News & Events

Wednesday, February 20, 2008
by: Isabel Bauer

Photo by Steve Fenn

Patrick Ignozzi, an Emmy Award-winning producer for ABC’s popular daytime talk show The View, hosted by Barbara Walters, Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, Elisabeth Hasselbeck and Sherri Shepherd, has not only become an expert in television production since leaving Seton Hall, but he has also read up on “what women want.”  

Knowing early on, where he wanted to go in life, Ignozzi took a production internship with NBC and gained experience in its political division and its entertainment program Memories Then and Now. As a junior at Seton Hall, he completed a second internship at The Washington Center for Internships and Academic Seminars in the nation’s capitol. There he had the opportunity to meet the country’s top journalists. “It was during the Persian Gulf War and the timing was right if you wanted to see how news was covered. That experience taught me about producing,” Ignozzi says.

After graduating from Seton Hall, Ignozzi took a production assistant position at NBC. He started out answering phones for the Today show and after merely three months he was promoted to production associate, working directly with the show’s co-hosts Katie Couric and Bryant Gumbel. He left the Today show five years later, and became a producer for New World Entertainment and King World Productions, Inc., producing Inside Edition. Next, Ignozzi joined The View during its first season and was promoted to his current position as coordinating producer three years later.
 
“When I joined The View in 1998 I knew from the get-go this was an incredible opportunity for me,” says Ignozzi. “There’s no other show like this on television, cable or broadcast where five intelligent women from various backgrounds and experiences discuss everything from politics to sex.” Having been with the show for all of its 11 seasons, Ignozzi says that television is a fast-paced business. He attributes The View’s success to its ability to reinvent itself “This is why the show has reached pop-culture status,” he says.
 
Ignozzi wouldn’t have called himself an expert on women’s issues a decade ago, he says. But he’s a fast learner. He began reading as much material as he could get his hands on. “I used to read Cosmopolitan magazine on the bus and remember the awkward stares, but I didn’t care,” he says. Having studied women for 11 years now, Ignozzi wouldn’t go as far as calling himself an expert on the subject, but says that he knows “a bit more than the average guy.” According to Ignozzi, the co-hosts and female production staff are great mentors and keep the male producers on their toes about everything from beauty to fashion and beyond.
 
As a coordinating producer, Ignozzi’s responsibilities include working alongside the supervising producer in the control room during the daily live show. He is one of two producers who coordinate the show’s various segments including the daily “Hot Topics,” celebrity guest appearances and human interest stories. “We work on guest questions and schedule segments for the show.”
 
A lot of planning goes into producing The View. Every show requires four daily meetings: the “Hot Topics” meeting where the co-hosts decide what they want to discuss, followed by a directorial meeting, a post-production meeting and a production meeting that concludes each day.
 
Ignozzi has enjoyed working on The View’s anniversary shows held for the 500th, 1,000th and, most recently, for the 2,000th show. “Each anniversary holds special memories and it’s always fun to look back at all the hard work everyone contributes to the show.” He also looks back fondly on the 2002 season; that year he won an Emmy for outstanding producing on The View.

Whenever Ignozzi doesn’t work, which is during The Views’ hiatus periods, he can be found playing golf in Florida where he owns a home. Besides that he enjoys running along the East River and traveling abroad when his schedule permits.
 
About his time at Seton Hall, Ignozzi says, “I thoroughly enjoyed my time at Seton Hall. I made lots of friends, many of whom I still keep in touch with. The University taught me three great lessons: work hard, focus and be independent — my lesson plan for life.”

For more information please contact:
Joette Rosato
(973) 378-9827
rosatojo@shu.edu