When James Glover (’00) was a speech communication major at the College of Communication and Information, he had no idea that one day he’d work for legendary Judge Judy of the eponymous court television show. But that’s exactly where he landed several years after he packed up his bags and moved from Knoxville to Los Angeles after graduating.
Discovering a Career
It all started with one small job posting in the career resources center at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, seeking someone to be a researcher and pull local court records for a court tv show in Burbank, Calif., to review and find cases to try for their episodes. Glover got the job, and the idea he would like to work full-time for that company—which led to what he called a borderline annoyance campaign of calling, faxing, and emailing his resume to them every other day for months.
“Once I graduated, I headed out to Los Angeles in 2001 without a job. The day before I got to Los Angeles, the [company] said, ‘We’ll give you an interview, just stop calling us.’,” Glover recalled.
They hired him on as a production assistant and he excelled and was promoted to associate producer in three months—which was an accelerated climb up the career ladder, as that was at least a third of the time it usually took to be promoted at the time, he said. His original plan was to stay in Los Angeles for a year and then move back east to be near his family in South Carolina. But the associate producer gig came with a two-year contract and Glover settled in and made L.A. his new home where he would grow his career to the point of starting his own production company. He currently is co-executive producer on the court show Hot Bench, which is how Judge Judy Sheindlin technically became his boss, as she is the show’s creator.
Staying Connected
Though Glover moved across the country and far away from UT, his alma mater has stayed near and dear to his heart. He said his time at the university was formative and he is forever grateful for instructors such as Associate Professor John Haas, who stayed in contact with him even all these years later.
“It’s interesting because stuff I studied actually I use every day. Speech communication, I have to talk in front of people all the time. Then there’s interpersonal communication, which is relationships and how to talk to people, and organizational communication, which is how to communicate with people at work,” he said. “Then I use persuasion and negotiation all the time, because I’m trying to convince certain people to put things out on national or international television.”
He went on to say that, as a co-executive producer, he also uses mediation tactics he learned to keep things running smoothly between departments because filming shows can be an intense environment.
Glover didn’t take his education nor the people who instilled these skills in him for granted. He’s watched his former program evolve into the School of Communication Studies and is in his sixth year of serving on the Communication Studies Advisory Council. It was at one of those advisory meetings that two students, Kate Hoots and Taylor Thompson, made a presentation about their study abroad trip to Ireland.
“They talked about their travels over to Ireland and the positive impact it had on them and it just struck a chord with me because, when I was a student, it wasn’t something I had even thought about because it wasn’t financially possible,” he said.
That presentation prompted Glover to contribute to the education of others by supporting one student every year to go on a study abroad trip. He is also donating annually to the School of Communication Studies’ enrichment fund.
Finding Success
Hot Bench is the tenth court show Glover has worked on, but his resume has a roster of various reality-based, unscripted and alternative programming television shows on it ranging from talk shows to game shows, including: Dr. Phil, Anderson Cooper’s daytime talk show Anderson Live, The Tyra Banks Show, Catfish, Cold Justice, The Talk, The Moment of Truth, and many more.
“I’ve got quite a range but pretty much if a new court show starts up, there’s a good chance I’ll get a call,” he said.
As Glover moved up in his career, he found himself in a position to hire people, and he plugged himself into the Vol network and has hired UT graduates. He’s employed several UT alumni over the years, with two still working for him and all of whom he said have been great hires. On his current show, he has hired Andrea Tucker (’14), Aleya Sneed (’14), and Destiny Sirivong (’15).
He’s also started looking beyond television, as it is a fickle business and shows can “go away at any minute.” His production company has invested in other projects, including two documentary films that are set to come out over the next couple of years. He’s also invested in Sake High!, a canned cold sake business that is finding a following throughout California and spreading across the country, and he hopes that investment will pay off within a few years.
As his business and investments continue to grow, Glover said he plans to do even more for the place that helped him get to where he is today. He’s glad people such as Haas kept him in touch with CCI and he always enjoys seeing what the next new thing is that’s happening at the School of Communication Studies.
“John Haas and the faculty and staff did such a great job building the program. Now, along with some new staff and professors there, we’re in really good shape to keep building the college and programs. When I go back to these meetings and see the new folks there, like Jon Hess, who’s been great, and our new dean, Joe Mazer, it makes me excited about the future of our school,” he said.