Alumni Magazine - Summer 2008 - (Page 31) Mike Fischetti BBC Children’s Show Host M ike Fischetti’s passion for theater — and for a young woman from England — led to a job hosting a children’s show on the BBC. “The story of how I got from Georgia Tech to England is a slightly long but romantic one,” says Fischetti, ID 03, who worked throughout college at various theaters around Atlanta. “Even my senior thesis was based on how industrial design is incorporated into the theater world. “After graduating I went straight into my first job as a set designer/scenic painter at Stage Door Manor in Loch Sheldrake, New York,” he says, pointing out that the performing arts training center boasts such alumni as Natalie Portman, Robert Downey Jr. and Zach Braff. “I went looking to prove myself, envisioning that I would dive right into the heart of the theater scene. Instead, I met a young woman who dove straight into my heart.” The young woman was taking a break from her university studies in England and spending the summer in the United States. Eventually, Fischetti was able to acquire a visa and an engagement ring and join his sweetheart in Great Britain. “We settled down in London and I set out to get a job in the media industry. A month of unpaid work at the BBC ended with me receiving a full-time position as a prop maker on a longrunning children’s program called ‘Xchange,’” he says. “From there I moved on to several different shows, ranging from live BBC Saturday morning kids’ shows to a late-night Japanese-based game show in which college students compete in various tortuous and grotesque tasks for cash. “In 2007, an opportunity came about to host a children’s art show called ‘SMart’ and the course of my life changed dramatically. My life’s ambition suddenly became completely apparent to me — to create the ideas, craft the artwork and then present my passion for art and design to children via a nationally televised art program.” Fischetti says his Georgia Tech education has helped him get ahead at the BBC. “From the art history, sustainability, graphic design and industrial design studio courses right down to the styles of sketching and rendering and the materials I used to make final designs, each skill that I learned and honed throughout my five-year stay at Georgia Tech has prepared me for the work I am doing every day,” he says. “Certainly, if nothing else, the incredibly long hours and late nights at Tech prepared me for the nonstop work of the real world.” — KLW >>> Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine • Summer 2008 31
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.