Welcome to New Genesis, I’m your host Nia Cross. New Genesis is an audio series about the Black woman reporter and executive experience.
On today’s episode, we have a special guest, the Vice President of Original Content and Entertainment at NFL Media, Angela Ellis.
My first question for you is how does it feel to be the first person in your position in original content at NFL media? And what kind of legacy do you want to leave in this position?
ELLIS: That’s a big question. It’s a big responsibility. I just started in this role. I’ve been with the NFL for two years in July, and there’s always been great content that comes out of the NFL. Whether it’s NFL films, our shows on NFL Network to NFL 360, which is one of our magazine type longform storytelling series that’s won several Emmys and broken records. There’s always been great content, but never all put under one umbrella with a focus that is looking at a strategy for how this department grows. How do we get our content out there? More and more people see what we’re doing, it’s really being able to set for the first time the direction for a department. And then now it’s figuring out the right strategy for what content goes where and how we can keep raising the bar and the stories that we tell.
My next question for you is how has the transition been working daytime to sports, especially since those are two totally different audiences?
ELLIS: The daytime experience was a nice bridge between the majority of what my career was in news. And when I decided to make that transition first to know that I was ready to move out of news and still figure out a role in the media space and storytelling; but that wasn’t tied to the news cycle. When the opportunity came up to work in daytime, I looked at it as an opportunity to get more information. Could this be the type of show or storytelling that could be the next step for me? But it was a really great experience where I learned more than what I did in the news. And then I was able to take things that I learned from news and my past experience to this industry, to sports. And in the end, when I got the call from a recruiter about this position, what they kept telling me was “no we want a different perspective. We don’t want someone who comes up with the same traditional way of telling sports stories because in the end it’s storytelling.” What’s an interesting story to tell? Our approach is called Helmet’s off, so players take their helmet off. Who are they in the world off the field, and what are the things that they do and how do they contribute? Those are the stories that we like to focus on that give this other picture of them not just as athletes on the field.
My next question is regarding original content. What are your thoughts on social media today versus the ideal future?
ELLIS: Seeing in the course of my career how much this new technology and platforms have changed how we tell stories, I think it happened more quickly than anybody anticipated. And there are more platforms that are now for streaming. At some point I feel we’re going to hit a ceiling? Right now there’s so much content everywhere, it’s going to reach its saturation. So it’s a flood of content to reset and figure out what’s going to be the next thing.
That’s a wrap for New Genesis. Stay tuned in for more episodes.
For Annenberg Media, I’m Nia Cross.