Journalism 101: The new entertainment reporter
A copy editor friend of mine has been assigned the duty of assembling and filling her paper’s entertainment page. It’s normally taken care of by freelancers, but freelancers aren’t full-time employees, and they can’t really be relied upon, as a general rule, the same way you can rely on someone whose entire livelihood depends on you. (This is the only reason I’m employed full-time by the media, I’m convinced.) So, this self-described “natural introvert” is concerned she might have to do a little entertainment reporting. As she falls on the writer side of the writer/reporter continuum, she wanted to know what to do if she got stuck holding the bag some week.
Here’s my reply, as a former entertainment and features reporter:
Start with stuff that you’re interested in. If you’re interested in it, so is somebody else. Look through the listings of who’s touring through the area, for instance, or who’s got a gallery show or whatever, and whatever jumps out at you personally, give them a call. You’ll find it’s a lot easier to turn in a good story that you care about than the more advanced stuff.
One of my first big entertainment interviews was Neil Gaiman. While I was very nervous talking to him (more than with, say, Pat Buchanan), the fact that I knew what I was talking about when asking him questions meant I did a pretty good job at it. Naturally, I had to cut the comic stuff down so that it fit into a mainstream paper (which is why there’s a more comic booky version on my blog nowadays), but it’s better to have too much material than too little.
After that, when looking at the upcoming choices, try to find a hook that you do care about. Maybe you don’t care about, say, “Joey,” but maybe the plight of an actor who’s risking being forever typecast is interesting to you. Or, conversely, you could look at how few spin-offs of hit shows succeed. There’s a massive amount of flops out there, many of which look like they should have succeeded, on paper.
Don’t be afraid to talk to experts — you won’t always have the ability to get past a publicist to talk to the creative person yourself — but experts, especially at colleges in your area, want to get their names in the paper. Your paper may have a big book of expert sources for the media to contact. It’s worth asking. If not, call up your nearest universities and contact their public information officers and ask them if they have a list like that.
If you hate talking to people yourself, doing reviews is also always good, since you can sit in a dark room with a gun (or maybe that’s just me) and do your work that way. Local theaters and galleries never feel they have enough coverage, and both lend themselves to this kind of approach. You can also do straight stories this way, although there will have to be some actual talking to human beings, once you’ve gone and gotten the color info yourself.
Finally, remember that it’s all fishwrap. While the goal is to make every paper a jewel, you’re only as good (or bad) as your last story. If you stink it up one edition, just focus on the next and don’t obsess about something that’s already lining a bird cage anyway.
Maybe some of the other reporters who wander through here periodically, like Todd, might offer some words of wisdom of their own?
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