Full Sail Stories

“I’ve had students who have called me Fairy Godmother,” Full Sail University Course Director Abby Ginsburg says. As an instructor in the Media Communications degree program, Abby views herself as a member of her students’ team, connecting with them through active listening and sharing wisdom from her 35-year career in production management for film and television.

Early on in Abby’s career, she did freelance production work doing game shows for Nickelodeon in her hometown of Philadelphia. Soon, she moved to New York to do freelance coordinating at their office in New York City, which then led to an opportunity to work full-time as a Production Manager at Nickelodeon Studios in Orlando. While there, she managed the logistics of everything from episodic scripted shows and game shows to project pilots and network promos. Notable projects she contributed to are Gullah Gullah Island and Welcome Freshmen.

“I fell into production management because I was organized,” Abby shares. “I was a list maker. I paid attention, and I did a lot of other jobs in production prior to doing it, so I knew what was involved.”

After 10 years at Nickelodeon, Abby freelanced for another decade, where she performed numerous production-related roles in her hometown of Philadelphia, as well as in New York City and Orlando.

Seeking a change, Abby took on a new role at the Golf Channel. As a Production Manager for Promos and Creative Services, she coordinated and managed all facets of production for tournament course beauty shoots, show promos, and golf-themed commercials. Her role involved budgeting and planning with producers, hiring crew members, scheduling, and more.

For the last few years, Abby has been an Associate Course Director at Full Sail. She takes pride in teaching several Project & Portfolio classes in the Media Communications program, helping her students build foundational skills for their future careers and cheering them on in their educational journeys. In Abby’s classes, students get practice communicating in front of an audience, working in a collaborative space, and pitching themselves to prospective employers. These skills can be useful in many different contexts that students might find themselves in after graduation.

“[In my career], I was always teaching production and best practices and that's always how I led [my teams],” Abby says. “So that's what I bring into [teaching at Full Sail], and I absolutely love it… I teach students a process that they can take with them as they're building their portfolio and their experience.”

As Abby supports her students, she shares her hopes for them. “[I hope students learn] how to think on their feet, stay optimistic, and prep, prep, prep, so that when stuff happens – because it always will – they can pivot and make lemonade out of lemons because sometimes that’s just what it takes.”