Course Details

mb's Boot Camp is a hit, but it's an intense, advanced class for very seasoned journalists. So what do you do if you want to break into journalism with serious teachers who currently work in the industry? Enlist in Basic Training. Part lecture, part workshop, this class is designed to give you a professional understanding of both the editing and writing sides. If you're looking to get your start as a journalist, Basic Training will take your writing to the next level. Each week, students receive a lecture on topics like the editing process, journalism ethics, what makes something newsworthy, note-taking, fact-checking, reporting, and more. Over the course of 8 weeks, you will fully workshop two pieces, including a perfectly polished, no-fail pitch letter. Your work can range from personal essays to profiles, from news stories to business or travel features. You'll learn how to query a publication, who to call there, which part of the publication to pitch to.

In this class, you can expect to learn:

• All the issues you need an understanding of to immerse yourself in a journalism career
• How to create captivating stories that editors will buy and readers will love
• How to write compelling pitch letters
• What the table of contents in a magazine means to you
• Which magazines will be interested in your story
• How to approach editors
• How to network
• How to understand the market and detect changes
• All the basic skills any journalist should have

By the end of class, students can expect to have:
Two salable pieces, pitch letters to match, and knowledge enough to survive in the world of journalism.

Instructor Bio

Oliver Jones's Courses

Oliver Jones was born and raised in Washington DC, the son of a film critic father and librarian mother, an ideal pedigree for an incipient entertainment journalist. He graduated from Hampshire College in 1993, after four years of studying great American poetry, which made him ideally suited to do absolutely nothing. Ever since completing an internship in the research department at Premiere magazine in 1994 (his first ever article was an interview with the late Irish actor Richard Harris), he has worked steadily as a journalist, writing everything from profiles of movie queens and pop divas, to investigative stories about drunken co-eds and fundamentalist Mormons. In 1998, he became the New York film and media beat reporter and East Coast film critic for Daily Variety, before opting for the relative serenity of a weekly as the first New York staff writer hired by the re-launched Us Weekly. For the last three years, he has been living the freelancing life in L.A., writing entertainment, travel and enterprise stories for such magazines as Details, Blender, Premiere, Allure, Lexus, W, New York, and People, where he is currently a fulltime correspondent. If you get a chance, please ask him about the time Will Smith's 300-pound assistant gave him a concussion.

Testimonials

Oliver Jones is a great teacher and I learned a lot of valuable information. Oliver was very personable, bright, and gave great feedback. This has been a great experience. Thank you. -- Stephanie Schramm, executive assistant, entertainment