Intros

I am a big believer in reporters and field producers writing their intros prior to writing their pkg. Here's why. They will flow better into your piece. Reporters who write their pkgs first end up having nothing to say in their intro and even less for the poor anchor tossing to them.

Think about it. When you tell a story, you don't tell the middle and then jump back to the beginning. You start at the beginning and go from there. Often, I find the intro is sitting right there as the first graph of the pkg.

What's worse than reporters not writing intro first is not writing them at all. If you're a show producer, you're probably well versed on what your reporter is covering and probably can and do write reporter intros. But I think it is better if they send you one and you brush it up. It's their story and they know it best. Also, if you're in a market where writers take or write reporter intros, they are never going to know as much as the reporter doing the story. Plus they may have five reporters' intros to write.