Windows inside a TV Newsroom?

thedark · Jul 3, 2014

Hi there!

I'm setting a scene inside a TV newsroom. I don't have the best TV broadcasting terminology, but I mean the type of room where a reporter would interview someone else for a special live segment. Would that be a regular newsroom, or another type of room/set?

And would there be windows in that room, windows that open? If no, is the studio inside a building and boxed in with interior soundproof walls, or is it more like a sitcom set, inside a much larger room with empty space around it?

For the scene I'm trying to build, the POV character, Sandra, is the interviewee during a live Eyewitness News broadcast. I'm hoping to show my four vigilante teens break into the broadcasting room, talk to the cameras for half a minute, then make a quick get-away out the nearest window (much like Spiderman, they like to travel on the outside of buildings).

If a broadcasting set/newsroom doesn't have windows, I can work with that. I just need to know where the nearest window is, if any, in relation to the newsroom.

If it helps, this is a New York City newsroom. WABC-TV, in the Upper West Side, Manhattan. I try to model after real places, as much as feasible. That particular company is housed in a building with deliciously large windows that all appear to open. I just don't know what the inside looks like.

Thank you.

Nekko · Jul 3, 2014

I don't have any practical knowledge, but why let that stop me...
I think the Today Show is filmed from a first floor studio with a large window behind them, because you can see crowds of people watching and waving, enjoying their moment of 'fame'.
(It is one of the early morning news shows. I'm more of an NPR person in the morning, so I've only seen it on rare occasions, whichever one it is.)

I'm sure it's very thick glass, so a challenge for your troublemakers to overcome!

King Neptune · Jul 3, 2014

I have been in several TV station news studios, and they are usually inside warehouse-like buildings with minimal fenestration, or none, But interviews are often at other locations, and those early morning shows do have windows, so you should do what you need. I think you best bet is that a particular station has a room set aside for interviews; it might be a conference room at times also.

thedark · Jul 3, 2014

King Neptune said:
I have been in several TV station news studios, and they are usually inside warehouse-like buildings with minimal fenestration, or none, But interviews are often at other locations, and those early morning shows do have windows, so you should do what you need. I think you best bet is that a particular station has a room set aside for interviews; it might be a conference room at times also.

Oh my... thank you for introducing the delightful word fenestration to my vocabulary. Where was that hiding all my life?

And of course, thank you for the knowledge! A separate interview room hadn't occurred to me... *wanders off to google images*

Fenestration...

Yummy.

cornflake · Jul 3, 2014

The WABC local eyewitness news set fronts, or I suppose, backs (? the anchors' backs are sort of kitty corner to) the street, with a wall of windows.

The problem you're going to have is the breaking in and out of - I kind of presume the windows aren't plain glass, and you can't get in to the studio from anyplace close to the windows - the entrance to WABC itself is down a ways, with a security desk, and a hallway abutting.

Lemme see if I can find a pic for you.

Voila. This is a good, clear one from the outside. It's too big to insert. This is looking uptown, at the sidestreet. The bus stop is on the sidestreet, if that makes sense. I dunno how familiar you are with the city.

This is a good view of the anchor desk with the windows in view for perspective. The window visible is the Columbus Ave. side, prominent in the pic below - you can see the newsstand in both.

Here are a couple other views of the interior - one from the window pov, the other from the desk looking toward the windows.

This is an overhead from the side, given the other two, you can see where it is.

cornflake · Jul 3, 2014

The channel thirteen studios are also glass-fronted, and smaller, and much more interview-based - like they do interviews right there. That might work better for you?

Big pic here, with a broadcast going on and someone standing outside, so you can see how close it is.

Here's a good pic of the interior, and another of the outside.

blacbird · Jul 3, 2014

I worked in a radio newsroom many years ago, and though not a TV studio, the interior windows were slanted downwards on the outside to reduce reflection of light from ceilling fluorescents. Don't know if this helps.

caw

Orianna2000 · Jul 6, 2014

I don't know if this will help, but there's a local news station that's housed in a small shopping mall. You can walk by and look in the windows to watch them filming the news, if you time it right. The windows don't show from the camera angles they film at, they're all behind and to the side. Also, they're all interior windows (I believe), facing the walkway in the shopping center, none face outside.

Wilde_at_heart · Jul 6, 2014

Before they moved the CityTV studio in Toronto, it used to be practically a shop front. I believe the windows were kept closed for security reasons (including a guy who used to go shirtless, wearing a Santa Claus hat who used to frequently bang on the windows from the street outside) and I can't remember whether they could open or not now.

thedark · Jul 8, 2014

You guys are awesome. Each and every one of you.

I spent far too much time stalking the Channel 13 building on Google, and revisiting my beloved WABC newsroom.. but I keep running into the same problem. Knowing that they broadcast on ground level, with full-length windows in view of the public is good.

But knowing that the windows don't open.. not so good. Not in either building; not on the same floor as they broadcast live.

To go a step further, turns out the glass windows are bulletproof, which further eliminates the possibility of my vigilantes breaking into and out of the newsroom.

Which leads me to my new question!

For those of you that watch the news (I shamefully admit I've never seen a live broadcast from anywhere other than tiny towns), is it possible they'd do an interview offsite, somewhere outdoors?

The subject of the scene, Sandra Novak, is a New York Times reporter (a columnist, really). I could set the scene at the location of the last reported sighting of the vigilantes, or various delightful places throughout the city (thus giving rise to many more possibilities for my vigilantes to get on and off camera quickly). But would a news channel actually do such an interview live, outdoors? And it's January... Let me rephrase that -- would they do an interview offsite, inside some other building relevant to the story they were telling?

It's probably an obvious question.. I just live so happily non-news exposed that I'm not sure if I can just do that without losing realism.

Unless of course anyone knows a newsroom/interview room in New York City with windows that open, that's on a second floor or higher.

Thank you again.

cornflake · Jul 8, 2014

thedark said:
You guys are awesome. Each and every one of you.

I spent far too much time stalking the Channel 13 building on Google, and revisiting my beloved WABC newsroom.. but I keep running into the same problem. Knowing that they broadcast on ground level, with full-length windows in view of the public is good.

But knowing that the windows don't open.. not so good. Not in either building; not on the same floor as they broadcast live.

To go a step further, turns out the glass windows are bulletproof, which further eliminates the possibility of my vigilantes breaking into and out of the newsroom.

Which leads me to my new question!

For those of you that watch the news (I shamefully admit I've never seen a live broadcast from anywhere other than tiny towns), is it possible they'd do an interview offsite, somewhere outdoors?

The subject of the scene, Sandra Novak, is a New York Times reporter (a columnist, really). I could set the scene at the location of the last reported sighting of the vigilantes, or various delightful places throughout the city (thus giving rise to many more possibilities for my vigilantes to get on and off camera quickly). But would a news channel actually do such an interview live, outdoors? And it's January... Let me rephrase that -- would they do an interview offsite, inside some other building relevant to the story they were telling?

It's probably an obvious question.. I just live so happily non-news exposed that I'm not sure if I can just do that without losing realism.

Unless of course anyone knows a newsroom/interview room in New York City with windows that open, that's on a second floor or higher.

Thank you again.

Yeah I didn't think those windows were plain glass, heh.

Ok, what do you mean by an interview? I assumed you meant an interview, like a sit-down discussion. Why're they talking to her?

People do live standups all the time. If it's at a press conf. and there's some reason, sure they'd be there, but they'd be there. In general, if they just want to ask a Times columnist, they'd call. Like, who's getting out of their pajamas to go talk to the anchor on channel 7 for 30 seconds, you know?

Orianna2000 · Jul 8, 2014

If a vigilante was being chased and they stopped running in order to open a window to make their escape, I would probably die laughing. It just seems . . . implausible? If you're panicked (possibly) and in a hurry (most definitely), you're more likely to throw yourself through the glass to escape. Of course, you could have a funny moment if the glass is bullet proof and they bounce right off, or dislocate a shoulder trying to break the glass, and then they stop to unlatch the window, and calmly exit the building.

As far as using another building, I dunno. I've seen interviews done on location, like at a high school, or in front of a building of interest. Not sure I've ever seen them done in another office building, though. Unless their main location was flooded or storm-damaged, or something like that.

thedark · Jul 8, 2014

cornflake said:
Yeah I didn't think those windows were plain glass, heh.

Ok, what do you mean by an interview? I assumed you meant an interview, like a sit-down discussion. Why're they talking to her?

People do live standups all the time. If it's at a press conf. and there's some reason, sure they'd be there, but they'd be there. In general, if they just want to ask a Times columnist, they'd call. Like, who's getting out of their pajamas to go talk to the anchor on channel 7 for 30 seconds, you know?

The TV reporter (David) is interviewing the columnist (Sandra), because Sandra has spent the last four years writing a daily column about the New York Girls in Black (the vigilante sisters in question). The Friend or Foe columns are like mini-interviews with folks who've encountered the vigilantes, and each chapter begins with one. In many ways, Sandra feels like a main character to the reader.

But the last time the City had a confirmed sighting of the New York Girls in Black was July -- it's now January 1st, and David is interviewing Sandra for her take on the vigilantes at the start of the new year. Have they abandoned the city forever? Gone overseas as some of the unconfirmed sightings seem to indicate? Died? He's not interviewing her as the result of a specific incident -- more like that lack thereof. Asking her if the Times is going to shut down the Friend or Foe column with almost six months of no confirmed sightings.

Of course the reader knows where the vigilantes have been all along -- off rescuing one of their own from the Big Bad over in Europe.

This scene is the epilogue, and its purpose is to showcase that the vigilantes are back. And the girls want to make a bit of a splash about it, you know? Show up during a live broadcast, disappear with the flair they're famous for. Remind the New York bad guys that they're back. Give Sandra a wink for old times' sake.

And tell the city why they left. Earn their credibility back.

All of that is easy enough to do; if I could just place the scene somewhere.

The original newsroom idea was purely so it could be a live broadcast, and so they could pull their semi-famous move of escaping out a skyscraper window (think Spiderman-like wristlets). But they can do that just as well on the ground, outside. But would a reporter do an outside interview in January in New York City? Seems a bit... chilly.

Midtown Skyport would be a good spot for an outdoor setting, or the Newport docks. Or in front of JFK airport, where they were last seen.

So many choices, but.. outdoors, in January?

thedark · Jul 8, 2014

Orianna2000 said:
If a vigilante was being chased and they stopped running in order to open a window to make their escape, I would probably die laughing. It just seems . . . implausible? If you're panicked (possibly) and in a hurry (most definitely), you're more likely to throw yourself through the glass to escape. Of course, you could have a funny moment if the glass is bullet proof and they bounce right off, or dislocate a shoulder trying to break the glass, and then they stop to unlatch the window, and calmly exit the building.

As far as using another building, I dunno. I've seen interviews done on location, like at a high school, or in front of a building of interest. Not sure I've ever seen them done in another office building, though. Unless their main location was flooded or storm-damaged, or something like that.

Giggle. I can just see them bouncing right off the glass... hehe. It's hilarious in my head.

In the original scene, they broke IN to the newsroom, and thus, have a neatly planned way back out the window they came in from. But the pesky "windows don't open" problem is putting a kink in that whole plan.

But.. bounce. Giggle.

Sorry; it's just hilarious. Like a comedy episode waiting to happen.

You reminded me of another setting... 26 Federal Plaza. There was a fire there earlier in the novel, which may or may not have been caused by the missing vigilantes -- the public doesn't know. Good spot for a scene. Though how much more ire do I want to risk in a novel that blows up Homeland Security offices...

They know we're just writers, right?

cornflake · Jul 8, 2014

thedark said:
The TV reporter (David) is interviewing the columnist (Sandra), because Sandra has spent the last four years writing a daily column about the New York Girls in Black (the vigilante sisters in question). The Friend or Foe columns are like mini-interviews with folks who've encountered the vigilantes, and each chapter begins with one. In many ways, Sandra feels like a main character to the reader.

But the last time the City had a confirmed sighting of the New York Girls in Black was July -- it's now January 1st, and David is interviewing Sandra for her take on the vigilantes at the start of the new year. Have they abandoned the city forever? Gone overseas as some of the unconfirmed sightings seem to indicate? Died? He's not interviewing her as the result of a specific incident -- more like that lack thereof. Asking her if the Times is going to shut down the Friend or Foe column with almost six months of no confirmed sightings.

Of course the reader knows where the vigilantes have been all along -- off rescuing one of their own from the Big Bad over in Europe.

This scene is the epilogue, and its purpose is to showcase that the vigilantes are back. And the girls want to make a bit of a splash about it, you know? Show up during a live broadcast, disappear with the flair they're famous for. Remind the New York bad guys that they're back. Give Sandra a wink for old times' sake.

And tell the city why they left. Earn their credibility back.

All of that is easy enough to do; if I could just place the scene somewhere.

The original newsroom idea was purely so it could be a live broadcast, and so they could pull their semi-famous move of escaping out a skyscraper window (think Spiderman-like wristlets). But they can do that just as well on the ground, outside. But would a reporter do an outside interview in January in New York City? Seems a bit... chilly.

Midtown Skyport would be a good spot for an outdoor setting, or the Newport docks. Or in front of JFK airport, where they were last seen.

So many choices, but.. outdoors, in January?

I think it's a pretty cute idea, though I have believability issues with the Times having a daily column about it and them not being caught for four years, but I presume this is a superhero-like, comic book world.

The outdoor thing doesn't really make sense to me the way you're explaining it. It just seems like it'd be a phone call. A live studio interview on 7 would be weird in that situation. A standup one for no reason (there's no scene they're both at) is even weirder.

If there was a scene that the cops thought was attributable to them and the news van was there and the reporter saw the NYT chick, who'd come to see what was up, that'd work? I dunno if it'd work with your story at all, though, obviously.

Windows inside a TV Newsroom?

thedark

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King Neptune

thedark

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Windows inside a TV Newsroom?

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