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Sep042009
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Script Running |
Dad dropped me off at Fox at 10:30 this morning. Janette, the lone managing editor for the day let me in. After I got settled, John, a production assistant on the desk, gave me some press releases to enter in ENPS and later I did the better part of the beat check, which involves calling surround police precincts to ask if they are working any big cases. Apparently you almost never get a bite, and after 30 calls my notepad was still blank.Later on I went out with one of the photographers, Avis, to Marrero where governor Bobby Jindal was appearing to present 157 Louisiana Veterans’ Honor Medal at American Legion Post 222. A handful of local politicians and sheriff Marlin Gusman were also in attendance. Aside from carrying the tripod in and out there was not much for me to do outside of observing. The ceremony itself went smoothly with the exception of some excitement during Jindal’s address when one of the medal receipts had a fainting spell of some sort. He appeared to be fine but he was taken away by ambulance. Governor Jindal presented him with his medal before he left.Following the interruption, Jindal finished his speech and they began distributing the medals. Avis and I were there for about half of that process before heading back to the studio. When I got back I had lunch. Chick-fil-a left a bunch of food for the newsroom right before we left and I finally had a chance to eat. 15 minutes before I was planning to leave at four, Janette asked me to stay until six. Apparently the rest of the interns were leaving at four and she wanted one to hang around through the newscast. I called Dad to let him know and he didn’t seem to mind staying at the office for a while longer.I spent the rest of the afternoon helping one of the production assistants with the script printing and distribution. She showed me how she goes about printing script copies before the newscast. It would be a trivial affair but the process is complicated by late arriving copy. They start printing at 4:30, half an hour before they go on the air. As things come in closer to five o’clock and even later, those pages are run to the director’s booth, sound engineer and news anchors separately. A few minutes before the show started, the assistant I was working with went in the studio to set up and operate the teleprompter and left me to get the last remaining pages printed and distributed to everybody. Being my first time doing this it was kind of exciting even though the tone of the whole day was comparatively calm and quiet. I had to make four or five trips to the anchor desk and the booths upstairs.By the second commercial break, everyone had all the pages. I sat in with Claudia while she operated the teleprompter through the duration of the newscast. I had a headset to listen to the director’s and producer’s chatter which was interesting and occasionally amusing. Nancy Parker was the lone anchor this evening and I got to chat with her briefly during a couple of the breaks. She comes across as a rather pleasant person. I left for the day at six o’clock, just after the newscast ended. Dad was waiting for me outside.I don’t remember doing much of anything that evening outside of dinner and wasting time on the internet.