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Writing for television and the editorial influence

What makes a good television film story? I believe it is writing of the story. Good writing can make a striking piece out of routine visual elements. And the fact is, most of what one can film is quite commonplace and routine. And though an imaginative approach by a good cameraman can make some­thing interesting out of a Rotary Club luncheon, there's a li­mit to what he can do visually.

One picture is not necessarily worth a thousand words. It depends on the words, how they are put together, and most im­portant, the idea behind them.

Another important aspect of assignments: know your staff and use them to the best advantage. Certain men can do bet­ter with a certain kind of story than others, because of their own individual make-up. The special talents of a reporter or cameraman should be taken into consideration in making an assignment.

Too frequenty we are content to settle for what is really talking coverage of an important story instead of doing the kind of job television can do. The city, state or federal govern­ment passes legislation or undertakes some project. So we in­terview the man who sponsored the bill or heads the project. In doing so we are being dull. We are quality of not taking ad­vantage of the very special capability of this medium. News­papers are limited to doing this — but we are not. Instead of having somebody talk about it, we can show it. Why settle for an interview with the city councilman or a state representative when there's a wealth of meaningful stories to be had by dig­ging a little.

When we assign a story, we don't try to spell out in detail how it should be done. We expect that the team doing the story will know what to try to include in the piece. If there's a special angle in which we are interested , we tell them what it is. But on the whole, we leave it up to the men in the field to fi­gure out what is the best way to do it. By being on the scene, they know what the local conditions are and what problems are.

.So it is up to the correspondent on the assignment to come up with an angle that will be interesting informative and will put the story in perspective.

Again and again, this is done with adequate but less than extraordinary visual elements coupled with good writing.

A good assignment should both involve a good idea and good men to execute it. But the fact is that even when the idea isn't so good, if the men who handle it are skilled and imaginative, chances are you will come up with something worth­while.