It's nice when MB teachers can weigh in with some tips from the courses they teach, much like the celebrity interviewing advice we have today. But why should you listen to us? Of course we're going to say our courses are good. Starting today, though, actual students from Mediabistro classes weigh in on what they learned from the courses they took and what it did for them.

Name: Paul Clinton.

Course: Boot Camp for Entertainment Writing with Claude Brodesser.

Output: Lengthy investigative piece.

How I found the class: I was in job-hunting mode and
I signed up for the media notes newsletter and saw the class there. I have written entertainment stories and reviews for various magazines; it sounded relevant, so I jumped at it.

What I learned: Taking the Boot Camp helped immensely, not only in learning how to go about pitching ideas to magazine editors. The class helped to demystify Hollywood, since it was taught by a working journalist at Variety. Claude and the class inspired me to tackle more ambitious projects, to push my reporting and writing to the next level. Without Brodesser's aim-high mantra, I may have been reluctant to spend nine months investigating a San Pedro mental health facility and producing a piece that reflected that effort. Claude preached extreme detail in reporting, filling a story with well-observed descriptions and a compelling narrative. I also still try to pratice his mantra about writing stories that readers would want to tear out and send to a relative or recount at a cocktail party. If you can tell a lively yarn, people will read.

How the course helped me:Getting the piece published wasn't as tough for me, since I have a staff job with the Daily Breeze. But it took planning, discipline and a stick-with-it approach. I interviewed dozens of sources, poured through stacks of records and staked out a facility where we were denied access. A photographer and myself went along on ride-alongs with undercover officers, used cigarettes to get the mentally ill residents to talk to us and met with residents of the facility in their rooms after hours. I gave the editors regular updates on the progress of the project.