Writing for visual medium

I went into the field to shoot without the proper preparation for our first television package assignment. At the time, I thought I was totally prepared. I had written down the questions I wanted to ask and I assumed that filming sufficient shots of Ultimate Frisbee would be a breeze. However, about 1/2 hour into my time at Hinkson Creek, I realized that I was going to have to somehow wind together the many interviews and shots I had gathered. There didn't really seem to be any logical way to do this. All of my interviews had wandered off of the topic, and while I had some wonderful quotes from the players, they did not follow a linear story. When I sat down to edit, I finally fully appreciated the importance of following the correct process of writing for a visual medium. It is absolutely necessary to determine exactly from what angle of the story is going to be covered before going to shoot. Most of the time, it will not just happen to all magically come together in the editing lab. As Fred Shook said, I should have created the "blueprint for the story" before shooting. I was one of the skeptics before this assignment who believe that writing isn't really necessary for broadcast journalism. I assumed that the video would tell the story for itself. But I soon realized that this type of writing is much more challenging than print. It is so much easier to express what you're trying to say explicitly, using words. When it comes to weaving together nat sound, interviews, b-roll, etc. I am going to have to totally change my writing style. A bit overwhelming, yes. But I think we're all up to the challenge. :)