Sports writers (freelance), Los Angeles, ÇA

And the high school football is better in Long Beach.

 

I used to play football for Birmingham High in Van Nuys and it is an area where football is big. But your right LB does have some sports powerhouses in the SoCal CIF conference.

Long Beach Poly being one of them.

But doing some high school coverage for the Daily News will look good on your resume. Build some clips and then move on.

 

Yes, the different papers pay different amounts. The PT doesn't use freelancers.

 

The first game I ever covered was Poly v. Verbum Dei, at Poly. It was Poly's first home game in years because the school had had issues in the past. It was a 3 p.m. game, IIRC. Poly won easily. Its starting d-ends were Willie McGinest and Don Sasa. So I get back to the office and am nervous about what to write. I threw together a few nouns and verbs, probably a dangling participle or two. I send the story over, and a few minutes later one of the rimmers walks over and asks, "Umm, Songbird, what was the score of the game?"

 

Çalifornia dreaming ....

 

Vinny's good people. That paper was good 15 years ago.

 

I'll second that first comment, fish, but also say it was very good when I relocated from SoCal to NoCal in 02 (a bad professional decision). Vinny is very capable, a real professional who I met when I was covering the Lakers and he was a PR intern.
As for the paper, a lot has happened since the exodus from 02-05 or so. Lost excellent editors (Jacobs and Anastasi) and a very solid desk staff.
The writing never has been questioned, with Modesti, Hoffarth among the best in the business.
Check it out.

 

If Billy Witz is still there, he's among the best, too.

 

The $40 BR is talking about is a stringer rate for HS football games. It used to be a bit higher, I think $50, but it is certainly in line with what the other LA papers pay for stringers. I doesn't look like that's what this post is looking for.

I think they're just looking for some smart college kids or recent college grads who want to build up their clips and fill in local coverage. As in, real articles not two-inch game stories for the HS football RUP on Friday nights.

I'd guess it would pay better, maybe $75-100 a story or something in that range.

 

True that. There are some very good people there: Modesti, Hoffarth, Jill Painter, Vinny B, Tim Haddock, among others.

There is a lot of opportunity there for some young'in to come in and write their butts off, like Dragonfly said. Gerry Gittleson and others got their start there that way.

Plenty of stories, plenty of schools to tackle, from the San Fernando Valley east to Burbank and Glendale, and north to Santa Clarita and the Antelope Valley. You'll trip over stories year-round.

 

Hope they can get some good help and yeah, it's not a bad place to go for a younger guy/gal who wants to get a few clips. Good people as mentioned above - Hoffarth is rock solid and Modesti is a pro.