Perfecting the Newscast
Needless to say, the first few weeks of production were quite rough. All I was focused on was getting the content in on time, but now that I have somewhat gotten the hang of the ATVN beast, I can direct my attention towards perfecting the newscast. I'd like to take the extra effort to create the newcast to be something my friends and I enjoy watching. After all, we are the audience ATVN is intended for. I have several ideas in mind to make the show more appealing than it already is- bring in live guests, spice up the A report and localize bigger national stories.
My team and I have yet to bring in a live guest and it is definitely something we would like to do soon. I would love to feature interviews early twenty-somethings and college students would be interested in. For example, last week, we did a story on Nestdrop, a new application that allows user to order marijuana and/or alcohol and have it delivered to their doorstep. We could have reached out to those who have medical marijuana cards and brought them in on set to chat about their viewpoint on Nestdrop. A group chat would have been both impactful and intriguing, especially since it would revolve around a topic that is so popular amongst twenty-something college students.
The A report is something we are fortunate to have almost every week, and not only because it fills in a good chunk of the show's time. The segments are almost always impactful, impressive, dramatic, or all of the above. I can tell that the journalists spend a lot of their time on these pieces and feel that they deserve a brighter spotlight. One thing we, as producers, can do is to bring in the journalists on the set to introduce their stories. I would love to allow them to explain any obstacles they encountered, lessons they learned and the fun they had during the project. It would make for a more dynamic and conversational show, and would give them the face time they deserve.
Localizing national stories is another point I will aim to improve on. Often times, it is simply just easier to focus on local and college stories because they are close and more easily accessible. I know that we should not let national stories fall off to the side because of this reason. If we can't land an interview with Obama to discuss Ebola in the U.S., we can definitely speak to health experts and doctors in the USC community. Having their perspective and advice on the topic, as well as symptoms to watch out for, will be just as valuable, if not more, to viewers. These three goals will be my focus for the next several weeks and I will aim to make sure that our future shows will be more informative and entertaining than ever.
