9-13-11 Writing a Story

10 Steps to Writing a Story – Broadcast Journalism

1. Find a Topic
- sports
- theatre
- community
- know your audience

2. Find an Angle
- determines your questions
- okay if angle changes
- focuses on topic

3. Collect Data
- locations
- background info

4. Conduct the Interview
- interview 3 "experts"
- ask at least 3 questions per expert
- ask open-ended questions
- good start words are why and how (not do and are)
- sound bite: a piece of audio that can stand on its own

5. Shoot your reporter Stand Up
- the one time the reporter appears on camera
- should appear in the middle of story

6. Organize your Sound Bites
- choose order and location of interviews
- only end up using one sound bite from each expert
- put in order you want

7. Write Segues in your story.
- write information in between sound bites

8. Write the Ins and Outs of your story.
- what the reporter says leading in to and out of story
- communication between reporter and anchor
- write anchor ins and outs

9. Collect B-Roll to add to your story (throughout steps 4-9)
- video footage you can use for your story
- want a nice variety of shots
- want natural sound (sound that is already there)

*Steps 4-8 in your story are called the A-Roll
- all of the audio that makes up your story
- edit all of the A-Roll first, and then the B-Roll