---
title: "Coffee with a Journalist: Maxwell Millington, Axios - Blog"
description: Discover Maxwell Millington's tips for effective PR pitches & insight into his role as an Entertainment Reporter at Axios on Coffee with a Journalist.
image: https://blog.onepitch.co/hubfs/Maxwell%20Millington%2c%20Axios-1.png
---

[![OnePitch](https://blog.onepitch.co/hubfs/raw_assets/public/OnePitch_May2025/images/onepitch-logo-black.svg "OnePitch")](https://onepitch.co/)

- [Product](https://onepitch.co/product-features/overview/)
- Media Lists 
    - [MFY Media Lists](https://onepitch.co/media-lists/build)
    - [DFY Media Lists](https://onepitch.co/media-lists/dfy-media-list-submit/)
- Resources 
    - [AI Tools Hub](https://ai-hub.onepitch.co/)
- [Contact](https://onepitch.co/contact-us/support)

## Coffee with a Journalist: Maxwell Millington, Axios

![Coffee with a Journalist: Maxwell Millington, Axios](https://blog.onepitch.co/hubfs/Maxwell%20Millington%2c%20Axios-1.png)

[Media Insights](https://blog.onepitch.co/tag/media-insights) [Coffee with a Journalist](https://blog.onepitch.co/tag/coffee-with-a-journalist)

[Maxwell Millington](https://www.axios.com/authors/mmillington) is an Entertainment Reporter at Axios.

 

During the episode, Max explains his role at Axios, how he prioritizes emails based on their importance in streaming, entertainment, and sports, and his tips for PR pose to best determine what news to pitch and what sources to provide.

 

Follow Maxwell on [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/maxwellmillington/)and [X/Twitter.](https://x.com/mxwzy?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor)

 

Click below to listen to the full conversation and read below for highlights from the interview:

 

 

[![CWJ View Transcription CTA](https://blog.onepitch.co/hs-fs/hubfs/CWJ%20View%20Transcription%20CTA.png?width=228&height=48&name=CWJ%20View%20Transcription%20CTA.png)](https://blog.onepitch.co/hubfs/CWAJ236%20-%20Maxwell%20Millington.pdf)

 

## ***How Maxwell Prioritizes Reviewing Pitches***

 

\[0:04:03\] MM: Yeah. I look through everything. I have a pretty good idea of what I need to focus  
on and what emails could, I can just bookmark and move on or delete right away. I also  
sometimes, I do this little trick, this is just how my brain works, instead of like making a bunch of  
folders, what I'll do is if I read an email and I know I need to pay attention to it or I need to come  
back to later, I'll actually just go ahead and press mark as unread, so that way I can make sure I  
come back to it later and in addition to bookmarking to make sure that I see it.

\[0:04:38\] BB: Oh, you have a double system, a failed system. Oh, I have not heard that before  
on here. Okay. Then you did say you know what you're looking for. Do you just via subject line  
and alone know like, okay, that's just clearly not for me?

\[0:04:52\] MM: Yeah. I’ve got to know what's a prioritize. For my role, a lot of the things that I do  
involve TV and movies on streaming and being of course, sports, so just taking the streaming  
example, if I get a release from a Netflix, or a Peacock, or Hulu and they’re – you know, letting  
me know about a new show that's coming out, I know to sort of, like prioritize that in my inbox  
and make sure, you know, is it like a show that everyone's talking about that I need to let local  
reporters know about right away, or I need to write something about right away, or is it just like  
something I can come back to and write about later. Another good example is like concert  
announcements. We do, if it's a Taylor Swift is going on tour, like that's sort of like, okay, put  
everything down, read that.

\[0:05:44\] BB: I love it. Put everything down.

\[0:05:48\] MM: Yeah. That kind of – I'll put everything down, like –

\[0:05:52\] BB: That's right. That’s right.

\[0:05:55\] MM: We got to get the news out about that right away. That's how it works.

 

 

## ***The Importance of Understanding A Journalist's Coverage Areas***

 

\[0:07:53\] MM: Yeah. I would say the number one thing is just to really understand what it is that  
I as a journalist cover. I think there's instances, so for example, one of the interesting parts of  
my job right now is I write what's called the weekender for two cities, Axios Chicago and Axios  
Denver. I write about what events are coming up on the weekend. It's like six items. A lot of the  
events are large scale, hundreds of people, concerts, festivals, sporting events, really big  
events. Sometimes bar crawls. It depends on the weekend.

If for example, that's something that you're pitching me for like an event that is 50 people are  
going to be able to come to or something that's like, “Hey, this restaurant is doing a drink special  
on Wednesday.” Like that's not really on the same like level as I normally have the weekender,  
which is a concert or a Bear’s game or a Cub’s, whatever. Just paying close attention to if you're  
pitching for like a weekly series, paying close attention to the things that are in this series to  
make sure that whatever you're pitching fits in with that, or if you're just pitching me on like  
something that you think might be relevant, but you haven't really done –

\[0:09:22\] BB: You haven’t done a work.

\[0:09:24\] MM: If it is like that, I would say just really getting an understanding of what the  
journalists or it might be what I do like would help a lot. It would save us both a lot of time.

\[0:09:32\] BB: It would save everybody the time. Please, everybody. Please.

 

![Line for blog](https://blog.onepitch.co/hs-fs/hubfs/Line%20for%20blog.png?width=5052&height=192&name=Line%20for%20blog.png)

### Want to pitch Maxwell and other journalists like him?

 

Click below to sign up for OnePitch and use these insights in your next pitch!

 

[![Create Account](https://blog.onepitch.co/hs-fs/hubfs/hub_generated/resized/7052357d-9f75-4e56-84e8-25dfef6dcee5.png?width=250&height=52&name=7052357d-9f75-4e56-84e8-25dfef6dcee5.png)](https://onepitch.co/account/create?utm_source=blog&utm_medium=cta&utm_campaign=coffee-with-a-journalist)

![Line for blog](https://blog.onepitch.co/hs-fs/hubfs/Line%20for%20blog.png?width=5052&height=192&name=Line%20for%20blog.png)

 

## ***Insight Into The Story Approval Process***

 

\[0:14:55\] BB: Okay. Flexible, flexible, Max would like it. Do you want to get a little bit into before  
we go to our, like quick-fire questions into the story approval process? Because for many  
publicists perhaps, even at the editor level, it's a bit murky. It's like, well, how does a pitch get  
the okay to then become the story? We all have a boss somewhere. Someone has to say, yes,  
this is a go. No, don't do that or whatnot. Is there a way in which you pitch the stories you wish  
to do or how does that look?

\[0:15:28\] MM: Yes. For a lot of things, I – thankfully, I worked on a really great team. A lot of  
things, I'm at the point now where my editor trusts me to do a lot of things. I don't have to get  
everything I write about approved, but for a pitch to get approved, to go back to that point, a lot  
of times for me, specifically, I look for stories that touch as many of our local markets as  
possible, because at the end of the day like I said earlier, that's my job is to provide  
entertainment and sports stories for our 30 local markets.

© 2024 Coffee With A Journalist 8

CWAJ 236 Transcript  
If there's something that touches even three out of the 30, that's a good place to be able to you  
know, okay, I can go ahead and write about this. Depending on what it is. If it's really right in the  
middle of my coverage area that's something I can just write and no approval really needed, but  
if it's something that's a little bit more obscure, a little bit outside, so like for example the video  
game thing. If it's like something like that, it's like, “Okay, I might have to check with my editor to  
see if this is okay.” But really at the core for myself, it all goes back to a story that's relevant in  
as many of our 30 cities as possible.

 

## ***Rapid Fire Pitching Preferences***

 

\[0:16:53\] BB: Okay. Noted on that front. Shall we get into the quick-fire portion?

\[0:16:57\] MM: I'd love to.

\[0:16:58\] BB: Max, let's do it. Okay. First off. Video or phone interview?

\[0:17:03\] MM: Video.

\[0:17:04\] BB: Video. Now, we're hearing interesting answers for this one. What makes you say  
video?

\[0:17:09\] BB: Just being able to have a conversation like face-to-face is great and this virtual  
world. I think seeing a face is always, you know, I like it. It feels so good.

\[0:17:19\] BB: Okay. Okay. I mean, I agree too with that. Bullet points are paragraphs in a pitch?

\[0:17:24\] MM: Bullet points. I haven't got many enough. I get a lot of paragraphs.

\[0:17:29\] BB: Yeah. Yeah.

\[0:17:30\] MM: Send the bullets at me, please.

\[0:17:32\] BB: I assume short versus long pitches?

\[0:17:34\] MM: Yes, short pitches.

\[0:17:35\] BB: Okay. How about images attached or a Dropbox zip file?

\[0:17:39\] MM: That is a great question. I think Dropbox, for me, just because, depending on  
what it is, like it's easier just to share a link. If it’s a Dropbox with other reporters or I can just go  
and look, but yeah, Dropbox links are cool.

\[0:17:56\] BB: We like a Dropbox. Okay. Then email or a DM of any kind for a pitch?

\[0:18:03\] MM: Email just because it's really easy. It's about, it's right there in my work stuff. DMs  
are fine, but email just –

\[0:18:13\] BB: Okay. Okay. We like it. Direct or creative subject lines. We talked a little bit about  
this.

\[0:18:18\] MM: Yeah. Direct.

\[0:18:19\] BB: Direct it. Done. Okay. How about follow-ups? Multiple or?

\[0:18:25\] MM: This is a good question. One follow-up is usually enough. I will say that just  
depending on the time out of like whatever the news is, like I'm not responding in – I don't mind  
multiple follow-ups, but usually I can get back after one.

\[0:18:47\] BB: Okay. This is good. Press release or media kit?

\[0:18:51\] MM: Oh, man. What a great question. I think I'm more likely to like look through a  
media kit. The media kit's great, because it's a one-stop shop, right? But if you got, a lot of  
times, personally, in it with photos and all the stuff I need. I love a media kit.

\[0:19:08\] BB: Is there a time? We talked about a little bit from you being in LA. A time, though,  
in which you're looking at pitches. Any time we should know?

\[0:19:15\] MM: No. I look at stuff all day. I would say, I don't normally start my day at around 8  
Pacific. I mean, you can email me before that, but if you want like a quicker response, then later  
in the day is better.

\[0:19:31\] BB: By the way, do you ever feel like you're behind being on the West Coast from  
your New York peers or East Coast peers?

\[0:19:39\] MM: No, not really. The only time I feel behind is when like some major news comes  
up before I wake up.

\[0:19:46\] BB: Oh, I know.

\[0:19:47\] MM: But on a day-to-day basis, no, I love being on the West Coast.

\[0:19:54\] BB: Oh, me too. For the life, hell yeah. But sometimes on the news front, you're like,  
yeah, man. Which is why I love being in New York City. That's my favorite place where I'm like,  
oh, and I'm an early bird, so I’m like, it's 5:30 AM. No one's up. Not even anyone in New York  
except the trash people. I'm telling you. I love it when you can have a East Coast vibe.

 

\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_

 

You can find more conversations with journalists from leading outlets when you subscribe to the ***[Coffee with a Journalist](https://onepitch.co/podcast)*** podcast to get the latest insights as soon as they drop. Don’t forget to ***[follow us on Twitter](https://twitter.com/onepitchsaas)*** for other updates on our newest tips, tools, and top strategies.

 

### **Want more tips from journalists?**

Fill out the form below to subscribe to Coffee with a Journalist and receive weekly emails highlighting reporters, journalists, and editors and their individual pitching preferences.

#### The OnePitch Tea

Get made-for-you media lists, interviews with amazing journalists from our podcast and live feedback sessions, and event opportunities with our Pitch Posse—everything you need to pitch smarter.

#### Follow us

Connect with us on social media

[In](https://www.instagram.com/onepitchsaas/)

[X](https://twitter.com/onepitchsaas/)

[Li](https://www.linkedin.com/company/onepitchsaas/)

[Tt](https://www.tiktok.com/@onepitch_saas/)

[Yt](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyFUQD_FX-_VhtQNlen79fg/)

#### Related topics

 Scroll to top

[Get started today](https://onepitch.co/plg-v2-2025/step-1/)

[![Footer Logo](https://blog.onepitch.co/hs-fs/hubfs/Footer%20Logo.png?width=180&height=33&name=Footer%20Logo.png "Footer Logo")](http://onepitch.co)

[ln](https://www.instagram.com/onepitchsaas/)

[X](https://twitter.com/onepitchsaas/)

[Li](https://www.linkedin.com/company/onepitchsaas/)

[Tt](https://www.tiktok.com/@onepitch_saas/)

[Yt](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyFUQD_FX-_VhtQNlen79fg/)

 ©2026.All Right Reserved.

- [Overview](https://onepitch.co/product-features/overview/)
- [About Us](https://onepitch.co/about-us/team/)
- [Contact](https://onepitch.co/contact-us/support/)