Fulfilling her dream: a career in Maine TV

Thursday, August 21, 2003

By RAY ROUTHIER, Portland Press Herald Writer

Amy Caswell spends much of her weekends calling the cops, watching troop movements overseas, and keeping an eye out for big highway accidents.

Caswell, 23, is breaking into the world of local TV news. She graduated from the University of Southern Maine in May 2002 with a degree in communications and has been working at Portland TV station WMTW (Channel 8) for the past eight months. She's the weekend assignment editor for the station's news programs and works as a production assistant on weekdays, editing video news footage from around the world.

Caswell, who grew up in Eliot, hopes to someday be producer of a news program and write the copy read by the anchors.

Q: Since you work in TV, do you watch a lot of TV? What are your favorite shows?

A: I try not to watch a lot of serious shows. I get to see so many serious things (while editing news footage) during the day. I like sitcoms like "Everybody Loves Raymond" or "Friends." I see enough war coverage at work, we have CNN on all the time.

Q: When did you first think you'd like to work in TV?

A: Forever. Ever since I can remember. My family and I took a trip to Lake Tahoe when I was 11 or 12, and my parents had a video camera. I was pretending to be reporting live from there, interviewing people around us.

Q: How did you land this job?

A: When I graduated, I got a part-time job at (WGME) Channel 13 by sending my resume in. It was part-time on the assignment desk. Then when someone was leaving at Channel 8, a friend recommended me to (news director) Dave Baer.

Q: What do you like best about your job?

A: The constant challenges that are handed to me. Just recently I was asked to train someone. That was a challenge. I learned to edit not that long ago, and now I've trained someone else to do it. That's pretty rewarding.

Q: Would you ever want to be in front of the camera, as an anchor or reporter?

A: Eventually. But I like where I am now. My goal is to produce, to write and produce.

Q: What does a news producer do?

A: They look at what's in the planner, what events are happening, what's happening internationally, nationally and locally. Then they put everything in a rundown, what story is first, what story is second. Then they write everything. Except for stories done by a reporter. But anything that's read by an anchor, that's usually written by the producer.

Q: What's your goal in TV news? Would you want to work at a big station in New York or Los Angeles?

A: No. I definitely want to stay in Maine.

Q: What's been the most surprising thing about working at Channel 8?

A: A lot of little things. How much work goes into a half-hour news show. There are probably 25 to 30 people working to put out that one show.

Q: What's the best advice you can give to other young people who want to work in TV news?

A: Just stick with it, no matter what.

Staff Writer Ray Routhier can be contacted at 791-6454 or at: rrouthier@pressherald.com

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