{"id":16052,"date":"2015-08-22T10:24:11","date_gmt":"2015-08-22T14:24:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/creator\/?p=16052"},"modified":"2020-03-30T18:28:11","modified_gmt":"2020-03-30T22:28:11","slug":"get-that-cool-job-entertainment-reporter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/get-that-cool-job-entertainment-reporter","title":{"rendered":"Get That Cool Job: entertainment reporter"},"content":{"rendered":"

Growing up in Los Angeles, Libby Slate<\/a> established herself as an entertainment reporter at a young age.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was a little girl, my family shared a duplex with an actress who had a lot of famous friends who visited,\u201d says the writer, who has done freelance work for publications ranging from\u00a0TV Guide<\/em>\u00a0to the Los Angeles Times<\/em>. \u201cWe would all sit on the front porch and talk. I guess you could say those were my first celebrity interviews! At a very young age, I got to know some pretty big celebrities as people, not as stars, and though I didn\u2019t realize it then, that paved the way for being very comfortable around celebrities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Slate, who currently writes for the Television Academy’s Emmy Magazine<\/em>, is one of the working entertainment reporters who have the opportunity to write about the arts, interview famous individuals, and attend performances, all in the name of their careers.<\/p>\n

We spoke to Slate, as well as a few other entertainment reporters, about what their day-to-day is like, how they got to where they are, and what advice they have for those aspiring to have the same job title. Here\u2019s what they had to say.<\/p>\n

Prepare for the unexpected<\/strong><\/p>\n

Entertainment is a quick-moving industry, so you must be able to keep up the pace. Reporters must be willing to cover anything at any time, and change or drop an article if needed.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy days are unpredictable, as every reporter knows the life of having no clock in\/clock out time,\u201d says Jackie Moe<\/a>, an arts and entertainment reporter for the Orange County Register<\/em>. \u201cYou can be working on one story and a more urgent\u00a0story will pop up, so you always have to be prepared to turn off one story’s voice and switch on the other.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Annika Michelle<\/a>, a Los Angeles-based entertainment reporter, is doing interviews for AfterBuzzTV<\/em>, Hollyscoop<\/em>, or StarPulse<\/em>, she knows she may have to change her strategy in the moment to get a good sound bite.<\/p>\n

\u201cRed carpets are so competitive and so fast-paced,\u201d she says. \u201cYou might be in the middle of an interview with someone, and then the person you need starts walking the carpet. You need to figure out a creative nice way to end the current interview to get the one you want.\u201d<\/p>\n

Avoid writing for free<\/strong><\/p>\n

Since entertainment and writing are competitive fields, some people are willing to write for free to break into them. But according to Jethro Nededog<\/a>, senior entertainment reporter at Business Insider<\/em>, that may not be the wisest idea.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never wrote for free,\u201d he says. \u201cI know that\u2019s something that other people do, and it works for them, but not for me personally. I think it\u2019s a bad precedent.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a writer specializing in television, Nededog says that it takes a lot of time and effort, and isn\u2019t worth it if there isn\u2019t a paycheck at the end.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the kind of field that a lot of people want to get into because it feels glamorous. It\u2019s a high-impact section of journalism. A lot of people will recap television shows for free, but recapping is hours of your life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Expect difficult celebrity interviews<\/strong><\/p>\n

Some celebrities are notorious for being hard to interview or reach. Others won\u2019t give you accurate information, either intentionally or unintentionally, which is what Slate deals with often.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you do get an interview with someone, do your research, because there\u2019s loads of information available online,\u201d she says. \u201cWhen it comes time to write the story, don\u2019t accept everything you\u2019ve been told as being the truth. Not necessarily in a bad way\u2014people can forget what year they did something, or the correct name of someone they\u2019ve mentioned. And some people exaggerate. They might say they won an award, when the show or movie they were in really won it, not they themselves. That\u2019s happened more than a few times.\u201d<\/p>\n

Diedre Johnson<\/a>, who\u2019s been published in Star<\/em> magazine and LA Weekly<\/em>, says that when she does red carpet interviews, she doesn\u2019t always get what she needs.<\/p>\n

\u201cEditors are hoping for a good quote from an A-list actor, but sometimes these actors or celebrities\u00a0don’t want to talk. Sometimes, they don’t even stop, and when they do, there’s still no guarantee you’ll get every answer that you\u00a0and\/or your editor wants.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the arts and entertainment industry, you have to just keep trying to get what you set out for, while avoiding being rude or pushy.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy all means, be persistent, be ambitious, and have a thick skin,\u201d says Johnson. \u201cDon’t allow the celebrity or someone to distract you from good interview questions.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Growing up in Los Angeles, Libby Slate established herself as an entertainment reporter at a young age. \u201cWhen I was a little girl, my family shared a duplex with an actress who had a lot of famous friends who visited,\u201d says the writer, who has done freelance work for publications ranging from\u00a0TV Guide\u00a0to the Los […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1498,"featured_media":16099,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[43902],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16052","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-professional-development"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nGet That Cool Job: entertainment reporter<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Want to to write about the arts and interview famous individuals? 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