Rising Stars: Meet C.B. Mullen

Today we’d like to introduce you to C.B. Mullen.

In 2017, I switched gears and became a staff teleprompter operator, a position I held for two years before joining On Air Prompting, and working outside of esports. Since then, I’ve teleprompter for big shows for major networks, such as “Baking It,” “Crime Scene Kitchen,” “$100,000 Pyramid,” and “Brain Games on the Road.”

All the while, I’ve kept the acting dream alive, having my greatest success acting in Nate Hapke’s “Empiricism” and their upcoming “Surprise!,” Brandon Walz’s “Geek USA,” and Zac Eglinton’s “Allergic Overreaction”, as well as a US Cellular commercial and more one-off productions than I can count.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It has been a long road to get to where I am. Today, I’m a respected allied production professional and competent actor. The will was always there, but the experience to do it and do it well took time. I didn’t always get it right the first try.

I started by wearing all the hats on my earliest productions “writer/director/actor/editor/caterer/booker/casting director/transporter” As I worked on larger and larger productions, I wore fewer hats. That can be a relief, but somewhere in that process, I realized I’d rather not be wearing the hat I was left with. Imposter syndrome, sleep deprivation and insomnia have all been consequences of me being available for productions of all kinds.  I’m learning every day better ways to do what I do, how to only do what I want

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
As a professional teleprompter operator and a member of IATSE Local 871, I’ve worked on some of the biggest productions I’ve ever done and worked directly with some of the most successful hosts, actors, directors and producers in the game today. Before finding that specialty, I was a graphics operator, and I think that trade influenced how I approach doing teleprompters. Everything in the screen I send words to has meaning. Also, as an actor and live performer myself, I think I uniquely understand what it’s like to be the host I’m sending words to, which not something most professional operators have. I pride myself on being more attentive, reactive and flexible than most other teleprompter operators, having learned from teleprompter greats like Sharon Ruiz (The Bachelor, Conan, Deal or No Deal) Lisa Turner (The Ron Burgundy Podcast, The Doctors, The Bachelorette) and Mary Reyes (Talking Dead, iHeartRadio Music Awards, The Late Late Show with James Corden).

I worked on one of the first shows in LA to be green-lit after COVID shut down all of production in March 2020. May of 2020, I was hired to be a skeleton crew on the show Tournament of Laughs, a mock sports comedy show for TBS. The show wasn’t a huge success with viewers, and the host, Jason Sudeikis worked on a couple of bigger projects that year that deservedly got more attention, but it was still an amazing experience to feel like one of the very first people in LA to return to work after “the world ended”. I’ll look at those few weeks proudly.

What does success mean to you?
Success is when you can put in a hard day of work, and then can go home to have a nice dinner with your family.