WHY EDITORS GO BALD
The last couple of weeks have been a bit crazier than most. Why? Because I've had to go to "Plan B" (and in one case "Plan C") a lot more often than usual - and I'm not sure why that is.
For last week's edition of Between The Lines, for example, a long-planned interview fell apart at the last minute when the person I was to interview didn't answer the phone at the pre-arranged time - nor did they return my call. (Okay, they DID finally call back - two days later at 1:40 a.m. (yes, you read that correctly) - but by then I had already "killed" the story.) Luckily, however, I had spotted an item in the BTL calendar announcing a new professional theater company in Grand Rapids, so I called the phone number in the listing and woke up Jay Harnish who anxiously agreed to do an interview about his new Dog Story Theater.
Problem solved - until THIS week's paper.
Three stories were planned for the April 24 issue, but only one made it in to the paper. One interview was scrapped after multiple attempts by both sides to arrange interviews failed. And after much thought I decided to hold my one review until a later edition. (My decision had nothing to do with the show's quality; I just have a better idea on how to cover it!)
That meant that I now had about a page and a half to fill - and only one story in the pipeline as of late Sunday night. So I "gave back" space to BTL's entertainment editor to fill - something I really don't like to do, but what the heck - and the remaining story was given the entire Curtain Calls page.
But this got me thinking:
Having to juggle stories at the last minute has become far more common this season than it has in the past. (Two other stories were also cancelled recently.) And that surprises and mystifies me, since most theaters are BEGGING for coverage these days.
Are we having these problems because so many of our theaters now have people doing publicity who aren't TRAINED in that field - and because of that, they don't know the ins and outs of their job and what's required of them? Have our theaters cut their staffs so severely that too few people are doing the work of far too many? Or do some simply don't care? (I have my opinions, of course, but I'll keep them quiet for now.)
Then I always wonder if - because we're not a major daily - some people think it's okay to treat US differently than they would a Jenn McKee or a Marty Kohn?
I wonder...
I DO have a possible solution, however. And what I decide MIGHT be influenced by the responses this blog entry receives over the next few days.
For the past handful of years, I've considered offering a half-day seminar in theater publicity - mainly, how to effectively work with the media to get coverage. I'd open it up to all levels of theater: professional, community, collegiate. And I'd even consider inviting my peers to join me in this effort.
What do YOU think?
![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
critic_don) wrote,
