What "Standby" Means When You Book a Breaking News Crew

A crew on standby is not sitting idle. The camera operator and producer are close to the vehicle, with batteries charged, cards cleared and radio mics tested. Tripod, lights and a basic rain cover are already packed, because loading kit after the call costs the first minutes of a story.

We also use the quiet time to read. The producer follows the developing situation, notes likely locations, and works out two or three routes, since a road that looks clear at nine can be closed by ten. Rhys Pritchard plans these crews, and he would rather a team spent standby time on route and access than on tea.

What standby does not include is shooting. Footage made speculatively, before you ask for it, is a separate matter and is agreed in writing, not assumed.

A standby window is a start time and an end time. Without an end, a crew can be held indefinitely, which is unfair to the people in it and unhelpful to you, because a tired crew shoots worse than a rested one. We ask for both times, and for what happens if the window runs out while a story is still developing.

Most newsrooms choose one of two routes: extend the window by a set period, or release the crew and re-book. Neither is wrong. What causes trouble is a window that quietly lapses and nobody notices until pictures are needed.

In these autumn weeks, with early darkness and unsettled weather, we also check how long usable light lasts at your likely locations. A standby that ends at four may be pointless for an exterior if the light has gone by half past.

Standby is a two-way arrangement. Our side is availability and readiness; yours is a clear line of contact. We need one named person on your desk who can say go, and a number that is answered. If the decision sits with three people and none are reachable, the crew waits and the story moves on.

It also helps to tell us your delivery format and hand-over route in advance: file type, naming, where footage is uploaded, and whether you want a rough cut or raw material first. Daniel Okafor and the editing team can then match your house style from the first clip rather than correcting it later.

Finally, tell us what you would like if the story turns out smaller than expected. A crew that has travelled for a minor event can still gather useful cutaways, but only if we know that is welcome.