Newscast #2- Meg Weissend- Fall 2018

Our second newscast is done! I was more confident during the process of making this show, and I am beginning to slide into a routine. The stress is still very much there, but I am loving every second of it. I’m learning that an executive producer does not always have a list of specific jobs. Producing a show means helping out with anything and everything to make it great. 

On September 24th, reporters pitched their stories at our news meeting. I had a few pitches of my own, and we went around the table and confirmed ideas. Everyone signed up for writing conference times, and I recorded all of the story ideas, the times, and the newscast positions during the meeting. I delegated a few tasks to the assistant producers after class.

The 27th was a busy day. I woke up early and drove to the Media Innovation Center, where I sat in for a few conferences with Professor Dahlia. I feel like I was a little more involved than last time’s conferences, because I understood more of what we were looking for, and what the reporters needed to do. I had to leave around noon for class, and then came back to the MIC to film at Studio B. More comfortable than last time, I used my own judgement for decisions surrounding audio and camera movement.

Later that day, finished packages were uploading to Vimeo pretty quickly. Since the news team had a better idea of how long editing takes, they budgeted their time better. Professor Dahlia had a busy night, so I critiqued almost all of the packages before she was able to look at them. I made sure to be extremely observant, because I was aiming for more than three hours of sleep that night. It went smoothly, and only took us a couple hours to complete critiques.

On the 28th, I announced who made show. I sent out individual critiques, a congratulations email, and Tweeted out information.

The 29th was a Saturday, and I spent most of the day writing the script. It went a lot better than last time, and I was able to visualize camera angles and move around the times. I was proud of the finish product, and I sent it to Professor Dahlia on Sunday morning.

This past Monday, October 1st, I printed out everyone’s critiques. I helped out in the edit lab for a while, and worked on Mason’s footage with him for our kicker. Before noon, I did a table read with the anchors. I took charge this week, and made sure they knew where to block their scripts, and how to transition in the studio. The table read went really well, and I was excited for the filming on Wednesday. On Tuesday I sent out reminders.

Wednesday, October 3rd, we filmed our second show. I was shaking like a leaf, because I was so nervous we weren’t going to get that perfect take. I know nothing is perfect, but I was starting to freak out when technical difficulties made us stop twice in the middle of filming. After some coaching from Professor Dahlia, I was boothing with a little more authority. I really like communicating with the anchors during filming. It gives me more control over what our newscast looks like. Finally, our last take came out pretty good, and I threw my hands up in the air and sighed with relief.

Even though sleep is not something I get a lot of, I wouldn’t change my producing position for the world. Everyone around me knows how happy I am to do this job, and I am learning so much each week. Can’t wait for the news meeting on Monday!