How to Become a Good Storyteller

Key Takeaways

[Music] you know and it really was like I would be having conversations with people that I'm talking to you now and be anticipating the next thing I'd be trying to think like I have to nail this politician on this thing and it's gonna be my third question see you know that was like where am i right I was thinking like it was a game of chess and some of that is healthy like you want to have going with a plan you want to go in with like things you know you need to get out of an interview or get out of a character elements are their personality you want to tease out by by talking to them in a certain way definitely need that but you don't want to go in with like so much of a plan that you're not listening because most of story to being a good storyteller actually just requires you to shut up so much of the time like you just actually need to listen to people you're not gonna tell their story correctly you're not gonna find the elements of it that other reporters other storytellers have missed if you're not actually just being quiet most of the time in thinking and reacting to what's happening around you um and so I learned better how to to listen and I think like literally you can watch my work and you'll see as I've progressed that I'm listening more and that my questions react more just sort of naturally like what I hear what's going on around me and not so much like a plan that I came in or a vision that I previously had for what the piece would be how do you going into an interview I always feel like especially if you're interviewing somebody that gets interviewed a lot like say if you're going somebody high-profile that just sitting down talking with reporters or journalists every day and you want to create a story an experience for them that's that's different right you don't want to just go in and say okay here's the ten questions that get asked every time because they go on autopilot and then it's like there's this scripted canned responses how do you get out of that and how do you approach these interviews in a way that you're gonna be able to get something that's that's actually genuine and not like the the guise of being genuine probably the two ways in which I I'm able to do that and some people you can't do that with because like they are pros yeah like they're they won't show you anything about themselves that they haven't planned to publicly show so sometimes you can't do it but a lot of times you know I'll be sitting in a politician's office and usually their staff lets you in first and you can set up and they haven't come in yet and I'll just look around and no desk and creepy I'm not like going through their belongings opening their wallet um no but I like they have all these cute weird pictures of their kids or things that they did when they were 20 I'll you know I was in a politician's office the other day and I noticed there were all these like you know there was a fireman's hat and there was a lot of you know should've small trinkets and books the book related to sort of being a men mm man in uniform and so I you pick up those little things about their personality may have nothing to do with what you're there to talk about but I can just sort of get a sense of like who they are in their private life and then when they sit down and we're miking them before we're rolling I just start asking them about like you know who they are or that weird thing I saw or the strange quote they have in the corner up there that doesn't make any sense to me like kind of disarm them a tiny bit uh-huh you know I've showed him I'm a human being who has some interest in him as a human being and you know that he can respond to me and he can bring up thoughts or he can bring up ideas about whatever situation we're discussing and it can be like a little bit freer and loose you know like you don't just have 20 minutes to hammer through whatever the major Trump talking point is for the week like we can be real for a few minutes at the end middle start middle and end and that's what I usually try to like kind of subconsciously or kind of casually show anyone that I interview from a politician to Gavin grim I want them to know like I'm a real person here who wants to tell a true story