Breaking News Video: A Checklist to Run Through Before You Commission

Most problems with urgent video begin before anyone picks up a camera, in a vague idea of what the piece is for. Write down the single thing a viewer should understand after thirty seconds. If you cannot say it in a sentence, the crew will not be able to shoot it in an hour.

Decide whether you need a package with a reporter, a short piece to camera, a voiced item over pictures, or raw footage for your own editors. Each one changes how many people we send, how long the edit takes and what kit goes in the van. A clear brief at this stage saves the awkward conversation on location about what was actually wanted.

Say also where the item will run: a bulletin slot, a web player, or both. A bulletin item has a fixed running time and a fixed place in the running order, while a web version can breathe a little. We shoot differently when we know the answer.

• The one-sentence point of the story
• Package, piece to camera or raw footage
• Running time and the slot it fills
• Whether a web version is also needed

Once the story is defined, ask what stands between the camera and the subject. Private land, a building with a press office, a police cordon or a hospital corridor each carry their own rules, and a crew that arrives without a plan can lose the best part of an hour at the gate.

Tell us who has agreed to be filmed and who has not. If an interview is promised, name the person and give us a contact who can confirm it on the day. Where children or vulnerable people are involved, say so early so that we can plan framing and consent properly.

Safety belongs on this list as well. Weather, traffic, crowds and uneven ground all affect how a single operator works, and we would rather talk about a risk on the phone than discover it at the roadside. A short risk note from your side, even three lines, helps us decide how many people to send.

• Who can confirm access on the day
• Named interviewees and their consent
• Any restrictions on filming or recording sound
• Known hazards at the location

Broadcast-ready means different things in different newsrooms. Frame rate, resolution, audio levels, caption requirements and file wrapper all vary, and a clip that plays perfectly in one system can be rejected by the next. Send us your delivery specification, or the name of the person who owns it, before the shoot rather than after the edit.

Decide how the finished item reaches you. Some teams want a file dropped into a shared location, others want a transfer to an ingest point, and some need a copy held back until a producer approves it. Whichever it is, name it, so the last ten minutes of a tight turnaround are not spent hunting for a login.

Think about captions and graphics too. If your bulletin needs open captions, a name strap or a location tag, tell us the house style, including spellings and title wording. Getting a name wrong on screen is far harder to fix than getting a shot wrong.

• Frame rate, resolution and audio level
• File wrapper and delivery route
• Caption and graphics style, with spellings
• Who receives the finished file

Turnaround is the part of the brief people are least precise about. Give us the hard deadline, the time the item must be in your system, not the time it will be broadcast. Then work backwards: travel, setup, filming, a short pause for the reporter to gather thoughts, the edit, the caption pass and the transfer all take real minutes.

If the story is still developing, say so, and say what would change the plan. A crew that knows a statement is due at four can wait for it, while a crew told only to be there at two may leave too early. Our job is to protect the quality of the picture and sound within the time you have, and we will tell you when a deadline cannot be met without a cost to either.

Agree a point at which you check in. A short call after the shoot, before the edit starts, lets you adjust the angle while it is still cheap to do so.

• The time the file must reach you
• Any event still to happen on the day
• A check-in call after filming
• Who can make a decision if plans change

Urgent work stalls when nobody is sure who approves it. Name one person on your side who can say yes, and make sure they will be reachable during the edit. If the item needs legal or editorial review, build that into the clock rather than treating it as a surprise at the end.

Tell us how many rounds of changes you expect. One quick review is realistic for a breaking item; several rounds belong to a longer production. Clear expectations let our editors work steadily instead of waiting for notes that might not come.

Finally, agree what happens to the footage afterwards. Unused material, rushes and alternate takes can be useful to a newsroom later, and you may want them kept or handed over. Settle this before the shoot so the question does not hang over the invoice.

• One named approver and a backup
• Number of review rounds expected
• Handling of rushes and unused footage

Finally, ask for the scope and price in writing before work begins. A written quotation should say what is included, such as crew, kit, editing and captioning, and what could change it, such as extra travel, a longer shoot or a late change of angle. Our prices page sets out how pricing works in more detail.

Read the quotation against the points above. If the format, the deadline or the number of review rounds are not in it, ask for them to be added. Work that starts on a shared understanding is almost always calmer than work that starts on a handshake.

After confirmation, an invoice follows and is paid by bank transfer, with cancellations handled under our payment and refund policy. If anything on this checklist is unclear, the contact page is the quickest way to reach us.