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Informational interview
- 1. Informational Interview with Jubba Seyyid Sr. Director of Programming & Production at TV One By Riah Stevenson
- 2. Company Background TV One, LLC is a television network that represents black entertainment and television. The company offers real-life and entertainment-focused original programming shows, classic series, movies, and music shows. It is a privately owned company run by CEOAlfred Liggins.
- 3. Interviewee Background University of Notre Dame Pre-Med and transitioned into Film/Communications Began his career in production at NBC and continued through producing reality shows, MTV shows, and Big Brother Senior Director of Programming and Production at TV One
- 4. What are the core responsibilities of your position? Mr. Seyyid is responsible for the programming and production team at TV One. This means he is responsible for taking pitches from writers, producers, production companies and agents. He takes their pitches for television and review them with his team. If they like it, which is determined through a democratic voting process, they take it to the head of the company and the president has the final word on if they green light the production. He then oversees the producers to make sure the show looks and goes the way the company for sees them.
- 5. What past jobs have been most helpful in getting you to this point of your career? All of his past entertainment industry jobs and internships. He worked as a producer on NBC, talk show ROLANDA, VIBE, MTV, BET, etc.
- 6. How well did your college experience prepare you for this job? He says that his college experience prepared him for his job very well. He says that he appreciates the communication skills that he gained and being able to listen to different people’s perspectives in one setting.Also, technology evolves on a constant basis but he is grateful for the basic that he learned in college because they help him to navigate the constant evolution. College trained him to think, analyze, decipher which he says is critical for any executive job. It allowed him to craft storytelling skills.
- 7. What do you like most about working in this industry? What do you dislike the most? He enjoys the creative part, being able to review people’s ideas and being able to help them launch the production side of their ideas. He dislikes having to tell people no because there are tons of people pitching ideas that fits the company mold as being a network to tell stories about black people from black people that the company just does not have room to take on every project.
- 8. What kinds of problems do you deal with? There is an overflow of scripts and ideas that are being pitched to him on a daily basis and the company cannot take all of them on. Being one of the fewAfricanAmerican television networks, there is more content than they can produce.
- 9. What are the most critical skills necessary to successfully lead a team? Confidence- if comes with experience. Because people will only follow you if they feel like they know where you’re going. Empathy- when you are able to understand what people are going through then you can manage them better and they can follow better. Leading with example is a part of that. He says that he is not a yeller or screamer so if someone makes a mistake then they own up to it and get past it together. Value of the Job- he began to understand the value of his work and how passionate the audience is about the projects and how projects affect their lives. His job is to make people feel and it affects people’s daily lives. His work is important through the conversations that people have when they watch the network and say that it changed their lives and helps them with things.
- 10. How do you motivate your team members and encourage them to bring value to TV One? He says it is tough. When the company is doing well then there isn’t much of a need to motivate them; however, people get down sometimes. So when that happens he reminds them why they got into the business. He believes in incentives. So he likes to reward his team member for going above and beyond. He has an Open- door policy where his team members have an opportunity and a place to come in and vent and talk about whatever is on their heart so that there is an opportunity to resolve issues.
- 11. When evaluating a team member’s performance, what factors are most important to you? He wants to see success! He wants to see that the projects that the employees are assigned to are better because of the work they put into them. He looks for execution rates.
- 12. What part of managing employees do you find the most satisfying and the most challenging? Most satisfying: When they experience success in their first time independent projects. Especially when given a very challenging task. Most challenging: Dealing with a variety of personalities. He says that they are like children. Every child is different so you don’t parent them the same way. Same way with employees. So the most challenging aspect for him is identifying the different personalities and being able to motivate them in different ways.
- 13. What I learned about People Management I learned that managing people is difficult but it can be enjoyable. There are so many skills that are necessary to be a successful manager; however, passion and motivation are a driving factor. I particularly enjoy being able to motivate and inspire people to do what they are passionate about. I understand that there will be conflict and I would love to adopt an open-door policy with my employees just like Mr. Seyyid.
- 14. Is being a Sr. Director of Programming & Production a job for me? I believe that I could be a successful Senior Director of Programming and Production in the future. This would be a position that I would look forward to later in my career once I transition from Music into TV or Film. I am especially passionate about being able to provide a platform for black people to share their voices and generally be successful in achieving their dream in entertainment. This position would be the perfect position for me at a company like TV One or BET or possibly my own company one day.