You鈥檙e a young, newly minted scholar with a Ph.D. in film and television studies from UCLA. What to do next? Tenured position at a respected university? Vice president of a major television network? Maybe a book about Academy Award-winner Sofia Coppola鈥檚 adaptation of Pulitzer Prize-winner Jeffrey Eugenides鈥� novel The Virgin Suicides?
Or, perhaps, you help to answer one of modern life鈥檚 most burning questions: Why are people so keen on Keeping Up with the Kardashians?
If you鈥檙e , the answer is, 鈥淎ll of the above.鈥�
Leaving academia for television and then leaving television for academia was always the plan, Wyatt argues. Put another way, Wyatt took theory, put it into practice, and then brought his research back to the classroom. 鈥淚 knew I鈥檇 come back,鈥� Wyatt says. 鈥淚 always intended to bring all this knowledge back to the classroom.鈥�
Wyatt, who teaches media advertising, research and criticism, as well as film theory and history, left a tenured position at the University of Arizona in 2000 for a 15-year career in television, leading primary research efforts for, among others, E!/NBCUniversal and CMT/MTV Networks/Viacom. (He served as a vice president of research at both companies.) Wyatt conducted qualitative and quantitative research for shows such as Desperate Housewives, Lost, Grey鈥檚 Anatomy and Keeping Up with the Kardashians. (FYI: Fans of the show told Wyatt that it isn鈥檛 the glitz and glamour that keeps them coming back. It鈥檚 the curiosity about living in a large, blended family and the fantasy of having a large group of squabbling sisters who, nonetheless, have your back when it comes to the rest of the world.)
And how does Wyatt bring all this experience to bear on the classroom? There are two books in progress: Catching the Phantom Viewer: Market Research & The Evolving Media Ecosystem and The Virgin Suicides: Reverie, Sorrow & Young Love. And, Wyatt鈥檚 students learn through real-world creative exercises about what it takes to work in media. A typical assignment, for instance, might be students pitching television tag lines to their classmates. 鈥淚t mirrors the experience of working in a creative ad agency,鈥� Wyatt explains.
鈥淪tudents want to know what it takes to break in to the business. I tell them, 鈥業t鈥檚 not about how smart you are. It鈥檚 about collaboration. It鈥檚 about being able to put the ego in check so that you鈥檙e able to work with others in a creative environment.鈥�
鈥淚 tell them, 鈥淚鈥檓 teaching you skills for your first job and also for your last job.鈥欌��