Curious how to deal with crazy producer...

[Hard_reign2004]

I guess it isn't really my job to tell a guy he is terrible or not and to tell you the truth I am just going by the popular consensus, but the thing that bugs me is that my occasional producer I think uses the times that I am supposed to be out as my wrap instead of actually timing my show. So he will say "you have 3 minutes", because that is what is on the rundown. The problem is that we may be :55 seconds heavy so he will wrap me at 2:05. Obviously I don't know how "heavy" we are so my shows range from supposedly having a minute and only going like 25 seconds to maybe the next time having a minute and getting :50. It is driving me crazy! Then after adjusting my shows to shorter times I may have like 4:30 minutes for a final weather instead of the 3:00 I am supposed to have. He kill, kill, kills, and then at the final weather he pads the hell out of my show. I have talked to him but I am pretty sure as I time the show on tivo when I get home that he is still doing it.

[MI_Wxman]

Communication is important in this.

Let him/her know ahead of time when you want time cues.
I use (1 minute, :30 sec and "wrap" when I'm within 5 seconds of the end)

When they give you time cues, make it so it's to the end of your weathercast and doesn't include chat, extra pictures and such.

This way you know what YOUR time is for just weather...not to the next story.

I use "Wrap" as a 5 second out. Let them know what your expectactions are so there's no confusion.

If I hear more than what I need from my producer, I pull my IFB out and keep going. The last thing I need is an distraction when I'm on the air. They can complaign all they want....

[baldingwxguy]

If you've already talked to him, and he won't change...time to bring in the EP or the ND. Weather is the #1 reason people watch the morning news. You stack your show according to the time he gives you, and it totally screws you if you suddently get wrapped early with no warning. That affects what information you give the viewers. He needs to cut OTHER content, NOT weather. There's some give-and-take with that given the weather of the day, but as a rule I think weather time should be left alone. Thankfully our ND stays on top of our producers...and for the most part they're good about this anyway.

[nywx10]

If you've already talked to him, and he won't change...time to bring in the EP or the ND. Weather is the #1 reason people watch the morning news. You stack your show according to the time he gives you, and it totally screws you if you suddently get wrapped early with no warning. That affects what information you give the viewers. He needs to cut OTHER content, NOT weather. There's some give-and-take with that given the weather of the day, but as a rule I think weather time should be left alone. Thankfully our ND stays on top of our producers...and for the most part they're good about this anyway.

balding and mi I agree totally with both of you..

Hard communicate, YOU tell them what you want in terms of time (more if wx requires it, less if there isn't much going on) and cues. If I don't get cues and stupid ones like 18, 23, whatever I ignore the. If I don't get any at all or just a wrap and then get a complaint from them because I went long, I tell them it isn't my fault no cues, you get what I give as far as time goes.

Hard it also sounds like your producer was like one that used to work here.

Aside from his ego, he couldn't time a show for poop.

I was supposed to get a set amt of time for each hit.

So a good producer should then take the time alloted to weather in each block and remove, then fit your news stories to the time left. He would do it the opposite way...fill with news time left to wx, sometimes a wx hit that was supposed to be 1:30 was 40 or 45, a 30 sec hit would wind up 1:00 or 1:15.

Let me ask does this producer talk in vague generalities ? Like " I need you to stretch or go long" or " I need you to be brief". I then ask how much more time are you "giving" me or how brief do you want me to be. He'd just reply I told you what to do.

Well my definition of long and short is highly subjective as was his. Finally one day I had it with him ( he said go very brief on your first hit...) so it was one of those days with clouds and rain so I said periods rain throughout the day with a high near 40, now let's get the news with....he started screaming in my IFB that I went to short.

BTW- I attempted to communicate with this imbecile on a regular basis; former ND got involved too but he wasn't much help, either. He often took the producers side.

Well they're both gone and we have some pretty good producers onboard now in the AM and best of all we have excellent communication and when/if weather needs extra time more often than not we get it.

[Mayhem]

I had the same experience and had to bring in the ND. Weather is not a way to time out the rest of the show. Whatever time is scheduled for weather in the rundown, is the time you get. If the producer wants to cut time, it must be done before the show. This was the mandate from the ND. Granted, if he needs to cut :15 out of a 3:00 weather, we can usually do that, as long as he tells us ahead of time. But you have to get the ND to make the mandate.

Otherwise... even if he starts giving you the wrap cues and you know you should have another minute... keep going. Not like they can stop you. Then if he complains afterwards, take the tape, time it out, and show him you went exactly as long as you were scheduled to.

[Hard_reign2004]

NY I think you understand a lil bit better what I am going through. Let's take this mornings last weather. We do a click cast when I usually have about :20 seconds total. Seconds before I begin while seated at the desk I was told by him "stretch you have 1:10 take your time. Well I get into things and I am about to move into my second graphic when I hear ":30" I am like damn that was literally maybe :20 seconds that have passed, after all it was just the today graphic. Then the :25 second left in show music begins playing shortly after he says :30 left in show! In literally less than a minute I go from thinking I have 1:10 to fill, down to :50 seconds, down to I only had :10 seconds extra time really to do things. Thankfully he is not my main producer. I am weekend nights and he works weekend mornings. We just happened to both be feeling in this morning. We used to work the same shift though and always got into it then...

[Dutra2418]

Wow...all of your posts are making me feel incredibly lucky. As I've said before I'm in my first gig and the only other I've ever had is in college doing news for our tv station. Both the producers here, and in college are great when it comes to cues, time allocation etc. In college they were even cool about giving me the cues..When I first started I was uncomfortable with the whole talking in my ear thing so they would just key on the mic and i could hear the control room at 30 second intervals..Obviously the "voice in my head" is 2nd nature now but from what it sounds like there are people out there who genuinly suck at producing..Plus a lot of you guys get hosed for times..Shesh! I regularly get 3:30+ for big weather..and on days that I want (need) it I can talk my way into 5 min. Guess I'm lucky..but reading this is a fantastic guide to what I might have to work around in the future.

[Brick]

We have countdown clocks on our cameras, so it's fairly cut and dry. If any of our producers need :30 from me or even more in extreme cases, they usually ask well before the show unless live shots get muffed or something goes long. There's never been any stealing of our time or cutting short once our show is underway since it's tough to argue with a clock that's right in front of us, and the director maintains control of the clock.

It's nifty.

[Tornadocane]

We had a guy like that, at first it was just a small deal..he was fresh and then he started doing it to everyone..he would wrap us and then come out of the show incredibly light. Tell him that as a producer, he does not cut weather..especially since it's the main reason people watch..but, rather..cut the fluff stories instead...although, most producers I know have egos and will just ignore you anyways..kinda like what we do them them :)

[nywx10]

We have countdown clocks on our cameras, so it's fairly cut and dry. If any of our producers need :30 from me or even more in extreme cases, they usually ask well before the show unless live shots get muffed or something goes long. There's never been any stealing of our time or cutting short once our show is underway since it's tough to argue with a clock that's right in front of us, and the director maintains control of the clock.

It's nifty.

We used to have countdown clocks a long time ago. Now we have times on the monitor in the studio.

I have been doing this for awhile as have many of us, you more or less no how long 10,20,30 secs, etc. are while you're talking.

I also use the clocks on the studio monitors, too...if the producer says 1:15 here and 15 secs into the hit I get a 30 I know they either gave or wrong cue or can't time a show or read time...I just keep going and take my 1:15.

[nywx10]

NY I think you understand a lil bit better what I am going through. Let's take this mornings last weather. We do a click cast when I usually have about :20 seconds total. Seconds before I begin while seated at the desk I was told by him "stretch you have 1:10 take your time. Well I get into things and I am about to move into my second graphic when I hear ":30" I am like damn that was literally maybe :20 seconds that have passed, after all it was just the today graphic. Then the :25 second left in show music begins playing shortly after he says :30 left in show! In literally less than a minute I go from thinking I have 1:10 to fill, down to :50 seconds, down to I only had :10 seconds extra time really to do things. Thankfully he is not my main producer. I am weekend nights and he works weekend mornings. We just happened to both be feeling in this morning. We used to work the same shift though and always got into it then...

It is amazing he is still there. Perhaps he was my EX-producer! I hope not for your sake.

Just talk to the ND and get it thrashed out. I always hit home that I need time cues (and only time cues) from the producers. I use them to myself.

You both have to work as a team but the producer has to realize that most people watch an AM newscast for the weather.

[sleet10]

Agree with all the posts. While my producer is usually pretty good there are times when they will try and cut me short, as usually I ignore them and continue with my forecast, as most people have said, it the forecast is the reason why viewers watch during the AM. There have been some occassions where they have "asked" hey we are a little heavy, is there any way you can make up some time, if asked nicely I will try and speed things up a little. Then on the other end, I have told them to cut some of the fluff crap like health watch which is so lame I think most viewers completely tune it out.

[nywx10]

Agree with all the posts. While my producer is usually pretty good there are times when they will try and cut me short, as usually I ignore them and continue with my forecast, as most people have said, it the forecast is the reason why viewers watch during the AM. There have been some occassions where they have "asked" hey we are a little heavy, is there any way you can make up some time, if asked nicely I will try and speed things up a little. Then on the other end, I have told them to cut some of the fluff crap like health watch which is so lame I think most viewers completely tune it out.

Yeah I love the health crap they run right before my last weathercast in the half hour...one of my longer ones that always gets cut because of the crappy health stories...today a study that states why coffee is bad for you, yesterday we had a report on a study that told why coffee was good for you, lastly doctors have found a cure for Jorgens Miasthemia , a rare disease that only 2 people on the whole planet have.

Let's not forget the animal stories, too!

[sleet10]

Nywx10:

Your producer must get the same health stories from the newswire as mine does. Agree with the animals too, the coffee is great, usually in the health stories one day "experts" (who in the hell are they) say one thing, the very next day the "experts" come back 180 degrees out of phase. No wonder that we all will die someday of something, oh one the other day, 'experts" now say that it just might be healthy to be obese, go figure. Does one wonder at times why the media can not be believed.