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What's it like ...
to produce an award-winning TV show?*
It is scouring the Internet, newspapers, and trusted sources for show topics. It is exhilarating. It is helping to book talent such as Eve Ensler, creator of The Vagina Monologues, actress Geena Davis, and Linda Hirshman, author of a controversial book criticizing educated stay-at-home moms, Get To Work: A Manifesto for Women of the World. It is multi-tasking. It is a Public Broadcasting Service program called To the Contrary, and Alika Codispoti '04 is on the front line.
"We tape on Thursday, so everything in the week builds up to Thursdays," said Codispoti, a history major and theatre minor who lives and works in Washington DC. An internship at a small production company in New York City while she was an MBC student fostered her interest in behind-the scenes television work. Two years after graduation, she is associate producer at Persephone Productions, a company created specifically to produce To the Contrary.
This is not your run-of-the-mill TV series. Introduced in 1992, To the Contrary is one of the country's all-female news analysis programs, exploring mainstream current events from a female perspective and targeting specific women's issues with expert and celebrity panelists. Host and create Bonnie Erbe won a Gracie Allen award for her work on the show, and the program itself has earned recognition in the industry. "I knew I was interested in working in television, and I was happy to find work on a program that has a genuine purpose - to explore the underrepresented views of women, children, and people of color," she said.
Two years at Persephone Productions taught Codispoti the technicalities of digital film editing and how to lineup an all-star panel, but her most significant take-away from the jub thus far is heightened awareness about women's issues. "Working here has helped define the way I absorb information in the world, and it gives me a better sense of who I am and will continue to become."
*originally published in the fall 2006 issue of The Mary Baldwin College Magazine
Update 2008: Codispoti still works with To The Contrary, and is preparing for the switch over to digital broadcasting in February 2009. She has also been working with Foundry Players - a community theatre in Washington, D.C. - as a stage manager, light technician, and props designer.