Testing positive at the Tournament of Roses

I have been able to provide editorial services at the Rose Parade as part of ABC/ESPN’s coverage of the Rose Bowl for the last 8 years.  Each year I set up at the front bench of the mobile unit and edit about 20-30 elements including 3 features over the course of a 3-day contract.  It is a busy few days that typically concludes with parade day beginning at 2:30AM at the mobile unit.

The front bench of the mobile unit is never an ideal creative space to edit.  You’re battling the noise of the truck, crammed in between various routers and control panels, all of this while at the same time trying not to disrupt the work that others are trying to get done.  After 7 years of this, the Feature Producer and I suggested editing offsite.  I’ve had success with this in the past and I just thought that it would be more conducive to creating good content.

The suggestion was approved and for the 2024 Rose Parade we set up at the hotel and had planned to walk all of the deliverables over to the truck.  This proved to be a game changer when on my load-in day I got sick and ended up testing positive for COVID.  If we had been setup in the truck this would have been a big problem.  But because I was setup at the hotel and feeling reasonably well, I was ready to work.  All of the source media was delivered to my door where I was able to get it without contact.  I was then able to utilize a google cloud drive to share reviews with the Feature Producer and provide deliverables to the truck.  While everyone was arriving on Parade Day at 2:30AM, I was making revisions and delivering last minute requests.  Everything worked perfectly, no hiccups and everyone was thrilled with the workflow.