Writer's Block & Some Tips

Most of the time, you crank out story after story with nary a thought. But occasionally, you get writer's block. What to do? Whenever I would get stumped, I'd pretend to call my grandmother on the phone and tell her the story I was writing. Think about it. It's easy to tell a story verbally (Hey Grandma, would you believe???)... but for some reason when you sit down to write the exact same story, it becomes a bigger deal. When you talk to people, you automatically put the most interesting stuff first, etc. So next time you're stumped, think of someone you talk to on the phone often, and just write down what you'd say to them if you were describing the story. It's a start. More tips... For the lead graph.. think-- what is happening with this story right now? Are police investigating? Is someone recovering? Is a family mourning? Figure out, no matter how small, what is happening right now and lead with that... along with the most important bits of the story (why it was important enough to put in your show). Lose adjectives and adverbs. They are generally not very useful unless they are factually descriptive (as in red car, 14-story building, etc). Horrible accident? Says who? Compared to what? Paramedics rushed them quickly to the hopsital? Well no duh. Jettison useless verbage. Real people sound is generally more interesting that official sound. "I could have swore the whole sky was coming down!" vs. "We had a building collapse in the 84000 block of Main Street." You might also consider using sound when you have not a lot or not great video (instead of :30 vo, think :25 vo and :05 of sot. Look for nats full you can use in scripts (and not just from concerts). AND--- always always always always--- look at your video first before writing-- never write a script without looking at the video-- it will help your writing immensely.

Building a Brand Using Social Media

You've heard of singers or bands being discovered or popularized via YouTube. I ran across an interesting article at the Nieman Journalism Lab about a student photographer who's making a name for himself via Flickr's Creative Commons. He's not a journalism major-- he just started taking pictures of politicians. The article says his photos may have been used more than a million times online. I remember reading another article about how a wedding photographer built their (now big) business using Facebook-- they'd take pictures at a wedding and then tag participants (who would then tag other people in the photos). Finally... KOMO is using twitter hashtags during its news to connect with viewers. They're also using it during programming. A press release describes their effort- something you could steal for your newscast?

Roll with it Baby

Watching (a lot) of local television coverage last week for Hurricane Isaac reminds me of some sound advice, whether you are in the midst of hurricanes or some other live coverage, and that is this: If there is something compelling going on in your liveshot, don't break away to go to a taped piece. This is especially true in breaking news situations. Going to something taped in the middle of an active liveshot brings the liveshot- and your show- to a screeching halt. Also, it leaves the viewer to wonder, what's going on out there while I am watching this? Live is almost always going to be more interesting than what you have taped. In breaking news situations--- BE FLEXIBLE. Don't be married to your rundown (actually that is good advice in any situation). Judge each liveshot on the basis of each liveshot. Going well? Can't turn away? Give it more time. Dull? Same thing you've seen four times in your show? Wrap it up. Get a feel for your show and let it flow accordingly. Another tip.... in breaking news, you don't have to produce the whole hour (or hours) you just have to figure out what to do next. I call it-- at bat and on deck. Which reporter is at bat? And who is on deck? That's all you need... Let the rest of the newsroom... Assignment desk and managers help you and line things up. You just take it one segment at a time. Finally, I saw one of the stations last week do something interesting and worth copying. They basically had their reporters tape look lives at (it seemed like) every location they visited. Nothing fancy... Just a minute of walk and talk, showing and telling what was going on at that location. Works out well for coverage that lasts hours on end. Gives anchors a little break and revisits locations where you may not be able to be live. Note I say anchors toss to these -- not reporters -- and certainly not reporters on active liveshots. And honestly, these types of look lives might be fun to work into regular shows as well... If there was a reporter on something good at six, have them do a quick looklive for you instead of a vosot for ten.

Lead? What Lead?

I received an email from a producer concerned about a new nightside gig where it seemed like producers, not reporters, were expected to come up with the lead every night. It's always easier for someone in the field to come up with good story ideas... but that said, it takes a village, and sometimes producers have a better-- big picture sense-- than field crews. By nighttime... the day's news has unfolded and there's generally something obvious. It's how you treat that lead that can really make a difference. Are you just phoning it in and tossing to a reporter pkg or are you thinking of interesting /creative ways to showcase your first story? In terms of staying on top of news, I think the easiest way is twitter lists. I have a list for every area I cover and I put papers, TV, cop shops, anything from that area on the list. You can do the same in your market. You could do lists by area or by beat or both. You'd be amazed the little things you can come up with that might get you through a slow day or even just add a little interesting vo here or there that separates you from the competition. You don't always have to lead with a pkg. Has something intersting happened since the 6pm that can be an anchor vosot-- but with bigger "lead treatment" (graphics, set up etc)? Use it first and then go to the reporter pkg that's been out there all day. Also understand with social media, people have already probably seen your lead so what is your story bringing to the party? Hopefully context... and something fresh. If there's nothing obvious with which to lead... you can always try to localize big national stories. So today there was the shooting near Empire State Building. Can you do a workplace shooting folo locally? Also news from Aurora shooting that you could use to get in or out of it. How about hurricane stuff-- any impact on your area? People headed to RNC convention worried about it etc? Local Red Cross or utilities folks keeping an eye on it? I also like a lead to be a talker-- something that people go-- what, wait, are you kidding me? If you are new to the market, or even if you've been there a while, I think it's good for show producers to check in-- face to face-- with various PIOS around the city. Get a ridealong with cops and fire. Take a lunch with a councilperson's PR guy. Contact the local university public affairs person. When you talk to them, leave it open. Ask them what's important that maybe doesn't grab headlines? What do they find interesting that's outside their area of concern? What's their connection to the city? This is a great way to make contacts but also a good way to give you a sense of the city. It's also nice to call on PIOs when you don't need something RIGHT NOW! Finally, when in doubt, you can always lead with weather. A Little joke. But maybe not.

Words Match Graphics

Please make sure your words match the graphics you have. I like to take graphic requests directly from the script so that it matches the graphic exactly. It's much easier for viewers to understand. You don't want a viewer being distracted from your story or show because they're trying to read a graphic that isn't matched to what's being said. Ditto if you have any kind of print on the screen-- read it verbatim. This is especially important when referencing Twitter and Facebook pages.

We Got that Broll!

This has been floating around for a while but if you haven't seen "We got that broll" it's funny. Change the words to "We got that file tape" and it's even better. At one point, the guy makes the point that if video is too specific, it's not broll. In terms of file tape, you also want to be careful about tape that's too specific. Use it for sure, but please reference it. All it takes is a line: "This was so and so during their last court appearance." Or, "This was Diana Ross when she played the coliseum in 1976."

The Elephant in the Room

I was watching a morning newscast a while back and they had a guest segment. The pet expert was in with tips on how to train your dog. Strangely, the shot did not include the dog. I don't care how many great tips you have, better to talk about them over a shot of a dog instead of a shot of an anchor or guest. What's even funnier about this one is that the dog was barking during the whole segment, as if realizing that he was not getting the camera attention that he deserved. The anchor and guest went on as if nothing was happening. If something happens in your show-- whatever it may be-- and it's obvious to your viewers that something's happened or is happening, address it. Otherwise, it's distracting and you look foolish. In the above case, all it would have taken was a wide shot and the anchor making a little joke about it.

Driving Traffic to Web

Saw this and thought it was interesting. 60 Minutes had an online test as a component to a story it did about face recognition. Not sure how you'd repeat it, but clearly viewers are willing to go online if you provide something that's interesting enough to be worth their time. Perhaps a bad example-- but I know in my 20s, a lot of my friends (and me too) would do those quizzes from women's magazines-- those "How to know if you and your boyfriend are a good match" things.

Maybe a better way to think about it is when covering a story, or when your crews cover a story, what element or elements doesn't work well for TV but might online? A court document that's pertinent? Photos you couldn't work in? Or what little interesting sidebar doesn't fit in your piece but could online? So maybe for a fire, it's fire safety tips from the local Fire Department or a consumer guide on buying renter's insurance.

Accuracy Checklist

Ran across this and thought this was worth reading. It's a checklist for proofing stories. Obviously this is meant for a print crowd-- but it can work for TV. Modify it to fit your needs. I particularly like "read aloud" and "check phone numbers." As for grammar and spelling, double check that it's right for fonts & full screens.

Handy checklist here

By the way, the Reynolds Center for Business Journalism has a lot of good (free) advice and workshops. Although it's directed toward business writers, a lot of it can be translated to our business.

Station Groups

I spotted this article on TVnewscheck.com-- it's about TV station groups. You may not get too much into the nitty gritty of the business, but I thought the summaries of each of the top players (at the bottom of the article) were interesting.

http://www.tvnewscheck.com/article/2011/03/30/50206/tv-group-ranking-could-see-shakeup-in-11

Live Presser, Interrupted

This is why I love live television news. You never know what's going to happen. Press conference, meet irate bus driver.

Here is the link in case my hyperlink doesn't work.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=hMKzIJWnZt0#!

Filling (A Bunch of) Time

I got a letter from a poor producer who now has a HUGE amount of extra time in his show to fill. He asked for ideas so I include them below.

1. Choose where you'll focus your effort.
You can't do it all, so decide, ok, I can do tasks #1, #2, and #3 well
but the rest are going to slide. I know that's an awful thing to tell
you, but you know that all parts of your show are not created equally and you only have so much energy, staff etc. Make headlines, teases super simple and when possible... if the reporter is doing something--- have them tease their part of the story... weather guy does his tease etc.

2. Talk to your boss.
Schedule a time, tell him you need 5-10 minutes b/c you'd like to get "feedback" now
that the new mega-show's up and running. Don't go in with -- this
sucks and it's not working, even though that's the case.
Instead say... how do you like how things are going? How do you
envision this? Do you think resources are managed appropriately?
Maybe by his answers, you can get him/her to the conclusions you have
already made. Probably not. But just by asking, you may open lines of communication that may benefit you. Maybe take a note of one issue he says during the meeting-- like-- he really wants to do XYZ. File that away... and then maybe you notice, there's an overlap of reporters on say Wednesdays... and in a future
conversation, you can say, hey you know I remember you really wanted
to focus on XYZ. I notice Suzie Smith is not overutilized on
Wednesdays. Since we have two reporters that day, would it be possible
to have her do XYZ for my mega-show? Also... maybe you can sneak in reporters from other shows into your show. Meaning if a reporter works 2-11, say, and they're out on something... have them do JUST a straight liveshot or a quick Q&A (no pkg or vosot or big scripted thing) for your show. You can sell this to your ND as a tease for the other shows... say hey, if I get Suzie Q to do a 1:00 story/extended
tease for one of my shows, this drives people to the other show for more info.

3. Nothing eats time more than guests. I'd develop a deep rolodex and
use it. Have some go-to PR people. For example, if you have a strong
relationship with a University or hospital nearby, maybe they have experts they
can send your way quickly. Talk to them in advance and tell them if they can get you folks quickly, you'll put them on air. So if the big GOP debate was last night,
you do a vo or vo/sot to cover that and then launch into Dr. Politics
discussing the big night. Big storm last night? Have a NWS service guy
come in. New cold research? In comes the good doctor. There are tons of things like these that you can tie in to daily news to add depth and fill time. Maybe you have standing guests-- feature or otherwise, depending on style of your show. Maybe
it's Back to Work Mondays... Politics Tuesdays. Whatever. You can do hard news
but I'd also check out more evergreen talk about items. Anything that
people are interested in and would want to hear more about qualifies
in my book. There are all kinds of things you can come up with when you have no time constraints. Get creative. Talk to people who are not in news for their ideas.

4. Be a spot news whore. If you have one reporter... make them live
guy. Let's say there's a fire at 8am. Send them. They go live. Make
sure you let them know they don't file a whole bunch of elements
(don't feed vo or edited pkg) just take them talking about whatever it
is that's going on behind them. Then big accident at 9a? Send live guy. Spot news is easy, especially if you are just letting them ad lib about what's going, not making them file a super comlpicated story. Obviously this type of thing is better
suited toward some reporters than others so wade in carefully. Before
they leave a scene, you can ask them to file a look live--
basically they just repeat the liveshot they just did and you record it back at the station for use in a future hour.

5. Be your weather man's best friend. These guys can ad lib about
anything. Give them extra time. Mabye there's bad weather somewhere nationally
overnight... get some vo cut and let them knock themselves out. Maybe
there's a segment they've always wanted to do? Wx people are great
educators-- maybe it's today's weather term of the day-- what's
tornadic activity vs a tornado? Straight line winds? Make it connect to the current weather outlook.

6. Sports guys & Extra Content. Do we have sports departments in local news anymore? I keep hearing that they've been cut way back.. but if you do have
resources... tell them that you're open to content. Were they out on
an interview with the coach of the big game Fri? Is that something
where you could just take a 2:00 chunk and roll with it? Same with
reporters-- did they go out on an ongoing story where you could
repurpose a one of two minute chunk of that interview? Better-- let people know you're looking for this stuff ahead of time-- so if they go out on the big accident or fire-- can the last question they ask be about general driving or fire safety you could use? Interviewing the mayor or councilperson? Ask the reporter to let them ramble on another issue that you could use. If you let it be known (to sports, weather, reporters, photogs) that you've got time and you're willing to check out their pet projects... maybe you'll get some interesting stuff. Journalists often feel padlocked by the 1:20 format we've gotten into. Also, if it's as simple as just asking another question at then end of an interview (as in, they don't have to write it or front it) you may be able to add content that way. Look at your assigments in the am and then figure out what questions could be used later that day or the next from the people who are already going out on today's stories.

7. Viewer submissions. There, I said it. Most of them I've seen can be ghastly, but that said, on breaking news, it's the guy with a cell phone who has the best (because he was there first) video. I'd start with weather video. Ask viewers to send their best weather video or pics each day and pick one or two (or 8 depending on time) to use and identify the person who sent it in (see "Wasting Time with Wx Guy, above). You can create a segment each day-- "Your View of the City." If you get folks in the habit of sending you videos/pics when nothing is going on and they know you'll use them, then when real news happens, you may get better submissions. I picked weather because just about everyone can do a good weather pic. Maybe out of that you notice a few people aren't bad at it and they send you things regularly. Maybe you ask them to do a quick video about a story in their community (nothing controversial-- just stuff that's interesting and easy to confirm). You could call it-- "What's up in the city?" And Joe Viewer delivers his small piece of it. Maybe it's Joe viewer's favorite pizza shop-- and open it to discussion -- is he out of his mind? Rinaldi's is the best? What about Grimaldi's? Just a thought.

Throwing spaghetti at the wall in hopes that some of it will stick and that some of you can find something that's useful.