If you think you’re trying to do too much in less time, maybe you can learn something from TV7-4/Traverse City, Michigan anchor Marc Schollett.

He began as a multimedia journalist in 1997 at a small station with a tiny news operation. He wasn’t just a photojournalist. Within a matter of months, he was also the news director, weatherman, sports anchor and the only reporter and anchor.

While it was challenging, Marc says it forced him to learn every aspect of news gathering and producing. Two years into his career, he moved across town to the NBC affiliate, our client station. While Marc shed some of those responsibilities, shooting his own video was still an expectation.

What’s the “secret” to making time to anchor the 5, 6, and 11 and serve as multimedia journalist?

There are certainly stories where having a photojournalist would be more than a luxury, but I have found with a little creative thinking I can work around most obstacles. I can honestly say that the days when I am thankful that I “one man band” it far outweigh the days when I wish had photojournalist.

With my schedule, every minute counts when I am out in the field. I still need to get back and show prep to anchor the 5, 6, and 11 newscasts. It’s not uncommon for reporters in this market to drive an hour or two each way for a story, so when I am out shooting, I need to be extremely efficient. Having a shooter would free up time in the car, and make shooting things like stand ups and headlines faster. But there are some real benefits to working alone.

I always know exactly what I have shot so I can start writing to my video while I am still on the scene. Sometimes the entire story can be inspired from a single shot of video. Since I know what I have the minute I shot it, I can start writing in my head much sooner than someone who has to get back and take a look at the video.

This has to be challenging.

Sure there have been challenges. Mackinac Island is a huge tourist destination up here. There is an underwater power cable that provides electric service to the island. One summer day, the cable broke, and the island lost power for days. I was sent up to do a story on the repair effort.

It takes 2 hours to drive from the station to the ferry, a 30 minute ferry ride and then I still had to get halfway across the island to the repair site. Did I mention it was pouring rain this day? Did I mention that motorized vehicles are not allowed on the island?

So I get off the ferry with my 35 pound tripod, full size DVC pro cam. and gear bag, and I had to borrow a bike to ride 5 miles to the repair site. Needless to say, the few tourists who ventured out in the rain, got a good chuckle seeing this dripping wet reporter in a suit, with a tripod strapped to his back and cam slung across his shoulder peddling a borrowed three speed bike around the island. That would have been a nice day to have had someone carry gear and shoot video.

You told me that multimedia journalists can score interviews others can’t get.

I get to tell the exceptional stories of everyday people. As any reporter, they will tell you sometimes it’s just plain hard to get people to feel comfortable enough to really talk. I find some of the most amazing people with the most compelling stories are the most reluctant to go in front of camera.

But when I am trying to set something up over the phone, and I can tell the person: “Oh we don’t have a crew that is going to interview you, it’s just me and a camera, and we are just going to talk like we are here on the phone. They relax. It’s not so overwhelming for them. I come in and we can just talk around the kitchen table. Often their family or friends outnumber me, so they feel as if they can let their guard down and be real. Those are the stories that really have impact. Sometimes I think that kind of connection is just not possible if the subject of the story is not at ease.

New multimedia journalists are concerned that something has to suffer, and that’s without anchoring three newscasts. Any insights to help them?

Doing multiple jobs creates concerns that something might slip. That’s for sure. I have found that the only way to get everything done to a standard that I find acceptable is to be extremely efficient and organized. It took awhile to learn just how much video I need to tell a story, too little, and your story falls flat, too much and you waste time.

Ask too many questions in an interview, and you are not only wasting time at the scene. But also when you get back you have way too much to log. So I try to make sure I get the elements I need, and spend more time focusing on the writing. Great video rarely makes the story, but great writing can compensate for cutting a corner here or there if time is of the essence. I have also found that it takes a team to make sure everything gets done right. These days we are all wearing a lot of hats in every newsroom across the country. Prioritize those things that are critical.

Spend time on the difference makers, and reevaluate the need for all the window dressing. We may think something is important in terms of production value, a swoosh or an animation — but the viewer would most likely prefer if that time was spent nailing down some facts or digging a little deeper.

Sure we all have a lot on our plates these days, but if you can prioritize, stay organized, work out more than a day, you might be surprised just how much you can do even with time constraints. I produced, shot, wrote and editing my Murrow winning documentary without missing a single show.

I had a shooter for 30 minutes one day to shoot stand-ups. But other than that it was all done while trying to balance the rest of my workload. It can be done, and sometimes you can surprise yourself with just how much you can get done at a high level if you just keep focused.

Tell us about your “One Touch Rule.”

Juggling is not something I am very good at. I tend to have a one touch rule. If I pick up a tape, I edited it now. If I go shoot an interview, I log it as soon as possible. Things can pile up way to fast. One touch!

If you set it down, it’s too easy to not pick it up again for awhile, and then next you thing you know you are way behind. It’s a cliche, but don’t put off anything you can do now! The key for me is to stay organized and have a plan.

I make phone calls in the morning setting up something to shoot that afternoon. I get to work at noon, then grab gear and go. The story I am shooting that day will air the next. After my shoot, I get back to work, and start logging and editing. I show prep, and anchor the five and six, then finish editing the piece for the next day before the eleven o’clock show. I use that time as well to make promo for the next day.

Since the piece is done, I know exactly how to write promo copy for it. I use that time as well to prepare my web pieces so that everything is all set for the next day before I leave work that night. That way, I am always working a day ahead.

As for Web links to a story: Since our stuff rotates out pretty quickly on our Web page, they can just go to our Fact Finder section on our Web page and see what I am working on that day. I turn a Fact Finder package daily and post them there every night.

Bob’s Note: The Fact Finder page is:

http://www.upnorthlive.com/news/fact_finder.aspx

Marc’s news director at the time this article was written, Doug DeYoung, added these insights from his leadership perspective. They speak to doing more with less:

We have always been a video journalist shop and have always had to be smart and do more with less. From day one a video journalist has to be efficient with time. This means shooting with a purpose in the field, know what you need and what you have before you leave the location.

Use your car time to prepare for the interview, know the top 2 or 3 questions you are going to ask and then follow up from the answers. Chit chat ahead of time, do not spend the time on camera that delays you later in an edit bay.

From my standpoint it really comes down to how you choose to use the resources you have and how you report stories. You can spend a lot of time each day chasing news of the day and get little recognition because every station has the same information. We still cover news of the day but with short clips, video box graphics and maps.

We use our limited resources asking the tough questions, holding people accountable for spending tax dollars and following up on feedback from our viewers. This approach has made our stories stand out and created comments on our website. As the Web has grown, the video journalist has become the Multimedia journalist. They update the web or send information and photos from the field back to the station for posting the latest information we have.

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 22nd, 2009 at 8:42 am and is filed under Multimedia Journalism, Power Tools for TV Journalists, TV news training, broadcast journalism. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.