The elements of storytelling
I spent the past two days playing host to Ken Speake, a master storyteller and a longtime journalist. We put him in front of as many students as we could without completely wearing him down to a nub, and it might have been the most valuable 50 minutes each of those students has spent all year.
We have a lot of seasoned journalists come through and talk to our students. Ken stands head and shoulders above the pack because he is all about stories — not writing, not ego, not how I beat the other guy to this source, how I toppled the politician, saved the world, or won a prize.
As I watched his packages and listened to him, I was struck alternately by how easy and how hard it is to tell a story well.
Immediately after I introduced him to my own class, he started fitting a DVD into the computer and simultaneously saying, “A number of years ago I heard about this outfit that specialized in reattaching severed limbs.”
Bang! He had us.
He went on to set up the story — how he waited for months while the p.r. people put him off. They were waiting for just the right case to invite him to see. No, we haven’t forgotten you, they said. Yes, we’ll call you, but we’re waiting for the right patient to appear.
One night at about 6 o’clock, after the newsroom is wrapping up for the day, he got the call. None of the photographers wanted to go with him. So he grabbed a camera and went alone.
Then he showed us the story. Bang! About 10 seconds into it, we saw that he had held back one compelling fact, and we were hooked all over again.
That’s storytelling.
(Please don’t be a spoiler if you know what the story is.)
1. Have a great opening. Grab the viewers at the very beginning with something unusual, unexpected, emotional, or otherwise “sticky.” Make them curious. Compel them to be interested — immediately. The best hook might be an image, or a quote, or even factual information.
Ken talked a good bit about how you learn what the story is, what makes it special. This is probably the core element that straight news reporting lacks, and that is destroyed in young journalists when they are required to run around chasing breaking news and covering events, meetings, and speeches.
You must be curious about what is going on, about what things really mean. You need to talk to people, ask a lot of questions — and above all, have honest curiosity.
On the surface, that might seem to be exactly what students are taught in their first reporting course. But it’s not. They’re not taught how to be curious, and frankly, many of them aren’t. Some journalists don’t even appear to be listening to what the interview subject is saying, and their follow-up questions (if they have any) fail to go deeper into the meaning of the story.
2. Dive below the surface, and stay there. If you’re curious enough to keep asking questions, you will find the real story, the interesting story. Put the pen down, turn the camera or audio recorder off, and just ask questions — and listen. Listen as if listening will reveal the holy grail, the winning lottery number, the key to happiness. Because if you listen well, and follow up with sincere questions, you’ll discover a good story.
3. Be a good team player (or, trust your colleagues). One of the things I love about listening to Ken is the respect he shows for the photographers and editors he worked with. He shares many anecdotes about how a photographer shot something that turned the story or made it sing; about how the photographer pointed something out to Ken, the reporter, that led him to ask new questions; about how an editor came back to him with a query that improved the whole package.
When he was interviewing someone in front of a large electronic door that barn swallows had learned how to open, Ken described how the photographer kept him and the interview subject standing there after Ken had finished asking questions. “Keep talking, keep talking,” was all the photographer said. Ken didn’t get it until finally, behind him, a swallow flew past the sensor and the door opened. That was the shot the photographer had been waiting for.
“You have to trust the people you work with,” Ken said.
4. Construct a story arc, and don’t ruin it with a weak ending. Ken didn’t talk about this, but I saw it in each and every story he showed. TV news packages often end with some really stupid bit of narration — often a total cliché — that makes me want to groan loudly when I hear it. Not Ken’s stories.
Ken’s stories build up to a climax, a high point, about 70 seconds into the 90-second total (three-quarters of the way in, just right), and then he brings it all to a conclusion with a quiet visual (makes me feel like I’m seeing a real ending) and an observation that either makes me think, or makes me feel good. (Yes, I know that sounds cheesy, and if you’re imagining most TV news, you’re right, it would be cheesy. Ken’s stories prove that it wouldn’t need to be.)
A good ending is not redundant of what went before. It’s new. What’s more, it’s completely in tune with the very idea of storytelling — at the end, I should have a feeling of satisfaction, or wonder, or discovery, or regret. I should care.
That makes people feel that they have heard “a good story.”
Is that all there is to telling a story well? Maybe so.
Well… what’s the one compelling fact he held back? Do we get to see the story?
March 7, 2008 at 1:35 pmSorry, Aaron, I don’t want to give it away. His former station, KARE-11, could be making a mint if they had his stories online, but they do not. (Like most TV news operations, they don’t really understand online video.)
To read more about Ken, see:
https://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=2&aid=118472
If you ever get the chance to see him present, ask him to show the “attach arm” story.
March 7, 2008 at 1:46 pmNow you have me wondering too! I saw the barn swallow piece a year or so ago. It’s neat to know some of the backstory to it. Thanks for the post.
March 7, 2008 at 2:04 pmI love this post because it has nothing to do with technology.
March 7, 2008 at 2:32 pmRather than nurture curiosity, there are times that I think we drum it out of our students. They come to us pumped and sometimes leave us drained of enthusiasm from covering too many meetings, speeches, events.
That said, can you teach curiosity? I think you can nurture it. And I think you can extinguish it. And you might be able to spot its lack and encourage that student to pursue another career.
But if it’s not there, is it too late to instill it?
@David: I am asking myself these same questions.
I think it absolutely is possible to nurture curiosity in a young journalist. But for those who show no sign of curiosity, or even caring about the world outside their immediate surroundings, I despair.
Is it too late? I hope it is never too late. But I don’t know of a way to light that fire without at least a warm ember to blow on.
March 7, 2008 at 4:00 pmThanks Mindy – really useful post.
March 7, 2008 at 4:43 pmAwesome post, one of my favorites for the last few months. I hate to do daily, regular news journalism, even if they make 90% of the total work.I worked a few years ago for a health theme channel, and i was in charge of a program dedicated to senior citizens, the elderly, people with truly a lifetime of experiences and stories to tell. I learned a lot listening to them, and had my trouble when my cameraman once stopped taping at the middle of an interview to get cut shots- he was all news drilled. The moment was lost.
March 7, 2008 at 11:25 pmAnd you’re right, all journalists must be curious, and see beyond the surface. Curiosity and the will to understand are essential to do this well. But the job too many times forces you to go only skin deep on the subjects.
It’s painful to see reporters asking questions that follow an agenda, that pretend to provoke more news than to explain what is really going on.But that’s the business.
And i wonder if journalism students read books at all. There’s no better way to learn how to tell a story than by reading good books. No distractions
caused by special effects or directors gimmicks, just words. The other skill i find to be fundamental in a journalist is listening. But seldom i saw a journalist that preferred to listen to others than to talk about himself.
Hi Mindy,
I worked with Ken Speake at KARE TV for 5 1/2 years. Im glad both you and your class got the opportunity to not only see his work but also chat with him about it.
You’ve hit on all the things that make him an outstanding storyteller. I’d like to add another.
One of Ken’s strongest traits is that he always remains flexible and doesn’t get locked into a preconceived idea about what the story is. He always looks for that little extra something that makes the story different and more interesting.
That’s especially important in today’s news climate. As an example, one of the reporters at my station was once chided by a veteran producer for “not bringing back the story that was discussed at the morning meeting”. He matter of factly told her that was not the story that was actually there. Still, the producer persisted. When he asked her if she wanted him to make something up,THEN she backed down.
That’s one of the biggest challenges nowadays-not to fall into the “cookie cutter” trap. Unfortuantely some of the people making newscast decisions are too deeply imbedded in this mode. So it becomes a real challenege when you “dare to be different”..especially on some of the perennial stories that appear again and again on a newscast. (Save us all from boring snow coverage stories!)
Ken Speake should be used as a texbook example of the way to approach stories and how to produce them with emotion and impact.
Mike Igoe
March 9, 2008 at 4:57 pmConsumer Reporter
WGRZ TV
Buffalo, N.Y.
[...] The elements of storytelling. Mindy McAdams recaps a presentation by journalist Ken Speake, which contains all sorts of vital advice for storytelling. (And yes, I am being a bit mischievous in putting this squib right after the on above.) [...]
March 10, 2008 at 11:36 pmI was fortunate enough to grow up in Minnesota watching great storytellers like Ken Speake and Boyd Huppert. In an age of self-promotion, both of these guys knew how to weave tasteful stand-ups and voice-overs into a story without any ego. They never got in the way. And sometimes that’s just as important as the other stuff.
March 12, 2008 at 10:06 am[...] Mindy McAdams makes me wish I could press the “rewind” button on my life back to 2003. That’s the year I got serious about school and went back to college full time. I would have decided to go to the University of Florida so I could have her as my journalism professor so that I could take advantage of learning opportunities like this one. [...]
March 18, 2008 at 7:53 am[...] I learned from Ken Speake, who worked in TV news for almost 40 years, was that a reporter who follows his curiosity can find [...]
April 24, 2009 at 1:01 pm[...] Ken Speake, der fast 40 Jahre beim Fernsehen gearbeitet hat, sagt immer, dass ein Journalist, der sich von seiner Neugier leiten lässt, überall interessante Geschichten finden kann. Ken sieht die Welt fast wie ein Kind. Kleine Kinder fragen immerzu “Warum?” Das kann einen manchmal verrückt machen, wenn es um die banalsten Dinge geht. Wie geht das? Warum sieht das so aus? Was macht das? Warum steht der Mann auf einer Leiter? Wie ist er dahingekommen? Wohin geht er jetzt? [...]
December 22, 2009 at 9:41 am