This was the first show I got to write a block of the script. For show 4, I wrote the B block, consisting of Dakota’s story about Ramadan and Regan’s about the health benefits of spending time outdoors, along with the C-tease. I will say that it took me forever to actually gather my thoughts and write cohesive lines between the two anchors that were conversational, concise, and, most importantly, kept viewers engaged.
For quite some time, I found myself writing a few lines just to delete it, bringing myself back to a blank page. With lots of speaking aloud to myself and my co-producer Harley, and asking Harley copious amounts of questions, I was able to get a groove going. There were many instances where I found myself writing anchor ledes that gave relatively the same information Dakota or Regan gave in their package. What stopped me from writing repetitive ledes was deeply comprehending both Dakota and Regan’s scripts, reading line-for-line, and soaking in each piece of information they were giving viewers. After that, I was able to add facts and/or statistics that weren’t included in their stories and held enough significant information to keep viewers interested.
I was proud of my script but knew it was far from perfect. The producer meeting on Monday morning was super helpful for me. Given the feedback I received, I noticed my ledes for Dakota’s story did provide a lot of information about the global and national significance of Ramadan, however, the statistics I used were quite repetitive. For the toss into Regan’s package, Professor Marra pointed out that the lines weren’t conversational. Although I did read those lines aloud many times, I can now see why they don’t sound natural. For example, “one’s mood” and “the approaching spring season” aren’t phrases anyone would say in a conversation. When writing the script for show 5, I’ll be sure to worry less about the quantity of words I use and focus more on making the lines flow conversationally.
The energy for Wednesday’s filming of show 4 was particularly low. I could feel that everyone was tired, including myself, but Harley and I had to make sure that wasn’t noticeable on camera. I admire Harley for how well she can boost the energy on set, especially in this instance because of how hard it was to do so.
A quality I admire in myself when it comes to producing is how well I notice the little details on set, like when someone’s tie is off-center or Jackie’s hair needs more hairspray. Attention to detail is something I have always had, but more often than not, I thought of it as a bad quality. However, in this instance, it’s something to be proud of.
For show 5, I want to be more confident in using my voice on set and a better leader. In terms of writing, I need to do more revising and rereading to ensure I’m using conversational language and providing the necessary information.