ChomPics Guest Post - Briley Barrett, "The Bite" Associate Producer

Hi readers! I’m Briley Barrett, an associate producer for "The Bite" but some of you may know me better as “Party Goer Number 2” from Disney Channel’s Get Connected. Scratch that, I hope none of you recognize me from my fifteen seconds of embarrassing Disney fame. However, I do have to give credit to Get Connected for sparking my interest in the television production industry.

When I was a freshman in high school I was given the opportunity to move to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career. After a year packed with auditions, acting classes, and a few gigs I began to realize that I would rather be behind the camera instead of in front of it. I returned home to Florida and set my focus on learning the production side of television. When it came time for college, I felt so fortunate to be accepted into UF’s journalism school and further my education in telecomm.

Once I got to The Swamp, I foolishly thought I would jump right into taking hands-on classes instead of sitting in lecture halls. Once I realized I wouldn’t be working on my own production projects for another year, I had the urge to get involved in one of the evening news shows. Then, just like Kelbin, I received an email about ChomPics and I knew this was the hands-on opportunity I was looking for.

I joined this student run production company at the right time and was lucky enough to be chosen as an associate producer of an all new entertainment news program—"The Bite!" Being a part of this show has been the greatest learning experience of my college career thus far. Getting the chance to help build a show up from the bottom has been a rewarding experience filled with both highs and lows. One of the greatest aspects of working on this project is learning from the cast and crew. Lizette has taught me so much about After Effects and Premiere, Alyssa has shown me how to write a complex script, and Michelle has instructed me on how set up proper studio lighting.

My all time favorite episode we have filmed so far was our red carpet special. I had so much fun filming Lauren and Adrian’s segment on awards show fashion out in the field. We all felt like we were filming an episode of E! News and in the end the episode came together really nicely (you can watch it here!)

I am so excited to move up to the position of executive producer in the fall and can only hope I do as great of a job as the EP’s this past year have done. For those interested in getting hands-on experience like I was, I definitely recommend joining ChomPics. Special thanks to Connor Hachey and Beth Benge for working so hard to create an awesome organization and giving me this great opportunity!

#brileybarrett #cjc #thebite #chompics #gatornbs