by Alexandra Sabatini
Payton Conway (’18), a Communication Studies graduate, is showcasing her digital media skills by producing content for NFL Films and has her first piece coming out this Saturday. Here’s how she earned that honor.
Longwood University graduate Payton Conway (’18), is the most recent success story for Communication Studies department. After attending a conference featuring Courtlind Bragg, Payton was invited to attend the post-conference dinner at Macado’s where Bragg suggested she apply for the externship program at NFL Films. After applying, she was offered the position and has been making her mark ever since.
During a normal workday, you can find Payton editing material for the NFL Top 10 package, promotions for the network, or putting footage together of turf monsters (a future segment). While working for NFL Films, she has learned how to use Avid Media Composer, how to write stories that are out of her comfort zone and has sharpened her editing skills.
Though Payton has only been there a short time, she has already made quite an impression on her supervisors. Her most recent achievement is a segment that will air Saturday, November 17, 2018 at 1:00 am and again at 10:00 am on the NFL Top 10. This week’s episode is all about the ten greatest coach and quarterback duos. Payton’s contribution to the show comes in at number nine. Although she is not allowed to reveal the pair quite yet, she did let us know the duo comes from the Green Bay Packers.
Payton wanted to further he skills so she took the initiative and asked if she could create a mock segment to gain experience with editing a longer piece. Her supervisor informed her that the person working on the number nine spot had left and that Payton could take it over. Much of the research had been done so she had to piece it together and create a two to three-minute segment. The first draft she turned in was five minutes and forty seconds long. Payton expressed that the hardest part of the entire process was figuring out what to cut. The final edited version of the segment is three minutes and sixteen minutes long.
Payton credits the Communication Studies department with her editing, research, and creative skills. She says that without her production classes, and her time at the Rotunda, for she would not been ready for her externship.
You can check out the work of Longwood University alumni Payton Conway at 1:00 am and again at 10:00 am on the NFL Network.