Party Reporting for New York

Shortly before I went on my interview for New York, I had contacted the assistant editor at Money, who I noticed on LinkedIn was a freelance reporter for New York. I wondered if she had been an intern? She hadn't, but she told me she used to party report, which meant she covered events in NYC for the "Party Lines" section of the mag, and the site. She put me in touch with Patti, the editor. Well, I found out I got the internship at about the same time the Party Lines editor got back to me about party reporting and I accepted my first assignment the night before my first day. I was covering two stores for Fashion's Night Out: Ferragamo, where a few models would attend, and Versace, where Drake would DJ for the night. Both on Fifth Avenue. I chose this pair because Drake was the one celebrity I knew from the list and thought it would be really cool to see him. Just before the event, Patti (my editor) confirmed I had an interview scheduled with Drake. Exciting! I was so nervous because  I had never covered events that way before. I arrived early and literally had to sit on the steps of a nearby church for 15 minutes to collect myself and mentally prepare. Turned out to be a great night. Ferragamo was interesting. Really beautiful, chic, well-off people socializing and sipping on champagne and whatnot. Haha, definitely felt out of place. But the publicist was so friendly and fantastic; he introduced me to all of the models/socialites I needed to speak to. I then left for Versace (across the street) for my interview with Drake. Waited about an hour. Sat down with him for five minutes. Thought I would get star struck and fuck up, but once I sat down I found it was easy to talk to him. Charming guy, haha. The best part though, was he gave me some great material that turned into a post. So, I got a post up on the site on my first day of my internship! Drake Admits to Sweater Obsession

Also great: I worked with Patti for the duration of my internship. I was the intern who helped her update the party calendar--so I checked the Party Lines e-mail account daily and worked with publicists to confirm events we'd send reporters to cover. You learn the patterns; who attends what in NYC, what kinds of events they attend, which events are most popular during certain times. I attended a few more, but it's mostly been more miss than hit. I did get a second post, though. In November, I attended the International Rescue Committee Freedom Awards where I had the opportunity to interview John Legend, Tom Brokaw, and Ann Curry. Brokaw gave me the material that led to a post. Tom Brokaw on the 'Work In Progress' Generation. It was so much fun! Tiny press line at the Waldorf Astoria, and it was cool--the person next to me was a Newhouse grad. The one thing I regretted was not staying for the actual event & dinner. This is really dumb, but essentially, I chickened out. I don't know. It was an awards dinner and I couldn't bring myself to walk in and sit for it at a table surrounded by people I didn't know. My stomach grumbled all the way home. This was before I knew I'd have a post so that kind of made up for it, but meh, need to push myself sometimes and conquer the timidness that still overcomes me!

I also attended the Broadway premiere of Stick Fly, which was awesome. I took a friend and we met Alicia Keys. We had third row seats! And the play was great. Seriously, must see. Scott Brown wrote a review of it in the mag that was pretty spot on. And then I attended the We Bought A Zoo premiere, which was the biggest event I've attended and, man, I don't think I can do it again. Huge premiere (Scarlett Johansson, Matt Damon, etc, directed by Cameron Crowe). Tons of journalists. Hectic. So hectic. Then, when the big stars finally reach you, they're being rushed by their publicists, and it becomes a battle between all of the journalists to ask questions. You get one, if any at all. It's exhausting. Not sure I'll do a big one like that any time soon. And for both events, I didn't get a quote that would lead to a spot on the Party Lines page or a post on the site--which is the point--so they were failures in that respect though both exciting, learning experiences.

A few things I've learned doing this that I can think of: a) New York is super, super influential and respected. A reporter at the IRC awards bowed when I told him I interned at the magazine. He wasn't entirely serious but he was impressed. (I've noticed this too when I call people to do interviews or research information). When you tell people you're from New York, they pay attention. They take care of you. So that's really nice. b) The entertainment journalism world is pretty small, and the people who do it (at least the ones I've met at the bigger events) are kind of the same and not my type. I won't describe but they kind of remind me of some people I went to school with haha. Which leads me to, c) I always ruled out entertainment journalism as something I'd do. I don't want to follow the lives of celebrities and so I never imagined or considered the opportunity to interview them on red carpets. Saw it as fluff. People or E! journalism. But I realized it... takes a certain skill to do it well. At least, in the context of New York, where, when Patti sends out reporters to cover events, she's not interested in the latest about the personal lives of these people. Or even formulaic answers about how great it was to work for whatever movie they're promoting. She wants quirky, interesting, funny answers to questions that are usually vaguely, sometimes never, related to the reason you're there. And it's hard! It's hard when you have a few seconds, maybe a minute of a celebrity's time to ask a question that will evoke a great answer. So I found myself wanting to be good at it. You want to get the right answer.

d) It's kind of funny that I've said on this blog at least two times now that I don't like event coverage, and yet I still find myself doing it. Haha, I don't know. It's good experience. I don't know how my life will be once I start Business Insider, how busy I'll be. Plus it's hard anyway because events are usually in the evenings and I live in the boondocks. But I'd like to continue doing it if I can. So we'll see.