Wednesday, February 10, 2010

First Day Producing the LIVE Show!

Today was the first day my show aired live on the PBS... and what a crazy day it was! I had 13 reporters! Which meant I had A LOT of content and that was great. I have many jobs as a producer. According to the book I'm studying right now, "Power Producing" by Dow Smith, my jobs include the following: a journalist, a news writer, a production expert, a promotion writer, team leader, researcher, and lawyer/ethicist. When I think about today, that list seems small compared to all of the things I felt like I did today.

The newsroom is such a hectic place. And to be a leader in such an environment, you need certain qualities. For example, the book says I should have the following qualities: passion, decisiveness, organization, and presence. I know I definitely have the passion. Which can sometimes cause issues in the learning environment I am currently in because I feel like sometimes the other students around me don't share the same passion as I do. And that's unfortunate, but my hope is that one day they all will. Decisiveness is a quality I am pretty good about in the newsroom. In any other aspects of my life, good-luck trying to get me to make up my mind! I'm also fairly decent at being organized. When it comes to things like stacking my show, organization and decisiveness usually shine. But in terms of time management, I'm learning. And I think presence and command just come with time. Sometimes I get stressed out. "Power producers develop an ability to sty calm and focused, even in high-stress situations." Something else I believe comes with experience and lots of practice. Someday!

According to Dow Smith, there are four stages of producing. Stage one is being scared to death. I'm definitely beyond that stage. I find myself somewhere between the next two stages. Stage two is the mechanic; the producer who masters the mechanics of the news process and that's all. Stage three is the journeyman; the producer are reliable and hard-working but need that creative flair. And my hopes are that I can someday reach stage four: the power producer. Enough said.
From now on I will leave you with one thing... I will share with you the story that I found most interesting in my rundown this week. It may not necessarily be my lead story... Just the one or two stories I felt were the most interesting and have the potential to impact the most people. Today we had two great stories about childhood obesity and eating healthier.


Wednesday, February 3, 2010

PRODUCING ADVICE: "DO WHAT YOU CAN DO, AS SOON AS YOU CAN DO IT!"

This is what my news director recently said to me when I was creating a "Producing Deadline Schedule". One of the first things I have to become efficient at is getting things done on time, if not before. This sets the tone for the success of the other people working in the newsroom as well. Television is a very deadline-oriented career. And I absolutely love it. But news can't just be thrown into an audience's face. It must be "produced". And according to the dictionary on my MacBook, produced can be defined as the following: to create or form (something) as part of a physical, biological, or chemical process. Ahhh! The key word! Process. Producing news is a process. And I am going to take you down my journey of learning the process of producing news.

From what I am told, producing news of the day, although stressful, can be extremely fun and rewarding if done successfully. <-Something to look forward to!

For fun, I have included a copy of the Producing Deadline Schedule I made for myself, just to give you an idea of what I do.

9:00AM: IN THE NEWSROOM

9:15AM: CHECK WIRES

9:30-9:45AM: ALL ASSIGNMENTS OUT

10:00-10:30AM: ALL STORIES, FORMATS, TIMES, AND WRITER’S INITIALS IN

11:30-NOON: AP STORIES HANDED OUT TO ASSOCIATE PRODUCERS

NOON-1:00PM: (Hopefully LUNCH!)

2:00PM ANCHOR READS AND CGS DONE

2:00PM-2:30PM: GRAPHICS ORDERED AND HEADS/TEASES ON BOARD

3:00PM: HEADS WRITTEN

3:00PM-4:00PM: UPDATE NEWS

4:10PM: NUMBER SCRIPTS

4:15PM: PRINT SCRIPTS

4:35PM: CHECK VIDEOS

4:50PM: PRODUCER IN CONTROL ROOM

5:00PM: SHOWTIME!