All in a night’s work (January 29, 2009)

From Brett Lemick ‘08…

To assure that you, my readers are informed and alert, my last blog is a prerequisite to this post.  So go read my previous post and I will wait [crosses arms and taps foot]. Okay…ready?  Good.

I would like to share one of my more exciting (and surprising) experiences that I had here at NATPE.  After I spent a full day with Ben Silverman, the co-chairman of NBC Entertainment and NBC Universal, I had the pleasure of escorting him and his father Stanley to the NATPE honoree dinner later that night. Upon arriving, Ben asked me to add one more seat to their table.

When adding the extra spot to the reservations, I inquired about the guest, and a man stepped forward and said in a deep British accent, “Telegdy. Paul Telegdy.”  Right when I heard his name, I immediately knew who this gentleman was.  I recognized his name from signing up to work his upcoming speaking panel, Reality Recession. Paul Telegdy is NBC’s executive Vice President of alternative programming.  He previously worked at BBC and is responsible for the hit show Dancing with the Stars.  Okay, back to the story.

“Telegdy. Paul Telegdy,” he said (again, in his British voice).  I introduced myself, gave him my business card with my website (www.thatInternatNATPE.com) and told Mr. Telegdy how excited I was to hear him speak tomorrow. He modestly said, “I can’t promise it’ll be entirely exciting.”  Oh, how wrong he was.  The next day, I was blessed with the opportunity to hear him and three other media professionals speak about the struggles and successes of network reality television shows.  Afterwards, I charged through the crowd as Telegdy raced to the door and thanked him again and reminded him about my business card.  He then said, “Yes. That intern at NATPE.”  He remembered!  I was in.

Honestly, there is so much more I have to say, but cannot fit in this post.  By this time next year, I hope to be busy with an exciting job in television.  But if I’m not, I will certainly be back at NATPE.  All righty, I’m off to go arm wrestle my roommate (and new best friend) Ross. We just met this week, and he’s one of the 42 new friends I look forward to keeping in touch with.