Producer Exercise
Producer Exercise
Now that you’ve learned some producing basics, let’s put them to use. In this exercise, you’ll build a newscast rundown from a selection of stories and then time it.
For the purposes of this exercise, we’ve done some of the work for you: We’ve handed out the local assignments to our reporting team, and have gone through the wires and national news feed rundowns to select the stories that are available to go into our newscast. Your task is to pick the stories, decide the story order, select the story formats, fill out your rundown and adjust to make sure everything times out properly.
The rundown you're filling is for a 5 pm half-hour newscast. The philosophy of this newscast is to feature a mix of local and national news, with heavy emphasis on local.
With only a few minor changes, this exercise is based on an actual newscast that ran on KGUN9-TV in Tucson. In deciding which stories to include and in which format to run them, you have plenty of choices -- and many of those choices are equally valid. At the end, we’ll show you the choices the producer of this particular newscast made.
Step One
Below is a rough outline of the standard format for the newscast on which we’ll base this exercise.
Newscast start: 16:58:00
Block One
5pm Open :15
5pm Pre-show :15
News(TBA)
Tease1: :15
Commercial Break One: 2:55
Block Two
5pm News re-open :15
News(TBA)
Tease2: :15
Commercial Break Two: 2:50
Block Three
Weather open :05
Weather: 3:20
News story (optional)(TBA)
Tease3: :15
Commercial Break Three 2:15
Block Four
5pm News re-open :05
News(TBA)
Tease 4: :10
Commercial Break Four: 2:00
Block Five
5pm News re-open :05
News
Final Weather :45
Bye:20
Newscast end: 17:28:25
Using the format above, this would be a good time to calculate your news hole.
Step Two
Below is a synopsis of stories that are available for the newscast. For the purposes of this newscast, our home state is Arizona our home market is the Tucson DMA (including Pima County, Cochise County, Santa Cruz County, and part of Pinal County). In the synopses below we give you the slug, a description of the story, and the available formats. These are presented in random order. Study the stories and decide which stories you'd like to run, the formats for the stories, and the order in which you'd like to run them. Fill out a complete rundown, choosing talent and studio shots. (Hint: you might not be able to fit every available story into the newscast. Also note that, because this newscast is in a Nielsen sweeps measurement period, we’re running lots of teases for upcoming special projects, and those are not optional; you must run them, or else the news director will come looking for you after the newscast. Yes, we know you're rather run news instead of teases, but that's the biz.)
Slug: Officer saves life
Synopsis: A quick-thinking Pima County corrections officer saved the life of a county jail inmate who went into cardiac arrest.
Formats Available: Reader
Slug: No Bad Days with Barrett
Synopsis: A Tucson fire captain gives safety tips in a humorous fashion. Today's topic: preventing fires in home appliances.
Formats Available: Package, already edited. It runs 1:50 with :15 lead
Slug: Burglaries
Synopsis: The Tucson area rash of burglaries continues. Now deputies want the public's help in solving a home break-in during which thieves stole thousands of dollars' worth of jewelry. Investigators have just released security cam video showing the theft in progress.
Formats Available: Reader with mug shot graphic and full screen of police phone number.
Slug: Sports Special Tease
Synopsis: The basketball season is upon us! The KGUN9 sports team previews the University of Arizona Wildcats action in a half-hour news special Saturday night at 8:30 pm.
Formats Available: VOand full screen graphic giving airtime
Slug: FBI Investigation
Synopsis: The FBI is investigating the Arizona state attorney general for alleged campaign violations. Today we have new information about what prompted the probe.
Formats Available: VO, VOB or package. Reporter is available to go live from the newsroom.
Slug: School threats
Synopsis: The Tucson area is suffering from a sudden bout of students making threats. Yesterday two students were arrested. Today, two more were arrested at two different schools for doing the same thing. Authorities, who have a zero tolerance policy for this sort of thing, are concerned, and parents are alarmed.
Formats Available: VO, VOB, or package. Reporter is also available to go live or be on set.
Slug: Sandy Aftermath
Synopsis: Tens of thousands are still without power two days after Superstorm Sandy struck New York and New Jersey.
Formats Available: VO, VOB or package from ABC News.
Slug: Homeless Movie
Synopsis: A teen visits Tucson for the premier of a movie about a foundation he started as a child dedicated to helping the homeless.
Formats Available: Package. Reporter is available to go live at the theater or in the newsroom.
Slug: Accident
Synopsis: A single-car accident has sent a Tucson woman to the hospital with serious injuries.
Formats Available: VO
Slug: Arizona Gas Prices
Synopsis: Gas prices in Arizona have fallen another six cents on the average, the second decline in two weeks.
Formats Available: Reader
Slug: First Weather
Synopsis: KGUN9's chief meteorologist gives a snapshot of the current conditions and the forecast. Note: this segment runs :30 to 1:00 depending on weather conditions, and it always runs somewhere in the first block of the newscast, anywhere from the top to the bottom depending on what’s going on with the weather. Rain and the possibility of the first snow of the season in the higher elevations are in tonight's forecast.
Formats Available: Live appearance by weather talent in studio weather center.
Slug: Voters Register
Synopsis: More Pima County voters are registering to vote this year than ever before.
Formats Available: VO, VOB or reporter package (bite is with elections official)
Slug: Staten Island
Synopsis: Residents of Staten Island are furious that help has not yet arrived.
Formats Available: VO, VOB or package from ABC News.
Slug: Lights in the Sky
Synopsis: A California hoaxster rigs balloons with lights to see if people freak out and report a space alien invasion. They did.
Formats Available: VO or VOB (bite is with gleeful hoaxster)
Slug: Recruiter tease
Synopsis: At 6pm, we will follow up a story about a military recruiter who’s accused of having an affair with an under-aged student at a local high school.
Formats Available: :15 self-contained standup from reporter.
Slug: Face of Homeless Tease
Synopsis: Tomorrow night on our 10pm news, we'll have a moving story about homeless people living in a homeless camp on the outskirts of Tucson, known as "The Crash Zone."
Formats Available: VO
Slug: Poaching
Synopsis: State wildlife officials are offering a reward of $1,750 for information leading to the arrest of whoever shot and killed three endangered turkeys in a canyon near Nogales.
Formats Available: Reader
Slug: Storage Tease
Synopsis: Tonight at Ten, get a behind-the-scenes look at the trauma, tears and catfighting that erupts when people stop paying rent on their storage units and their goods go up for sale to the highest bidder.
Formats Available: VO or VOB with full screen graphic giving airtime
Slug: Hospital Halloween
Synopsis: Children at a Tucson hospital celebrate Halloween, courtesy of some visiting ghouls and goblins.
Formats Available: VO
Step Three
Fill out your rundown using the following template:
Page#SlugAnchorShotTypeRunsBacktime
The Answers
The News Hole
Using the methods we discussed in the chapter about producing, we derive a news hole of 14:05. This includes all “standard” or “pre-filled” content (weather, standard teases, etc.) but does not include unplanned "chat" or "slip" time. Remember: the wise producer will build in 20 to 30 seconds of time to allow for such "slippage."
The Rundown
Here’s the rundown as the show aired (with a few minor adjustments).
Page#SlugAnchorShotTypeRunsBacktime
A10 5PM NEWS OPENFRTOPSOT :1016:58:10
A205PM PRESHOWG/JDISSVO :1516:58:20
2SHOTTAG
A30SCHOOL THREATSJOTS :2016:58:35
LIVE VOB2BOXLIVE REM :1016:58:55
VOB :5016:59:05
2BOXTOSSBACK
A40BURGLARIESgOTS :5516:59:55
FS PIC
FS ESS
TAG1SHOT
A50FBI INVESTIGATIONJOTS:2517:00:50
2BOX
1SHOTNEWSROOM
P-FBI INVESTIGATIONPKG1:2517:01:15
TAG1SHOTNEWSROOM :2517:02:40
TOSSBACK2BOX
A60SANDYGOTSVO:2517:03:05
TAG1SHOT
A70FIRST WEATHERG/J2SHOT:5017:03:30
WX CENTER
WX COMP
TOSSBACKG/J2SHOT
A80TEASE1G/JFRTOPVO:1517:04:20
A81RECRUITER TEASEFRTOPSOT:1517:04:35
BREAK ONE2:5517:04:50
B10REOPENFRTOPSOT:1517:07:45
B20VOTER REGJOTSFS ESS:3017:08:00
TAGJ1SHOT
B30HOMELESS MOVIEG1SHOT:1517:08:30
REPORTER INTRORPA:1517:08:45
P-HOMELESSPKG1:3517:09:00
TOSSBACKRPA:3517:10:35
B40FACE OF HOMELSSG1SHOTVO:2517:11:10
B50WX TEASEG/J2SHOT:2017:11:35
BREAK TWO2:5017:11:55
C10WX OPENSOT:0517:14:45
C20WEATHERCKEY3:3017:14:50
WX COMP
WX TOSSBACKG/J2SHOT :1517:18:20
C30TEASE3G/JFRTOPVO :1517:18:35
BREAK THREE2:1517:18:50
D10REOPENFRTOPSOT :0517:21:05
D20STORAGE TEASEGOTSVOB1:0017:21:10
FS ESS
D30BASKETBALL TEASEGWIPEVO :2517:22:10
FS ESS
D40NO BAD DAYSJBAM :1517:22:35
P-NO BAD DAYSPKG1:5017:22:50
D50TEASE 4J/G2SHOT :1517:24:40
BREAK FOUR2:0017:24:55
E10REOPENFRTOPSOT:0517:26:55
E20STRANGE LIGHTSG1SHOTVO:2017:27:00
E30FINAL WXALL3SHOTWX COMP:4517:27:20
TAGALL
E40BYEALL3SHOT:1017:28:05
E50CLOSE & COPYRIGHTWIDE :1017:28:15
END17:28:25
START: 16:58:00
STOP: 17:28:25
TOTAL: 00:30:15
OVER/UNDER: -00:00:10
Production Notes
As noted elsewhere in this volume, the names of the various production sources and studio shots vary from station to station. Below is the key for sources referenced in the rundown presented above.
- “G” and “J” are talent references, denoting Guy Atchley and Jennifer Waddell.
- OTS means an "over the shoulder graphic," indicating that the anchor will framed on camera with a themed graphic over one shoulder.
- FRTOP means "from top"
- CKEY means "Chromakey Wall," where much of the weathercast is shot.
- DISS is a dissolve transition
- CKWALL/VO is similar to an SS/CK except that moving video, instead of a still-frame, will be keyed in behind.
- NEWSROOM is the live camera located in the newsroom
- BAM means "Big Ol' Monitor" and is a talent position located in front of a large monitor in studio
- RPA means "reporter presentation area" and refers to a talent position located in front of another, smaller monitor in the studio
- WX CENTER is a talent position located in the studio weather center
- WX COMP means Weather Computer
- LIVE REM is a live remote.
- 2BOX is a graphic effect placing two live sources, such as a studio shot and a live remote, on screen side by side.
- FS ESS means "Full Screen Electronic Still Store" -- usually a graphic with text
- FS PIC is an FS ESS containing a mug shot or picture
Questions
This newscast features a long first block; the remaining blocks are shorter. Do you agree with that philosophy? What are its advantages? Disadvantages?
The D block leads off with two teases. Do you agree with that placement? If so, why? If not, why not?
Do you agree with the choice of the lead story? Which other stories in the newscast could have been the lead?
Do you agree with the story selection? How does it compare to your selection? What would the producer have had to do in order to include more stories?
If breaking news erupts at the last minute, which stories will you be prepared to drop in order to make room for it?
What will you do if you get word at 4:50 PM that your lead live shot has because of technical issues? (Assume that the video for the report has already been fed in to the station).
The backtiming states that the newscast should begin at 16:58:10. But we know it actually will begin at 16:58:00 straight up. What does this mean? Is this a problem?
Conclusion
Chances are, your rundown didn’t look the same as the “real” rundown that aired. Don’t let that throw you. There are few black-and-white choices here. Such is the nature of creativity. News is an art, not a science. Two perfectly good producers might make very different choices. The key is to know why you’re making those choices. If you can explain and defend your decisions, you’re probably doing just fine.
Tuggle, Broadcast News Handbook, 5e 1