Seen and Heard at Ed’s Entertainment Editor Panel

Do you eat, sleep, and breathe pop culture? Is your yearly Oscars ballot the one to beat? Do you know your DVR schedule better than your actual schedule? Then stay tuned to this channel (er, article!), because Ed got the lowdown on how to be an A-list entertainment editor from some of the best in the biz.

Editors from People.com, Teen Vogue, Us Weekly, Entertainment Weekly and HBO gathered recently at the Wix Lounge in New York City to talk about covering red carpets, dealing with publicists, interviewing celebrities, and other tips of the trade for covering all things Hollywood.

On being a crack red-carpet reporter:

One of the gigs many entertainment folks have to do (especially when you’re just starting out) is covering red carpets—which means getting the good quotes your editor will want to put in the magazine or online the next morning.

“You have to be outgoing but not obnoxious, charming but not a suck-up, approachable, relatable, just likeable,” advised Justin Ravitz, deputy editor, online, at Us Weekly. “You have to think on your feet. I might give you questions, but you’re not going to have very much time with so-and-so so you have to be resourceful and think for yourself. You need to be sharp enough to ask relevant, funny, smart unique questions that they’re actually going to answer.”

Pacing your questions correctly is important, too. “Butter them up before you ask the more controversial questions,” he added. “I feel like it’s important for them to get a sense of who you are, too, and that you’re interested in them, their movie, what they’re doing.”

On working online, and breaking news:

Kaitlin Menza, senior features editor and digital deputy editor at Teen Vogue, advised Edsters to be prepared on the pop culture front. “You’re always looking at the news all day, as you’re covering it…knowing which celebrities are having babies, getting honored at awards shows,” she said, also noting that oftentimes celebrities break news on their own social media accounts—so check those celeb tweets!

People.com deputy features editor Kate Hogan added, “We have a newish editor and his motto is you have to ‘own the news’—you have to find your own way in, especially when you have so many outlets covering the same thing.”

And one more tip: “You have to broaden your coverage of what you think celebrity news is,” offered Ravitz. So Carrie Underwood having her baby counts, for sure, but #TheDress—and other content that could go viral—can too. “It’s a mixture and I like to think of it as a challenge…I’m fascinated by the Internet as this organic thing.”

On working and building a rapport with publicists:

Entertainment Weekly senior writer Tim Stack offered advice on dealing with the different kinds of PR folks (personal publicists vs. ones for studios or networks). “Personal publicists are the toughest to deal with. When a celebrity is in a scandal, they’re the ones who minimize the damage,” he explained. Menza added that publicists on the TV/movie side of things have a calendar and know in advance how many assets they have to hand out and who they’re targeting for each—so, one outlet will get the trailer for a buzzy new movie like Paper Towns, while another will get the first interview with the film’s stars (Hello, Cara Delevingne!).

If there’s a touchy question a publicist won’t want you to ask (but your editor definitely does), Stack said to stand your ground—for instance, to say that, yes, you are going to ask about that thing, but the celebrity doesn’t have to respond.

“It’s probably one of the biggest challenges—celebrities now are more guarded, and it can be harder to gain access and how much time you get with them,” he added. “Remind them it’s always in the best interest of the story if people are honest, and give you the time—it always makes them seem better.”

On nailing celebrity interviews:

Whether you’re visiting the set of a film or TV series or interviewing a star about their latest project, all the editors advised keeping your eyes peeled for a good opener.

“It could be Connie Britton at craft services eating a Twinkie,” joked Stack. “You have to look for things that aren’t the obvious, distinct fun things that will grab people and pull them into the story. Sometimes you’re on the set of the show and you have to find something fun, or an actor’s not the best interview so you have to look for something that can bring the reader in. When writing profiles, you have to grab people. Look for the details that are different.”

Be overprepared, Menza says. “There’s nothing worse than when you’ve gone through all your questions and you’re only four minutes into your interview.” One option? Look at their social media feeds. (“It’s a good way to research and find weird things to ask them.”)

And, added Tanner Stransky, senior editor at HBO Digital & Social Media, just be aware that if a celebrity is promoting something, he or she could be answering the same questions many times over before you ask it too. “You never know, you have to adapt,” he said. The panelists advised acknowledging it (“I know everyone wants to ask you this, but…”) or commenting on the coverage of it (“So many people are asking about XYZ!”).

Stransky also advised scheduling interviews early in the day, if you can—that way, it’s not hanging over your head that you’re going to talk to [insert famous celeb here] your whole workday.

Other gems Ed overheard:

On brands vs. mags: “Magazines are not just magazines anymore. They’re becoming brands, they’re constantly looking for ways they can monetize,” said Stransky, who worked at EW and EW.com before moving to HBO. “Every brand is a publisher now, from Apple to Google to Warby Parker. If you’re interested in a brand and feel like it defines your life, whatever it is, you can go target those marketing departments. It’s a different thing to think about, if that’s what appeals to you.”

On edit tests: “You can never read it enough before you submit it. No typos, no misspellings. Have an angle, a clear perspective, and don’t just tell us what’s going on,” Hogan said.

On maintaining your personal Twitter feed when you also tweet for work: “I just try to be funny and mimic my writing style,” Stack said. “I think you do have to watch what you say on Twitter. It’s a balance.”

How passion is like…pizza? Stick with us for this one. The panelists agreed that saying you like entertainment is like saying you like a cheese slice—who doesn’t? As one editor put it, “You have to prove you’re passionate about it.”

A big thanks to: Wix.com, an amazing resource to build a (free!) website, for sponsoring this event. Looking to create an online portfolio to showcase your clips? Check it out.