Lauren Slome
Emmy-nominated Multi-platform Producer
Producing work
The producer chair is where I feel most at home – it amplifies my strengths and gives me a space to shine. The hours I spend in that hot seat are fast-paced and full of possibility. Every show is a personal challenge to myself: a chance to grow, learn and flex my creative instinct. I've always enjoyed being innovative, and producing is where I get to break the mold while indulging my competitive side. My latest goal? Breaking the monotony of coronavirus headlines that could otherwise blur together one year into this pandemic.
Producing has also introduced me to another passion of mine - managing a team. News is far from a solo sport, and over the past few years, I've learned a lot about what it means to be a true newsroom leader. I pride myself on working closely with my editors, photographers, and reporters on even the smallest details. What I've found is that when I work to make their product shine, mine in turn gets a little bit brighter.
Produce it up
RTDNAC Best Newscast 2020
Immediacy. Emotion. Critical information.
I produced this 6 pm newscast the Monday following George Floyd's death, striking a powerful balance of those three things. It followed 48 hours of mayhem in Raleigh and Fayetteville as protests gave way to riots that vandalized, terrified and torched those cities. The live coverage in this newscast was critical to keeping our viewers informed, including the on-the-move report from Joe Fisher and the addition of Gilbert Baez's hit at the end of the newscast, which we added in during the break before as his scene escalated. I spent the day constantly updating developing information, working in new elements, and making sure these 30 minutes would be worth every second of our viewers' time. It later won the award for RTDNAC's best newscast of 2020.
Emmy-nominated riot coverage after George Floyd's death
WRAL was nominated for two Midsouth regional emmy awards for its coverage of the riots after George Floyd's death in Minneapolis. I am proud to say that I played a lead role in that coverage. I boothed 21 hours of wall-to-wall breaking news coverage, overseeing multiple crews in the field, as well as the sky5 helicopter. This as thousands gathered, marched, and ultimately rioted throughout downtown Raleigh, North Hills, Durham and Fayetteville. Through that, my focus was not just on the coverage, but on managing my teams in the field who were tear gassed, shot at with rubber bullets, and harassed by select protesters. I am incredibly proud of what we put on the air that weekend, covering the story and informing viewers so they could stay safe.
One week of first 100 seconds
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They always say the first 100 seconds is what counts most, right? So here are the first 100 seconds of the 5 newscasts I produced from November 16-20 (give or take the rounding of a thought). They aren't perfect, but I hope you'll see in them that I'm always challenging myself to shake up the way I start a show.
Call for Change special
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This was the first special I produced at WRAL. It aired in the months after George Floyd's death, when our community itself was calling for change. We organized a musical telethon that combined the talents of local artists with their messages for change. From performances by Rissi Palmer to an interview with Renee Elyse Goldsberry who played Angelica Schuyler in Hamilton, we gave the artistic community a megaphone to amplify their message, while taking our audience inside some of the most loved venues in our community, all closed for covid-19. This special pushed me to think outside the box as we juggled schedules, performances and the pandemic. Most important of all, Call for Change raised more than $192,000 for the United Way's Anti-Racism Community Fund, which was established to help untangle systemic racism in the Triangle.
The elements can make the story
Some days you have to turn a feature into a lead. We've all been there. On this day, we got to hear from four World Cup- winning players who returned to Raleigh for the first time, more than a week after the tournament ended. So how do you make that a lead, especially when you can't use any game footage? It's in the details. I pulled photos the players shared, then worked closely with editors to use them to enhance the story I had scripted. I sat down with our graphics design team to create the backgrounds and coordinated with the sports team to make sure our work didn't overlap. The result turned into one of my favorite leads of the summer. It stood out from the crime and mayhem and was something for viewers to just enjoy.
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Hurricane coverage
Matthew. Florence. Dorian. Hurricanes have pounded North Carolina's coast for years. So how do you make your coverage different, and worth watching for viewers? For me, it was about producing up the elements and finding the emotion. This was the top of one of my newscasts as Dorian battered the Bahamas, on its way to North Carolina. Our coverage then was focused on preparing our viewers, especially those near the coast. Later our coverage would include going wall-to-wall as the storm lashed the Outer Banks, then telling stories of loss and recovery after it passed.
Football time in Tennessee
If you know Knoxville, you know all time is measured in the countdown to Volunteer football. I put together this segment in the week leading up to the team's home opener. It was a fun way to join the city-wide conversation, without just rehashing kickoff details. And if there's one thing I love to do, it's highlight the personality of my fantastic anchors. When they have fun, so do our viewers!
Newscasts
Let them vote early
Tennessee voters weighed in on three elections this year. As our coordinator of election coverage, I made it my goal to be with them every step of the way. So when early voting started this November, I let my creativity and passion for politics take over. Forget a few stills or a single VOSOT. Voting isn't a chore, and I didn't want watching our coverage to be one either.
Verify
In 2017, TEGNA launched a new brand called Verify. As a producer, I've often used it to fact check people of power. On the morning of this example, multiple viewers reached out to us asking whether the President could pardon himself as he was claiming. I wanted to answer it for them, so I went straight to the constitution and experts on the matter. I've also created segments on birthright and the President's claims that America is alone in extending that privilege, and local developments. I do each of these while still producing a full hour-long newscast that day. There was an editing mistake in this one that led to the tweet being up for longer than I would have liked, but I'm proud of the content I wrote and created.
The changing face of Congress 5 and 5:30 leads
On a day where the face of congress changed, politics were changing in East Tennessee, too. A former Knox County mayor joined the now-democratically-controlled House, and Tennessee sent a woman to the Senate for the first time ever. To own the importance of the day, we sent one of our main anchors to Washington to field much of that coverage. I worked to connect each piece seamlessly, and worked with our marketing team to create pieces that graphically supported that. All of this was day turn content, and I'm happy with the way it turned out. These were my lead blocks at 5 and 5:30.
Breaking the news first
On this day, it was my job to make my reporter's work shine. He spent weeks working a source to get the right to break this news, and even got the embargo set for the moment my show began. It's always important to produce up your reporter's work, but never so much as a day like this. I took over all buildup so Cole could focus on the detail, and the storytelling. The end result was that we looked polished as we beat our competition.
January 13, 2019 full 5 o'clock show
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I always like to give you a sample of what I do on the daily. This was my newscast on Friday, January 13th. One thing I was especially proud of in this show was how I brought in the viewers. Friday was day 21 of the partial government shutdown, tying America's record for the longest. I felt it would be a decisive day for Americans, one where they made up their mind whether it was worth continuing the shutdown over border wall funding. I was right. A typical megaphone response at WBIR is somewhere between 75-200. A great day is around 400 responses. On Friday, by the end of my show we had 1,300 votes. The 6 o'clock producer carried it into her show and we ended at 6:30 with some 2,500 votes.
5:30 AM November 11, 2015
The week following Wolfe and Bowen's announcements was full of action and concern. In my morning show we created a leading segment describing all of the communications and changes on campus and in the community, as well as providing regular updates on whether the University had cancelled classes, which was expected to happen that day. Unlike the competition, we didn't spend time talking about the untrue, dangerous rumors that spread around campus the previous night. Instead, we reported the facts involving the many aspects of change on campus, without indulging those rumors and giving them further attention.
6:30 PM November 9, 2015
On November 9, both UM system president Tim Wolfe and MU Chancellor R. Bowen Loftin announced they would be leaving their positions with the University of Missouri in response to actions taken by Concerned Student 1950, Jonathan Butler and the MU football team. Though I wasn't scheduled to work, I went to the newsroom to help with whatever was needed. Part of my work that day involved scripting and producing this segment to provide context to the actions taking place that day. I also produced an interactive timeline for our website that can be found here.