I fell into entertainment journalism mainly because my
dad was actually a film critic and I remember quite early on going to film
previews like going for my 10th or 11th birthday to
Howard the Duck preview screening. I seemed to love movies and it transformed
from there and that’s where I got into the whole showbiz spiel.
Why
did you write the books you wrote such ‘The Rise and Fall of Robert Downing JR’
or your most recent book, ‘The Wonders of Brian Cox?’
It is a good test for a journalist to write a book
because we are used to writing 400 or 1200 word pieces. This gave me an excuse
to delve into something deeper and try to write something well thought which I
think is a real skill.
Did you get to meet Brian
Cox or Robert Downing Jr.?
Oh no! They were unauthorised biographies. You don’t
need to have permission to do them as such. Brian Cox, I interviewed before I
did the book. I was actually commissioned to write the Brian Cox book. As for
Robert Downing Jr., he is such an interesting guy and I love his movies. I
thought it would be a great story to tell.
You’ve
covered the Oscars, Emmy’s and Golden Globes at Hollywood. How glamorous is it
really?
Yeah it is. I wish I can say otherwise but there are
elements of it that aren’t like the fact that the Oscars’ red carpet starts
around 3 or 4pm in the afternoon Hollywood time. So you have to be there at
midday and sit out in the sun for quite a long time in a tuxedo…it’s quite hot
and there’s a lot of waiting around. Seeing all these people walk past is
incredible however, especially when you get to go backstage and experience it
from the auditorium.
And would you go back?
Yeah, I would love to do it again. Blagging your way
into a party is always fun. I remember almost spilling a drink on Natalie
Portman once and going to… what was it called? Oh, Elton John’s Oscar party. Free
champagne obviously and I did some work for the red carpet so we got to see
Elton John and John Legend sing ‘Rocket Man’ duet and I think Prince and Pamela
Anderson. So it is glamorous in that way but obviously you have worked the
whole day so by 10 o’clock that night you’re absolutely exhausted in a really
good way, on a high.
You’ve
also produced for the likes of Channel 4 and Sky. Is this something separate to
your journalism career or have you used producing shows and pod casts as
another form of entertainment journalism?
Producers are journalists or at least they should be. I was doing segments for
TV shows and working on breakfast shows choosing content, editorialising the
content, making it feel journalistic, compelling and executing it. So I was
writing scripts, reviews and raddling talent. It is absolutely journalistic.
We
tend to have negative pre-conceptions of working at a newspaper as stressful
and chaotic. Was this the case when you were at the Sun newspaper?
I was actually a freelancer there. Hmm, not really, however, when I worked at the press
association office, it is hard work and now it seems harder since I left. The
turn over of content is huge.
What
made you decide to take on teaching? And why, Birkbeck University?
When I started out in Journalism I was aware of how
important it was to have someone giving you shots. I learnt on the job really
and I would practice on my own but no one particularly other than my dad, I
suppose, helped me. Someone taking you under their wing is important. So every journalist
needs someone to say, ‘this is how you do it,’ but everyone is busy these days and
it happens less and less. You need to be in multi-media. You need to be able to
shoot and edit, work with different mediums and be a positive force in some way
to make people think that journalism is an enjoyable thing to be part of.
In terms of Birkbeck, I like the flexibility in that
it is during the night and there are good, nice people. There is no particular
reason as when you are a freelancer, you take any job and that’s how you treat
it as.
So
you write books, produce, have a television pod casts, write articles for big
media names and teach - how do you manage your time?
I write fast so I write quickly as I get going. I
decompartmentalize a lot and figure out what I am doing. Be prepared to work
weekends and nights that’s why it is important to enjoy and be passionate about
what you want to do.
Do you have a diary or
check list?
No. I write lists, lots and lots of lists that I tick
off on that yellow ‘things to do’ pad.
What
is your greatest and most memorable moment in your career so far?
(Laughs) That is a really hard question. The
greatest moment is writing a book. Writing a book, finishing a book, having it
in your hands and seeing it there in a shop is pretty amazing. The Robert Downing
Jr. one was by myself and it was really hard work.
Some of the people I have met are fun that’s part of
memorable things. Like going on a junket to New York to meet Julia Roberts. One
of the great things about journalism is the comradery. There will be a group of
us going to the junket and we would do stuff together. I remember my friend,
Colin, and I flew first class to New York and it was totally awesome. We went
to a junket in Athens and it was someone’s birthday out there. We went out
there for work but we were by the pool and Vinnie Jones was learning his lines
for his next film in the hot tub. We also went out for someone’s birthday and
visited the Acropolis. And was thinking what a great job this is. I mean I love
talking about films and talking to movie stars like Angelina Jolie, who I also
interviewed there. It’s running to the Oscars and covering it. I had to get to
a party but because it’s Oscars night Hollywood is blocked and there are so
many limos around that you can’t get anywhere. It is gridlock and I had to file
my copy from the back stage still in a tuxedo. I sent my copy back home and
then I ran down to try and find a cab to get to this party. It is things like
that that is a weird thing to do for a job but it is cool.
Where
do you think Journalism is going?
I am comparatively old. I am 37 and there is a whole
raft of people that are two generations of journalists below me that are doing
things that are really innovative but I think that ultimately there are still
readers that still want to read papers and magazines. So I think print is not
going anywhere but how we treat print maybe different and more like a luxury
item. I know a lot of magazines and media conglomerates are spending money on
tablet journalism so soon we will read our paper on tablet. But journalism is not
going to change. We still need to find stories, hold people to account, review
records, or whatever you want. The things journalists do on a day to day won’t
change but new journalists will be able to do a lot more. I think the
journalists coming through now will, hopefully or certainly the people I teach.
Any
advice for amateur journalists who want to make a mark in the world?
Remember that journalism is a craft and you can’t get
good at it straight away. Writing my opinions is not what journalism is. It is
not just about saying what you think. Realising that quickly is already
important. You have to practice and it takes people a long time to get really
good at it. You have to love the media and you have to love reading. You have
to cover yourself with media until you become part of the media you want to be
in. You have to love reading the papers and be part of the magazine. Just be a
part of it and just enjoy reading, watching and also understanding what you are
good at and what you are not good at. Also finding a niche quite early on and I
don’t mean something that you can only do but having a focus from the get go is
really useful.
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