Doug Wren (’73)
First jobs:
My first job out of college was in Farmington, N.M., at a station with 13 people about 50 yards off the Navajo reservation. I put commercials on the air. From there I moved to Springfield, Mo., where I did a little bit of sports directing out of a remote truck. When I got a job in Tulsa at the ABC affiliate — this was when cable wasn’t big — I began to direct more and more sports.
How things have changed:
I was in the Denton area shooting something and decided to come over to North Texas just for the heck of it and see my old RTVF building. This was in 1983. All of the production equipment I’d used as a student was in the hallway surrounded by a red velvet rope. It was a museum.
Sports directed or produced at the Olympics:
- Features and Nordic events including cross-country skiing, biathlon, Nordic combined for Turner Sports in Albertville
- Diving in Barcelona
- Swimming and synchronized swimming in Atlanta
- Whitewater rafting and rhythmic gymnastics in Sydney
- Speed skating in Salt Lake City
- Rowing, canoeing and kayaking in Athens
- Basketball in Beijing
- Now beach volleyball in London
Memorable moment caught on camera:
I directed the inaugural Major League Soccer game on ESPN in 1996. It was the first U.S. professional soccer match televised to a new audience since the NASL a generation earlier. A lot was riding on the game and the telecast. The only goal was scored by Eric Wynalda of San Jose, beating DC United with less than three minutes left in regulation. It was electric and the home crowd went wild. We were just so glad there was a goal scored. I went on to direct all of the ESPN/ABC games for the first 10 years of the league, but that goal was most memorable.
Most difficult sport to direct:
Gymnastics and track and field are equally difficult since they involve different events occurring at the same time. You direct one event live while isolating others to play back later. I’ve directed more gymnastics than track and field, including the World Championships in Anaheim in 2003 and numerous NCAA tournaments.
A sport still to cover:
At one point I counted 35 sports I have directed over a 36-year directing career. I am really looking forward to London and beach volleyball. I managed to visit the beach volleyball venue at Bondi Beach while working the Sydney Games and it was incredibly exciting. It’s actually as much about entertainment for the crowd with a DJ, music and hoopla, but for me it will be about capturing the incredible drama of the matches for the world audience and giving them the best seat in the house.
Directing at the Olympics:
As a director of any sport, you block shots and figure out the angles. It’s not re-inventing the wheel, but you need to know which way the ball is going and which way the action is going. You figure out how to cover the sport so you can capture the action and it’s easy for someone to watch. But in this case, the feed goes to a billion people.
