ome people are born craving the spotlight. Since she was very young, Elizabethtown College alumna Deborah Whitcas ’98 exemplified this as she craved a job in entertainment. Now an Emmy-nominated television Producer with an impressive history involving a myriad of television stations including ABC, CBS Fox, Style/E and several more, Whitcas has made quite the impact in the business for someone so young.
Whitcas grew up in Cherry Hill, N.J. and began dancing at the age of three. Even in her early years, Whitcas knew she wanted to be on TV and asked her parents to find her an agent. Refusing this request, her mother wanted her to have a normal childhood filled with dance, sports, school plays and choirs. As a member of her high school TV Broadcast team, Whitcas was “hooked” as a weekly anchor reporting school news over the local city cable channel.
“When it was time to start thinking about careers, I knew I had to make a hard decision,” Whitcas said. “Do I become a professional dancer or do I go into TV?” Deciding that TV was more stable than dance, Whitcas looked for a strong communications program that could help her learn more about the business. “The second I pulled up to the school and saw the wrought iron Elizabethtown College sign, the Dell and the fountain, I knew that this was my school,” Whitcas said. “I didn’t even want to go anywhere else.”
Whitcas thrived at Etown, describing her experiences and friendships as “invaluable.” During her time on campus, she was a producer at ECTV for a show called “Now Showing,” mirroring the qualities of Entertainment Tonight, and was also the public relations director during her junior year, acting as an on-camera reporter for the campus news show, “Campus Beat.” Whitcas was also a DJ for WWEC, a member of the yearbook staff, assistant layout editor for the Etownian, a cheerleader and an “inaugural member” of Emotion.
“Like any college student, while I was there, I definitely went through some hard times, hard classes, bad breakups and let downs, but I think it was all just a part of the college experience and growing up,” Whitcas said. “It made me into the strong person I am today and the person who was able to step out in the real world and conquer it to the best of my ability.”
An advocate for the strong friendships and bonds that are made during the four years of college, Whitcas says that her Etown friends are still some of her “best friends to this day,” and that their support is something that she is exceedingly grateful for and that she would “do absolutely anything for any of them.” Though her graduation was 15 years ago, Whitcas recently became partners with her former Associate Producer at ECTV, Joseph Ruggieri `99, in Los Angeles, Ca. Along with several TV colleagues, the duo is teaming up again to develop a new reality TV show. “It just goes to show you that the Etown bond is strong … Even after all of these years!” Whitcas said.
Graduating as a communications major with a double concentration in mass media and public relations, as well as a minor in theatre, Whitcas describes her post-graduation experience as “lucky.” Saying also, “luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity,” Whitcas felt confident that her skills developed at Etown would help her to excel in the TV world. Whitcas’ confidence helped her to land her first job, as she walked up to her first boss and asked for a job. Spending her last spring break as a senior student in Jamaica, Whitcas attended one of the filmings for the “Jerry Springer” show and walked up to Springer himself and inquired about job openings.
“I introduced myself and seized the brief opportunity to tell him I was a senior TV major, was a fan of his show and then asked him if there was any job opportunities at his show,” Whitcas said. “He gave me a contact name to the internship coordinator on the show, I sent her my resume, and she called me saying, ‘If you have enough guts to go up to Jerry Springer and ask him for a job, you have enough guts to work here.’”
After two months as a summer intern, Whitcas was hired as a staff researcher and then became a producer after three years of working on the show. “Just proves my number one rule working in television—never be scared to ask for what you want and network, network, network!” Whitcas said. “Everybody is somebody.”
Thriving as a producer, Whitcas does it all, from casting and booking, writing scripts, field producing, directing, red carpet reporting to post production and editing. “As a TV producer, I wear a lot of hats,” Whitcas said. “I’m the type of producer who likes to change it up and keep my skills fresh so I can be hired in a bunch of different positions at any time.”
Whitcas describes producing on a “freelance basis” and that “when you are working, you’re already looking for your next gig … because gigs don’t always start back to back.”
“In the 14 years I have been producing, I have worked on about 15 to 20 different shows, ranging from national and international shows to prime time and daytime shows,” Whitcas said. “I have had the chance to work with and interview several celebrities from Dr. Phil to Dr. Drew, to Finola Hughes, Mario Lopez, Danny Bonaduce, Chris O’Donell, Kaley Cuoco, Jenna Ushkowitz and Christina Applegate just to name a few. I have worked on TV Talk shows, Court Shows, and Reality shows, ranging from ‘Bridezillas’ to ‘Blind Date.’”
There are several accomplishments that Whitcas is especially proud of, including her Emmy nomination as Supervising Producer for Divorce Court at the 2010-2011 Daytime Emmys.
“I remember sitting in front of the entire ‘Sesame Street’ cast/crew when the voice of Oscar the Grouch won an Emmy, this 80 year-old man right behind me got up and started walking toward the stage,” Whitcas said. “I realized that this was most likely the same man who did the voice when I was a little girl and I started crying because I couldn’t even believe this was my life.”
Whitcas is currently “one ‘yes’ away” from her dream of being an executive producer for a show that she personally developed, and is developing and pitching her own TV shows to networks and production companies around Hollywood, Ca. Still a dancer, Whitcas also trains under Anna Trebunskaya from “Dancing with the Stars” as a competitive ballroom dancer, performing in her troupe at Trebunskaya’s dance studio, and performs throughout southern California. With her confidence and continued success, Whitcas maintains her connections with Etown and will be a Blue Jay. Always.
