How to get and conduct a showbiz interview

It seems that almost every other reporter wants to work on a showbiz desk these days.

The chance of hanging around with celebrities and getting the inside gossip is, apparently, an alluring prospect for wannabe hacks.

The problem, as so many soon discover, is that getting an interview with One Direction or the Kate Moss or whoever is flavour of the month is pretty near impossible for the majority of local reporters.

It has nothing to do with how talented the reporter is or how good the newspaper they write for, it is simply that demands on the biggest stars are great and the rewards for appearing in a local with an ever declining circulation are hardly worth their effort.

So you have to think your way around the problem and - as always - be ready to put in a lot of effort and your own free time.

Firstly, be realistic. By all means shoot for the stars but also be prepared to manage your own expectations because you can often get interesting chats with - at least reasonable - well-known names.

Remember that newspaper readerships are getting older, a faded popstar that was topping the charts before you were even born will, in all probability, still resonate with some, if not all, of your readers.

An older star - no longer worried about their image - is more likely to be candid about their life in the limelight. And there is also the possibility that next week they will pop up on Celebrity Big Brother or whatever passes for light entertainment in this day and age.... Or, almost equally applicable and seemingly likely, for them be arrested.

The place to start is the local theatre, arts centre, venue, festival organisers or even a TV chef restaurant opening. Large provincial towns can often attract a mix of upcoming talent, desperate for any gig as part of their path to stardom and B-listers eking out an income. Smaller towns can be surprising. Those far from big population centres with poor transport links and small venues can attract big talent, especially if they are preparing for a big tour and need a "live" rehearsal.

For any, half decent interview, you will need space in the paper. If big interviews are not a regular feature it's worth making the case for them. For a start, the venues are probably already advertisers. What's good for them is good for the paper's revenue.

And whether you like it or not, celebrity does sell. A half decent interview on the page will get read, it will also attract readers online because even the most forgotten stars tend to have a fanbase somewhere.... even if it is only a couple of people.

Once space is secured or even if it is not (there's always the web), approach the venue's pr or marketing officer. They will mostly be overjoyed to hear from you and will do their best to accommodate what you are after. It will also save you having to deal directly with the celeb's pr (if they have one) yourself - a distinct advantage, as you will soon learn should you eventually become a full-time showbiz reporter. If it is a big, well-known festival that attracts national coverage don't demand the headline act or nothing.

Building up working relationships is a key to bigger and better things for the future. Let them see what you can do and the value you can bring to them.

Arrange the whole thing well in advance of the event itself, lots of things can go wrong and last minute cancellations are not uncommon. Don't expect a face to face chat. The chances are they are playing one gig in town and moving on. The pros for the venue and the celeb themselves is often to generate more ticket sales. Running an interview after the event is of little use to the person arranging it on your behalf.

It may be possible for say the star of, say, a pantomime, who may be playing the same theatre for several weeks. But on the whole forget it.

Once arranged you must prepare. Simply calling them and asking how they are is not an interview. Read up on them, see what they have achieved, what they have been up to since hitting or fading from the spotlight, learn what their interests are and what they've spoken about in the past. Don't just rely on Wikipedia, although a telling question can be: "If there's one thing you could change on your Wiki entry, what would it be?"

Don't whatever you do make the whole thing parochial. Do ask them if they know the local area or what they are hoping to see but don't make it the focus of the whole interview.

I once sat through a round table dominated by a tedious local journo (fair play to them), who even when the star admitted he probably couldn't find the paper's catchment area on a map, continued to bombard the (pretty big) celeb with questions about it. Frankly, the end result would have been tedious even for the most proud local reader.

Also don't go in there thinking you are next Jeremy Paxman, the celeb has given up their time to talk to you. Firing questions about some long forgotten affair they had will ensure it is cut-off pretty quickly. This is not to say, don't broach the subject, just don't make it your number one question. Filling a 1,000 word space with just a couple of quotes is a pretty difficult task, even for experienced writers.

Start gently, ask about the upcoming gig, bring up their interests and, if possible do relate it to the local area if applicable. If all is going well, move it on. "I was reading about...." is often a good way to take the interview to a wider remit.

It does, of course, help to have an interest in your subject but don't get bogged down in fandom or let it show too much during the interview. Unless writing for a specialist magazine/website you have to make the subject appeal to the wider reader.

As with all interviews, tape it. Let the person know, legally you don't have to but it is polite.  To save hours of transcribing, make a note of the counter when particularly interesting comments are said. As importantly, listen to what is being said. If you engage with the subject you will get a lot more out of them. Taping, even short chats is pretty essential these days. Should the person accidentally put their foot in it by saying something controversial, it is much harder (although some will try) to deny it or accuse you of taking something out of context. Hold on to the recording for a few weeks after the interview is published.

Now sometimes interviews are very hastily arranged and you don't have time to fully, if at all, prepare. Don't try and bluff your way through, you'll be caught out and don't try and use it as an excuse if you've had a week's notice and couldn't be bothered. If you were too busy that's not the interviewee's problem.

If you found this article useful or enjoyable please RT, thanks.

55. How to sell stories and photographs to newspapers and magazines.

There has never been so much need for journalism... and so little desire to pay for it.

But there is a lot to admire in the Samuel Johnson school: "No man but a blockhead ever wrote except for money."

There are, of course, plenty of blockheads. And to be fair you do need the experience to be a journalist - not a blockhead.

But let's face we are not writing for charity... and even if you are writing for charity, you'd like to get paid, right?

The prospect of actually earning money for what we write is what makes us professional journalists... unlike amateur or citizen journalists.

(Which strictly speaking isn't correct if you are British. We are subjects - but I think the idea of having subject journalists would only confuse matters - so let's stick with citizen.)

So to the point. Can you make money in this game while studying?

The simple answer is: Yes, you can. And should you be doing it? Yes, you should. And will you make a fortune doing it? Er, no.

If you've read these posts from the beginning - read lots of different papers, read the local newspaper, make contacts etc etc - and future ones this is what it is all about.

That is unless you have private means and want to be a journalist as a hobby - then please skip a few posts, there is nothing to see here.

For the rest of you this is what you do.

First off a question: What is the media? This isn't some bullshit philosophical question.

The correct answer is: Information, written/filmed/recorded/photographed and packaged for certain target audiences.

They generally fall into four categories: Geography, socio-economic, consumer or interest.

It is the wonder of our pluralistic media that everyone - or, at least, nearly everyone - is catered for. (Alas Hermit Monthly folded on account of the distribution costs.)

What does all this mean? Simply put having the right information (story) to yourself (exclusively) and packaging it (writing) to the right target (media organisation) means you may - just may - get paid for it (there are never any guarantees).

Note, no one is asking for your opinion (that probably isn't worth anything - at least not yet).

For now the basics:

1. Get a story: They come from all over the place - check the rest of this blog on how to do this.

2. Make sure it has not already been written: Go on the internet and search the mainstream media. Not just the paper you want to sell to but all of them.

3. Write the story: Unless you are already an established freelance you are highly unlikely to be paid on spec for an idea or concept. Otherwise known as "being put on an order".

4. Double check everything: Make sure your story is watertight. Muck it up now and you could be wasting a lot of people's time - not a good thing for them... or you.

5. Get a friend to read it: (Optional) Find someone who is willing to pull your work apart. Listen to their questions. If they can find holes in your work - you can be sure so will a professional news editor.

6. Try to get a package together: If there are photos/words to be had, make sure you've got them.

7. Think where you are going to place it: Decide where this particular story would best fit (this will change from story to story) and, importantly, who will pay.

8. Pitch: Generally speaking a cold call should go to a news/picture desk. If you live in the provinces find out who the area man is, especially if you are planning to make a go of this and continue to produce future stories.

9. Get the timing right: There is little point trying to sell something (unless it is huge and immediate) after news conference.

10. Hope and learn: If you've got a surefire winner you will probably know straight away. Don't get disheartened if it is rejected...

Future posts will go into more detail on some of these. In the meantime if you think you have a story drop me a line: journalismtips@hotmail.co.uk - if I can I'll make suggestions for UK papers.

Good luck.

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27. Carry a camera with you, even if it's just on your mobile and remember to take pix. Photographers can't be everywhere.

Sadly, as I've stated before on this blog, local newspaper photographers are an increasingly rare breed.

Given the fact newspapers rely on content - namely words and pictures - to fill in the gaps between the adverts you would have hoped that photographers would have been kept on.

Naturally that is asking a little too much - which is a shame because a really good photographer can make all the difference. So too can a really bad one.

I once watched a photographer at an awards ceremony half lift up his camera a dozen times and never take a shot.

When the proceedings were over he shouted: "All together now." Like sheep they all got together for the great group shot. That evening he took a single picture.

The following day I was sent it in all its blurred glory - looking like a slightly hazy portrait of the Adamms Family...only without the charm.

(We never used that photographer again under my editorship.)

At the same time we lost a great asset to the paper - one whose art and dedication made a difference to the pages.

Indeed I've seen and worked with many photographers on local newspaper I would gladly work with again.

But bit by bit we are losing them. This, in part, is due to the increasingly cheap technology becoming available. That, and the fact there is no need for a dark room any more.

(Reporters have never been trusted with dangerous chemicals - a fact that remains true today but is largely confined to the showbiz circuit. *feeble joke*)

Digital technology has certainly made it a lot  easier for any slob to pick up a camera and point it in the direction of an object or person who, in turn, is usually pointing at something themselves.

(This in part, but certainly not entirely, is why local papers believe they can do away with photographers - some are so bad or lazy that managers thought anyone could do what they do...the same, it must be said, of a lot of reporters.)

So the point: If you are a reporter carry a camera with you. The bigger, the better really. It helps too if you learn how to use it.

You never know what's going to happen and with locals to usually one - although quite often no - photographers it is essential you learn the skill.

I am a rotten photographer. I have no "eye"....or for that matter no steady hand either.

As can be demonstrated from one of my own efforts when a photographer was unavailable one Saturday morning.

The man in the picture was the Dean of Truro Cathedral, who had been the subject of a church investigation when he was accused of having an affair.

He denied any wrong doing and was allowed back to work. (Although than put on gardening leave). However despite being cleared rumours persisted that was indeed now living with the woman.

He was, and this shaky shot taken on a Canon D500 (I won't go into lenses it's too tedious but it was pretty basic) was proof enough to go to the church authorities.

The picture was used about the size here in the paper I was working for at the time. It got a slightly bigger show in the Daily Mail.

This is a rather extreme example but think because in theory we are always heading towards the story...or we are if we are doing our job right.

And with mobiles now packing half-decent cameras it's worth remembering to take them out if you are first at the scene.

A crap picture is better than no picture.

13. Most journalists, esp on locals, aren’t well paid. Don’t take a job then whine about pay. Be good at it and find another

Some things happen by chance. One being that just as I am about to start writing about journalists' pay I read the brilliant Simon Kuper in the FT's Weekend Magazine (I'd suggest it's worth a read but at £3 an edition the FT is probably out of your price bracket...I get to claim it back).

But just in case the link goes down or it gets squirrelled behind a pay-wall this is what your average reporter - and he's talking about nationals not regionals or locals - has to contend with:

In 1947, Winston Churchill wrote a story about an imaginary conversation with his father’s ghost. Churchill tells the ghost that he writes books and journalism. “Ah, a reporter,” the ghost replies. “There is nothing discreditable in that. I myself wrote articles for the Daily Graphic when I went to South Africa. And well I was paid for them. A hundred pounds an article.” Churchill’s father visited South Africa in 1891. If he wrote those articles for certain newspapers today, he would still get £100, or maybe nothing.

If you've read the full article he is wrong about one thing - in locals lots of what you write can make a difference...even that week.

In the UK the average salary is £26,200. If you are earning this or possibly even more - congratulations you must be the editor (perhaps you could be kind enough to suggest this blog to trainees or mention it if you give a talk journalism students).

The fact is you are not going to be earning anything like this. Now I could talk about how unfair it all is...or why you should go on strike, but I'll leave that up to the NUJ (these are practical tips not Never Never Land).

Quite frankly if there were a lot less of you so keen to get into this job my pay would go up because there would be a shortage of reporters - so bugger off.

Since you are hell bent on becoming a reporter - stop complaining. The one sure fire way of getting anything like a decent pay increase is to leave the paper - and if that's to stay in journalism it is to move to a bigger one. Either that or get promoted.

So don't - whatever you do - move to your first paper and think that's it. Keep flexible at least for the first few years (unless you are fabulously wealthy and just slumming it or your partner happens to be).

And don't whine about the pay. If you're not a reporter don't bother becoming one if money will be an issue - you've been told. Even if you become a senior in two/three years time the chances are you'll only be on £20,000 - and probably only £18,500 if you are at the same paper you were a junior at).

Loyalty - quite honestly - doesn't pay. But you are still there to do a job. So do it because the best way to get another job is to have great cuts and know what you are doing. And then you can keep moving up.

Tomorrow: Where and tear....

10. When starting work experience, a new job or going to an interview bring in a story or idea – editors will be impressed.

I can tell you what it's like to work for a newspaper. Imagine a combine, one of those huge threshing machines that eat up a row of wheat like nothing, bearing right down on you. You're running in front of it, all day long, day in and day out, just inches in front of the maw, where steel blades are whirring and clacking and waiting for you to get tired or make one slip. The only way to keep the combine off you is to throw it something else to rip apart and digest. What you feed it is stories. Words and photos. Ten inches on this, fifteen inches on that, a vertical shot here and a horizontal there, scraps of news and film that go into the maw where they are processed and dumped onto some page to fill the spaces around the ads. Each story buys you a little time, barely enough to slap together the next story, and the next and the next. You never get far ahead, you never take a breather, all you do is live on the hustle. Always in a rush, always on deadline, you keep scrambling to feed the combine. That's what it's like. The only way to break free is with a big story, one you can ride for a while and tear off in pieces so big, the combine has to strain to choke them down. That buys you a little time. But sooner or later the combine will come chomping after you again, and you better be read to feed it all over again. --Ray Ring
from the novel Arizona Kiss
(Taken from: http://www.schindler.org/quote.shtml)

And it's true. Newspapers need constant filling and it is a grind. You can make a good impression by actually bringing a story in.

Believe me bringing in even a half decent story will get you noticed - bring in two or three and you're practically in the door.

But watch for the pitfalls...we've all done them. Before suggesting a story idea check that it hasn't been done before. Hopefully you will have been taking note of the earlier tips about reading the paper first but it's worth double checking the paper's website too.

Secondly don't get disheartened if your idea isn't taken up. There may be reasons, not immediately obvious, why the paper won't run it (there may be legal issues with previous stories, you could be writing about the editor's best friend, could be something to do with advertising).

However the very fact that you bring in something will at least be noticed.

Don't wait until you start the job/work experience to write it up. Write as much as you can - you may want to leave the official comments until later (many press offices will refuse to talk to people who are not bona fide journalists - so calling from the paper's offices does have an advantage).

If you are very organised try putting in a Freedom of Information request weeks beforehand. Don't make it too complicated and don't expect a reply within the time - a general rule of thumb is six or seven weeks before.

For ideas check the brilliant David Higgerson blog. So what if it's a rip from a successful FoI in Dundee, if you are in Surrey the same idea can be used. The chances are no one in the newspaper office has had the time to do it.

Alternatively use your local knowledge. Listen out for stories - and check them out to make sure they will work.

There is no point putting up a great idea and then watching it fall apart after you've told the news editor.

And really don't take offence if he wants a staff reporter to help you with it. It means it was a good idea and they want to make doubly sure.

If nothing else bringing in an idea shows you are a go-getter.

Being a smart Alec I once turned up to an interview bringing in 67 ideas for stories and follow-ups based on that week's newspaper which I'd written on - quite literally the back of an envelope. (Note I can say literally because it was on the back of envelope as opposed to a cigarette packet which, if I had done and I hadn't, would mean I have very small hand-writing....or perhaps short ideas....ok let's just park that and move on).

So back to ideas. Bringing in your own story/stories also helps because in the vast majority of cases no one knows what to do with you or what you are capable of....be that for good or ill.

But if you do it and do it well, you are more likely to be entrusted with more work - perhaps even proper work...it sure beats sitting twiddling your thumbs and being offered the chance to join a real reporter at the Magistrates' Court if you are very lucky...

So a quick recap. Make sure it's not been done, make sure it's doable, don't promise anything you can't deliver.

Tomorrow: Why being cool or curmudgeonly doesn't work.

Why Journalism Tips

Journalismtips - or more precisely @journalismtips - started life as a Twitter feed in spring last year. It has been picked up (and dropped) by a few journalism students but many who have read them have said how much they enjoyed them and how useful they have been.

So here's the blog….

It seems journalism has never been more popular - well let me rephrase that - journalism courses have never been more popular; journalists have never been more despised. Well, at least since the last general moral outcry (it is an occupational hazard).

Anyway despite finding ourselves ranking somewhere between kitten killers and, say, CEO of the RBS (a joke which will inevitably fade into obscurity in the next few months - unlike the £1m bonus) (a joke which is now already out of date since Stephen Hester gave up his bonus last night) journalism (courses) is booming…

What a pity then that there aren't hundreds - perhaps even thousands - of jobs to accommodate all these fresh faced things leaving college, NCTJ certificates in hand all ready to work for the ummm - Guardian.

So the point of this blog is to help people maximise their chances in newspaper journalism, it may help for television and online as well but it is principally about UK printed media. 

And it is very much from one person's perspective - mine. Not that I am professing to be a great journalist. In fact I would go as far as to say far from it.

But the ideas and concepts are so basic they are a start for anyone interested in setting out on a journalism career. All the complicated stuff, the wonderful turn of phrase, incisive original thought, a brilliant network of contacts - all that stuff which makes a truly great journalist isn't to be found here.

These are just a few pointers - well 297 at the last count - that might, just might, help you rise above all the others.

It is not a quick fix or easy guide….if you want easy have parents who are already in the newspaper industry. This is the hard way. Over the next few weeks and months (between sleep and going to the gym) I plan to put up journalismtips with examples and so on of what I mean.

Many (but not all) will be from my own cuttings and taken from nearly 20 years of personal experience only because they are easier to find...