Newscast #6 - Jensen Mills - Fall 2019

Our last week of WVU News has officially wrapped up… Please excuse me while I go cry. This week’s special edition script was on mental health in the United States and in West Virginia. Mental health is such an increasing issue… so the fact that I got to write the entire script on something so prominent and important in this day and age meant a lot to me. While the script had an extra package and VO, it only added three more minutes than usual, so it wasn’t much more to write. I ended up stressing out last week for no reason! It also only took me four hours to write the script for this week’s show, mostly because I was doing so much research and double checking the reporters’ facts to make sure they were right. If it hadn’t been a special edition show, I probably would have finished the script within three to three and a half hours.

Boothing this week went much more smoothly than the previous weeks. Everyone was more relaxed and had fun, which I think was an important way to end the semester. It also allowed the anchors to see that we’re all here to have fun learning, so I think that’s why we got a nearly perfect take the second time around. I think I did well boothing too. I knew what to say and when. I knew when I needed a camera in focus and where the reporters were going. I barely looked down at my scrip! It was a great show to end on.

I’ve learned so much this semester and I’m so grateful to have been given the opportunity to be the executive producer of this wonderful class. I may sound crazy saying this after the stress of it all, but I don’t want it to end. While this has been the most stressful semester of my undergrad… it has also been the most rewarding. It was amazing to see the growth of the reporters’ skills as well. I loved watching each and every one of them grow and flourish with each package. I loved perfecting my writing too. WVU News has been such a big part of my life this semester that I decided I couldn’t get enough of it… so on to the next challenge: Web Producer!