Blast From the Past

By this time you guys already know that I am a writer. But here's the thing: whenever I tell people where I work, they would just gasp, say great things (or diss them or whatever), and then ask me, 'Saang program ka?'

Sure, I work for a media network, but for crying out loud, I don't belong to any program whatsoever! Law school and working extended hours just to satisfy your executive producer (or at times, your b!+@#y boss also known as the host) will never ever mix. At least in my book.

If that is the case, where the hell am I working?

I am working for the company's Media Assets Management Department.

'Where the hell is that?" you might ask, I know. To make things simpler, I'll put it this way: 'I work for the company's Central Archives.

No, no, I'm not into the librarian kind of thingy in my work description. That's why I'm here to explain things out.


You see, after each program tape has been aired or after each unedited tapes has been used for a certain program, these tapes are kept for archiving and organized according to program, airing date (or capture date), or genre, just like what librarians do with books.

Just like with libraries, each tape comes with a 'catalog file,' where all the information about the tape are indicated. This is done so that researchers (the ones who usually use these tapes) could easily find these tapes according to the topic that they will be covering. These files are placed in a special media archiving program where all these tapes are consolidated and organized.

We, the writers, are the ones who are responsible for making the catalog files. In my case, I belong to the team that handles the Current Affairs program tapes (think: documentaries and magazine shows).

It was a pretty easy job, but not totally. Because the most important part of my job is to write the gists for each episode of a program and each segment of an episode. Think of the summary of a novel that you read at the back of the book - that's exactly what we are doing.

So where's the hard part there? You see, there are many things to consider when doing summaries. First and foremost is grammar (no doubt about that). Second, the K.I.S.S. rule, because primarily, the 'audience' of our writings is the researchers, and they don't have much time to watch the whole segment just to find that particular scene that they are looking for, let alone read the whole story of a segment. And there are some episodes and segments that are so info-packed that it is quite tempting to put all that info in one summary. But of course, that won't work if you want to keep your summary short and simple.

Yeah, basically we just sit in front of a PC, watch programs, and then write their summary.

The upside? I get to go back in the past through these programs. I get to view some of the issues in the past, in the perspective of the time that it was aired. It's like having a time machine in your PC screen.

Sounds fun after all, right? :)








Oh, by the way, my favorite story that I've encountered was that of Vizconde massacre. Gross, I know, but when I saw the archives of the programs where the said case was featured, you'll know the reason why that case is so controversial. Hehehe.