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The sky is falling, everyone stay calm! How to take control when everyone else is losing it.

Recently, we published an article called Your Producer Voice written by an anchor to explain how crucial it is for producers to stay calm in the booth, especially when talking in IFBs. Anchors simply need producers to calmly explain what needs to happen during newscasts, so the anchor can calmly execute the plan on live television. Problem is, many producers really struggle with how to stay calm when things are falling apart and/or the boss is breathing down your neck.

So here’s how to control your voice, even when you are not in control.

Have a plan
Boil the plan down
Restrict who is in your booth
Trust your director

You cannot walk into the booth for a newscast without a plan, period. Yes, things will blow up even if you have plan. No, your plan cannot be to just watch the rundown play out and hope you time the show correctly. When I say you must have a plan, I mean you have scenarios in your head to fix many common issues. These include, reporters not making slot, a reporter not turning in scripts and their live shot dying, the computer freezing up and your video doesn’t roll, the meteorologist running long, expert interview and/or reporter doesn’t get into position for newsroom shot in time. As a producer you are paid to know what potential pitfalls you will face each day. The ones listed above are super common. When you are calm, think of go to plans for these scenarios, so if one happens you have an automatic fix.

Now let’s talk breakers during the show. Breaking news is even a bit formulaic when you really think about it. You will execute one of these scenarios:

1) Breaker information comes in, anchor reads copy (or adlibs-if that’s person’s strength) and you will move on.

2) Breaker information comes in with a graphic, anchor will voice over.

3) Breaker is live picture anchor voices over.

4) Breaker is live shot, anchor pitches to live crew.

5) Breaker is reporter live with vo or vosot, anchor pitches, reporter voices over the video and possibly pitches to sound.

Have dummy scripts for these scenarios that your studio crew is familiar with. I am not saying you have to format everything. If your anchors are great ad libbers, you would put a few facts in the script for prompter if you want (see See It Rather Than Say It, remember anchors are often primarily visual and need to see what’s going on). The point is, make it crystal clear how you will format these scenarios so you aren’t getting questions like, “Now should I start the pitch, then let so and so take it from there?” “Will there be double boxes and an animation?” This is crucial if you are a new producer learning the ropes at a station. Do not mess with 2 anchor pitches and creative ways to wrap up the coverage. Keep it simple and make sure your director and anchors know your plan before there is breaking news to deal with. The dummy scripts help. These “go to” formatting scripts eliminate most of the questions the anchors, director and production crew would have. This is part of learning what your crews needs are so you can execute quickly. The more you all understand each other, the more you, as the producer, will eventually be able to change things up. Whenever I started a new producing job, I did these type of backup scripts initially so my studio crew knew my expectations. (see Right Hand Meet Your Left.)

Having clear cut breaking news templates your studio crew can count on is the first part of boiling down your plan. Now let’s talk about how you will deliver the message. You need to know exactly what you are going to say to your anchors and director before you say it. You need a clear cut order of who you will tell first. As a rule of thumb, the director is told first so she/he can do what is needed to get the information on the air. This is especially true if you are taking a graphic or a live shot. The director will need to talk with several people to pull this off cleanly on air. Now you will run into issues with the production crew “tipping off” your anchors unless you make it crystal clear to your director that only you tell anchors about breakers. The studio crew is not trying to screw you. They often just get anxious. Let the director take ownership of them, and make sure they know you are the only one talking to the anchors about a new breaker.

When you tell your anchor, make sure he/she isn’t reading copy at the time unless it is so huge, that it absolutely cannot wait. Anchors need to concentrate while on the air. During commercial breaks they are trying to read ahead, get their bearings, and pump up their energy for the next block. Every word you say to them counts. Do not use throwaways. Your goal is to give them 1 sentence commands when making changes. Examples for common issues are: “Wx long, wrap quick,” “Wrong vid, apologize,” “Shot died, stretch.” “Video not coming.” “Go to teases (page number) now.” You can get into the why in the discrep meeting after the show. After these breakers and last minute changes happen, have conversations in debrief meetings (see Anchor’s Away: How to Handle A Combative Anchor. ) so these key players know how you think. This also helps you see if you are giving them information effectively and succinctly.

The next piece of advice can sometimes be tricky, but will make a world of difference for you to stay calm and in control in the booth. I had a rule from my second producing job on, that no one came into “my booth” (yes I did phrase it that way) except one immediate supervisor. If my supervisor was a screamer, I went to the ND and said someone else would have to come in or that supervisor had to call me in the booth only. No more in the booth privileges. Yes, I occasionally ticked off a manager for a short time. Then a big breaker came and the show executed smoothly, and I got what I wanted. I also threw people out of “my booth” if they were interrupting. I had a production manager that hated me for it at one station. Too bad! The newscast comes first. That was my mantra and you can tell from my writing I did not compromise on this. Most well run newsrooms have this rule in place already. If you are in a newsroom where multiple managers wander into the booth during shows all the time, ask the ND if you can have one designated manager coming in or at least a rule where only one manager at a time comes in so you can focus. When managers come into the booth, the production crew defers to the manager, and it makes it much harder for you and the director to execute quick commands. Most managers will understand this and that this request isn’t just you being a control freak. Your director needs the number of people in the booth limited as well. People tend to bug the director even more than you when, frankly, the director is busier than you are during most of the newscast. Your director will appreciate you making this request as well.

Trusting your director is also a key element to staying calm in the booth. Many times I had managers coming in during huge breakers and fighting about what live picture to take or various philosophical issues. I would try and ignore, but often wound up caught in the middle, before I could send them into the hallway to have their debates. In these cases time and time again my director took over and saved the newscast. I trusted my director to know how I would phrase things like “go to break,” or “live pic next” and I let the director run with it. I had to. My bosses got in the way. Trusting your director also is a benefit when you are dealing with smaller level changes like floating a story or popping in a quick breaker. My rule of thumb again was tell the director first, then let him/her tell the production crew while I told the anchors. This means I used my headset to talk to director only a lot. Calm voice, to help the other calm leader in the room take control as well. Too often I saw producers feel the need to use the “all call” button for every change in the newscast. This button should only be for huge breakers where you have to get on the air immediately. And you should have conversations ahead of time so everyone knows if you use “all call,” it’s a big deal, no questions asked.

If you still think that anchors or directors are whiney about you, the producer, staying calm and in control, consider this: How many news people have you seen lose their cool during crisis situations in the newsroom or in the field? Do you respect those people? Chances are you don’t. Losing your temper is a sign you are in over your head and you will lose respect. You will get people on the news and production staff questioning everything you try and do during a live newscast. You must lead authoritatively during a live show. When you make mistakes, and we all do, take ownership and keep calm. You will win over a staff of people who will count on your calm direction, when the sky is falling.

Game on: Secrets to raising the roof during sports.

No doubt being a sports anchor isn’t what it used to be. You can’t just put up highlights and scoreboards and survive. Many are being asked to one man band. Some stations are getting rid of sports departments and many others have already done it. Yet sports still dominates many conversations among regular people, daily. We all know that ESPN has changed the playing field. So what does a sportscaster do, to not only stand out but possibly keep his/her job at all? One phrase (and it’s one we at survivetvnewsjobs.com love) storytelling.

Often when I would tell sports anchors to do more of this, I would get puzzled looks and the sports anchor would walk away shaking his/her head. So let me spell it out. Playing and watching sports are commonplace among many of your viewers. Leisure activities involving sports are an integral part of many people’s lives. You just have to think of sports as more than the latest college or pro game on the weekend. And when you do cover those weekend games, you need to make them have impact. Before you shake your head in confusion and disgust, look at these key ways to provide that impact.

Storytelling During Sportscasting

Let’s hear it
Memorable moments
Character build
Make it real

First let’s hear it. Use a lot of natural sound throughout your sportscast. Think about it, what are the latest techniques you are seeing when watching national games? The networks are taking you into the event with mic’s in places they’ve never been before. The commentators stop talking and take those special mics so you hear the cars screeching around the track in NASCAR, you listen to the quarterback call plays in mic’d up segments during games. You hear players talking on the sidelines for a few seconds. No you cannot do the exact same thing, but take the general idea and run with it. This is a type of storytelling using natural sound. You can ask to mic up a player during practice. You can set a lav mic up when you do stories to catch ambient sound, you can use natural sound in vo’s and vosots and packages throughout your sportscast so viewers are engaged. Going to cover a sports event, be it a practice, newsconference, or game and thinking about the natural sound will help you look at the event in a different way. You will become more engaged and notice things you may not have caught onto before. This could help you find interesting elements the other sports anchors and reporters in town aren’t doing.

Which leads to our next point: Creating memorable moments. You will hear a skilled EP tell his or her producers this all the time. Photojournalists really get this concept as well. Memorable moments are partially visual, but the key is that they play out emotions. Sports are full of emotion. They are utterly human. You see incredible joyous moments, incredible pain, anger, angst, fear, intense drive, painful defeats and wondrous victories. Looking for memorable moments each day in sports should be like the old saying… “shooting fish in a barrel.” Even news conferences have emotion behind them. Play it out. Search for the emotion in the sound bites, and the backstories to what lead up to the news conferences. You follow players’ tweets, you monitor sport blogs. The emotions are all there, easy pickings. Use them.

Again, I remember the head shaking, followed by “I only get 2 minutes and I have to get these highlights in.” If the ratings fall off during your sportscast then, no, you do not have to show the highlights like you traditionally would. You can take one key element, let it play with nat sound to create a memorable moment, then throw up a score board if you need. Take the viewer into the event. Don’t just cram a million factoids into a 2 minute segment. Fans watched the game, saw highlights on ESPN, got onto the internet to check out their favorite blogs, are signed up on Twitter to check out what their favorite players say etc. Think about what makes you love covering sports. That’s why fans love watching sports. The memorable moments are the draw. The emotion of it all.

Early in my career there was a sportscaster at a competing station, who won Emmy’s for his sportscasts all the time, often beating veteran sports journalists in much larger markets. I started watching his sportscasts to see why. The answer: memorable moments. He made each sportscast interesting. They did not look like all the others in town. And this sports journalist was making a big name for himself. He also would turn in packages every year and beat out reporters for Emmy’s. He was a storyteller that just loved covering sports. Believe me, this guy never worried about his sports time getting cut. He became a real draw in a small community that didn’t have any professional teams to follow. What did he even have to talk about? Plenty. He also did pieces on local sporting events, by character building.

So what is character building exactly? It is centering a story on someone who can really help you explain the issue or to simplify even more: someone that spells out the point of your package. (see storytelling on a dime.) It also means branching out. Sit your assistant news director or executive producer down and ask them what the trends are in town for recreation. Chances are they have seen research and know what topics (i.e. – sports) people in town love to do. Let’s take biking for example. Many places have incredible trails families explore each day. Hit the trail on a Monday or Tuesday when you only have retread elements on the professional or college games and start looking for characters. Ask people why they ride. Ask the history of the trail. Listen to what people are talking about. You will find stories. Contact the local Y and ask about inspiring athletes on and/or coaches for their different teams. Check out the intramural leagues in the area. You will find amazing slice of life stories with cool characters doing a sport. Before you know it, you will have compelling packages to air on those hum drum Mondays and Tuesdays. Your sportscast might just be a package those days. And they might get a bump in numbers when viewers catch on.

Then carry the character building into your coverage leading up to the “big games.” It’s like watching the incredible pieces about athletes before Olympic events. These stories about particular athletes or coaches or fans, make viewers care more about the event itself and what you will have to say about it. Finding the characters will take you into the sports you cover, not just make you a seemingly detached sideliner. This will help you make connections with coaches as well. Maybe more exclusives will come your way.

Finally make your sportscasts real. When you sit on the set, talk to the viewer. Don’t just throw a million one liners and stats and quick highlights at people. And please, don’t yell at the viewers for two straight minutes! Making the sportscast real means using the statistics to add color to the story, instead of making the stats the story. Think Dan Patrick. He always makes sports issues really conversational and boils controversies down in ways even a casual fan can easily follow. You can do this visually by taking the viewer into the event with nat sound and characters and memorable moments. That will help the viewer connect with your content and you. This should help make your sportscast raise the roof each night.

“Hey, she got more time!” Reporter’s secret? Humor the producer.

We are telling you about some smart alliances in newsrooms to help you get your job done better. One of the biggest problems in newsrooms is a real lack of understanding of what other people’s jobs entail. A big disconnect can come between reporters and producers. Since reporters are out in the field all day, it is hard to relate to each other. So, reporters, here’s a quick summary of what producers face. Producers face deadlines all day long, not just before news time. Graphics are due by a certain time, video is due by a certain time, even in this high tech age. Teases must be written by a certain time. Animations must be turned in by a certain time. The list goes on and on. Producers crunch in one way or another all day long. That’s why you get curt phone calls and that’s why the producer will interrupt you and demand the bottom line then hang up. It takes years to get used to the constant demands. This isn’t meant to make you feel compassion for the producer. We all have tough jobs in a newsroom. But this knowledge should help you form a smart alliance. Remember, producers are the ones that allow you to take more time for a story you really believe in. If you can get a producer to back you on a story pitch, you have a better chance of getting your story aired.

So here’s what to keep in mind to build a smart alliance with producers. Producers love reporters that think like producers. What does that mean? It means thinking of elements outside of your package to enhance your story. It means writing anchor intros that allow the anchors to seem knowledgeable without giving your story away. It means making sure your package and live scripts get into the rundown before the newscast airs, unless you are on breaking news. (Read Live shot died, there’s nowhere to go.) It means sending in natural sound or sound bites early for teases. It also means calling and requesting interesting graphics several hours before the newscast.

If you are saying wow that’s a lot of work, take a breath and read on. You probably already do some of this anyway, especially if you are a story teller. You just need to present it in a way that allows the producer to see you are helping.

First, when you write your package start with the anchor intro. (We will delve into the many benefits of this in depth in another article.) For the purposes of forming a smart alliance, this means you will have a script in early for the producer to fine tune if necessary for flow in the newscast. Turning in all of your live scripts and your package script early also gives the producer backup options if your live truck dies or a thunderstorm pops up. It shows respect for the overall product. Remember the producer is in charge of the overall product. If the show goes to hell, the producer gets it big time. You show the producer that you care about the newscast by writing your anchor intro early and turning in all your scripts. If you can provide an interesting element to segment out the story (Read Produce it up to see why) producers will appreciate you even more. It helps the producer showcase you and the anchors, as a team, gathering information and relieves a lot of pressure. Otherwise the producer, on top of everything else, is trying to find these elements to make the newscast standout from the others in town.

Producers also use teases to try and differentiate newscasts. The use of natural sound can make a huge difference when writing (tease writing articles for clarification: You’re Hooked, Ultimate tease challenge , Reel ‘em in without exaggerating). That’s why you are getting calls asking if you have interesting sound and/or video. Many reporters consider these requests annoying and send the video or sound in last minute. This let’s your producer know you don’t get the whole picture and don’t care if your story is promoted well. Realistically, you can often have your photographer feed in the tease video and sound while you write your package. It doesn’t hurt your chances of turning a great story and it helps showcase your hard work more.

Same is true if you need graphics inside your package. Turn them in early, ask the producer what the deadline he/she adheres to and try to make the same deadline if you can. Producers understand you will get information late in the day sometimes and will try and get a graphic for you last minute. It helps if, more often than not, you turn in your work early. Then the producer is more willing to pull favor for you. If you consistently turn in these elements early, it also will give you a better chance of becoming a go-to reporter for the producer. The benefit? Many shops are so called “producer driven.” That means what the producers ask for in their shows carries a lot of weight. They determine content more than reporters. So if the producer believes in you, he/she will start requesting you for the highly showcased stories. Producers will tell management you are a loyal and solid employee. This will help you get noticed by management. If you don’t help the producer out, the reverse is true. The producer will ask not to have your package in the newscast. They will tell management you are unreliable and difficult. You will be labeled. When it’s time for the cream assignment, you won’t get it or if you get lucky and can go, the producer may not cut you slack if you run into trouble. This relationship is a huge case of “I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine.” Show respect. Think like a producer. Win a huge ally that will fight tooth and nail for you. It’s a smart alliance to make, for sure!

The live shot died and there’s nowhere to go!

I recently saw a producer tweeting about his frustration over this predicament. A reporter on a live shot didn’t call in scripts, then, the live shot died. That means no backup. The anchors do not have a little information to draw from and then move on. So they are stuck saying: “Sorry about the technical difficulty. We’ll get back to so and so when we can.” Losing a live shot and having to do a mea culpa is a big deal. Viewers do not like waiting for something they were promised and then not getting it. Think about it, neither do you. It is so easy to hit the remote and never look back.

For this reason many stations have policies that require reporters to turn in complete scripts to the producer before the newscast airs. This means actual written copy for their live standups. With Smart Phones, laptops and remote access this should be easy. But some shops still do not have the technology synched up.

In every station where I worked several reporters fought this tooth and nail. If you want to get on a producer’s bad side, this is the way to do it. In a breaking news situation everyone understands reporters are just trying to make air. Producers gladly take the risk and go to you without a script. But when you are just doing day-to-day news, providing your script should be doable in some form. I used four techniques as a producer to eliminate the problem of not getting them.

Getting reporter backup scripts

Email script for copy paste or transcription
Backup vo/sot required
AP writes backup from earlier show
Staggered script deadlines

In some stations where I worked the reporters were turning two packages on two different subjects every day. If they could not just write in the rundown, I would give them the option to email me the approved script so I, or my AP, could move it over. I understood every second counted for these reporters. They can’t help if the technology was such that there was no way to write directly into the rundown.

In cases where the reporter had one package a day, I required a backup vo/sot be written and sent to my AP. That way if the package didn’t make it, or we had to push it aside for a breaker, we had something to go to. For my feisty reporters that didn’t appreciate being asked to do that, I had the nightside producer or morning show producer call and request a vo/sot. The reporter wanted to get home and would usually write it up quickly. The other producer got a vo/sot they may or may not ever use and I got a backup!

If the reporter is turning several packages, he/she is legitimately too swamped to turn in backups for producers. In that case I had my AP write backups from earlier newscasts, just in case.

Finally, if reporters were willing to send in backups, I was willing to be more flexible on feed deadlines. I would stagger when pkgs were due, then let the reporter voice before turning in a final approved script and/or vosot backups. I wanted to give reporters more breathing room and a chance to focus on their packages.

Reporters, if you really want to befriend a producer, provide your live scripts every day. If the technology makes this nearly impossible, then at least call into the producer or AP with a sound bite so they can try to write a backup. You will make a loyal ally. Scripts and potential backups are in the best interest of the show and everyone’s credibility.