OCD: Admirable quality for Producers?

Checking the locks on your doors 150 times might be debilitating, but having OCD as it relates to your show is truly a gift. Check everything. Two or three times.

Finished reading that script? About to print? Read it again. Aloud.

How about your supers? We all make mistakes. A lot of systems automatically load supers or fonts into the show. Check them when you're looking at a script. But then, check the fonts, and only the fonts, again. Just go down the rundown, open a script, and see if just the font is ok. Spelled right? Not too many words? No weird abbreviations? Close it and go onto the next one.

Same with full screens or graphics. Some systems have producers or writers creating their own graphics. That's ANOTHER reason for a triple check since it's only your eyes on them. If the assignment editor gets slow at a certain point, have him or her-- or someone, anyone-- look at them just for a second set of eyes. If the graphics aren't available to look at in the system, walk back to graphics or the control room and have them pull the graphics up for you. Nothing's more obvious to viewers than a mistake with words on the screen.

Finally, is everyone on board for the show? Tell your anchors or director if you plan to do anything froggy. Make sure they understand what you're trying to do. In fact, make sure everyone understands what the plan is and what your expectations are, every night. Reiterate them and ask for confirmation.