Holly Edgell’s News You Can Use
 
Guest Blogger: Ellen Zubeck Figures It Out
Monday, September 21, 2009
 
My first few weeks as a producer have come and gone and I'm finally starting to figure things out. I'm beginning to learn that this is an extremely hands-on job and you have to get in there and figure things out as quickly as possible. It's an easy concept to hear about, but once you're in the producer chair and in charge of a whole newscast, it seems like you have a long day ahead of you. The thing I'm finding a time struggle with is beginning the vast amount of stories that the KOMU 8 News at Five producer has to write. I enjoy writing and I'm fairly quick at it, but having to re-write at least six stories from AP or NewsChannel makes me anxious. Once I finish though, it feels like quite an accomplishment along with writing teases, figuring out what anchor's are reading the stories on what cameras, which reporters are live/on-set, etc. The teases are actually something that I find difficult. I know it takes time and experience to become better at writing them, but they are tricky! You can't give away too much information, but you can't leave the viewer in the dark. This concept of writing really hasn't caught on with me yet, to be quite honest! I'm really looking forward to watching more newscasts and learning how to become a better "teaser.” Lastly, the thing I'm looking most forward to mastering is when we're in the booth. I did the whole head phone thing last week and it was a rush of excitement talking to my live shots and anchors, dropping and floating stories. I think what I'm most excited to learn about back there is how to choose which stories to drop, when to drop them, when to float them, etc. I think that's a very mathematical job and I'm nervous that my timing will be off sometimes. Scary! But I really am excited to become a better producer in all of these categories, but especially just with running a good show. I want to make perfect newscasts, although I know it's hard to be perfect. Still, I'm going to get mine as close to perfect as possible!