Sarah Whitten is an entertainment reporter for CNBC based in Los Angeles, California. Sarah covers film, television, music, theme parks and toys.
During the episode, Sarah talks about using Sheets to save source information, email pitches that have strong headlines that catch her attention, building relationships with sources through calls and lunch dates, and more.
Follow her on Twitter and LinkedIn.
Click below to listen to the full conversation and read below for highlights from the interview:
[00:09:24] BB: Yes. I was like, "Oh. And? Okay. Okay." Yeah, it's a waste of time. That's a waste of time for anybody. Okay. So then, perhaps on the opposite side, what's the pitches you love?
[00:09:33] SW: Oh, I mean – recently, obviously, we've been covering the two strikes happening in Hollywood. Those are a big deal for the industry. Have a lot of ramifications. And I recently the last couple of weeks have gotten several very good pitches where the headline of the email is SAG strike streaming source available on record.
[00:09:52] BB: Oh, there you go.
[00:09:53] SW: Like, "Oh, that's a gem. I'm going to click that."
[00:09:56] BB: Oh, I haven't heard of putting the on-record in the subject line. So you like seeing that.
[00:10:02] SW: Neither I.
[00:10:02] BB: Oh, hot tip. Hot tip.
[00:10:05] SW: I talked to so many people who want to talk on background, which is great. I love getting that kind of information. But when you have a source that is deep knowledge of the industry and willing to talk on the record, I'm going to click that email.
[00:10:18] BB: Oh, very good. That's a new one today. Okay.
[00:10:21] SW: Yeah. I mean, I got a similar one that was SAG strike entertainment professor from X university. And that was really great because I know professors are really knowledgeable and able to talk on the record when other people may not be.
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[00:11:02] BB: So, kind of related to that then, are you ever interested in exclusives, embargoes? And why or why not?
[00:11:08] SW: Yeah. I mean, I want to meet a journalist who isn't excited about those two possibilities. Obviously, exclusives are fantastic because it means we get to have it first and we get to put it out there first. And that's great for our brand and great for reporters.
Embargoes are equally as great to have because then we can kind of prep them ahead of time. Make sure there's enough context in there. And it really is great sto have that relationship with sources to be able to get that information ahead of time.
[00:11:35] BB: Yes. Okay. For someone to tee up such, what's the preferred way? Do you want to see, for example, exclusive in the subject line?
[00:11:44] SW: Oh, absolutely. That's fantastic to have in there. Either exclusive or embargo is a great thing to have in there. And as for the pitch itself, I mean, it doesn't have to go into super detail if you're wanting me to agree to the embargo ahead of time. And a lot of times what I'll say is I agree to the embargo but I can't tell you I'm going to write about it until I know more about it. I like to be very transparent up front because I don't know what information you're going to give me. And since we're kind of a smaller staff, I have a lot of things I'm juggling at one time. I like to know information about the pitch before I can say, "Yes, we'll definitely write about this."
[00:12:19] BB: Okay. Very good. For following up to an exclusive, do you have kind of like, "Hey, if it is a true exclusive, you could send me one follow-up within 24 hours." Or do you never want to follow-up?
[00:12:30] SW: Oh, I don't mind follow-ups if they're one or within a small amount of time. I've had people follow-up with me five times within three days. And it's like, "Okay. I think we both know I'm not going to answer your email." Or I'm busy or something like that.
I never try to be mean to anybody who emails me. But there are just sometimes – like, if on the day we had SAG-AFTRA say that there was a strike happening, I was not going to be covering anything else that day.
[00:12:58] BB: Yeah. Exactly.
[00:12:59] SW: It's probably great to come to me the next day and say, "Hey, I pitched you yesterday. Just wanted to follow up." But doing it three days in a row is like, "Okay."
[00:15:17] BB: Now some you may have already touched on. But you can elaborate. Okay. Video or phone interview?
[00:15:22] SW: Either.
[00:15:22] BB: Bullet points or paragraphs in a pitch?
[00:15:24] SW: Bullet points.
[00:15:26] BB: Oh, why?
[00:15:26] SW: I like you to get to the point of what the email is. And if you say, "Okay, I'm going to give you six paragraphs." I don't have time to read six paragraphs if I have 200 emails when I come in the morning. But if you give me five quick bullet points of, "Here's what I'm pitching you. Here's the person I want you to talk to. Here's why this is a good thing for you," I'm in.
[00:15:46] BB: Okay. Images attached or Dropbox zip file?
[00:15:49] SW: Dropbox.
[00:15:51] BB: Okay.
[00:15:52] SW: They're usually better quality images.
[00:15:54] BB: Oh, good to know. Okay. Short or long pitches? You kind of answered it. But okay. Yeah.
[00:15:59] SW: Short.
[00:15:59] BB: Short. Great. Good. Okay. Email or Twitter DM?
[00:16:03] SW: These days, email.
[00:16:04] BB: Okay. Yeah. By the way, we got to update that to X, by the way. Note to Kindle. X. That's so weird. Okay.
[00:16:11] SW: When you now go on X, are you tweeting still or are you X-ing? What is the new terminology?
[00:16:17] BB: See, this is where coms professionals are helpful.
[00:16:20] SW: Yeah. I'll have to go talk to our tech group. A little outside of my purview.
[00:16:24] BB: Exactly. Okay. You also touched on this. But just so we can get like a number, one follow-up or how many?
[00:16:31] SW: One follow-up. And if we're people who have worked together before, you can do a couple more follow-ups and I won't be mad.
[00:16:39] BB: Direct or creative subject lines?
[00:16:41] SW: Direct.
[00:16:42] BB: Press release or media kit?
[00:16:43] SW: Press release.
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