FSU's Seminole Productions

http://www.tallahassee.com/story/sports/college/fsu/2017/07/15/ahead-curve-fsus-seminole-productions-ready-upcoming-acc-network/479455001/

Florida State’s athletic department has already spent about $3 million in upgrades to control rooms located in the Moore Athletic Center. Seminole Productions utilizes two control rooms for game day productions.

There’s still about $3.5 million more that needs to be spent, Rodin said. More control rooms need to be built and fiber optic cables need to be run from each venue. 

The control rooms will cost about $2 million and running the cables will cost about $1.5 million. 

Rodin said the money is an investment into the upcoming ACC Network.  

“Over the next 12 months, we’re trying to get two more control rooms built,” Rodin said. “That’s our next phase, to get our final control rooms built and the rest of the equipment we need for the network so that by next August, when ESPN wants us ready, we’re ready to train, we’re ready to go.

“They would like us to be doing linear productions as quickly as we can. (The network is) a revenue split between ESPN and athletics. The more they can save on production costs, with being comfortable with the universities doing their own productions, then the more revenue there is to split.”

The linear productions are what set FSU apart from other schools in the ACC. The Seminoles already have a linear-ready control room. “Linear-ready” means ready to support a live television event on a channel like on ESPN or ESPN2. 

Seminole Productions took over production for FSU softball’s Tallahassee Regional-winning victory over Georgia, which was broadcast live on ESPN. 

“For the softball regional, we were one of the prime games on ESPN,” Rodin said. “ESPN has higher standards than ESPN2 and ESPNU. They were so comfortable with our facility, they put us on ESPN for the softball regional. We were the first school in the ACC to have that happen.

“That was a big accomplishment after 30 years of building to what we consider to be a network-level production unit. We did it. We made it and we did something that was on the ESPN channel. It was exciting and fulfilling for everybody.” 

 

Students will be key components to the success of the ACC Network. 

A typical football game production – for both television and for the screens in Doak Campbell – takes 35 to 40 people, Rodin said. Other events take about 20 people.
Rodin said he has a staff of about 14 full-time people. Florida State’s students make up the difference. 

“All of my employees, except for one, are Florida State graduates,” Rodin said. “Our students take a multi-camera production class. That multi-camera production class is a live event. There will be students doing a variety of positions on any one of our live events, even for ESPN. 

“We have students who edit and help edit features and content for our shows. Students are talent for a lot of our shows. The academic involvement – obviously we’re a university. It’s extremely important that we’re training students to go out into the industry.”

Michael Fertig, a 22-year-old Florida State grad who is now a producer for the ACC Network working with Seminole Productions, said he started off as a volunteer and found a career. 

“This has been the most valuable aspect of my education at Florida State,” he said. “The media production program is great. It taught me a lot, but this is what gave me the hands-on experience I might need out in the real world.” 

 

ACC Commissioner John Swofford in May said he’s confident the ACC Network is coming in 2019. 

He's counting on the success of the network to put the ACC on the same revnue level as the Big 10 and the SEC. 

Rodin said training for the network needs to start by roughly this time next year. 

“I’m very confident,” Swofford said during spring meetings.

“That’s why we’re doing the channel. We fully expect a gap with particularly the Big 10 and the SEC for a couple of years. But that’s the very reason we’ve signed to do what we’re doing. We fully expect that gap will narrow considerably when we get the channel up and running.”

While other schools are trying to catch up, Rodin said he wants FSU to lead the way. 

“I think we’re as good as anybody in the country as far as what we do at the level we do it. Our next big step is getting to where they have no hesitation saying, ‘We’re going to be on ESPN or ESPN2, you guys do the production,’ instead of sending a truck. That’s the next growth level.”