Honing Skills – Page 2 – Survive Your Job In Television News

“Technical Difficulties”: A Sideways Live Shot Survival Guide

Recently a reporter emailed “Survive” for advice on how to learn to ad lib while in the field. The main concern, how to get around technical problems. So I asked a veteran reporter for advice. Here goes…

History is filled with quotes about the importance of preparation from very brilliant, very famous people. One of my favorites comes from a B or maybe even C-level actor named Richard Kline. (Best known as “Larry” the neighbor on “Three’s Company”) Kline says, “Confidence is preparation. Everything else is beyond your control.” I like this one because it is perfect for live shots. If you are prepared, you should and will be confident. If there is one constant in live shots (as in much of life) it’s that something will inevitably get sideways at the worst possible moment. That moment is simply beyond your control so don’t sweat it. Just be as prepared as possible and chances are pretty good you will be able to get through it when something goes squirrelly.

In order to learn to tap dance your way through a sideways live shot, you first have to have the basics of doing a live shot down pat. I still remember the first time I knew I was going to do a live shot at my first real reporting job. I went to an experienced friend in the newsroom and asked for some advice. The advice they gave me was very basic and perfect! Best advice I’ve ever been given in my career actually. Do not script your live shot word-for-word. Let me say that again: Do NOT script out your live shots. If you script your live shot you will have to memorize it. This is a recipe for disaster! Ask anyone who’s done any acting what happens when you miss just one word in your lines. The answer: It generally throws everything off from that point on. Additionally, when you memorize a bunch of lines they are just that: A bunch of lines. You do not have near as much comprehension of what they mean. It’s just a bunch of words floating around in your brain waiting to come streaming out. Once they are out, so are the meanings behind them. More on retaining meaning in a moment.

First, here’s the key to basic live shots. Rather than memorizing a script, write bullet points. Each one should have a word or three for each key thought you’re going to present. Each of those bullet points acts as a memory trigger for the information you are imparting in your shot. You can then glance down at each bullet point and be easily guided through. You will also find that your comprehension of the subject matter increases too. You will not only have smoother live shots but also retain the meaning more.

Start trying the bullet point trick today. Do it every time you are out live. It will quickly become a natural way to do your shots. Eventually, you will depend on those bullet points less and less. Your live shots will also get smoother and smoother.

No matter how smooth you become on your basic live shots, at some point something will go wrong that you cannot control. A package will not run correctly; the wrong package will run; the video server will crash. If it can happen, it will. So how do you “prepare” for this? Try making some extra bullet points that sum up the package. Keep it on the next page in your reporter’s notebook after your life shot bullet points. Don’t try to quote the sound bites in the package though. Use your bullet points to help you paraphrase one or two of those bites. Do this and then if something goes wrong you have somewhere to go. Just pause briefly then look up at the camera and cooly say something like: “We’re having a little trouble with that story. But here’s what you need to know.” Then run through a few of those bullet points, sig out and toss back to your anchors. Don’t make it overly complicated. Keep it simple and smooth. Better to keep it short and clean than try to get everything in that was in your package and muck it up. Most of the time when something like this happens, viewers know something went wrong technically. They do understand and will forgive as long as you don’t compound the problem by stammering on and looking unprepared.

One quick aside. When something goes wrong do not refer to your story as a “package” or a “VO/SOT” or talk about “sound bites.” These are the terms WE use in the industry. Viewers do not talk like this and do not know what these terms mean. It will confuse them and then you have lost the battle.

Legendary writer Ernest Hemingway once said: “Courage is grace under pressure.” Use these tips to sharpen your basic live shot skills, then when the pressure is really on, you will come off looking courageous indeed!

For more advice on how to ad-lib read “Art of Ad-lib” written by veteran anchor, Cameron Harper.

How To Define Your News Philosophy

When journalists contact me, one of the first questions I ask is “What is your news philosophy?” Most cannot tell me clearly. I end up having to ask a series of questions, then define it for them. (This, by the way, includes many news managers who call me looking for employees.)

Now I know some people are already rolling their eyes at me mentioning news philosophy. The naysayers response: “Your philosophy is the boss’s philosophy.” My counter. Exactly. If you do not know what type of news you love to do, and you do not define your own mission statement to serve the community, you cannot connect with a manager who thinks the same way. Want to know why so many journalists burn out in the first 5 years? This is a big reason. You and the boss don’t think alike. The job is simply too intense, too all encompassing not to believe in the message. Journalism is a vocation in many ways. You do it because you just don’t know what else you can do. It is simply a part of you, so you need to define it for yourself. Personal fulfillment often replaces the great paycheck in those first key years.

O.K., lecture over. Now let’s talk about how to define your philosophy. It requires exploring a few questions and truthfully answering them instead of saying what you think others want to hear.

What types of stories make you proud to be a journalist?

What issues do you read about in your spare time?

How do you visualize stories?

What news do you love to watch and steal ideas from?

How do you serve the community in your reports/newscast?

Really think about these questions. They are a great guide to helping you define news philosophy for yourself. Also try and throw away stereotypes. (See article “What is Hard News”) You need to define your philosophy in clear terms a viewer could relate to, not a fellow newsy. For example, the “New, Now, Next Philosophy” has different meanings depending on what broadcast entity is executing it. So just telling a prospective boss, I am a “new, now, next broadcast journalist” is only a small part of the picture. You need to have more detailed discussions. How will you do this with graphics? Standups? When deciding what stories are live? Do you like a lot of 20 second vo’s or do you like to really delve into an issue and pick apart what’s new, now and next? Make sense?

Let’s get back to news as vocation for a minute. Sometimes journalists need to be reminded that the news they put on the air, and over the internet, actually impacts people’s lives. You have incredible influence over issues, sometimes arguably too much influence. You owe it to yourself and those you serve to know why you dedicated your life to doing the news. If you cannot do this, you need to go into PR. It’s a simple truth. Call me an idealist, a purist, a fool. But news philosophy is crucial to excel at this vocation you have chosen. Don’t shortchange yourself.

Beating Reporter Deadlines With Your Own EOC

One of the toughest learning curves for young reporters can be hitting your deadlines. You know how it goes—you knock out a noon live shot and as soon as you’re done, the EP or Assignment Desk is calling, to say you’re now on a completely different story for 5pm… and you’re live in another town… and don’t miss slot!

So how can you do good work and at the same time keep management off your back so you’re not “the problem child” on the reporting staff?

Well, it starts, and ends, with 3 keys—think of this as your own personal EOC (Emergency Operations Center … for reporters).

Efficiency

The old saying goes: “Get off your ass, get out of the building!” And it’s true. You can save a lot of time by simply being efficient with your time. Let’s say you’re assigned a story in the morning meeting. Depending on how your newsroom works, maybe you don’t have to sit through the remaining 45 minutes of that meeting. Get your story and ask if you can take off. Grab your photog and go. You’ll be thankful for those 45 minutes as you hit crunch time before the newscast.

You can make lots of calls, but remember: it’s easier for someone to blow you off by phone than in person. So if may be more efficient to just show up at that police PIO’s office and ask for a quick interview or a copy of that arrest report than making 6 calls throughout the day.

Plan out your stops to save time— so you’ll go talk with the mayor first because he’s available now. You’ll call the city council member on your way to the mayor’s office (saves time vs. you staying in the newsroom and making calls from your desk) to see if you can interview her right after the mayor. Then you can head to the next stop for B-roll and other material. Then you’ll end up at your live location.

Quickly research story background and contacts, and remember you can do that in the car from your phone if your photog is driving.

Make notes as you record your interview so you don’t waste time when logging and getting ready to write.

If you have a photog (won’t work if you’re an solo MMJ), you log and write while he or she sets up the live shot. Better yet, you write your basic script while the photog is driving to the next location.

If you know you need help from the Assignment Desk, be efficient there too Let them know early if you need something researched or a call made. Assignment editors are insanely busy people and the last thing they need is a last-minute call from you asking for 3 calls to be made on your story.

Efficiency also can mean not biting off more than you can chew. If you’re assigned to breaking news just before airtime, don’t stress too much over whether it’s a pkg. Viewers don’t care about the format, and a good management team won’t either, as long as you do a solid, compelling breaking news live shot. So be confident, get on scene and let your newsroom know what you can provide: “I’ll have a live VO at the top of the show… possibly a live interview if I can track someone down.”

Organization

Keep a list of key contacts from your previous news stories. That way, you’re not re-researching potential interviewees every time you do a story.

Make sure you have the addresses you need and GPS your route so you’re not wasting time getting lost.

Don’t overshoot your stories. No need to shoot an hour of material for a basic pkg on a crash or fire or school board meeting. Make sure you have enough, but the more organized you are with shooting, the less you have to log for your script.

Don’t try to re-invent the wheel every time. Here’s a good example—

I worked with a veteran reporter in Tampa who was a master of working fast and efficiently. Knowing that reporters tend to cover many of the same types of stories over and over (fires, crashes, protests, budget meetings, elections), he basically had templates of these stories in his computer and in his head. If he was assigned a story about an election campaign stop by a candidate, he’d do some quick research on the race/candidate, then sketch out his script even before leaving the station. Why? Because he knew where the story was likely to go when he got there. So all he had to do is get his sounds bites and fill in the blanks. Now, the obvious danger in that plan is: what happens if the story takes a different turn? Well, then he’d just change it as needed. But the point is, he didn’t wait until the 4pm event ended and then scrambled to write the story for 5pm. He pre-wrote a skeleton script and then plugged in the holes.

Clear Communication

Be in touch with your Producer, EP and Desk frequently (at least every few hours or whenever you change locations). Be clear about what elements you have and what else you need. That avoids the dreaded angry EP conversation because she thought you were dong angle X for your story and you have angle Y.

Get script approval as early as possible. When I was a news manager, I can’t tell you the number of times 3 reporters called me at virtually the same time… an hour before the show… for script approval. That gives me very little time to concentrate on your script, make suggestions and have you change it for the better. Write it as early as possible and get it approved. Your managers will love you for it and so will your photog/editor, since they’ll have more time to make it look great.

So keep in mind your EOC to hit your deadlines—be efficient, be organized, and clearly communicate with your newsroom. Since far too many reporters DON’T do these, if you do, you’ll be a hero. Believe me.

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Steve Kraycik is the Director of Student Television and Online Operations at Penn State University. He has more than 27 years of experience in television news, much of that as a manager. He also is an agent with MediaStars. You can reach him at [email protected] and @TV_Agent_Steve.

How To Showcase: Think Chapter Book

News managers keep looking for show doctors. They keep asking for producers who showcase in their newscasts. But what does that mean? Recently I asked that on the Survive Twitter line, and got interesting comments like “owning the lead”, “big treatment off the top with little treatments throughout the show”, and “eye catching informative way of telling the story in the first 100 seconds.”

All of these are accurate to a point. But my favorite description was “finding that little something- that makes the story more relatable to the viewer.” When managers ask for showcasing, that is what they really want. And you execute this in the ways listed above: Owning the lead, big treatments off the top with little treatments throughout the show and eye catching elements to tell the story.

When I teach a producer how to showcase, I often describe it as creating mini chapter books. There are several techniques used to showcase, but you need to have the mindset in play first. So let’s begin with this concept when constructing your lead. Chapter books have a table of contents, then each chapter has a title, and information that leads to a conclusion. The biggest thing I see producers forget to do at when showcasing, is spelling out why. That is when we begin to think about how we are making the story relatable to the viewer. So, when talking the government shutdown, or Syria or that standoff that lead to a crash, you have to come right out, with the table of contents, showing what the viewer will learn with your coverage.

Let’s take Syria as an example. You can create an extra element right out of the gate, with a split box showing video of people hugging and crying in Syria, side by side with American’s protesting. This sets up the hook of why you are covering the story. People need help, American’s worry it could cause pain and loss for fellow American’s as well. That is the message the video sends, boldly. The line: These are the images the President must look at while considering whether to take military action in Syria.

Then you set up your table of contents with some brief summary of the days events. This can be a graphic, or a few simple directly referenced video elements. But never forget to catch the viewer up on the basics, so they are ready to go in depth with you.

You say those brief lines, “Tonight inspectors looked for chemical weapons and your neighbors (assuming you had local protests) protested the idea of military action in Syria. Now the President has made an announcement about US involvement many expected, and a requirement most did not.” (Congressional approval)

Next you title each element with a super, over the shoulder, monitor graphic, double box for team coverage, or whatever your station uses to brand. As you go to each element, use some sort of graphic element to “label the title” of each chapter so the viewer understands each element has something new for them.

Once your coverage is done, you need a conclusion. Many consultants call this a “button up”. It can be a summary graphic with bullet points. It can be a what’s next graphic, it can be an image that sums up the day’s events. Many times it is simply a push to the station’s web page for more information. (Just offer a nugget of what kind of extras will be on the web page, just saying for the latest go to our webpage is throwaway. Twitter is an easier way to check for random information on a subject.)

So how does the mini chapter book idea relate to those “little treatments throughout the show”? Well, whether you are dedicating 10 minutes or 45 seconds to a story, if you are showcasing you still need to clearly define “that little something that makes the story more relatable to the viewer.” That means you are not going to just go into the story with the phrase “and now…” Say you take a court case, like Jodi Arias, and want to show how different she looked between the verdict and today’s sentencing phase. You can show a split screen image of her, but you must explain why. That is a table of contents. Then you break each part down, and have a conclusion line at the end of the vo/s or vo/vo/sot or however you cover the story. See the pattern? While condensed the chapter book idea still helps you clearly spell out each element so the showcasing makes sense.

This idea even works on memorable moments, which are a very important way to showcase, in a newscast that deserves a mention. Remember even with these moments, you are showcasing a “little something that makes the story more relatable to the viewer.” So you need to look for chances to have your anchor connect with the viewers. A fancy graphics package and use of sound, and several reporters covering the lead is great, but if the anchor comes off as just reading, and not involved the viewer will not accept your showcasing.

So when you look for things your anchor can expand on, think table of contents. Here’s an example using recent video of a snow skier that was coming down a mountain, crashed and was rescued by an avalanche rescue airbag. Have a still image of the skier in a monitor graphic next to the anchor. The anchor says, “We are about to show you how a skier escaped an avalanche burying him. Take a look, see anything special on him? Because something he is carrying will save his life.” Take video full. (In this case there was no nat sound only cheesy music) Have the anchor talk the viewer through each frame. Then when the skier is up on his feet again, say.. “did you see the special equipment? You may not because it is quite small.” Then show a graphic of some types of avalanche airbags. “Here’s what they look like, easy to carry and easy to find. These are all images from online stores that sell them.” Then 2 shot reaction for button up.. There is a set up, a chapter of information, then a conclusion. A mini book.

A final point, by showing you different times to use this concept for showcasing, the goal is to encourage you to think beyond the lead story to showcase. A true show doctor adds little extras throughout the newscast, so the viewer is constantly reeled back in with information he/she can relate to and talk about with others. Afterall, a compelling book always creates good conversation after you’ve finished it.