TV News: Adapting Our Plans

TV News: Adapting Our Plans

So as you may have seen from Alex's blog we faced a bit of a setback when Smart (one of our biggest contributors) pulled out. 

However if I am honest, I had already considered that this would may possibly happen. So I was slightly prepared and knew that the important thing was not to panic. 

I had considered other options we could use to fill the time, firstly I made sure we contacted smart back politely so we don't loose them (as Helen always advised) and advised him a shady blog post probably wasn't the best option.

I made sure he asked them if we could still film in their dealership so we still have some access to an electric car (they said yes).

Then I helped us brainstorm ideas to fill the time we were dedicating to test driving the electric car. Ideas included using a Hybrid (but access at such short notice could prove difficult but we will still try), or comparing a petrol and electric car within the dealership. 

Eventually we settled on replacing the segment with a petrol car efficiency test. We are going to collate as many facts as possible about how much it costs to run a petrol car vs an electric on a set journey. We will then put this to the test with a petrol car on camera (forming the majority of the package). Then we will cut to smart where we intend to look at their electric models and find out how much the same journey would have cost in an all electric car.

Potentially interviewing someone at smart (but being careful not to get a biased opinion). 

Overall this was a bit of a setback, but I made sure to prepare back up ideas in advance this time. It also helped this group learn how to adapt to a changing situation, a necessary skill in a news/doc environment, and hopefully we will pull together something really good without killing each other.