Weekly Feature Ideas

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Breakingnews2002

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Hey all,

My reporter and I are looking for any and all suggestions for a weekly or monthly seires. Something we can do that is differnet then the normal day turn stuff we all do. We do some of these stories but they are all done during the day side. So, us night hounds don't get to do some of the good peices. Cuerrently we have a reporter doing a One tank trip seires. It is all about where people can go on a tank of gas and see some cool stuff. Also, I am looking for the best way to pitch it to my management. My reporter is the only night side guy and I am one of two shooters. So any help will be awsome.
 
FastFord

FastFord

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Natural Born Stringer

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You mentioned being overnight. When I first started doing the dusk to dawn shift, I found it amazing how much goes on while the rest of the city is asleep. There's a whole other group of people who work those hours, why not spend a shift with some of them?

Spend a night with the streetsweeper guy or a newspaper delivery lady.

Hang out with the DOT crews that work at night or take a ride with some repo men.

Follow a bounty hunter around for an evening or sit in for a shift with a security guard in a rough neighborhood.

Ride the bus/train and talk to the folks on their way to work at 1 in the morning.

Ride with a cab driver one night.

Pay a visit to an all nite animal hospital.

The list goes on and on. I figure you could have a good 3 or 4 months of features easily from this. Then do followups, did the bounty hunter get his man? Is the newspaper lady still working the night shift? What happened to the dog that ate an entire chocolate cake and needed it's stomach pumped at 3:45AM?

Very simple concept that works over and over, just insert subject and go. Ever watch the guy in New York who stays up all night and goes to weird places you'd never expect even existed let alone operated in the middle of the night? That show would be a goldmine of ideas for you.

Good luck, if you can, post links to what you come up with. If you go with something like my idea, I'd love to see how it turns out.
 
Lensmith

Lensmith

Member
We used to do an ongoing feature in Detroit about little diners you could get a good lunch for a low price. An easy shoot and lots of interest...as long as you don't run out of diners in your area.

One tank trips was another. Interesting and fun places to go with the family or date within range of a single tank of gas.

A series about pampering yourself while promoting better health. Covers everything from spas and treatments to summer camps for the kids as well as adults looking to lose weight.

The spend a night with someone on their job doesn't have the long term legs a true series would need. There are only so many jobs and even those aren't all "made for televsion".

Are you looking for a series that could run for years or just a month or so?
 
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flipflops

Active member
Does your town have a lot of old buildings? If so it might be fun to see what these buildings were originally and what they are now.
 
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Breakingnews2002

Member
Yhanks for the ideas. I am looking for something that will have some legs and my go a year or two. Once again thanks and keep them comming ,
 
Lensmith

Lensmith

Member
When I worked in Pittsburgh we did a series on honesty. It's been done other places as well but it's basically hidden camera work.

We put a wallet on the street in various locations, always public, so no private property issues. Inside the wallet was a small amount of money along with enough I.D. that an honest person could contact the owner and return the wallet.

Some people did the right thing. Others, they all had their reasons, did not.

It could be anything. A wallet, purse, credit card...but the idea is to see what the people do and then interview them (or catch thme running away from you) when you reveal you've been watching.

Of course...the legal department at your company may think it's a bit too risky, even if you're in the right and the person caught on camera being less than honest is in the wrong.

Still, it made for some good tv and I'd think something like that could run for a while.

It might even influence a stronger sense of honesty in the whole community! (a naive Lensmith comment)

[ August 02, 2005, 11:28 AM: Message edited by: Lensmith ]
 
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