If you read my last blog you’ll remember me hoping to produce a block of WAVY News and for it to make it on air. Well it happened and more than once! I’ve been working with the midday producers more and everyday I leave feeling more prepared to be a producer.
I started out producing the E block. This was a good start because they were lighter stories. I wrote about things like a giant crocodile, a bus ban in the “Full House” neighborhood, Ritz cracker recalls, and so on. Being on the lighter side it took some of the stress away during my first time really producing. It was a huge learning experience. In between writing stories, I was learning where to put VO and SOT and how to make supers and an OTS. It was a good feeling to see my own work come together, especially knowing it would be used during the actual midday show for viewers to see.
An even better feeling…seeing improvement in yourself and a producer noticing. I eventually moved up from the lighter stories and got to write more serious stories like the Greece wildfires, a bomb that detonated near a U.S. embassy in Beijing, and a police officer who was fatally shot. I even got to write a story in the A Block about immigrant reunification. While some of these stories aren’t the most uplifting, they’re important for people to know about.
During the last show I helped produce, I actually got to booth part of it. I’ve done this with The Hampton Roads Show before, but they have some differences. News is very structured so I’m not going to lie, I was overwhelmed. I had to be looking at what’s on air, the rundown, and the time. On top of that, you have to make sure you give the anchors their cues. However, once I got the hang of it, it was pretty fun!
Being able to work with news and by working on my project (producing my own entertainment news show) has significantly helped me. I feel more confidence while I’m producing and that makes it more fun because you’re not constantly worrying if you’re doing it right. There’s only 3 weeks left of my internship but that’s plenty of time to keep improving!
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