This week, we wrapped up our first show of the semester for Mountaineer Playbook. I feel like I now have a better understanding of how much meticulous work I need to be doing for this position. In totality, I would say I’m very happy with how everything turned out, and I know this team will be able to do even better things as this semester moves on.
To start, I had to keep myself informed on each of my classmates’ packages leading up to our writing conferences. I was there for almost 5 hours sitting through as many conferences as possible. While that was very tiring, seeing the insights and expectations from each of my professors really helped in both being able to give advice to my classmates and in cleaning up my own writing on the final script.
Just when I thought Wednesday was a long day, Thursday would humble me in terms of how much time I will be putting in at Martin Hall. I showed up at 2:30 to help give my peers any insight I could and get an early look at what each of their packages turned out to be. Once everyone had submitted, I joined our professors to watch through each package, write fix sheets for everyone, and then determine the order of the show. It felt good to see everyone so excited once we announced who made show, despite it coming at 11:30 at night. It also made me happy to get Vincent on-set for our first show. My professors asked me if I thought it would be too much to get a reporter on set for this show, but I knew my classmates would be able to get it done despite the extra work.
From there, it was time to write the script. This took me close to 10 hours between Friday and Saturday. By the time I was close to finishing, I could barely concentrate on my screen. I think improving on my planning and giving myself breaks will help improve the quality of my work this semester. My job was made a lot easier by how much the show flowed together and the timing working out without many changes.
I was in early again on Monday, as I wanted to be there to explain any questions my classmates had about fix sheets and I also had to learn how to write out our graphics list and teleprompter script. I got to hear early pitches for our next show, watch our anchors rehearse for the first time, and then sat down with my professors for feedback on my script. While I’m happy with how I did for my first time, I know that I have a lot to work on for next show.
Then came the day it was all leading up to, our first taping day. It was very hectic, and we all still had a lot to get used to in terms of our in-studio responsibilities, especially myself. At first the pressure was a lot, as I have to do well for our team to succeed. It was made a lot easier by for me by seeing my classmates putting in work. I have the utmost trust in everyone that they have the skills necessary to do a great job, and that makes me want to do the best I possibly can for them. I have a lot to work on for next taping, but I was pleased with how our first time went.