Think Outside the Meeting

I just saw a story about a community trying to clean up their neighborhood. The neighborhood was "transitional" and had been plagued with trash, graffiti and vagrants. The pkg started with meeting video. Never have a pkg start with meeting video. Unless the parties involved are screaming at each other. Meeting video is death. And why, why, would the reporter start this way when the story is about cleaning up a neighborhood? You could start with shots of trash, spray-painted buildings and then pan up to a woman walking... "This is what Suzie Q sees every morning when she walks to her office on X St." Sot- I Hate it/It's digusting/I've had enough... "That why Suzie and her neighbors are getting together to fight back." Now go to meeting video. Briefly. But get back to the trashy neighborghood as soon as you can. That's where your better story is.

Point is-- every meeting is talking about or debating something. What is that something? Go where the something is and shoot your story. As a producer, have early conversations with your reporter about where they intend to take the story. If aren't planning to shoot anything but the meeting, brainstorm ideas of where else they can go.