Story ideas and development
I was the lead producer for the past Wednesday newscast. My team came up with many story ideas in the morning meeting, but only about half of them made it to the air. The main reason for us to kill some of the stories were because of the lack of good visuals or new updates.
Looking back, I notice our most successful stories are those that include many varied elements. I also realize that the elements should be varied not just in format but also in content. For instance, most of the packages aired Wednesday were syntheses of different elements we acquired throughout the day.
Raishad’s package about the sequester was our lead story. He pulled out a soundbites in BitCentral from Republican Senator Rand Paul commenting on spending cuts. He got nice B-roll and soubdbits from a press conference held by Senator Barbara Boxer, who urged the government to avoid the sequester. Raishad conducted interviews with employees of a government-funded training program, as well as people who are taking advantage of the program right now. He asked the graphics team to help him build a full screen that detailed the effect of spending cuts on public services in many areas. Meanwhile, we sent an MJ to shoot a protest near City Hall that was put out by 100 activists, who were calling on Congress to stop budget cuts and increase government investments. The MJ came back with great videos and natural sound. Those elements added more substance to Raishad’s package. With so many elements from different aspects of the stories, the package become more interesting visually and more comprehensive in content.
We decided early that we would follow up on stories such as the Tustin shooting and the Canadian body found in a water tank in downtown L.A.; but we were not sure about what new elements would emerge and could not expect how the story will evolve. For example, our assignment desk made calls to the Canadian consulate, LAPD, and the hotel in the morning to look for new updates about the Canadian woman case. The team got little to no information. Most of the elements we included to break out the stories at 6 p.m. broadcast, such as the 911 calls from the shooting, identification of the victims, and the elevator surveillance video that captured Elisa Lam's last scene, were not available until later that day. The stories have evolved differently from what we had planned in the morning. The best thing we could do was to be flexible and look for the best way to incorporate emerging elements. That drives me crazy, but it's also why I enjoy working with news.
I learned that the best way to develop a story is to break it down into layers. Producers should aim to deliver the signifiance of each story, to show its different aspects and the perspectives from other sides. It's important to season the stories with as many elements as possible.
