Any tips for hitting new deadline?

[Tom_Brinkman01]

My paper just changed its deadline from 11:15 p.m. to 10:15 p.m. Has anyone else gone through this? If so, please post tips on becoming more efficient (writing, interviewing, etc...). All advice is appreciated.

 

[Idaho]

File at the end of the third quarter. Run a correction the next day with the final score.

 

[Claws for Concern]

Write letters to ESPN, NBC, CBS, FOX, etc. and tell them to move the game time to all day games for every sport.

 

[huntsie]

Write running and file at every break (quarter, halftime, end of period, etc.) File right after and file a later version with quotes as, or if, time allows.
Perhaps get a pregame feature written, file before the game and drop a score into the lead or second paragraph.

 

[Starman]

Tell your publisher he'll have to buy wireless laptops for all your writers and stringers, so they can file directly from game sites the second games get over. Interviews, quotes? Forget it. No time.

Tell him you have a 50-50 shot to get in national events which start at 7 p.m. Eastern time, but no chance in hell to get anything later.

Tell him you can look forward to getting absolutely no phone reports from most prep events, since your phone cutoff time is going to have to be set no later than 9:45, most coaches don't get out of the locker room until then, and most won't call the next day to report day-old scores.

Tell him you're really sorry about all this, you wish you could tell him something different, but you're not God and you can't alter the space-time continuum, so if he is dead-set on a 10:15 p.m. deadline, that's how it's going to be.

 

[Chi City 81]

Look for a new job.

 

[TwoGloves]

We did the same thing a year or so ago. Saturday night 10:15 deadline. Just write a running gamer with no quotes and if you make deadline, you make deadline. If you don't, you can't control that the game wasn't over when deadline hit. You can always write a filler or perhaps even get a quote or two before the game if you can find something that will hold up. The couple times I've missed deadline, they've had a filler story ready to go because there's nothing you can do about it.

 

[DyePack]

 

[Football_Bat]

Pretend you're a PM. Come in early, do the pages, and go get drunk. Run that night's stories the next day. Lather, rinse, repeat.

A week of answering the phone calls you forward to him will change the publisher's mind.

 

[Angola!]

What time zone are you in? If you are on the Left Coast then you can still fill your paper with national news. If you are on the Least Coast then you are screwed.

 

[Tom_Brinkman01]

What time zone are you in? If you are on the Left Coast then you can still fill your paper with national news. If you are on the Least Coast then you are screwed.

I'm in the Bay area, so it's no problem with national stories. It's the prep and college coverage I'm concerned about.

 

[EStreetJoe]

With the changeover in our production system our Friday night deadline is now 10:15. Fortunately we only cover 2-3 (sometimes 4) high school football games on a Friday night. Here's how we've been doing it. Have the writers call at halftime and dictate a good 5-6 inches worth of running. At the end of the game call with the final score and another few graphs as a top. That way we have something to get in the paper for first. Then they have 30 minutes to get back to the office and rework the story for second edition or 60 minutes for the final edition.

 

[Mystery_Meat]

Do your thing, and when the publisher ******* about missed deadlines, tell him you thought he meant Aleutian Time Zone 10:15.

 

[2underpar]

do more roundups and less full game stories. plug and then remake.
Make sure the publisher realizes the consequences.
How big is your shop -- do you have one edition, three editions?
If you only have one edition, you're screwed. If you have more than one edition, it can work.
The big thing is to make sure you have a good system for following up the next day.

 

[joe]

Write. Shorter.

And when you get calls bitching about prep stuff not getting in, explain to the pissed off parent or coach and then give them the publisher's number.

 

[write then drink]

a guy who used to be on my beat more than once over the years called his desk just before deadline and asked if they got his story. which he hadn't filed.

they'd check and say, no, it wasn't in there. he'd sound perplexed, say there must be a computer problem, old rickety laptop, and he'll work on it

then he'd finish the story, the computer problem would mysteriously be solved, and he'd file 10 or 15 minutes late. his desk thought he was a hero for figuring out his computer issue and getting his story in all on deadline

brilliant

 

[Ledbetter]

a guy who used to be on my beat more than once over the years called his desk just before deadline and asked if they got his story. which he hadn't filed.

they'd check and say, no, it wasn't in there. he'd sound perplexed, say there must be a computer problem, old rickety laptop, and he'll work on it

then he'd finish the story, the computer problem would mysteriously be solved, and he'd file 10 or 15 minutes late. his desk thought he was a hero for figuring out his computer issue and getting his story in all on deadline

brilliant

Yeah, that's something to be proud of. [/sarcasm]

 

[huntsie]

a guy who used to be on my beat more than once over the years called his desk just before deadline and asked if they got his story. which he hadn't filed.

they'd check and say, no, it wasn't in there. he'd sound perplexed, say there must be a computer problem, old rickety laptop, and he'll work on it

then he'd finish the story, the computer problem would mysteriously be solved, and he'd file 10 or 15 minutes late. his desk thought he was a hero for figuring out his computer issue and getting his story in all on deadline

brilliant

You'd get away with that once maybe. Keep doing it, and they conclude you're a clod with a computer and they don't trust you any more.

 

[Methodtomymadness]

I had to deal with that before, when an obnoxious publisher decided to give us impossible deadlines to reach during high school basketball nights.
I did the only thing I knew to do. I told the coaches of my situation and told them to feel free to complain when their games weren't published in the paper.
Needless to say, I don't work for that jerk any more. Thank God!

 

[ADifferentOkie]

Don't work harder, work smarter!

Sorry, had to say that.

What kind of stupid-ass system uses a deadline that early? I mean, goodness people, why not just have a noon deadline for an a.m. paper?
That's ridiculous. With the advances in technology we have, there is no reason for these deadlines to be going this direction. You'd think better technology would push things the other direction.