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Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism University of Southern California
Producers

Think Before You Act

This semester of shows is already half way done. (EXCUSE ME?) But there are some goals I want to achieve before the final countdown.

One goal I really want to work on is to think more thoroughly about a story and imagine how it will best be told. 

Sometimes, I put in the format of a story before really thinking about it. It is a habit of mine to start most of my stories with an intro and then proceed with a SOTVO. But, that might not be the best way to tell that particular story. For visual stories, video will need to be the first thing seen before there is an interview. If we are doing a story about a fire, after my intro, I may not want to go straight into a SOT from a fire chief. Viewers want to see the flames!! So I need to give that to them. I need to keep in mind what the viewers want to see when they are watching our show.

When I am a lead producer and crunched for time while also trying to manage and assign MJs, I will put the formatting of stories down just to get stuff on my rundown. But, I am not properly thinking about how my story should be told. If there are new regulations for drones, is it better to have a VO of a drone flying or tell the viewer right off the bat what those new regulations are with an ANCG?

Not only do I need to imagine what will be seen on TV, but I also need to think more about how my on-air talent should be presenting their news content. I want there to be more movement in my show. Right now, I am getting comfortable keeping my anchors at the anchor desk. But, I want to get more creative with this. I want my anchors to tell stories from the monitor in the studio more often. It makes my newscast more engaging. 

As a producer, I am a storyteller. I am in charge of how stories will be told to our audience. Each story is unique and needs to be told in the proper way. Instead of rappidly putting macros into my rundown, I need to take more time to think thoroughly about how I am going to tell these stories. Before this semester ends, I hope to become more masterful in creativity and story telling as a producer. 

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