How to broadcast the Olympics: A day in the life with CBC Sports Executive Producer and RTA alum Joel Darling
Joel Darling (external link, opens in new window) has worked as an Executive Producer with CBC Sports since graduating from RTA in 1986. Currently, he is the Executive Producer of Special Events for NHL on Rogers Sportsnet. For the 2020 Olympic Tokyo Games he oversees Tokyo Today, a daily Olympic program from 12pm-6pm on CBC. Follow Joel during a day of the hectic two-week period as he works to produce Olympic coverage watched by millions of Canadians.
DID YOU KNOW?
- Canadians consumed more than 3.5 million hours of digital and streaming Olympic content (via CBC Gem, CBC Olympics App, and cbc.ca) by July 28, reaching record high levels each day of the opening weekend
--------------------------------------------
5:30 AM
An early call as we start the day at CBC preparing for CBC’s televised Olympic coverage. We come on air at 12:00 EST with Tokyo Today. We have 6 and a half hours to get things in place for a 6 hour show. First priority is to work with producer Glen MacDonald (RTA 92) and Associate Director Rhonda Kirkpatrick to find all the news that happened overnight while we were sleeping. Tokyo is 13 hours ahead of us and while we get a few hours of sleep, the games are happening in Tokyo and we need to turn around all the best sport that has happened for daytime viewers.
Behind the Camera: The crew films a segment with the hosts in the studio
7:30 AM
Technical crew arrives and begins to prep for the day. We check in with the commentators and provide them with updates on the show with respect to content and the guests we will have throughout the day. Meet with writers and researchers and share information as needed and prep them for the show.
9:00 AM
We start to record various interviews before we go to air and package them with highlights. We can record interviews with our analysts in Toronto or family members in Canada via zoom. We also can access athletes from The Broadcast Centre in Tokyo or from the Athlete’s Village. We have 3 hours to air and continue to finalize an ever-changing rundown. We are also working with our operators in tape who are trying to manage all the content that has come in from Tokyo from all the different competitions and venues.
10:30 AM
We start to package some parts of our rundown in order to allow the crew to get a 30 minute meal break after we go to air. Then we get our hosts Andre Chang and Perdita Felician on the set to rehearse our opening and all get on the same page as the script gets finalized. There are over 200 different items in a show script that range from on cameras, to highlights to animations and graphics. Everyone needs to have clarity about the entire rundown as air time comes closer.
12:00 AM
We go to air for the next 6 hours. It’s controlled chaos delivering as much sport and entertaining interviews as possible.
Joel Darling, Executive Producer with CBC Sports, RTA guest lecturer and alumnus
1:00 PM
Meal Time for only 30 minutes. Not everyone can get away as our tape department is continuing to organize footage for air and some are continuing to organize features and sports packages.
6:00 PM
Show signs off.
6:10 PM
Shoot on camera pretaped commentary with Andrew Chang, co-anchor of CBC Television's nightly flagship newscast The National.
6:20 PM
Perdita shoots a taped interview with Prime Time Show [live event coverage from the games in North American primetime from 7pm - 12am] and Scott Russell [the host of the show].
6:25 PM
Post show meeting with production crew and commentators to discuss the show and look ahead to tomorrow.
6:30 PM
Technical crew and commentators are released for the night
CBC Sports Executive Producer Joel Darling, Producer Glen MacDonald, and Associate Director Rhonda Kirkpatrick begin to assemble the next days’ show
6:30-9:00 PM
Myself, Glen MacDonald (producer) and Rhonda Kirkpatrick (associate director) begin to prepare the next days’ show
9:30 PM
Bedtime
The Creative School at Ryerson University
The Creative School is a dynamic faculty that is making a difference in new, unexplored ways. Made up of Canada’s top professional schools and transdisciplinary hubs in media, communication, design and cultural industries, The Creative School offers students an unparalleled global experience in the heart of downtown Toronto.