Hi friends!
You may have noticed that Remote Notes has been on hiatus for the past six weeks. I’m spending the summer producing Triple-A Worcester Red Sox (“WooSox”) baseball games for TV, and it is a busy job! It’s the first time I’ve worked in live sports production. I thought you might be interested in hearing about it, so here’s a Q&A with me, your humble writer, with questions from RN editor John Cockrell.
PHOTO: A selfie from the front office.
What does it mean to produce TV sports? Can you take us on a backstage pass tour of your job, Goodfellas-through-the-nightclub-style, from the moment you walk into the studio until you're done for the night?
FADE IN: The soundtrack is playing “Then He Kissed Me” by The Crystals. A continuous tracking shot follows me from the parking lot to the stadium under a sun-kissed sky. A security guard warmly welcomes me with a smile, and shows me to my desk …
OK, so that’s not exactly it. But great reference. And the truth is that I feel humbled, every day, as I approach the ballpark.
“Backstage” consists of two sets for this act. The first is the administrative offices. There, it looks like many other offices: cubicles, photocopiers humming, friendly co-workers chatting and the coffee maker on full speed. I arrive about seven hours ahead of game time, plop myself down at a table, and begin to map out the show. There is a group meeting led by the team president where we discuss all the events happening that night, right down to who is throwing out the first pitch.
We shift much of the rest of the day to set number two: the control room. (Fondly called “The Taj Mahal.”) It overlooks the field, and it’s where we make all those graphics you see during the game — interesting facts, stats and pictures we want to show.
The rest of the crew arrives about three hours before the game, and we brief them on what to expect. Then, come game time, we put on a show! I’m on my feet for the whole game, constantly walking between the replay operator, the graphics producer and the director to communicate what we should put on the broadcast. I get in 7,000 steps a game!
How is producing sports different from your past experience producing content for local news?
I can teach anyone who can write how to produce the news. You put together a list of stories you will cover, write some of them, and then hand off the plan to the director to execute. The reporters do most of the heavy lifting. Once the newscast is live, a producer’s job is, mainly, to make sure the show runs on time. It’s repetitive and predictable unless there’s breaking news.
In baseball, every pitch is breaking news.
What is the part of sports TV producing that is trickier than it sounds/more challenging than we might think?
You can’t plan the whole show. We prepare a lot of graphics and storylines, but maybe half of them actually make air. It’s more about trying to anticipate what might happen and then deciding, minute-by-minute, what to put on TV.
What is the part of sports TV producing that is EASIER than it sounds/more challenging than we might think?
I wouldn’t call any aspect of sports production “easy,” but automation certainly helps. For example: When you see a lower third with a player’s batting numbers, that data is pulled in from a central system that automatically updates the stats graphic. We don’t have to recalculate numbers every at-bat.
How does this particular version of producing sports TV differ from others, given the “live” component of what’s happening right there in the ballpark at any given moment?
Producing minor league ball is, in my opinion, as much about telling stories as it is about showing the game. One story is how fun it is to come to the park! We highlight fun things like the mascot race. We have a food-tasting segment. We show off kids messing around. We want people to know that Polar Park is not just family-friendly, but also family entertainment. At the same time, we know that there are a lot of diehards out there that want to see the up-and-coming players. We tell the players’ stories, in depth.
PHOTO: After every Friday home game, the team puts on a fireworks show.
What is the most stressful part of your job?
The most stressful part of production is when things go wrong. Cameras stop working, the graphics computer can go down, monitors go black, the replay operator can show the wrong play, I can call for the wrong image … there is always an opportunity for something to go south. But our leadership team recognizes these as learning opportunities and knows that people expect hiccups on live TV.
What is the biggest mistake you’ve made so far? What did you learn from it?
Early on, I treated sports like news. I tried to plan too much. I was rigid about what I thought our breaks should be. I was used to paying more attention to the timing of the show and not its content. About three or four weeks in, our great director talked to me after a game. “This isn’t news,” he said. “Worry less about the breaks and more about the on-field action and what the anchors are saying.” It was great advice and changed my approach for the better.
Is failure the best teacher?
You can certainly learn a lot - fast - from failure. At the very least, you hope that you learn why something failed so you can avoid it next time. We’re constantly updating our process, and a certain amount of that comes from trying and failing. What’s great is to be in an environment that allows failure. After all, our best hitters only get a hit one-third of the time.
PHOTO: A perk of the job — we get to watch batting practice while having dinner.
Fictional sports TV producer Dana Whitaker (“Sports Night”) once said, “I love it, I love producing ‘Sports Night.’ I live from eleven to midnight and the rush is so huge I don't come down until three o’clock in the morning.” What’s your “rush” like after producing for the WooSox?
Great quote, and she’s SO right. I love producing live TV. I’ve had management jobs, but I really just want to produce. After a good show, I’m really pumped up. This is only a problem insofar as it can be 11 pm or later before I leave the park, and I have to get up the next morning to start the process all over. It can be super hard to fall asleep after an exciting broadcast.
What is the best, most accurate depiction of ANY NEWS producing you’ve ever seen on screen? What is it about these shows/movies that appeals to you as a person who does this job IRL?
“Broadcast News” got the jobs correct in a way that “The Newsroom” does not. In fact, I could only watch a few episodes of “The Newsroom” before I got aggravated that they didn’t represent the roles accurately. It’s like how doctors feel watching “Grey’s Anatomy” or “ER.”
How do I win a free balled-up WooSox T-shirt if I’m out of range of the novelty cannon?
Call me. I’ll hook you up. We joke, of course, but people LOVE the T-shirt toss. If it didn’t happen during our commercial break, I’d show it live.
What is the most delightful/energizing part of your job?
I get to work in a ballpark! I am so grateful for the opportunity. On my worst day, when nothing’s going right and I feel like the Worst Producer Ever, I’m still at the ballgame. That’s pretty cool.
REMOTE NOTES
Newsletter #49
Founder/Writer: Steve Safran
Editor/Guest Inquisitor: John Cockrell
Copyright 2023
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