The finished product that is the Catch It Kansas show is just as fun for us to watch as it is for the viewers at home. But what get’s lost in all of the excitement, is the behind the scenes efforts that make the CIK show such a great production.
My day starts around 3:00. The first order of business is to touch base with all of my reporters, which is quite a few. Grant Meech handles our main feature game, Jenn Bates picks up the next feature game, and Danilynn Welniak, Karl Man, and Heather Williams handle all the games at our bureaus. Each reporter needs to know how much time they’re given for their highlights. Part of our planning with each reporter is a contingency plan for if their game turns out to be really wild or with a great finish, or if it ends up being a blow out. Depending on what happens will determine if they get extra or less time for their story.
Next I have a meeting with my photographers who are shooting additional games. I go over with them how many highlights we are expecting for each game. Each shooter picks up two games every night, so we also go over which game to pick up first, and make sure everyone knows how to get to their next game. Also, we always talk about story lines with our photographers. Often times we need iso shots (isolation video) of particular players who are expected to be key players in a game. And sometimes there’s a storyline involving a coach so we might need video of them.
The rest of my afternoon and early evening I refer to as the calm before the storm. I make sure that the graphics are entered for each game. Graphics simply put, are the banners at the bottom of the screen that tell you what game the highlights are from, and the scoreboard we put up at the end of the video letting viewers know who won. I also take a quick moment to talk with the director about my show and which order the games should run in.
Then I usually take my dinner break around 6. This is my true last chance to catch my breath before all the craziness begins…
Once the games kick off around 7, is when the pace starts to pick up. In the Catch it Kansas office we monitor scores and how games are progressing. Then around 9 the “hurricane” hits.
All of my photographers come back with their highlights and they start editing video as fast as possible. I always have four photographers bringing back video at the same time which basically is organized chaos in it’s truest form. At some point I sit down with each photographer and they tell me how the game went while they were there. We combine that with other reports in the office to crank out a quick script. While all this is going on, my assistant producers are taking in video feeds from all of the bureaus. The bottom line is that all of our video and scripts for the show are put together inside of an hour window. Anyone in the office will tell you that seeing someone run through the newsroom at a dead sprint is not unusual on a Friday night. Then around 10:50 I head up to the control booth…
Once the show starts, my primary job is just to make sure that videos and scripts are where they need to be. If a video misses slot (isn’t in on time), then we slide video up in our computer server to take it’s place. My other main concern as the show is running is to make sure that we are “on time”. I have a specific time that the show is supposed to end at, and I may have to drop some things from my show to hit my mark.
The stress coming down the stretch about 30 minutes before the show is incredible, but the entire process of putting the Catch it Kansas show together is truly fun!
