movies, another who covers primetime sitcoms and reality tv...and I mostly cover the foreign channels that most people cannot receive.

Sure....it requires some dedication....but thats no different to all my friends who are fanatical about watching hockey, baseball or football games. Some people are fanatical about sports...and I just happen to like collecting wet clips from tv shows.

MK