It Take More Than Good Looks
Table of Contents
Part One: Mindset
1 Pursuit
Find Small Stories in the Big Ones, and Big Stories in the Small Ones
Script: Tiger’s Trophy
Part Two: Fundamentals
2 Find a Person, Tell a Story
Use Characters to Tell Stories
Joey
The Formula
The Math Wiz
Interviews as Salesmanship
The Unemployment Line
Reporters As Chameleons
Interviews As Real Estate
Avoid Settling For Statements
Handling Gatekeepers
No Interview Is Worth More Than Your Reputation
Sometimes, You Push
Script: Jobless
Selecting a Principal Character
The Apartment Hunter
It’s in the Eyes
Audition Your Subjects
Script: High Rents
Not All Characters Are People
Claire the Goldfish: An Exercise in “The Anvil Theory”
Script: Claire the Goldfish
3 Questions and Answers: Interviews for Sound Bites
Two Kinds of Sound Bites
The Essential Question: Why?
Overcoming An Interviewee’s Discomfort
The Elephant Trainer
The Other Side of the Microphone
Disguise the Method
Microphones
“What I Meant To Say…”
Thirty-five Feet of Honesty
Lights, or No Lights?
Positioning
Eye Contact
Keep Your Sound Bites Fresh
Extracting Answers
Adapt to Your Subject—Time Your Questions
Challenge Your Subjects
Ask Pointed Questions
Interviewing Politicians and Public Officials
An Unusable Answer
Know Your Facts
Be Tactful: Jim Stolpa
Assume Nothing: The Pizza Bandit
Interviewing Victims
The Girl with the Red Ball
Interviewing Children
Art Linkletter
Meet the Child at His Level
Choosing the Child
Interviewing Older People and Veterans
The B-17
4 Structure: Beginnings, Middles, Endings, and Timelines
Put a New Top On it
Two Versions From the Same Material: Hurricane Gustav
Script: Hurricane Gustav, 5 p.m.
Script: Hurricane Gustav, 6 p.m.
Choosing Your Structural Timeline
The Almost-Perfect Crash
Fundamentals of Narrative Structure
Sell the Story: Set A Scene
Make A Scene Set Sizzle
Play With the Words
Scene Sets Are Narrative
Lead Viewers into the Story
Setting the Scene In A Longer Story
Using Bookended Structure to Craft A Package
Joey’s Scrapbook
Using Sound Bites to Open or Close a Piece
Build A Strong Ending
Refer to the Beginning
Hold Back a Fact
End with Humor
More Complicated Timelines
5 Universal Appeal
Universal Appeal In Stories From Small or Medium Markets
The Rock Concert
The Barricaded Man
Script: Barricaded Man
Do It Right Because It’s the Right Thing to Do
Part Three: Pragmatics
6 The Facts of Life in Television News
Adapting to Desperate Moments
The Bubble Gum Test
First Day of First Grade
The First “Hybrid” Car
A Life in Television News: My Background
The Speech: “It’s Not Like the Good Old Days . . .”
Darwin
Television News Isn’t Just a Living—It’s a Lifestyle
Dealing with Management
Scavenger Hunts
The Right Stuff for Reporters
The Makings of Good Stories and Good Reporters Remain Timeless
It Takes More Than Good Looks
7 Getting Ahead: Create Your Own Luck
Look the Other Way: Watch the Watchers
To Distinguish Your Work, Find an Unusual Angle
Don’t Always Follow the Crowd
Script: Cal Ripken’s Last Game in Oakland
Fisherman’s Luck
Local Knowledge
Script: Clinton in the Woods
Set Your Own Standards
Learn to Love the Process
The Right Place at an Unfortunate Time
“On the Street, Lost and Forgotten”
8 When You Have No Time: Hamburger Helpers for Television News
Add Dimension To Your Characters
Find the Details—Write Outside of the Frame
Richmond Explosion
Give a Story New Looks by Changing the Scene
Shoot Wisely and Efficiently, In Sequences
Use Photographs and File Video to Expand the Time Frame
Change the Background During Interviews
Change the Light and Camera Angles
Hamburger Helpers Make Good Television
The Fountain Fire
Be the Solution, Not the Problem
Script: The Fountain Fire
Less Can Be More
The Lottery Winner
Script: Lottery Winner
Television News Versus Orthodontics
9 Thread Stories Around Spontaneous Moments
Spontaneous Ignition in a News Story
Script: Crash, Bang, “Go Raiders!”
10 Using Comparison, Contrast, and Opposites as Storytelling Devices
Script: The Metro
1 + 1 = 3: The Theory of Opposites
If You Steal an Idea, Take It from Yourself
Indian Summer
Script: Indian Summer
11 Stand-Ups
Stand-Up Basics
Natural Looking Stand-Ups Do Not Happen Naturally
When Not to Do a Stand-Up
Stand-Up Bridges
Contemplate Fit and Flow
Behave in a Stand-Up as You Would in Real Life
Note Your Composition in the Frame
Use a Wireless Microphone
Find Friendly Light
Why Are You Walking and Talking?
Use the Medium
Work With Your Art Department
You Need Not Speak Directly to the Viewer
A One-Word Stand-Up
Write Into and Out of Your Stand-Up As You Would
Any Other Piece of Sound
Stay in the Moment
Adapt to Your Environment
The 360-Degree Stand-Up
James Dean
12 Face Time: Going Live
Live Shots Are Here to Stay
The Positives
My Best Live Shot Ever
Yosemite Rescue
Script: Yosemite Rescue
Live Shot Guidelines
Speak Naturally
Use Key Words for Notes, Not Sentences
Beware of Typical Live Clichés and Crutches
Reference Your Location
Go Mobile
Change the Background For Your Introduction and Tag
Hide Your Earpiece
Match Your Voice
Add a Production Element
Structure the Package: Every Story Should Stand On Its Own
Keep a Copy of the Package Script in Your Hand
Speak with Your Anchor in Advance
Protect Yourself—Don’t Tell the Anchors Everything
Never Directly Correct Your Anchor
Personal Horror Story
13 We Interrupt This Serious Book . . .
14 Keep It Simple: The Suitcase Theory of Story Packaging
How Viewers Watch the News
Report for Your Audience, Not Your Bosses
The Water Main Break
15 Report What You Find: What IS Will Always Be More Interesting Than What You Make Up
Vandalized News Coverage
Exposing the Absent Villain
Script: Middletown Spelling
16 General Ethics: Science Reporting, Arsenic, and Life In Space
A Tip and an Embargo
Mono Lake
Turning Obscure Science Into Pictures and Words
Fact Checking and Negotiations
Clarifications and Lessons
Script: The Seventh Element
Part Four: Philosophy
17 Craftmanship and Restraint: Don’t Mess with the Pope
The Benihana Trap
Growing Pains and Confessions
Never Try to Do a Funny Story About Religion, Politics, or Sex
18 A Few Thoughts About Writing, Voicing, and Using Sound
If You Don’t Like the Way You Sound . . .
The News Dialect
Active, Not Passive
Non-Descriptive Linking Verbs
Elocution Convolutions
Mixed Metaphors
Use a Thesaurus to Avoid Repeating Words and Phrases
Enough Nitpicking
Using Sound
Write from Point-to-Point
Script: 0-31
What Reads Well Does Not Always Make Good Television
Find the Clean Edit Point
Match the Background Sounds
Blend the Sound: Be Truthful About It
Inflections and Tones
Pacing and Rhythms
The Rule of Threes
Change the Cadence
Alliteration
Script: Excerpt from ‘The Solano’
Connect, Connect, Connect
Script: Booth Breakers
It Takes Time and Practice
19 Writing to Pictures: Seek the Simple Truths
Simple Truths
Writing at the Highest Level
The Grateful Deadhead
The Zone
Experience the Story
Think It, Write It
Listen to Your Inner Voice
The World’s Newest Oldest Human
The Freeze-Dried Dog
Script: The Freeze-Dried Dog (Ending Sequence)
Summon Your Muse
Writing “About” Instead of “What”
Finding A Simple Truth Theme: “Things to Remember”
Script: Things to Remember
Simple Truths as Endings
20 Look Beyond The Superficial: Write Your Stories on Multiple Levels
Look at the Bigger Picture
Galaxy 4
What People Take Away: Sometimes, A Good Story Can be About Something Else
“The Lawn”
Script: The Lawn
Write Up To Your Viewers
21 Finding Unique Stories: Just Ask, Look, Listen, and Think
They’re On to Us
Find Your Own Stories
Emails: Little Kabul
Newspapers and Other Outlets: The “No-Swear” Lady
Ask A Question Stories
Script: Strangers
The Red House
22 One Story, Start to Finish
New York City to Ground Zero
Police State
Possible Stories Everywhere
A Look Inside
The Story Finds Us
A Second Main Character
Putting the Story Together
Writer’s Block
Script: Stories from the Heartland: Ground Zero
23 Change the Small Worlds First
The One Book Bookstore
The Most Important Lesson