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!