You’ve heard the saying: Jack of all trades, master of none. But sometimes, knowing all trades (or maybe, how to do a lot of things within your trade) is good enough, and whether or not you’re a master doesn’t matter so much - although I’m sure it wouldn’t hurt.

When you start out in TV - and I’m sure this goes for most jobs - the more questions you can answer “yes” to, the better. What I mean is that if you’re in an interview and your potential boss asks you if you can do X, Y, and Z … it’ll sure give you a head start if you can say, “yes, I can edit, yes I can produce, yes I have had some camera experience.”

This is part of the reason why I think it’s so important to intern. What you lack in payment over those few months, you make up for in experience. As an intern, most stations are more than willing to let you sit in on edit session, trail reporters, try your hand at writing, and hang out in the producing booth. So take advantage of that while you can - but I already wrote a whole series about that.

Here’s how it comes into play: no matter what type or size of station you start out in, knowing more is always better. If it’s a small station, you better be prepared with your expertise in a number of different “trades,” because no matter what you’re hired to do, you’ll probably be doing that, and at least two other things. Most of my jobs have been as a producer, but I’ve also acted as a writer when I wrote content for my shows, acted as an assignment editor when I found stories for our reporters and answered phones to help give people information. I’ve acted as a stage manager/director when I’ve set up interviews on-set. I’ve acted as a reporter when I’ve helped write and voice packages. I’ve acted as an associate producer, call screener, line producer, field producer, and probably a lot of other things I’m forgetting about. These are all things I’ve done in addition to doing the job I was hired to do.