That Was Teasy

Teases are really important in grabbing your audience's attention in very few words. Teases function as little mini trailers for the stories in your newscast. They exhibit your best video and stories right off the bat and will hopefully make people excited about what's to come. 

Here are a few things to keep in mind in trying to write a good tease:

1. Make sure the video you use matches the words in your tease. The last thing you want is for people to be confused and fixate on something other than what's being said. 

2. Dig for gold. Your tease should not simply repeat a piece of information that's already being said later on in the newscast. Go through and research a story thoroughly to find that one original piece of information that will make an interesting tease. 

3. Engage the audience; flirt with them. Catch their interest by telling viewers about something that might apply to them or would be interesting to learn more about. 

4. Never tease a story that you might float. 

As the video teammate this week, my job was to make sure that we had good video for all of our stories and I saw to it that our teases were edited to match both the lead producer's script and vision.

At the end of the day, writing a good tease in a high-stress newsroom is teasier said than done.