Clock management

"Backtiming" is an editing term by which you can make your video end at a specific point.

It is also a good way to manage your day and make sure you never miss a deadline.

Young people always have problems with deadlines, usually because they don't manage time correctly during the average news day. The culprits these days are different than they were twenty years ago. (Computer games, the Internet.) But if you use some simple backtiming principles, you can avoid some common problems.

Here's what I've often seen from reporters who can't hit deadlines:

9:30: reporter has received assignment

9:35-10:15: reporter surfs Internet

10:15: reporter sets up story

2:00: story in can, reporter back in station

2:00-3:15: more Internet surfing, phone calls, socializing

3:15 reporter starts putting story together

4:30 reporter complains all the edit booths are taken

5:30 reporter begins to panic, and slams story together

5:58 package in can being raced to control room


Can you see all the wasted time? Stay off the Internet and stay off the phone until your package is done.

By "backtiming" your day, you'll never have a problem. Let's say you have a package running at 6pm.

You want it in the can by five. That's your goal. Because all sorts of things can go wrong, slow you down, and make you race the clock.

So let's go backwards when planning your day.

5pm: package in can

3:30: start editing

2:00: start writing

9:30 start setting up your package


Obviously it is not a perfect world. Some packages take forever to set up, some take a lot of time to shoot and edit. But if you always set your deadlines an hour early and eliminate the time you spend fooling around, you'll hit your deadlines.

In fourteen years as a reporter I never missed one. You can do the same.