producing – Page 8 – Survive Your Job In Television News

Are producers moving up in market size too quickly?

Want to know a big topic that news managers sit around and discuss? Are journalists, producers in particular, are moving up in market size too quickly? Even more interesting, a lot of the managers I talk with, who think it’s a bad idea, moved up the ranks while they were young themselves.

Yep. Many were 2 to 4 years into the biz and EP’ing or taking gigs as small market AND’s. Others were producing main shows in top 10 markets by age 25. Why then are they so hard on the journalists who want to do the same?

Well, with experience comes wisdom. These managers know how hard they had to work to get that distinction of being the youngest in the newsroom. They also are still keenly aware of the hazing they endured.

Before you get annoyed at these “old timers” who “aren’t being fair” know this: While they often put a newbie journalist through the ringer in the interview process, they tend to be your greatest advocates once you “prove worthy.” Yep, they will give you a shot. They remember being hungry and wanting to prove to the world just how driven, talented and passionate they were. But when they cut you a break, they ask one simple thing in return. Listen when given advice. We crusty old timers who moved up the ranks really young (yes, me included) also learned that a lot of being a great journalist is simply grinding out the news each day, day after day, year after year. No matter how much raw talent you have, no matter how many “it” factors you have, gaining hands on experience is the best way to become excellent at what you do.

So, I am going to ask you to consider a different question: Are younger journalists, especially producers, mature enough to take constructive criticism from the “been there done that” set? Or, perhaps even more importantly, is that hunger and eagerness to push and be the best each day, better for a newsroom than the tired, set in their ways, group? If newsrooms focus more on getting people who think alike and can have mutual respect for each other, this debate becomes largely irrelevant. Newsroom managers usually hire younger producers to inject new energy and ideas into a tired, staid, news philosophy. Truthfully, many times the managers are being asked to change the way news is presented and are out of ideas. The trouble lies not in hiring someone too young, but in hiring someone who cannot define the type of news he/she loves to do. That’s the biggest risk in hiring younger journalists. If they don’t know what kind of product they want to put their stamp on each day, they will get bogged down on the wrong things. So crusty old managers, who came up the ranks young, often know to ask the pointed questions and make sure they see eye to eye with those up and coming journalists. When there’s a mutual respect, and an environment where younger and older journalists know they can and should learn from each other, great things happen. Those of us who came up the ranks ‘too soon” know it. That’s why the trend continues, and probably should.

What Should An Associate Producer Do?

I often tell producers that having an associate producer is a great opportunity to prepare yourself for management one day. This is someone who often needs direction and training, and whose success can be tied to your own. Still, many producers just don’t know how to effectively utilize an associate producer. So let’s go over some basic rules of thumb about who AP’s are and how they should be used:

Helpers not writers
Segment designers
Second sets of eyes

The first mistake many producers make when given an associate producer is to have the AP write the entire newscast. Then the producer just goes back and fact checks it. Delegating is one thing, having the AP essentially do your job is another. Writing is a key part of producing. If you don’t relish it, don’t produce. Your AP is your helper. So you need to assign your AP specific things to write. Then you have an AP earn more opportunities depending on their skill levels. For example, an AP of mine initially wrote the national news segment for me. She wanted more, so I told her to match her words and video better. She did, then she got to write the wacky video of the day segment. Next, I let her segment produce more. I let her find the stories, come tell me what our options were, which ones she liked and why. Once she was comfortable with that, I let her write teases for the segments she produced. By then, she was understanding the sell of a story. As she pushed herself and grew, I got more time to dedicate to certain elements in the newscast where I wanted to push myself and grow. This in turn helped her see that producing is an evolution in many ways. We were able to have great philosophical discussions. She was eventually able to fill in for me, when I was off and the quality of the newscast did not suffer.

Another key area where producers do not utilize their AP’s properly is checking for errors. I had my AP’s read through every super and graphic in the newscast. They started at the bottom of the rundown and worked their way up. This forced them to pay more attention to the details because they had to look at the rundown in a different way. This was a great way for them to take some responsibility and for me to see how detail oriented each AP was.

When you become a manager, you have to be able to assess each person you oversee. You have to help build on their strengths and know how to minimize their weaknesses. Your AP’s are the perfect way to practice assessing these qualities. And if your AP never grows into a competent producer, it reflects badly on you. This is true of managers and their employees as well.

How To Time A Newscast

If you want to win, you have to time newscasts properly. This is a key concept for everyone in the newsroom to understand. Meters make or break you. If the newscast is not timed correctly, you will blow the meters. So let’s look at some common timing mistakes producers make and how to limit them.

Timing Tricks

Time each block

Hide pad throughout

Cheat the cheaters

Know anchors read speed

The biggest timing mistake producers make, is not trying to make time each block. When quizzed about timing, a lot of producers say things like: “Well my block always runs two minutes long.” or “I wait until the last block to worry about it.” These are BIG MISTAKES. Each block is designed to hit a meter. If you blow one block, you will blow at least one meter mark. That’s like standing outside the station with your cashed paycheck and throwing some of the money into the wind. It’s just plain foolish. There are stations that take timing so seriously they give you only 15 seconds leeway. You go more than 15 over at the end of a block, you can be suspended or fired. It’s a lot of pressure, but some of the stations who do this are the most profitable around. They set exacting standards and they reap big rewards.

So how do you time each block? You must have pad throughout the newscast. If your mangers or anchors are hands on with rewrites, you need to hide some of that pad. I used to have a lot of trouble with managers and/or anchors adding time to my rundown by putting “their touch” on scripts. To prove the point, I would hide time in commercial breaks, my start time etc. so the timing issues would look even worse. Then I would explain, there was nothing to give up and tell them to rewrite again. Meanwhile, I ended up with the content and wiggle room I needed to make time each block

Which leads to the next key trick: Cheat the cheaters. There is always a time hog reporter and sorry meteorologists, but often weather people go WAY OVER. Some of my meteorologists were told they had 1:30 hit times, when it was actually a 2:30 window (remember, hide time for the weather hit elsewhere). I would also tell the chronically longwinded reporter that he/she had 30 to 45 less seconds for their TRT than I was really giving them. That way if the reporter decided not to call in the correct TRT, I was not screwed. (Remember to also have a vo or two each block you can kill, just in case.)

The last timing killer is anchor read times. Computers never get it right. Frankly, your anchors can vary day-to-day, newscast to newscast. You have to get a feel for who is better at really pulling off that 10 second breaking news ad-lib or who can handle suddenly dropping the last line of a vo, in order to hit that precious meter point. Getting to know your anchors and their read times, involves more than their average read time. It really does entail, which one speeds up talking when they are excited. You should also figure out which one, tends to be tired at the end of the week and stumbles more. (See anchors voice) They can be inconsistent. You cannot. You have to make time.

I hope these tricks help. Do not be afraid to move things around in your rundown on the fly to make meter points as well. If you are running long and teased a story, you can always float it down to the next block, hit your meter point and kill something else. The key is monitoring your time each line of each story. If you see a timing problem developing nip it right away. Once it begins to snowball you may not be able to dig out.

What Does “Taking Ownership Of Your Newscast” Mean?

TV news is full of expressions that can be confusing or thrown around lightly. The term “taking ownership of your newscast” is not a term to be taken lightly but can be confusing to producers and anchors. So let’s delve in to what this term means to management and your reputation in the industry.

Let’s start with what it means for producers. “Taking ownership,” is essentially making it clear “the buck stops here” with decisions made for the newscast. In truth, the buck usually stops with an EP or other manager. But the expectation is that the producer will fall on the sword and take full responsibility for decisions made. This is confusing, and frankly at times unfair. It is expected though. So when the ND calls the booth during or after the newscast and asks why the heck such and such story did or did not make air, the last answer the boss wants to hear is “the EP told me to do it.” It doesn’t matter if that’s the reality. The ND wants a reason. He/she wants to know there was some thought put into the rundown. So tell them the reason:

“We thought it was significant because of where it happened.”

“We wanted to add more new stories.”

“We were not able to confirm key facts, but I am happy to help do that now, so the next newscast can air the story.”

These are the phrases the ND wants to hear. Now a little secret to make you feel better: The EP will get the same question, and will then get the litany of reasons why the thinking needs to change. You, the producer, may or may not get that list of reasons. But be sure, the EP will also be questioned.

Taking ownership also means doing all you can to prevent messes and come up with quick solutions when a mistake happens. This is more than factual issues. If your anchor always stumbles on the scripts in the back half of the newscast, you are expected to implement possible solutions to stop the issue. Yes, you the producer. No, you are not the one stumbling. It is still partly your responsibility as the show boss. If master control never gets live shots tuned in on time, it is partly your responsibility to come up with plans to change that pattern. Taking ownership means being the leader of the show, the show boss, the one who takes responsibility when things go wrong. Consider this a chance to get a taste of what upper management is like. Yes, you will have to have a thick skin. Yes, sometimes what you are being lectured about you probably cannot really change. However, you should offer solutions and try them. This will earn you high praise and respect.

Now anchors. Taking ownership of your newscast means sitting down with the EP and newscast producers, regularly, and hearing what issues there are with the newscasat. Do you need to get more men watching the newscast? Help brainstorm ideas. Are the EP and producer at their wits end trying to make sure master control tunes in live shots on time? Perhaps mention to the ND, the next time you are talking, that your EP and producer are busting it trying to fix the problem, but could use some backup. Is a certain reporter killing the meters by constantly fudging the total running time for their package or going SUPER long every live shot? Pull them aside, compliment what you like about their work and ask a favor: Could they trim those live intros next time or call in the actual total running time. Taking ownership means showing support and providing public backing for the producer and EP. If you have philosophy differences, take those issues up behind closed doors. And when there is breaking news, sometimes skip dinner break and sit down and help the assignment desk make phone calls or help the producer write copy. You are the leader of morale for the newscast whether you like the role or not. As the face of the show, you are the image leader. So the more involved you become by partnering with the show boss, the more you will be respected as a natural leader. That reputation can really send your career skyrocketing

Taking ownership of your newscast means you are showing the bosses and your peers that you are ready to take on key responsibilities. You are a leader, not a trouble maker. You believe in the product and the people executing it each day. A reputation for being a team player and someone who is not afraid to make a decision will quickly earn you respect in the industry. This is one of the best ways to ensure your future success and increase your job stability. Even if there are layoffs, the people who take ownership are the ones who have managers working behind the scenes to get them placed in even bigger and better jobs instead of just shown the door. Time and again, these simple efforts will reap large rewards for you. The biggest of which is loyalty. Something that is increasingly hard to come by in the world today. So go ahead, take ownership of that newscast. You owe it to yourself and the team around you.