Producer Kate Emmy Reel for 2020
The coronavirus pandemic presented the greatest challenge I've ever faced in my career - a marathon, visually poor story with life and death consequences - and this composite demonstrates how I put my producing skills to work to get this critical information to our viewers. You will see portions of newscasts between March and December, spanning the length of the pandemic. I chose not to assemble the segments in chronological order so that I could better show you a variety of my work. You'll see me put to use all of the tools available to me: our helicopter, our drone, the unique parts of our set, as well as the invaluable contributions from our data journalists, our digital department, and our intrepid reporters.
The composite begins with a tracked cold open from December that I wrote and mostly edited myself. It goes on to the opening of an October A block that showcases a variety of visuals to keep the pace up and the audience engaged. You'll then see the opening to a newscast in March when the pandemic was in its early days, before watching a complete A block from April when we were starting to speculate about reopening. Nearly everything you hear the anchors say, I scripted. The final section is a natsound package that I created to mark the first month of the Bay Area sheltering in place, compiled from all of the work I had been involved in as a producer. In a year where the days all seem to have blurred together, it was a milestone marker that stood out.