FS Southeast Hawks Game Producer JIL GOSSARD-COOK is back in the NBA this season after a stint with the Magic earlier in her career, and she enters the start of the regular season as the only female TV producer in the NBA. Gossard-Cook: "It’s not something I think about until people bring it up. I’ve been nearing 20 years in the business and our TV community is pretty small and tight knit. But if it inspires more women to go for it, then why not. Also, Fox makes it so I don’t even think twice about it.” This weekend, Gossard-Cook will have a quick turnaround from covering a Thursday night home opener against the Wizards to an early afternoon Saturday matchup with the 76ers in Philadelphia. “It’s bang-bang, but that’s the NBA,” she said.
HAWKS FEVER: For game night, there are only around a thousand details to get straight. As a producer, all the details of the broadcast need to be set in place so you can go with your plan and have the knowledge and preparation to make split second calls for the rest of the show. This week has been all about meetings, about our goal for this opening week and how we want to present the Hawks. We have a big new addition in DWIGHT HOWARD and we’ve had to go over our philosophy on covering him. Then it was about 48 straight hours at my desk working with promos, graphics, stats, features, soundbites, talent schedules, camera position etc. A lot of details, a lot of email leading up to this season. But it’s good to be busy.
BE KIND, REWIND: Late night Thursday I’ll probably watch that night's game back in its entirety until about 3:00am. Hopefully everything went well but I’m a stickler, so my DVR is loaded with our broadcasts. With it being opening night, I’d like to see how everything was executed, see if we need to change anything. I’m just so hyped up after a game, that’s just what I do. I’ll watch at least parts of every game this season on the back end. It’s the best way for me to learn what came across well, what could be improved. Sometimes in the production truck you don’t get the same sense as to how the viewer might see the game. Friday morning I’ll update our database with the stats from Thursday night then I’ll fly with the Hawks to Philadelphia. We’ll get to Philly, meet on the game and then at 5:30am Saturday we’ll be at the production truck to get the game on at noon.
ALWAYS TIME FOR FAMILY: No matter what time the game ends the night before I will get up with my kids at 6:30am. They’re in 4th and 5th grade. I’ll get them to school, take the dog for a walk and then get down to business. There’s usually a sporting event on in my house. My son MAX loves it because sports don’t count as TV time. I’ll occasionally watch a guilty pleasure like “REAL HOUSEWIVES” or “MODERN FAMILY.”
