Intern Blog: Topically Speaking

Write, booth, flip. That’s the basis of my internship in the past two weeks. While the process is the same, I still get excited because stories change and weather happens.

Topically speaking, I’m a producer. I get in and read through the budget to figure out the top stories of the night. The goal is to figure out what stories are more viewer-appealing and how much of the details are confirmed facts. I then double check with the producers and reporters to make sure that I understand the details and the angle of the story. As I am listening to them, I’m already brainstorming tease ideas and so by the time I walk back over to promotions, I have half of what I need.

Now, even after the producers approve my script, the stories can change. Maybe there’s breaking news or maybe an interviewee had to cancel. If I have enough time, I can just chose a different story. But a couple nights ago, I didn’t have time.

I was in the control room as the topicals were being recorded. Then I was informed that the reporter had to change stories and so one of the stories I teased would not be airing. Its now 6:30 and I have to get these flipped to the hub before 7. I instantly called on Don to do a quick weather segment within the 15 second topical. That saved me a ton of time.

And that’s something I love about writing topicals. Weather always happens! Its a safe story no matter what is going on because people are very interested in weather its raining or if the temperatures are going to be in the 100s.

On another occasion, my topicals had to be pulled because of breaking news. That just goes to show that news is always happening and I’m learning to adapt.

As exciting as topical producing is, I still have interest in producing news and so I spent a day with Bob Bennet. It was around 7 hours, and let me tell you –I learned the most that day compared to any other day during my internship. I observed as he built a show from scratch and I realized that this is something I would love doing.

I stand by what I said in my tweet during week 5 about learning something from everyone the station. The interns were able to sit down with reporters and anchors to learn and ask questions. I realized that it takes a lot of passion to make it in this business. I was moved by their stories and I really appreciate that they told us the blunt truth. #ReelTruth