True crime genre TV producer briefs NPC team on the making of a successful show

Steve Katz is a "show runner."  That doesn't sound like a typical job description you see on a newsroom org chart, but it's not much different from being an on-call foreign correspondent ready to coordinate coverage from anywhere at anytime.

During a lunchtime meeting Oct. 7 of the National Press Club Broadcast/Podcast team, Katz detailed his move from broadcast news to "running" non-fiction TV projects -- mostly in the immensely popular true crime genre.  The meeting day was coincidentally the same date as his first day at Fox News Channel 25 years earlier. 

He said there's only "a degree of difference between being a fireman reporter" to being a producer for hire, which is what he is now.

His move from the newsroom to the production suite started after a stint at APRadio as chief supervisor, then another at the then new Fox News Channel, where he oversaw news coverage from all domestic bureaus, before  becoming FNC bureau chief for New York and the northeast. He then moved to the Fox Television-produced "America's Most Wanted," where he started running the news desk and eventually became co-executive producer and show runner.  

His description of the show runner job makes it sound like a juggler, with several episodes in various stages of production at once.

He explained, for example, that someone suggests a compelling murder case that has interesting twists and turns. Then researchers are assigned come up with names of possible interview subjects, locate available video associated with the crime and identify locations to shoot cover shots, known as "B-roll."  Once approved, the interviews, shoots and perhaps some re-creations need to be arranged, all while keeping to a budget.