Something I’ve learned throughout this semester is that learning how to work with your team is the most important part of creating the show. Communication is key so that everything in the show makes sense.
I was the teammate this week and my goal for the day was to try and make everyone’s job a little easier. Whether it was by having a clear idea for graphics and communicating that to my art director, or telling the lead producer exactly what was in the preshows and teases so he can write them accordingly, I tried my best in communicating everything. I brainstormed with the lead producer on the first preshow, which was for our mental health story, which wasn’t a visual story. After deciding what would be best for the script in the preshow, we decided what video was needed. With the help of a multimedia journalist (MJ), we went through the archives and found the video.
About an hour before the show, there were several videos that had not been approved and scripts that had not been written. The lead producer did a great job of letting me know exactly what needed to be done, and I worked with the MJs to accomplish everything before the show started. I worked closely with a few MJs on scripts that needed to be written, because we were getting really close to show time and sometimes it is better to work in a team to bounce ideas off of each other to get things done quickly and efficiently. I also worked with the executive producer to get everything in on time in the last hour before the show.
As for creativity, I try to be more creative each week, even if it is just in small ways. When figuring out what I wanted to show in the graphics, I would workshop the graphic captions with the lead producer so they were cohesive.
It really takes a village to make this show. For me, brainstorming with my team is really important when I’m stumped on how to do something, or even when making decisions. Taking on a leadership role can be tough since I sometimes have to make difficult decisions, but having a really great team to talk things out with has been incredibly helpful. I feel that team Monday works really well together and I am grateful that I get to work with such talented people.