Producing: Good career move?

Show producing at a local level is an excellent career move. Do a quick survey to prove my point. If you're still in school, ask your colleagues how many of them want to become producers. Probably all of them want to be anchors or reporters. At least that's been my experience with interns at the local television stations where I work. Here's how that translates in the job market: for every reporting opening, news directors get stacks and stacks of tapes. For every producer opening? Maybe 3 or 4. And probably only one of those is actually qualified for the job- the rest are a shot in the dark. That's why many tv stations are "growing their own" producers, meaning you start as a writer and work your way into producing. Producers are also a pipeline into management-- and trust me, it doesn't take long.

Even if you want to be a reporter, getting some producer skills can't hurt. There are plenty of small market postings where they need a producer but they're willing to give you some tv time to fill the position. So you may produce a couple days a week and then report the rest.