| Topic Name: |
I hate post-mortems! |
| Message Name: |
Post-Mortems... a real killer. |
| Date Posted: |
06/09/2005 |
| In Reply To: |
Am I the only producer that hates post-mortems?
We had big breaking news just before the newscast. Everyone hustled to get it on air as clean as possible. And everyone did a great job getting it on. It was a wreck behind the scenes, but everyone in the control room was satisfied in the end. But, during the post-mortem, the ND and Asst. ND were worried about a dumb super that aired in the wrong place! What!? They didn't care that we made it off on time when the show ended up being nearly 3 minutes heavy, or that the breaking news made it at all.
This is just one example. FOR ALL YOU ND'S READING THIS. Producers don't like to work 8 hours putting together a show, then going into your office where everyone plays "blame the producer." I can take some blame and criticism - no problem. But, concentrating on that "one" minor thing that the viewer probably doesn't give a crap about, is mind boggling! I'm not one who likes to be stroked (by that, I mean hearing compliments all the time!), but end the meeting with something positive if there is something to say. I know some people are going to write, "well, there must be something wrong with your producing." I thought that too. But, it happens with all of our producers and editors and anchors. "Why didn't you say this, or why didn't you show that?"
What do you think? |
| Message: |
I remember when I finished up a 6pm newscast in a previous producing gig. We had at least *TWO* exclusive stories in that newscast, and when I go into the ND's office, what's the first thing he says?
"Get those anchors off the set!"
He's having a coronary because the other station in town (the one we're beating the pants off of, by the way) is going "out of the box" (I *HATE, HATE, HATE* that term!) and he suddenly thinks everybody here needs to be doing it, too... just letting the lame competition dictate how we do things.
The problem is for all the ND's who come from the producer ranks, a lot of them forget about how hard the job is. One way you can deflect that is to keep book...
Another producer at my previous gig did a morning show and was getting criticism about why this and that weren't that and this. But, he kept secret discrep sheets about other people. So when he was called on the carpet, he had a stack of paper to dump on the desk! Now this isn't very kind to people you work with, but it does help to get things on paper.
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