New Freelance Job Update

I've detailed the freelance field producing job I've started for WEDU, the PBS affiliate in Tampa. There's one part of the production process I didn't mention.

Before I can write the script, I have to watch all the tapes (almost three hours worth), transcribe the interviews and note all of the shots. That's called "logging" in TV parlance. Instead of having to arrange a time to do this at WEDU, the production manager has copies made on DVD and she sends them to me so I can log the tapes at home.

How about that? There's a part of this job I can do sitting in my underwear! Actually, I do all my jobs wearing underwear. Customarily, though, I wear other clothes on top of them. If you must know, I probably will do the same when I log the tapes (in their DVD form).

This should happen soon. The DVDs arrived this week. I sat down to log them only to discover that only one of them (the one with the footage shot from the "on-car" cam) had any audio. The production coordinator promised to send another set soon. I can verify that the video looks good -- at least from a cursory scan through them.

Logging is tedious and it's the least fun part about doing most stories. It's also one of the more important. The better you know the contents of your tapes, the better your script turns out usually. Logging the tapes often takes more time than writing the script.

There will be time to worry about that later. The DVDs will arrive soon enough. Perhaps this time I'll be able to hear them!