One story Doth Not a Block Make

I was watching a noon newscast today. I flipped to the channel-- the show came out of commercial-- and, what ? One vo, a tease and then back to break. For a minute (which was less than that whole block lasted) I thought I had missed something. And it wasn't even the last block! Bad producer. One story doesn't make a block. I'm sure you've got a lot stuffed into the first half of that show, but a one story block is cheap and cheats your viewers. At the very end of the show-- ok-- I get it-- but the second to last block? Remember: If you think the second half of the show is a throwaway, so will your viewers.

It's all a Matter of Timing

As a show producer, you have to be a stickler on time. You're out at 10:59:30, not 10:59:29 or 10:59:31. Timing things to the second can be a real challenge, especially if you are on a new show or are with new talent. My advice is give yourself some breathing room. Until you get a really good feel for your show and your anchors, build flexibility into your show, especially toward the back end of it. I liked to "hide" time in my show. So the end of the show might be :45 in the rundown, instead of the :15 or :30 I really need. I'd also have "killables." That's a story here or there that's not teased that you know you can kill. So maybe before or after weather you have a killable story. Maybe there's one right after sports. Or maybe you have a few kickers and a weather update at the end of the show.

Timing sports can be a sore spot. It's not fair to kill sports stories (in a normal situation) because your part of the show is running heavy. It is fair to ask the sports producer (or anchor if he or she produces his own segment) -- "What can you kill if your segement starts to run heavy?" Having this conversation, every day, prior to the sports segment gets everyone on the same page. Make sure the sports anchor is included in it. Maybe the sports producer tells you-- I can kill this sot or this story at the end. It's best that they make that call-- not you. Of course, with BIG breaking news (I'm talking where you're killing significant portions of your show) - all bets are off and you need to do what you need to do to get off on time.

Speaking of breaking news-- for me, there was no greater joy I had as a show producer than the thrill of tossing out stuff, juggling, and producing a show on the fly. Every day, take a minute to look at your rundown and think-- if I had some big breaking news... what could I toss? This goes beyond normal "killables" that you jettison when you're running a little over. Think drastic cuts. Maybe write yourself a little post-it with the stories that you've teased. To that end, try not to tease everything in your show. Pick a handful of interesting/compelling stories that you tease several times in different ways. By thinking about this stuff ahead of time, every day, when you do get breaking news, you won't have to think too hard-- it comes almost automatically.

Finally, when you kill stories, any stories, remember to do it at a time when everyone is available to you. Killing the next story the anchor is about read as they are finishing one prevvious is a big no-no. Time your show well enough so that you can kill in breaks-- and tell everyone-- director/anchor/crew-- at the same time if you can. If killing in a break is impossible, tell people about kills during pkgs. If that's not possible-- kill during sots. And again-- if you have a sense ahead of time about what you're planning to do, let people know even if they might not need to act on that information. For example, you're running heavy. In the break you tell everyone "If I'm still heavy after weather, I'll kill C8." That way if you do kill the page, it's not a big surprise to everyone. Ditto at the top of the show-- and you think you're lead might not make it. Tell everyone "I think the lead's going to make it, but it will be tight. If not, we'll go to page A4. I'll make the call at the end of headlines." That way, everyone knows what your backup plan is-- and when they'll hear what you'll do.

WatchYour Lead In

If you do an evening newscast and you follow a network newscast, be really careful about what you put in your show. This may sound extreme-- but I might avoid putting any national news in your show unless it's a developing story or has a local angle. Why? To avoid repetition. You have no idea what the national cast is putting in the show so you don't want to come on right after them and rehash. It's the same reason you and the show after yours check each other's rundowns to make sure you're not repeating each other.

Crime Leading Your Newscast?

A new study looked at TV newscasts in Los Angeles and found that out of a half-hour, about 8:17 was devoted to local news. And, most often, newscasts led with crime. The study pointed out that while LA is facing a budget crisis, government stories lead the news less than three percent of the time. We all know why that is. Government stories are boring. Crime is easy to cover and easy to report. It usually has compelling video, story lines and victims. That it may not actually impact a whole lot of people usually gets lost in the mad dash to produce newscasts.

I'm not asking you to lead your newscast with local government stories. I'm asking you to look for opptunities to cover stories that will have a real impact on your viewership. There's somebody in your newsroom I'm sure-- there's one in every newswroom-- who's a great story-teller-- the guy or gal who can break down something complicated and make it make sense for the viewer. ALWAYS with government stories (or any story), return to the bottom line for the viewer. What will this decision mean for whoever is watching your newscast? Will it mean higher taxes? Will it mean 4-day work weeks for the city so offices will now be closed on Fridays? When you focus on the impact to your viewer, the story inherently becomes interesting because-- hey, this is going to affect me.

I have nothing against crime stories. They can be interesting even if they impact no one but the people involved. If possible, try to widen the story to include some perspective. Is this particular neighborhood getting hammered by crime lately? Why is that? Did something change? You get the idea. Look for something broader.

Here's the link to study I mentioned:
http://www.learcenter.org/pdf/LANews2010.pdf

Get to the Chase

Chases. I love them. I know they generally have little to no news value but they're interesting to watch. It is what it is. When you're flipping through the channels and come across a chase, it's a hard thing to turn away from, even if it goes on for a half-hour with little happening. Something COULD happen and that's what keeps you watching. I'm not sure how chases do in ratings (I'll do a little research to try to find out).

When you have a chase, here are some ideas:

*Don't go back full to your anchors. If you want to show them, pop them in a double box and keep the big box as the chase. No one wants to see anchors talking about a chase unless they're also actually seeing the chase.

*Try to get an intelligent guest. Obviously, the police involved in the chase might not be able to do a phoner with you. Are there other departments in your area that are media friendly? They might be able to walk you through the decisions that officers make when they start chases, also what methods they use during a chase, and how they end. An officer from a local police academy might be a good phoner-- they teach the officers how to chase and use stop sticks. They might also know the rules and regs for giving chase. It might make some sense to call these people ahead of time to give them a heads up that you might want to use them when a chase occurs.

*Have a prop. An anchor I used to work with used to have a stop-stick on his desk. I'm not sure how he got it, but it was a great prop whenever we had a chase. It was something he could have in his hands to show what was actually happening on the ground.

*Get a map. Depending on your resources, it might be good to have a big city map with all the main highways on it. That way when someone says he's southbound on US 544, you can get a general sense of where that is. You can have the same map, just update it the location (ok, now he's east of US 544 in Old Lake Hollow). Again, I'd probably throw that map in some kind of double box so that the chase can be up at all times.

*If you have to cut out of the chase before it ends, make sure you let viewers know you'll be able to see how it ended in a later newscast. Or drive to the web if you have that capablity-- lots of stations are streaming their chopper feed on their websites.

Show Pacing

If you only have a pkg or two in your show, that means the rest is filled with vos and vosots, which euqals a lot of writing on your part. Don't forget that you can write pkgs too. I tend to like 1:00 producer mini-pkgs for the show. They accomplish several things. If you pick some interesting story from the feeds or something that's already in house that you need to put in, you can bang this out early and then NEVER HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT IT AGAIN. So I think I've mentioned how I liked to work the show from the bottom, up. I might put a 1:00 mini-pkg prior to weather or sports or in the second block depending on timing needs. It's a way to give an interesting story a little play and also eat up a bit more time so you don't feel like you have the "vo" show. You can also throw one of these in the a block. Is there an important story that's been playing all day that you have to put in the show but don't need to devote a reporter? You can wrap that up into a nice little mini-pkg. Also, in terms of the a block, mini-pkgs give your anchors a break and really help in terms of pacing.

As for pacing, just remember to change it up a little every so often. So if you have a couple vos, throw in a vosot. Two vosots? Toss in a vo. Remember, these are just broad GUIDELINES. Form should always follow content. But for the most part, there's always some leeway in terms of sots you can add or subtract. Seems obvious, but make sure the vosot's sound is worth it. If you have a choice between the fire vosot where the sound is a witness describing how he escaped versus the shooting with the cop talking about the suspect, go for the witness. Put in the most interesting sound. Use nats like a soundbite. Look for natural sound on raw video like you would a sound bite (I'm think nats of a saw or snowblower, a good sploosh frmo a car on the road in a rainstorm, ambulance sirens, etc). They can be a nice breaker. Again, form follows content, so if natsor a soundbite's not there, it's not there.

The best way to see if you have good pacing is to watch your shows after the fact. A day or a week after, when your head has cleared from the previous day's challenges, you should try to watch a show like a viewer. Where do you start getting bored with your show? Where do you start getting bored in a story? This is where you should be changing things up or popping in something interesting.

My general guidelines for vosots/vos/gfx stories are below. Again, follow the rule of changing it up a bit every so often, even within a story. I liked to keep vosots/vos short... like 35/40 for vosots and 15-20 for vos. Just a guideline. Other excellent producers and tv news professionals think I'm nuts on this. To your own news judgement be true because you'll be the one explaining it if there's a problem.

So....

VOSOT
First graph: Anchor intro on cam or ots/at chroma/whatever
Second graph: in video
Third graph : in video or skip this and go straight to sot
Sot: 7-15 seconds. Less than :07, it tends to whiz by. More than 15 and you start to get bored.
Tag: on cam or back in video or on a graphic. Maybe even a second graph on vo or on cam.


VO
Similar deal.
First graph: Anchor intro on cam or ots/at chroma/whatever
Second graph: in video
Third graph: in video
Fourth graph: (potentially) back on cam.

Basically, if you have one anchor reading a couple of things, you might want to bring them back on cam for the last graph to re-establish them and signify a change. Likewise, when an anchor starts reading the next few stories, you want them to be established up top in some way, rather than, say, just wiping into them.

How do you get a complicated story down to a 20 vo? You don't. You either figure out a way to give that story more time/and visuals/sound or just rethink putting it in. Save quick vos for easy stuff. Your average traffic tie-up doesn't need more than 20seconds.

If you're having trouble, try to figure out... if I were telling this story to a friend and I had to break it down, how would I do that? Look for the most interesting details and try to include them, especially in the lead. Write to your video (obviously). Grab a quick graphic if you have to, even if it's just reinforcing words in the story. Don't forget to ask yourself-- why is this in the show? Generally the answer to that question will lead to what you must include in the story.

Best Stuff First

Whether it's a show or a package, always put your best stuff first. For example, I was watching TV in a medium market a few weeks ago and they were doing a big ongoing crime story. This station led when a nuts and bolts package, and then went to the exclusive interview with the sister or brother or someone of a person who had died. I about fell on the floor. I had no idea it was coming, nary a word about it in headlines or the lead.

Exclusive-- or anything new and interesting--- goes first. You can do some kind of quick taped set-up... but it should all highlight the fact that you will soon be hearing great stuff for the first time. Or skip the set-up and just get to it:

"For the first time since her sister's death, Suzy Q is talking about what happened. Here's Joe Schmoe with more."
Take Exclusive Pkg

Then...

"Police are still trying to track down the killer. Bob Bartsow has more on the investigation."
Take Nuts and Bolts Pkg.

Best stuff first!! People have short attention spans and a remote in their hand and they're ready to zap you!

Tease Writing 101

Tease writing can be tricky. The key is story selection. If you have stacked the show correctly, you should have one or two good things to tease in each block. Remember that you don't have to tease stories with news value. Put those stories in your show, to be sure, but they may not be teaseable. Consumer and health stories tend to be teasable. Think-- how many people does this story impact? The greater number of people impacted, the better the chance it may be teasable. Also ask, is this story weird or unique? Is this the sort of thing that people will be talking about? Also... anything with good video is always a bonus.

Along with story selection is story placement. Producers tend to put the stuff they are going to throw away towards the end of the show. I used to like to have "killables," stories I knew I could kill in a jam. But also keep a list of teasables, the solid stories you sprinkle throughout the show. They don't have to be pkgs. They don't have to be local. I used to read a lot of magazines looking for something evergreen I could stuff in a folder and pull out when I didn't have anything else. Attribute and check out the magazine's source material. Make a couple calls to flesh it out.

I think we get stuck with bad teases because we may not have a whole lot of juicy stories that day. So you tease something that is not worth it. Having a couple teasables in your back pocket can help.

If you are teasing a reporter story, talk with them about it. It can be a quick phone call or email that goes:
"Hey what have you got? Any good sound? Any good video?"
I like to put sots in teases. Reporters are logging it anyway and may have a 5 second soundbite they can give you.

Like with any writing, you ought to look at the video that will be used in your teases. That might help guide your decision making. Sometimes a story that sounded good-- when you check out the video-- is really not so much. Looking at the video also helps you write it.

Let the content drive the tease. Got great nats? Throw some in. Good sound? Put that in there too. Sometimes you can put together a :30 second tease that's almost like a little mini pkg. You can wipe into it or out of it, using it solo or with an animation.

Try to tease different stuff. Nothing is so boring as seeing the same thing over and over and over. It's also hard to write the same tease four times and still make it fresh. I remember hearing at a seminar-- tease deep, tease next. It's a pretty good, easy idea. Tease something deep in the show... and tease something that's in the next block. That way you string viewers along (in a good way).

I also like getting faces in the teases. If a reporter is fronting the story, maybe you tease their story with video in the headlines, but use a live or taped standup tease from them at the end of the first block. Vary it up if you are teasing the same story twice.

Write what you'd like to see on your teases so the editor knows what you want included. Put a timecode and info on how to find the video. Watch your show to make sure the tease video was not just the first three shots of the pkg.

Good Swine Flu Idea

Saw a station with a good segment on swine flu, excuse me, H1N1. They asked for questions from viewers about swine flu and then went to a doctor for sound. The segment was just three or four of these questions and then the doc's fifteen or twenty second soundbite answer to each. The segment was quick- the questions were interesting- thought I might pass it along.

Loser Producer

That'd be me for not posting for a while. I'm back with advice about breaking news.

If your show is going on while there's breaking news, consider it a gift and start making space. Before you ever go into the booth, have stories you know that are "killable." If there's a really big breaking story, feel free to toss everything (and I mean everything) out. Here's why. Viewers sample on big spot news stories. If you own the coverage they may come back to you as a regular viewer. If one station gets off of a story... viewers will go with whoever is on it as long as the spot news is high interest. Seems like a no brainer, but you'd be amazed how many stations go on to "other news." In my opinion, if there is something big breaking, there is no other news.

The trick is how to stay on a story without sitting on your anchors forever. I have a system I think I've mentioned before- "At bat, on deck." As long as you have something you're on and you have something to go to next, you can string the show along this way. Don't make the mistake of thinking you have to plan four moves in advance.

Sometimes you can get a veteran reporter either in the newsroom or at a set position so that the anchors can get a break. So, for example, if the story is a politician who's been indicted, maybe this reporter has covered city council for years and can give you color on that person's personality, his supporters and detractors.

Think guests. Who can you get on the phone or Skype that can add something to the coverage? Is there a media friendly Fire PIO on the other side of town who is not involved but can get you a technical sense of what's going on? Is there someone who's been involved with a similar situation in the past that can give a sense of what the people there are going through now?

There are only a certain number of spot news situations. Run through the ones that have happened during your show in the past year or two. Think about who could have contributed to the coverage. Cultivate a list of folks for this purpose and call them now. "Hey Bob Ethyl-Methyl-Bad-Chemical Expert, would you mind if we call you to do on air interview the next time we have a chemical spill?" Thinking about spot news when there is no spot news is a sure way to be more confident the next time spot news breaks.

You may also want to talk in advance with your superiors. How aggressive are we about spot news? Do we break into programming? If so, under what circumstances? If I'm in a show, at what point can I toss out sports? Breaks? Find out your parameters. Again, it's helpful to check into these things out when you're not up to your neck in the middle of it.

Maps. Is there a generic city map you can have made in advance that the graphics people can then throw a dot on to indictate where the spot news is happening? It's not great, but it's something until you can get a pretty map made. Stations are also using google maps in spot news coverage. There's a street view that can show you what the neighborhood looked like prior to the spot news (is there a school across the street? Is it a neighborhood or industrial area?) Every little bit of info and elements help contribute to the overall product.

If you don't have a chopper, consider hiring a small plane. Again, I'd scope this out in advance. How much would it cost to take a photog up? Maybe there are a few small airports around town. Find someone you could work with in each one. Get prices and talk it over with your boss. You may NEVER use this information, but if something REALLY big happens in your back yard, don't you want to be the one who's ready?

Look at breaking stories that happen around the country. Imagine one of them happening in your town. What would you do? If you think about the possibility now, you'll be in a better position to cover whatever comes your way.

Size Does Matter

Your first block ought to be at least ten minutes long. I saw a newscast the other day that was 6 minutes! Obviously, something had gone very wrong because why would you ever make the first block so short? I could feel viewers switching to another channel to watch the rest of someone else's first block. Some T.V. stations monitor when their competition is in commercial so that they can be the last ones to go. It's a thought.

Like Things Go Together

When you're putting a rundown together, don't overthink things.

Remember this: Like things go together. It's like organizing your closet... like colors, like items, have some kind of order in there. I say this after watching a newscast where you might get a heachache from the show ping-ponging around so much. With a shooting here, a car accident there, a national story that relates to nothing, then another violent incident locally. Like things together. Put your violent local stories together. Put politics, local or otherwise, together. Weather together. Whatever. Just try to put some kind of order into your show. Otherwise it's really hard to watch.

Ad or TV News?

A new Apple store opens. Is this worth :15 in the first block of your show? I don't think so-- but saw it in a top 10 market.

Story Placement Problems

I just saw a newscast about extreme hot weather. If you have a death involved in any weather related coverage, get to that first-- not your weather guy. It just seems tacky to talk about anything else but how the person died. Once you've covered that, then you can move on.

In fact, in general, unless there is some weather happening RIGHT NOW, like a tornado warning, it makes more sense to get to a reporter and video and end with the meteorologist and maps.

Showcasing

When you are creating your show, you want to do something a little special for your lead, especially if you have good elements (dramatic sound, good weather pics etc). One good way to set up your lead or maybe a special sweeps piece or teasble package is to do a little setup piece into it. Ask the reporter if they have any dramatic 3 to 5 second sound bites that they didn't use. Create a little mini-pkg (maybe 30 to 45 seconds) to build interest in the story. ((Note: don't actually tell the story, just create interest by putting out a couple good details. Nothing ticks off reporters faster by you telling the entire story right before you toss to them.))

You can keep it simple, or jazz it up by giving it to the best editor in house. Try to give them as much time as possible to work on it.

You can also do something similar as an extended, tracked a-block tease.

So it could be--
(Nats- piece of metal crashes to the ground.)
Track- A dangerous storm rolls into the valley
(Sot- I just about died when I heard the crash.)
Track- Trees are down, power is out, but is the worst over?
(Nats- lightning crack)

Then go to Anchor/live intro. He or she reads a graph to get to reporter.

Not something you have to do every day, but something to consider.

Double Take

I am getting to the point where I almost expect to see pkgs from nightside rerun on early newscasts. I understand, you morning producers have like six hours to fill and little to no help. But when I watch a major market newscast from 5 to 615p (with the network newscast at 530) and see the EXACT same reporter do the EXACT same pkg at 5p and at 6p (in the first block in both shows, framed in exactly the same way), I have one word and one word only- LAZY!!!

Did the producer at 6p not have anything else to put in the show? Couldn't they ask the reporter to do a vosot for the 6p? Or, how about having the vosot at 5p to tease the pkg at 6? Or-- at the very least, could the photog and reporter not change up the shot so that it looks different?

I guess people assume viewers won't be watching after a whole hour. Perhaps we might want to give them a reason to watch longer instead of repeating our newscast a la Headline News. What's the point of have a separate producer if you're just going to restack essentially the same show?

Mindless Crime Stories

I was watching a local newscast in a top 10 market. Story #2 in the newscast was a vo of some criminals who had driven a car into a store to rob it. It happened overnight. No one was in the store at the time of the crash and no one was hurt.

I know it's cool to see a car in a building but is it really worth the second story in the newscast?

When in Doubt, Lead with Weather

I know I've done a post in the past about how important weather coverage is-- but it's worth repeating. If you are ever sitting at your desk, pondering whether to lead with weather, you should lead with it, even if it's just a brief toss to video and a quick pop with the weather guy. People love weather and are much more interested in it than say, the shooting that happened in a neighborhood no where near them.

When in doubt, lead with weather!

Blow up Your Show for Fun and Promotions

If you want to be a better producer and move up in your newsroom or to another market, nothing will assist you in this more than being able to roll with the punches. You may have created the most beautiful rundown in the world, but if some breaking news comes in at the last minute and you can't figure out how to put it in your newscast, you should seriously consider another career. What divides good producers from great ones is the ability to wing it and fly by the seat of their pants, especially in the control booth. It is the ability to manage chaos, to have everything thrown at you and still manage to have everyone on the same page and the show looking good.

Have a plan for spot news. For example, there's a big fire. Will the reporter be there live by the top of the show? If not, can we get a mast cam and have reporter on the phone? Or a spokesperson from the Fire Department? Or a neighbor from next door? Or will the anchor "tease" the fire at the top of the show, promising a live report later? Can you get a map?

Keep hitting the breaking news throughout the show if it's continuing. Whatever you decide to do, make sure anchors and the crew understand what you want to do. Tell them as early as possible. "I'm going to take Suzie off the top on the fire. If Suzie's not there, Bob will ad lib some info on the fire from the mast cam." Or whatever. Just make sure everyone knows what you're doing and how this impacts their part of the show.

Don't get too fancy. Put spot news in at the top and float everything else down. Change is confusing enough for the director so don't shoot yourself in the foot by getting too complicated.

Talk to anchors (and directors for that matter) in sots, pkgs or breaks. Resist the urge to tell them about stuff while they are reading. Feed anchors the info they need for the next thing they will be doing. Who's at bat, who's on deck? Don't feed too much information from the rest of the show, just feed what they need to know next.

Change is good for you.
Change is good for your show.
Put the best, newest stuff in your show, without exception.
Do this on a regular basis, even with small stories that trickle into the newsroom. Throw in a vo you were not expecting and you'll get in the habit of changing things up. It will make you better prepared to do major surgery to your show, should such an occasion arise. And it will.

Your show should look radically different and have substantially different stories than the show that preceded you. Anything else is the hallmark of a lazy producer.

All I Ever Really Needed to Know about Show Producing... I Learned From Sesame Street

I remember having a discussion with a former boss of mine. I said something like, "Viewers began to have a shorter attention span with the advent of MTV. " The boss disagreed said it started much earlier, with Sesame Street. Watch the program and you'll see what he means. Each segment is fairly brief and when they switch segments, you see something totally different.

When I got my first show, another producer gave me some advice, "You just want each story to look a little different from the last one, so change it up a little bit each time. But of course, you already know all this." I had no idea.

Following his advice, here's what the top of each story in a first block might look like:

Lead.
2-shot (one anchor reads one graph)
Take Single Cam (other anchor reads one graph)
Toss double box to live reporter (one graph).

2nd story.
Ots

3rd story
Cam

4th Story
2-shot

5th Story
Chroma
((I throw the chroma in because no matter how small your market is, everybody has a chroma key. You may not have a flat screen monitor or video wall, but you have graphics make a chroma and voila- you have a new place to put your anchors or reporter. Make the chroma generic like "Tonight at Ten" or whatever and you can use it over and over.))

You get the idea. Play with it. There are no hard fast rules except keep it interesting.

Also, change it up in terms of visual elements. This helps with pacing. If you've had a couple vo's, throw in some sound or NATS full just to break it up. Toss an interesting vo or vosot between two pkgs. Again, no hard rules, but try to think about the overall packaging of your show in addition to the content. I like to pick a show I enjoyed watching and then steal ideas. Fox Report on the Fox News Channel has some of the best pacing on t.v. right now. But I may not be completely be unbiased.