I've often been asked by my friends outside of the broadcast world what a Director does - and I simply say I "direct." That always seems to conjure up the image of the guy on the bandstand with his baton. It's kinda like that.
The Director is the pilot of the broadcasting ship during any production, whether it is a newscast or one of the many other local shows we do from our building. The Director is responsible for taking the ideas of the show's Producer and turning them into a visual presentation which you see on the air.
For me, this process begins at 3 pm each weekday when I arrive at the station. The first item of the day is usually to get some sugar into my system. This keeps me pumped up and ready to tackle the day after a quick stop by the snack machine to grab some chocolate. Thank goodness for Kit Kats.
Afterwards, I head into the newsroom, sit down at my desk, log in to my computer and take a quick look at the show rundown to begin formulating ideas in my head how to bring the show to life. Most days, I'm responsible for a number of shows. For me, this is usually the 6 or 7 and the 11 PM News. So good time management skills are crucial because deadlines can't be extended. When it's 6 pm, we are on the air whether we are ready or not.
I'll tackle the newsroom computer system at another time, but this system really is the heart of the operation. I can control everything from the scripts and graphics to the video elements all from my desktop. It's amazing.
For every story, I have to determine which camera will shoot the anchor and how. We have a variety of predetermined shots we use as a starting point. An anchor or in-studio reporter can be at the anchor desk, at the chromakey wall, in the weather center, the tech center, the web center, in the newsroom or on a remote. This all has to be pre-determined during this planning stage and worked into the show rundown.
At around 4:30, the Producer will tell the Director that the rundown is good to go. We'll then print a hard copy of it, turn it over to our Production Assistants who copy and distribute it to all the crew members working on that show. This is their blueprint of how the show will look and what I expect to see or hear from each of them during the show.
The next hour or two (depending on which show I'm directing) will be spent marking scripts which the Producer prints for both the talent and the Director. I make shorthand notations on each script to remind me which camera shot I've chosen and when to roll the video elements. You want to make sure you are always in synch with the talent. You don't want to be rolling the video too early or too late or it looks wrong on the air.
And the anchors always get scripts to keep with them in the event the teleprompter fails during the show or if they want to read through a script during a commercial break. Yes, the anchors read off a teleprompter which I'll also get into at another time.
Finally, it's time to head to the control room. It's show time... the subject of part II.
