[AT WORK]
CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Erin Teruya, TV producer
Erin Teruya >> I produce the 6 o'clock news. It's like so all encompassing. In the beginning of the day we brainstorm ideas for stories. We divide what's going to go where. We create flow between stories. You stack your show in a logical way so it makes sense to the viewer. TV producer
Erin Teruya puts her mark on almost
everything that goes into the 6 o'clock newsI write small stories. I confirm facts. I edit copy. I'm like a reporter who doesn't go anywhere.
Producers work the phones a lot. Say the police scanners, the fire scanners, we'll hear something and we'll get the ground work for what the story's about. Then we'll decide whether a reporter needs to go out on it. Sometime we'll just send the cameraman out and they'll get the video and I'll write the story.
Once the 6 o'clock show starts I've put my scripts into the director's hands, but the job doesn't end there. I'm still checking spelling for the supers, the text that shows up on the screen. I'm still guiding reporters in the field.
The fun part is in the control room when things get hectic. When everything is perfect it's not that fun. But when we have breaking news and you're working with the reporters live, that's fun. Sometimes tapes will go missing, things go wrong, and I get to deal with all that. I'm talking to the anchors while they're on live. I'm in their ear, not all the time, but when they need to know about something. Say there's an accident or breaking news. They need to tell the readers about that, but they can't leave the set. We have to let them know what's going on in the field.
I was a journalism major. I've been at KITV about five and a half years. I started doing news promotion, writing 15 second commercials on what was going to be in the news.
I'm not jealous of the people on the air. We all have to work together. I love it, it's fun. Everyday is different.
At Work is a weekly feature that shows and tells what people do for a living in their own words. Send comments and submissions to: business@starbulletin.com
