Newscast #1 - Elisa Schwartzmiller - Spring 2020

My first week of being producer was a whirlwind but in the end it was so worth it. There were some highs and some lows during the week and I definitely learned some news skills that will help in future shows. At times I felt disconnected from the class but it is my job to reach out and to go above and beyond for the reporters. I need to work on staying in contact with the reporters on shooting days and feeding them information on current and future stories. 

The week I wrote the script I got almost no sleep and I was driving myself crazy over how perfect the script needed to be. I would go to sleep after I got done writing and then as I was asleep I would visualize the script in my head and I would fall into a spiral. I felt like everything needed to be so perfect and it had to be amazing. 

It was so amazing to see my script come to life, it was so fulfilling. Professor Dahlia and I got a chance to talk about what she fixed in my original and what I need to do better with next time. Although I had little amounts of formatting mistakes, I need to be more creative on certain aspects of the script. I need to fact check all of my anchors and reporters. I also need to be okay with completely taking out what the reporter writes for their anchor lead in. I need to think about things in a more creative way. I got so caught up in the script being perfect, I forgot that it also needed to be really creative. 

After seeing all the packages fixed and the finally script printed off, I all felt so real. It finally hit that this is going to happen; this week is the week that we tape our first show. Wednesday was a dream comet true for me. I woke up motivated and ready to go. I wore a dress for Wednesday and we all know that that isn’t a regular outfit for me…ever. I just woke up ready to conquer the day and I was so excited.

The first taping went surprisingly well and I am so grateful for the people in the control room and everyone in the studio. They made this possible; they made my script come to life. I did have some timing issues but Professor Dahlia made a quick script change it ended up being better. I liked the quick changes and it gave me an idea of what being a producer would be like in the real world. I need to get better at thinking on my feet, but I think that will come with comfort and confidence.

During the show, boothing has to be my favorite part. I like being able to talk to them and to ease some nerves that they may have. I like to tell the anchors, “Look good, feel good”. That means that if we are sitting up straight and looking good at the desk, you are going to feel good while being at the desk. I want to encourage the anchors but also be able to correct them without it hurting their feelings or making them feel bad. I want the relationship with reporters and anchors to be a respectful but also a friend like relationship. Although I like boothing, Professor Dahlia said I need to focus on what the cameras are doing and focus on the screens rather than the script. I didn’t want to miss anything but having my head down looking at the script is doing anything at all.

After reflecting about everything I have come to a lot a realizations. The first one being, don’t strive for perfection all the time because you lose the creativity. The second thing is, I need to get better at constant communication with my reporters no matter what. I need to pay attention to all of the news and be on the look out for anything that can help my reporters. The last thing is, I need to get better at transitions and writing certain pieces in my script.

This week has been nothing like anything I have ever done. I feel so accomplished but yet I have so much to work on; and that’s not a bad thing. I have so much to look forward to in the future and my scripts are only going to improve. I may be addicted to black tea by the end of this but that is fine with me! I have finally found what I love to do and it’s the best feeling in the world.