News Release Form: TV

Releases for television should be one of two kinds:

• A media advisory to alert a station to a story so it can send its own film crew. The advisory can include special notes on visuals that may be available.
• A video news release. Video news releases, usually no more than two minutes long, should be professionally prepared and distributed on a professional-quality videotape format, usually 3/4-inch or super beta tape. The video package should include both a tightly edited version of the story and "B-roll," a generous selection of the same scenes that the station can edit as it sees fit. The tightly edited segment should have narration on one of the two audio channels and the ambient sound on the other. You should also include the script of the narration, should the station want to use the voice of one of its own correspondents.

The B-roll footage, should be accompanied by a list of the scenes, called a shot list, which includes the time for each scene. The B-roll should also include interviews with the principals, as well as "establishing shots" of the surroundings.

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