Influential Woman · Reality TV Production

Summer Storm

Videographer, Bliss & Bloom, LLC.

Moorhead, MN

Certifications · Degrees · Memberships

Degree Minnesota State Moorhead Degree Film Studies with specialization in Editing Degree Graduated May 2020

Her Story

About Summer

I've been working in reality TV production for the past 6 years, and it's been an incredible journey. My passion for movies and fascination with behind-the-scenes filmmaking led me to pursue this career. After graduating from college, a family friend connected me with a company that gave me my first opportunity, and kind of the rest is history. For the last 5 years and 8 months, I've been deeply immersed in reality TV work. My role is to watch down all of the raw footage - and since it's reality TV, nothing is really truly scripted. We kind of have an idea of what we want to shoot going in, but my job is to watch all the footage and then write up an outline and put together at least a base story. We call them stringouts, and then our finished editors will polish them up and add music and all that stuff. I'm the first line of defense for editors. One of my biggest professional achievements has been working on Mountain Men for the last four seasons. I haven't met any of the people there, but it's just a fun show to put together, especially given my outdoor community background - my dad is a wildlife artist, so I've kind of always been immersed in it. I've also had the opportunity to work with the Robertson brothers, the Duck Dynasty folks, and they're always a pleasure to work with. They're just really good people, and they're always down for a laugh. It's such a good work environment with them.

Her Interview

Ten minutes with Summer

01What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?

Honestly, I mean, this sounds so simple, but just go with your gut. It's hard to train for a story - you kind of have it, or you don't. It's just a mere instinct feeling that you get. And honestly, you just kind of get thrown under the wolves when you first start it. It's like, well, figure it out, go with your gut. You always get notes back and stuff, so obviously that helps you kind of shape future storylines and kind of what the network wants, but yeah, it's very instinctual. So, it's just go with your gut.

02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?

I mean, dream big. I mean, I never thought that I would get to reality TV. I mean, I kind of... when I went into it, obviously, I hope to kind of make it and do something grand with my life, but I was just kind of like, I don't know if this is gonna actually work out. But, I mean, just trust yourself, and just go for your dreams, honestly. I mean, why not dream big, you know?

03What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?

Challenges, definitely, if we don't shoot, you know, like, plot holes and stuff. So, I mean, we go out and we shoot things, but then you kinda... if there's a gaping hole, we gotta figure out how to work our way around it, or hopefully bridge that gap with some interviews, or a voiceover, or something like that. That's probably the biggest one that I see, more often than not, because you just never know what's going to happen out in the field.

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