I'm a producer. What's that mean? Well, I put together an hour long local TV news show. The show starts with the news of the day and weather, like most newscasts do. But because I have an hour long show, I have 2 live interview segments that I fill, usually with happy news. Or fluff. You know, the chairperson for the spaghetti dinner that's on Sunday or actors from the local theater production. They last about three minutes.
Yesterday, at 4:59pm, I walked into the control room feeling pretty good. Felt like I had a solid, interesting show and was looking forward to 6pm when I could walk out the door. Within 15 minutes, everything began to go downhill. And when you're dealing with live TV, everything snowballs, quickly.
There's an interview that happens EVERY week, on Tuesday. His secretary emails me a topic every week and tells me he'll be here.
Except he didn't come. And I didn't know he wasn't here, until, like, 2 minutes before he was to be on the show.
Two minutes.
Not a lot you can do in two minutes, except panic. Trying to be calm, I quickly rearranged my show, so that no one at home would know that anything was wrong. Thank goodness, the sports guy is always willing to come on and fill a hole for me. Because in TV, 3 minutes is an eternity!
It wasn't pretty, but the viewers at home were none the wiser. And that's what counts.
So, if you're ever asked to be on a TV newscast, make sure you show up. Or call. Please.
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Adding my ICLW visits for the last two days!
October 21st:
Returned:
October 22nd:
Returned:
whoa that's annoying.
ReplyDeleteTHank you for your willingness to comment and support!
How incredibly annoying! Sounds like stress you don't need.
ReplyDelete