Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Deb Whitcas. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Deb, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What do you think matters most in terms of achieving success?
Success is a formula. It happens when hard work and being prepared meets opportunity and luck! I don’t think success can be achieved without this exact formula — at least it hasn’t happened for me yet!
I can use getting my first job in the TV Industry as an example. I worked very hard in college as a TV major- I did 5 internships, maintained a good GPA and was involved in several different on-campus media outlets, o when I got lucky and got the opportunity to meet Jerry Springer while he was filming a Spring Break show in Negril, Jamaica, I was prepared to ask for a job and had the experience in TV to back it up. Because of this formula, I was hired a few weeks later as a part – time intern on the show and I turned that opportunity into a full- time Producer position. I wound up working on the show for three years!
May Jerry Rest in Peace and I can literally thank him for the start of my career!
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
My bio: Deb Whitcas is a two-time Emmy winning Supervising Producer and Sports Journalist who has worked in non-fiction programming for over two decades. She began her entertainment career in-front of the camera at age twelve in her hometown of Philadelphia, PA and has since has produced highly rated national/international primetime and daytime shows for ABC, CBS, FOX, MGM, CW, Universal, HGTV, WE, Style/E! Entertainment and MTV Networks. Her most recent Producing ventures have been the successful launch of the ABC primetime show “Judge Steve Harvey’ and she is currently overseeing Season 2 of multiple Emmy – award winning journalist Elizabeth Vargas’ show “iCrime.”
In addition to her TV credits, Deb is also a Sports Reporter. Her love for sports began at a very young age as her father played in the minors for the Philadelphia Phillies and was also a professional bowler. She is currently an on-camera Reporter for the ‘Los Angeles Football Network’ covering the LA Chargers and works frequently as an on-camera Reporter/Content Creator with the NFL Alumni So Cal Chapter. She is a writer for a non-profit sports news organization “The Skyboat” and provides game play-by-play voice coverage for Sportsdata as a Sports Data Journalist. She has also appeared as Co- Host/Field Reporter for “Krush House” a digital sports betting show alongside NFL Quarterback/ESPN analyst Sean Salisbury, former NBA ‘Bad Boy’ Rick Mahorn and comedian Frank Nicotero. She has held media credentials for 2023/2022 NFL Draft, NFL Super Bowls LV, LVI, LVII, 2023 National College Football Championship, 2023 Rose Bowl, 2022 MLB All-Star week, 2022 ESPY’s, 2022 NFL Training Camp, 2022 USFL, 2021 NFL regular season games, and XFL 2.0.
When not on a set, in an edit bay or in a sports stadium, Deb enjoys spending time with her menagerie of rescue pets, dancing, pilates and relaxing on the beach with friends. Deb believes smiling is the key to happiness and she tries to do it as much as humanly possible!
More on www.debwhitcas.com
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
Before Covid, I was feeling burnt out of producing Reality TV – it had changed so much from when I first started – back in the day it was reality and I enjoyed working with real people –now, I feel like Reality is full of ‘actors’ and quasi-celebs who follow a script. Also, I had produced reality shows for over 19 years and was tired of the constant grind and not having a work/life balance. I knew that I had to make a pivot– I’ve always been a huge fan of sports as my father played in the minors for MLB and was a professional bowler. I grew up in a stadium and I’ve always felt my best there – there is nothing like the energy of a roar of a crowd after a touchdown or homerun! One day I was at work, and I realized that I was paying more attention to the stories about who was doing what at NFL training camps than my actual work — a lightbulb went off in my head….”why am I NOT working in Sports!?!?!”
I literally sat at my laptop and typed “How do I to become a Sports Reporter?” in Google and the rest is history. I have now covered 3 NFL Super Bowls, two NFL Drafts, the NFL Combine, the National College Football Championship, the Rose Bowl, regular season NFL and college games, USFL, and XFL.
Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?
I wish Youtube and Social Media was around when I was first starting out in my career – I think it would have been much easier to put out content to the masses! I had to be hired by a media outlet to get my creative message out but now ANYBODY can just turn on their camera and get their creative message out anytime. When I do mentoring sessions, I always tell the participates to go tape their own content and post — you NEVER know who may see it!!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.debwhitcas.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/sportreportdeb
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/deborahjwhitcas
- Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/deborahjwhitcas
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/sportreportdeb
- Other: www.muckrack.com/deborah-whitcas
Image Credits
Richard Joel Mark Cartwright