College campuses hustle and bustle and whirl with the start of a new athletics season. Invigorated students and supporters take in the excitement with the pageantry and fanfare that make universities hum with energy.
While the fan experience goes full steam, there is an entire industry working behind the scenes to create content and deliver sports in a manner so that viewers never miss a moment.
Who are the people bringing this experience to your screen? Who’s operating the camera? Cutting the reels? Directing the show?
Those would be people like Megan Rakoczy, a Journalism alumna who hit the ground running when she graduated in 2016.
Rakoczy always knew she wanted to pursue video, even setting her sights on Hollywood where fast-paced creative environments could inspire her. Most intrigued by the entertainment route, she was met with CSU professors who were open to exploring her creative side to better tailor her education.
As a student taking JMC classes housed in Clark’s storied C-wing, Rakoczy remembers courses like Steve Weiss’ Corporate Video Production, Dani Castillo’s Motion Graphics, and Deric Swanson’s Advanced Video Editing. Not only was she learning technical skills like Adobe After Effects and Premiere, but she was also gaining hands-on experience working with local businesses and interacting with clients. Rakoczy also enrolled in RAMProductions where she learned how to use a TriCaster while filming shows at the UCA and worked as a student employee in the CSU Athletics Department.
Rakoczy learned even more from the theatre program while fulfilling credit hours for her Music, Stage, and Sports Production minor. Taking theatre classes where she studied light design, sound design, and theatre storytelling where she made use of knowing how to write and act out stories, speak with a creative mindset, animate lights for a show, and use sound to tell a story.
“I remember one project where we got a 1950s black and white commercial, and it was muted. We had to create our own voiceovers and sound effects for it with no context; it was whatever we thought the commercial was about. The sound effects were all sounds we recorded using microphones, like a chair being dragged across the floor, so it was neat to see how sound could be incorporated into storytelling,” she says.
These skills, from advanced camera operating down to simply knowing how to wrap cables correctly, gave Rakoczy the competitive edge she needed to find jobs after graduation. “My first job out of college was as a technical director for a company called WeatherNation TV. Steve Weiss helped me get that job just based on learning the Tricaster in RAMProductions. They needed someone that knew how to TD, and the person that hired me also went through RAMProductions, so that connection helped,” she says.
Following that experience, Rakoczy recalls her first big opportunity with Van Wagner Sports and Entertainment covering The Department of Defense Warrior Games, where military wounded warriors from all over the world compete in athletic events. It remains one of Rakoczy’s most memorable moments as it was the gig that set her mentality and opened the gateway to some of her greatest opportunities.
“It was my first gig wondering if I’m good enough to be here; I always kept waiting for that moment to come where I didn’t know what I was doing and how I was going to keep up, but that moment never came. I was able to keep up with the other editors in the control room even though they had a lot of years on me," she says. "Not only that, but the connections that I made there were invaluable. I met a friend there who worked for the Olympics, and they said, ‘let’s keep in touch, maybe one day we can get you there, too.’”
Four years later, through that relationship, Rakoczy was working with the Olympic Broadcast Service at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and this summer finished a job at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Through these sporting events, Rakoczy has met people around the world, all sharing a similar passion, and she believes these global friendships make for a better storyteller.
Covering College Athletics
Experience and skill also led Rakoczy to the position of creative director and video production coordinator for CSU Women’s Basketball from 2018 to 2022. In this role, Rakoczy produced content and managed social media accounts in addition to serving as a content producer, game day director, and videographer. While the production behind an athletics event can be fast paced, staying engaged and organized creates the foundation for success in this line of work. Pivoting when last minute changes arise, communicating clearly, and networking – these are the essential skills Rakoczy has used throughout her career in rooms responsible for headlining events.
Nowadays, Rakoczy spends more time at CU Boulder working with BuffVision as a freelancer, but she regularly contracts with CSU’s RamVision, helping film promotional material for recruited athletes.
Day-to-day, Rakoczy regularly rotates between graphics operations, directing, and camera operating in the control room. She believes being a jack of all trades has provided her with consistent work and the opportunity to keep learning new things. While she believes in pursuing specific passions like videography, she advocates that knowing how to create graphics and after-effects is a great way to build a technical and creative arsenal. “I don’t have the safety net of a full-time position, but I have the skill set in so many different areas that I get asked back,” she says.
Rakoczy attributes a lot of her success to forming connections and maintaining her network. Creating opportunities for herself, asking to be a part of things, and helping others whether they’re students or professionals have been the greatest driving forces of her career. That, and being a hardworking person.
The future is looking bright for Rakoczy: she has found great success in sports, she’s traveled the world, and she’s in a fulfilling career with a lot of dreams in front of her and endless opportunities with her talents.