Interview with Media Professional Gonzalo Accame

For my first interview with a media professional, I interviewed

Gonzalo Accame. Mr. Accame is not only a national and international award winning bilingual producer, but also juggles production as well as being a cameraman and the co-owner of Visual Edge Productions. He started at the lowest position in his business and worked as hard as he honestly could to work his way up from there. In addition, he began his broadcasting career in 1978 in Boston as the associate producer of a Spanish program. From there he was promoted to story producer and was fortunate to have produced or been apart of productions for many major tv networks such as the Discovery, TLC, Animal Planet, and the History and Learning Channels. Later on he joined forces and became co-producer of his own production company. I came into contact with Mr. Accame seven years ago when I became good friends with his daughter in high school. I knew that he did media work, however I wasn't aware of the extent of his work and what exactly went along with it until I did this interview. When asking Mr.Accame of what his many jobs consisted of he replied "the fun stuff like getting to wear many different hats, as well as producing, managing, and marketing and public relations." This was a lot to take in because I quickly understood that it was a huge responsibility and a large workload trying to balance everything and keeping it stable. When asking Mr.Accame what he disliked most about his job he responded that dealing with the day to day management of owning a business and having to deal with everything that comes into the mix. However, he counteracted this by stating that he loved working in unison with his crew, great actors whether pro or not, and the famous personalities that come with his line of work. I was intrigued by the fact that he has worked with many of our Presidents dating from the Carter and Reagan Administration to Obama today, and traveled all over the world in maing documentaries and filming stories. As far as the future goes, Mr. Accame stressed that the web was the place to be, and that with all of the technological changes that have taken place that it's really had to keep up with. In the past we were satisfied by the print media and tv, however now we don't need them becuase we can put all types of information and videos on the web. When I asked of advice for students wishing to pursue the same type of line of work, Mr. Accame stressed students to work hard, not get discouraged, and to put as much time into learning as much as you possibly can, whether it be by volunteering or getting an internship with a smile on your face at all times. Last but not least, he told me to give it my all and work super hard as well as to not rely on luck and that opportunity and preparedness were the most important tools to success. When doing this interview, I learned so much more valuable information I had never known or even thought about. This summer I was invited to go on a couple of shoots with Mr. Accame to see him at work, which I am really excited for and can't wait for the experience.