Worlds of Television

The last few days, I have been walking past a huge prime-time episodic shoot on my way to the train station. There are multiple blocks bordered by large trucks, some clearly containing equipment, others, people, and yet others, the craft services (food, that is) that will feed the cast and crew all day.
 
Since I travel early, I see nothing of the shooting--just people milling about, walkie-talkies everywhere. And yet, I  am fascinated by the production, its scope, and how it takes over this small part of the city. It is a reminder in general that television production is alive and well in New York, and a reminder to me that television production is not just one world, it is many worlds, and that the parts of it that are alive and well can be worlds as separate from me as the world of corporate finance.
 
Are we all telling stories? Sure. But how we work to tell those stories is different. While this production that I pass each day is incorporating the real city, it is also facing the challenges of the real city. In the studio, we don't have the difficulties of a living, working city, but we don't have the feel of that city either. And these different challenges tend to mean different people called upon to meet them, meaning that a person who's used to the studio just isn't the first choice for that job on the street. Both television, both storytelling, but different enough to feel as though they are two different worlds.
 
There was a time when I would have railed against this dichotomy in my industry. These days, I just walk by, happy to see that people (including me) are working, and simply curious to know where I'd fit in to help tell those stories if I were stopping before the train station to work on the shoot with all the trucks.
 
Perhaps someday. Someday, that is, when the worlds of television don't seem quite so far apart.