
Always Take Notes #94: Patrick Radden Keefe, author and New Yorker staff writer
14 snips
Nov 3, 2020 AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
Report On Spec To Earn Assignments
- To win assignments, spend months reporting on spec to prove you can access sources and build trust before a magazine assigns the story.
- Keefe did this in Chinatown, slowly accumulating sources until The New Yorker gave an assignment.
Secret Worlds Drive His Story Choices
- Keefe repeatedly returns to stories about secrecy and hidden worlds because human dynamics in secret systems create compelling narrative twists.
- His work focuses on people first, then uses their lives to illuminate larger institutional issues.
Subsidise Investigative Freelancing
- Freelance investigative reporting is possible but financially precarious; subsidize it with other work or fellowships.
- Keefe supported his early freelancing with a think-tank job and paid screenwriting gigs while pursuing long investigations.
