Real-Life Math
Imagine you're a television producer, responsible for a half-hour news program. The newscast is strictly formatted. The show can be no longer than 28 minutes long, including commercial breaks. The format looks like this:
Length of Segment
(in Minutes) | Type of Segment |
| 12:55 | News |
| 2:00 | Commercial |
| 4:00 | News |
| 2:00 | Commercial |
| 2:00 | News |
| 1:00 | Commercial |
| 4:05 | News |
If one segment goes long you have to compensate by shortening the next news segment. Commercials have to run because a sponsor has paid for that time. On this day, your news block runs heavy at 13:16. The next block also runs heavy at 4:12.
As you enter the second break you still have 6 minutes and 5 seconds in video clips and script left to air. The item running in the next block is 1:35 with a 15-second script to introduce it and a 10-second script to throw to the next commercial break. There's no time to edit. Your last block has one full clip which is 1:30 with a 15-second intro.
Next, you were planning on running a 15-second interview clip and 30-second voice-over script. (Voice-over means the announcer reads the script but the viewer sees video, not the announcer.) The next item has a 10-second video clip of natural sound and a 37-second voice-over. Finally, you have a 15-second piece of copy, an 18-second interview clip and another 15-second piece of copy to wrap up the show.
How much time are you heavy? And how can you cut to make up the time? The clock is ticking and the floor director and the anchor want to know what to do.