Pitch Your Heart Out

Like any other part of the film biz, you don’t get people calling up to hand you magazine gigs until you’ve been doing it a while. Until then you have to pitch. A lot.

Think about the number of film mags you see on the stands. Every little sidebar, every unique angle on an interview, every film comparison. All brainstormed and pitched.

Not only that, you have to be original. You’re not competing with dozens of ideas. You’re competing with thousands. Try to impress an editor that’s been working in the biz for years. Who gets pitched by email, phone, and in person all day.

Truth be told, this is my favorite part of the job.

Anyone can pitch a straight-up interview. Or even write a movie review. But try coming up with an angle on George Lucas that hasn’t been told a million times. Try finding a creative way to tie together the work of Norman Jewison and Catherine Hardwicke.

That’s when you discover the real joy of writing non-fiction. You’re pushed for ideas every day. Come up with a fresh enough idea and amazing things happen.

You interview the very people who inspired you to get into this biz. You inspire yourself and others to see film in a new light. Some days you even get to speculate how movies could change the world.

And each time, you re-discover your own passion for storytelling. Now that’s a dream job.