The one-man-band salesman

On this blog, I focus a lot on the technical side of being a one-man-band reporter. However, most of us in this field also need to be journalists in the traditional sense. We have to find stories and we have to write them.

I've had several emails recently asking for some tips in this area, so I thought I would tackle one of the most useful skills to have involving writing - pitching story ideas to editors.

If you're a freelancer this is a particularly helpful skill to have. But even for those of us who work for news agencies, being able to pitch up stories to commissioning editors at client networks is important.

This post is not to going to suggest the types of stories you should be pitching. This will always vary from client to client. You should be aware of the kinds of stories and video your customers are interested in. But what I am going to do is list a few suggestions that might help you get a higher number of pitch acceptances.

1) Give the pitch a catchy title of about two or three words - a sort of headline. It's a nice teaser.

2) One of the crucial things to remember before you pitch a story is that news directors and those who work on assignment desks are often very busy. They are not going to have time to read something lengthy from a stringer sending them a story idea. For this reason, it is absolutely critical to get to the point immediately in your pitch. Think of your pitch as a lead-in to a story, complete with top line to hook the reader/viewer in. In this case, the audience you are writing for is the person you want to commission your story. Spell out the story in the first line - in fact, spell it out in the first few words.

Here is an example of a top line to a pitch I recently wrote:

"A police force in Florida has begun deploying paragliders in its fight against crime." It is short and to the point. Don't try to be clever and dance around the subject. Write it just like a script - hitting the story should be the first thing you do.

Secondly, keep the pitch very short - no more than four very short paragraphs. No busy commissioning editor is going to read more than that. Think of how journalists in newsrooms look at press releases. They will look at the top two lines at most. Sell the story quickly. If the interesting stuff is far down your pitch, noone will see it.

3) Include in your pitch something that will make a journalist interested. This is the NEWs business, so generally the stuff you try to sell should be NEW: Point to why it's new, how it's different from other stories that have already been done, explain how your story will highlight a new trend, talk about how it applies more broadly - say, on a national or international level. Usually, these basics apply to any type of story you are trying to sell.

4) Your pitch should include a brief line talking about what you plan to include in the piece. Don't promise specific interviewees unless you already have them lined-up. But talk generally about which elements you will include, such as the b-roll you plan to shoot or pull from your library. In TV, making clear that you plan to use interesting pictures is absolutely crucial.

Here is an example:

"The story will look at how the Cuban-American community is receiving the shift in policy from the Bush administration to the Obama administration. The story, which will include lots of footage shot by FSN inside Cuba, will look at how Cubans on both sides of the debate in the US are greeting the possibility of talks between the two nations."

5) Pitch stories that are easy to shoot. The first stories you should try to sell are the ones that you can complete quickly, preferably in one shoot. These are the most economical ones to do because they take less of your time, and will probably net you the same income as a piece of the same length that took a week to produce. Give an indication in your pitch of when you might be able to deliver the story. Make it a realistic target date. Don't promise something you can't deliver.

6) Make clear that you are open to suggestions. An editor may like a story idea, just not your proposed treatment of it. Show willing to work with the person who commissions items, and offer to be flexible on how you go about tackling your story.

7) Give it a shot! Even if a story doesn't particularly interest you personally, pitch it anyway - within reason. Whoever looks at your pitch may like it. If it's an easy story to do, it's worth pitching. I have lost count of the number of times I have suggested stories that leave me cold, only to have them enthusiastically commissioned by clients.

These are the general rules I go by. As ever, they're not the bible. If anyone else has any useful advice to add in this area, lets hear from you.