The Rush, Stress and Thrill of the Quick TV News Deadline

Okay, so maybe it hasn't been too long since I've rushed to meet deadline for a local TV station.

This is a feeling where a little goes a long way. When you face that stress four or five times a week, it becomes burdensome and burns you out. That certainly happened to me in my TV career.  It's like the old saying of, "Do you love ice cream? Ok, then can you eat it everyday for breakfast, lunch and dinner?"

The beauty of doing what I'm doing now is in the variety. One day I'm shooting sports, the next day a wedding and then TV news the next. So I actually look forward to the deadline rush when I get it so infrequently now.

This is all a roundabout way to bring up that last week, thanks to a freelance gig for WRCB out of Chattanooga,  I once again got to put on the TV news photog glasses (in the form of an old-school Panasonic P2 camera borrowed from the station). The reason for the shoot was completely cringeworthy. If you dare, just google "Ooltewah basketball" and you will quickly see the juvenile court case that was being tried at the Sevier County courthouse.

Anyway, we had our first of several live shots scheduled for 5pm. Problem was, the verdict of the case did not happen until after 4pm and we got our only interview with one of the attorneys around 4:30. Maybe later.

The reporter, who was perfectly nice, was a starting to get more than a little concerned about making deadline. Perhaps in her mind, she would have to navigate through the editing/FTP/LiveU process herself. After all, we had just met that morning. She had never seen me in action. Not that I'm the Usain Bolt of turning content, and I was slightly out of practice, but this was nothing compared to the deadlines I would face everyday covering sports (especially as a one-man-band in Raleigh).

Of course, everything went smoothly. Her laptop had Edius for editing and FileZilla for FTP, all things with which I was more than familiar. And the new LiveUs are simple enough for a 3rd grader to use (press a couple buttons, plug in a cable, and BOOM, you're live on the air). 

We knocked out every live shot while feeding content in between, and when it was over, the reporter was incredibly thankful for making her day less stressful. And I was thankful to be part of TV news rush for one day.

Just not everyday.