Life is Like a Leaking Bottle of Chocolate Syrup.

Today it hit me. I keep waiting for some big "Ta Dah!" moment to smack me in the face as inspiration for my blog and I now realize that is just not going to happen. Rather, blog inspiration comes from the little things, the little mishaps, the little surprises. You catch my drift. And as for today... It all started with one small thing. 

THE LEAKING BOTTLE OF CHOCOLATE SYRUP. 

Just as I had finally gathered up all my special school supplies, macbook/charger/notebooks/pen/highlighter/planner/old planner to convert into new planner, and so on and so forth, I was ready to conquer the ever-so-tedious and annoyingly epic "TO DO" list. It is, unfortunately, one of those things that forever looms over my head like a dark cloud of all things evil. I know you know the feeling. If you're a soon-to-be graduate of The University of Missouri School of Journalism broadcast sequence, yep, I know you know the feeling. But ok, back to the topic at hand. THE LEAKING BOTTLE OF CHOCOLATE SYRUP. I had gathered up all my school supplies, lugged them all downstairs, plopped them all on the kitchen table... and was ready to conquer the world. But first-- DIET COKE. (duh.) The only missing ingredient. So here I go, all chipper and confident towards the fridge, where low and behold, I open the door... glance down to my diet coke shelf, and there it is: The gooey, sticky, icky, oozing, annoying, disgusting, gushing, leaking, flowing mass of THE LEAKING BOTTLE OF CHOCOLATE SYRUP. Such a damper on my day. Such an obsolete, insignificant minor detail in my day, yet enough to send me over the edge enough to sit down and actually blog about it. It's the little things like this damper on my day that just throw me for a loop. I was so ready to go. So set on accomplishing at least a few of the things on my ever-so-tedious "TO-DO" list. And now? Now I just had the joy of cleaning up someone else's mess. I was in no way responsible for that mess, yet here I am, stuck cleaning it. --- All of that being said, I will now make my analogy:

PRODUCING A NEWSCAST IS LIKE DEALING WITH A LEAKING BOTTLE OF CHOCOLATE SYRUP. 

You have so many things on your plate, so much to remember, so many minor details you must constantly think about with no room for error, and yet-- one other person makes a mistake, one other person doesn't do their job correctly, one tiny aspect that has been overlooked, and it's all over. Your stuck cleaning up the mess. Might as well stock up on those paper towels, folks, because newscasts get messy. No one enjoys sloppiness. Especially not me. I love all things clean and concise. However, THE LEAKING BOTTLE OF CHOCOLATE SYRUP certainly ain't one of 'em. The one mistake, or droplet of chocolate syrup, may have made absolutely no difference to your viewers, but to you, who has been slaving away on it for hours upon hours that day, carefully crafting it into your perfect little baby, IT MEANS THE WORLD. 

I've really got to get better about letting the leaking chocolate syrup go. Not to say I'll ever come to terms with nasty chocolate sticky syrup smearing all over my newscast, but I really do need to learn how to just grab my paper towels and wipe it up, LIKE A CHAMP. Walking away from the mess is key. Wash your hands. Leave the gooey, stickiness in the sink. Let it go. I'll be working on this as the weeks and my newscasts progress. And y'all-- If you see me freaking out about the chocolate syrup, stop me in my tracks, look me in the eye, and tell me to shut up and grab the paper towels.

Cheers,

Eliza.

Ridin' the Gravy Train.

Ridin' the Gravy Train.

Pink Floyd - Have A Cigar

Come in here, dear boy, have a cigar.

You're gonna go far, fly high,

You're never gonna die, you're gonna make it if you try;

they're gonna love you.

Well I've always had a deep respect, and I mean that most sincerely.

The band is just fantastic, that is really what I think.

Oh by the way, which one's Pink?

And did we tell you the name of the game, boy

We call it Riding the Gravy Train.

We're just knocked out.

We heard about the sell out.

You gotta get an album out,

You owe it to the people. We're so happy we can hardly count.

Everybody else is just green, have you seen the chart?

It's a helluva start, it could be made into a monster

If we all pull together as a team.

And did we tell you the name of the game, boy

We call it Riding the Gravy Train.

------------------

PRODUCERS CALL IT:

"RIDING THE GRAVY TRAIN"

This is probably the biggest issue I've encountered since my days of producing. "Riding the video Gravy Train..." is a bit more complicated than the infamous Pink Floyd let on. It entails looking at the BIGGER PICTURE. Completely soaking in every aspect of the newscast, one detail at a time, locking them together like a fully-loaded pistol. The audience deserves a newscast that delivers the news to them fast, and the only way to keep their attention is delivering it to them like sharp bullets. New. Hard. Fast. They can't expect what's coming their way. It didn't used to be this way. But with the changing, evolving, ever-present growth of online journalism, one must adapt to the media metamorphosis. 

"Riding the video gravy train" is a term producers refer to as something we use for describing our newscast rundown, when national and local stories flow together in one swift glide, with plenty of compelling video and fewer readers and anchor lead-ins. Producers enjoy the creativity. Audiences enjoy the flow. I would like to think that all together, it works for most people. And for me, it makes a great a connection to one of my favorite artists. The lyrics will tell you: By producers "Riding the Gravy Train," “You’re gonna go far... You’re gonna fly high.”

*News consultant, Nancy Velenta, introduced the phrase "video gravy train" to KOMU 8 as a way to sum up the way producers should showcase as much great video as possible, especially in the late newscast when audiences are headed to bed.