TV Cameraman - How to Become a Star Cameraman in Broadcasting and Cable Television! Part 2

A television cameraman position is not easy to attain. But it's worth the effort. In the first part, we covered coming up through the ranks from local stations to the networks. We didn't cover Electronic News Gathering (ENG). That is a career in itself. News minicams are everywhere, from local stations up to CNN. Start at the local station in an entry level position, become part of an ENG crew and work your way into the cameraman position. Once your have a few years experience on camera, climb the ladder to larger stations and CNN.

Or you could work in Sports. Sports also uses multiple wireless minicams, especially for gof remotes. An alternate way, if you want to concentrate on sports, is to apply on large sports remotes that come to your area while you're in high school as a runner or audio assistant. A runner is a gopher (go fer coffee, etc.). Audio assistants on a golf remote follow the golfers and point shotgun mikes as they hit the ball so you can hear the sound effect. If you know the golf pros, there are assistant positions with graphics and production helping to keep the golfers' scores. There are producers, directors, and broadcast talent who have started this way. Then again, make friends and work your way up. Some who start as teenagers, when they're ambitious and in their 20's follow the TV crews to the next city and then the next, sleeping in their cars, to get a foothold on a career.

Many of the professional cameramen are nice people. Make friends with one and ask him to show you what he does. During lunch breaks, he may let you practice with his camera. If you're an audio assistant, part of the engineering crew, this is more likely. Realize that broadcast network cameramen all belong to a union which you have to join before you can be hired. Some union rules are very strict, meaning no one but a union member can touch the engineering equipment. Other unions aren't as strict. Some of the sports cable networks cameramen aren't unionized and will help you. Everyone has to work their way up and pay their dues to get ahead. With or without a college degree, this is the way to go.

It's not an easy road to success but many motivated people have taken this path. The rewards are great. Many of the most talented and successful sports TV cameramen nowadays work as free lancers and live all around the country, some even in small towns. Each week they are hired over the telephone and fly off to add their creative flair to that week's golf, football, baseball, basketball or other sports event. Each event can use up to 100 people on the crew as technical director, cameramen, video, audio, RF, lighting, videotape, graphics, maintenance, and support personnel. If you try it, I wish you good luck. It's a great life!