7-minute read
Scott Sackett is a non-fiction filmmaker and public media producer whose work has appeared on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), American Public Television (APT), the National Educational Telecommunications Association (NETA), National Public Radio (NPR), Public Radio International, Associated Press Network News, Amazon Prime, and in film festivals in North American and Europe. He currently hosts Sacred Classics and Sunday Morning on WNED Classical and is a feature story contributor to NPR affiliate WBFO. His work in public media has been recognized by the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers, the Telly Awards, CINE, and the New York State Associated Press Association. He is an incoming lecturer in the Jandoli School of Communication at St. Bonaventure University. He previously taught in the communication studies and world languages programs at SUNY Niagara County Community College and was a recipient of the 2022-2023 SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Adjunct Teaching.
1) What is your educational background and how did it influence your decision to get into the film industry?
My academic pathway was unorthodox. When I started at UB as a freshman, I wanted to pursue a career in international relations, and I started to take courses in political science. After some time, I decided instead to study architecture. All the while, I was taking courses in German and Italian simply because I enjoyed learning languages. I then studied abroad for a year at the University of Rome, and I finished with a Bachelor of Arts in Italian. It wasn’t a plan: I just followed my heart.
I believe a liberal arts background is essential for anyone who wants to be a filmmaker or content producer. The members of our production teams have expert knowledge in filmmaking but also an appreciation and broad understanding of the canon of moving and still imagery, science, history, art, architecture, literature, and music.
My undergraduate coursework included studies of pre-WWII German cinema and post-WWII Italian neorealism. Of course, we also saw how in the intervening years film had been exploited by the German and Italian governments for fascist propaganda. For me, the important takeaways were cinematic storytelling, social commentary, and artistic integrity. But the two films that drew me to non-fiction filmmaking were Claude Lanzmann’s magnum opus, Shoah, a nine-and-a-half-hour documentary on the Holocaust that I had seen as a high school student when it premiered at Buffalo’s North Park Theatre, and Godfrey Reggio’s Koyaanisqatsi, an apocalyptic vision of the collision of modern society and the natural world which I discovered as an undergraduate. My first documentary was the result of an independent study at UB on urban development in my hometown of Amherst, New York. What I investigated was the collision of economic interests and the preservation of green space. My work was screened at several local community events, and it engendered some healthy debates. That was my objective.
It would be many years before I would work on my first national PBS documentary, but that experience was formative.
I also have a Master of Education from UB, and I teach world languages and communication studies. I enjoy helping students to find their pathways. I tell them that the work they are doing is not for me but for them. I say that the first project they produce is their first opus.
2) What are ways that you would recommend breaking into the field?
Internships. Full stop. In your internship, make yourself available to do anything, anytime. Make yourself invaluable. Try to find someone who can be a mentor. Manage up. Opportunities will follow.
I’ll share a quick story that I tell my students about my internship and the news I covered as a radio stringer. Shortly after I graduated from UB, I undertook an internship at the Associated Press in Rome, hoping to jump-start my career in the media. I covered the controversy at the Venice Biennale sparked by the World Flag Ant Farm installation by artist Yukinori Yanagi. I did a story on the return of Marcus Aurelius, the equestrian statue, to the Capitoline Museum and the ongoing work to cast a precise replica for the Capitol Square using photogrammetry. I also co-wrote a story about the Italian furniture maker Natuzzi on the first anniversary of its listing on the New York Stock Exchange. These were stories for print, and although they weren’t bylined, I was proud of them. Then the bombs went off. On July 27, 1993, car bombs exploded outside two of Rome’s most venerable churches after another had devastated a central street in Milan killing six people. My three-part series of radio reports as a stringer for AP Network News covered the bombings and the aftermath. That experience led to a job in radio production and broadcasting at the Western New York Public Broadcasting Association, now called Buffalo Toronto Public Media, where I have worked in various positions for some 30 years.
Today, I think many organizations are retaining the best interns for entry-level job openings, so internships are not just about gaining experience and networking. They are part of the job application.
3) What do you wish you would have known prior to entering the film industry?
It never gets easy. One must keep pushing to excel and create opportunities.
4) What organizations, clubs or internships were you involved in during college? How did those experiences help prepare you for your current role?
WRUB, the student-run, student-owned radio station, was pivotal. I hosted a weekly classical music program on Sunday nights from 10:00 to midnight. That radio production and broadcast experience served me well in my internship and helped to launch my career in public media.
I also served as vice president and president of the Italian Club. We took students to see Puccini’s opera La Traviata at Shea’s. We took students on a wine-tasting tour of the vineyards around Chautauqua Lake. And we held an annual St. Joseph’s Day table attended by some 200 students from the various Student Association clubs. We had a lot of support from the Italian faculty. It was a close-knit department.
5) What are the biggest challenges that you typically face in your role?
Feeding the crew on small productions, that’s one of my biggest challenges. I’d rather shoot all day, get take-out at night, and watch the dailies in the hotel room. It’s easier on a big shoot with craft services and catering, but on the smaller films, everyone who works with us knows they must remind us that some people need to refuel during the workday.
This has become a running joke, but seriously, some people can’t function well unless they eat during the day. Actually, the biggest challenge is funding. Budgets are tight, often too tight, and producers have to get creative to ensure nothing interferes with the integrity of the film. That means asking more of the crew and production team, and it’s imperative to keep the crew and production team happy.
I remember filming the nighttime siege of Fort Erie reenactments for the WNED War of 1812 documentary we produced called Glorious Battle. The last night, my production partner was called away on a family emergency, and it was raining intermittently. We could only film scenes between the rain showers. We had already pushed our production days to the max, and this was it. I was on the phone with the National Weather Service getting regular updates on expected breaks, but that storm sent us way over schedule. Then the police tried to shut us down because they were receiving complaints about the late-night artillery fire from residents living near the fort. We didn’t wrap until the wee hours the following morning. It had been an 18-hour day, the crew hadn’t eaten since dinner, and everyone was exhausted. I’m eternally grateful for everyone’s professionalism on that film, but tight budgets can be tough on working relationships.
6) What should a student or alumni do to prepare for a career in film production?
My advice is to find what you love and do that. Do it exceptionally well and keep pushing your craft and creativity. And you must know how to be a good team player.
7. Are there courses from your past major or specific things you learned that you use in your current role?
I believe the most important skill to develop is critical thinking, and creativity is the pinnacle—the synthesizing of ideas. Filmmakers and content producers like all artists are problem solvers.
8) What other advice do you have for anyone that would want to pursue this type of work?
I’ve heard it said by other filmmakers and producers, and I’ll echo the advice: only do this if you can do nothing else. If you can’t turn away, then this is your pathway.
Want to contact Scott? Email him at Scott@SkippingStonePictures.com
Find more UB alums like Scott on Connect-a-Bull, UB’s new alumni-student networking tool that let’s you find and set up meetings with professionals that want to help you.
