Newscast #1 - Jensen Mills - Fall 2019

Wow… I produced my first newscast this week! I still feel like it’s a dream. I’ve worked so hard the last three years to get exactly where I am today, I just can’t believe it’s actually happening. The first newscast went exceptionally well! Even Professor Dahlia was impressed with our anchors and packages. I’m so lucky to be a part of a class with such a passion and drive for news.

It’s only been 15 days since I earned the position and I’ve already learned so much about what it means and takes to be an executive producer. I was thrown headfirst into learning the in’s and out’s of how to write a script, when to give cues, and send out emails almost every day to my team of my reporters, but that’s the best way to learn. I was overwhelmed at first, but now that I’ve got the first newscast down, I understand how it works and what exactly I should be doing every day. 

The biggest thing I struggled with this week was the script. Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoyed writing it, but after Professor Dahlia went through and made (a lot) of changes, I realized I was just making small mistakes that ended up being big ones. It’s necessary that scripts are flawless, because if one thing is wrong, it could potentially create a snowball effect in the studio. I thought I did well with making sure the stories flowed together, but I can definitely improve on making the writing more conversational and to the point.