Nic Uff made his dream of working in production a reality long ago. After many professional achievements and while taking on impressive student leadership roles at Temple University, Uff is gaining even more production experience at CBS This Morning as a booking intern, and will retain his role for the entirety of the semester.
Uff, a junior media studies and production major at Klein College of Media and Communication, started taking videography and production seriously at an early age. In high school, he was involved in producing the school’s morning announcements and filming school events. Similarly, he has explored various communication and production opportunities at Temple. He is a Klein student ambassador and Klein Rising student mentor, a student producer for Klein’s Office of Strategic Communications and a content strategist for the university’s Office of the Provost. He is also a producer for Temple University Television’s (TUTV) Temple Update. This summer, he interned with CBS News Washington as a remote news intern.
The abilities that Uff developed during the first half of his time at Temple have helped him immensely during his internship. As a remote booking intern for CBS This Morning, he is responsible for finding stories for the show and assists in securing the show’s interviews. While celebrity bookings are always exciting, he has been particularly moved by the everyday people booked on the show who have been hit the hardest by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Despite his virtual position, Uff still communicates with the booking unit and others at the show — like the on-air team that includes celebrated journalist Gayle King — through regular meetings. His internship takes up 24 hours each week, and he is motivated by his work for a great reason.
“I’ve learned so much over the last month and a half at CBS and I continue to learn everyday,” he said. “So I’m taking the skills that I’m learning at network TV and bringing them back to TUTV which is kind of cool.”
Paul Gluck, general manager of TUTV, is one of Uff’s mentors at Klein. Gluck is impressed with the rapid progress that Uff has already made in his undergraduate career.
“Having seen Nic work so diligently and so meticulously on Temple Update and knowing the kind of positive energy he brings to every project on which he works, it follows that he is exactly the kind of aspiring professional in whom CBS News executives want to invest their time and impart their knowledge,” Gluck said in an email.
Amanda Stankiewicz, director of communications at Klein, also recognizes Uff’s preparedness for his internship. “Nic has a wide range of interdisciplinary skills from video production and editing, to social media management, to customer relations. These responsibilities and skills lend well to his booking internship because of his ability to multitask and use his interdisciplinary skills to connect with booking agents and guests,” she said in an email.
Uff suggests that students interested in the booking aspect of production find ways to acquire “great communication skills and just people skills — because if you can’t connect with people, especially over the phone or over a Zoom call in the era of COVID, you really can’t do anything.”
Uff is grateful to have an internship during the COVID-19 pandemic and wants to continue working with morning or evening news programs. No matter what direction he chooses in the near future, he knows the value of staying true to himself and his vision.
“Between working...at Klein and the studio at Klein, being a producer for Temple Update and working with the [Office of the Provost], I really have to talk to a lot of people,” Uff said. “And it doesn’t matter if I’m talking to prospective students when I’m an ambassador, I’m talking to multi-millionaire celebrities at CBS or highly respected scientists like Dr. Fauci, it doesn’t matter. You’re still the same person, you still have to be who you are.”