Story-hunter + researcher

Description:

National-magazine writer is looking for a Los Angeles-based story-hunter to help find and develop feature ideas in the US and abroad.

The role in a nutshell

• A researcher/fixer/journalist who can work with me to identify and develop feature-story leads and ideas.
• We'll work closely to find and report the kinds of ideas that can become 8,000 or 10,000-word feature stories and (in some cases) be adapted into documentaries or TV series. 

About me

• I'm Jesse Barron, an award-winning longform journalist based in Los Angeles. I'm a contributing writer at the New York Times Magazine, and my work has been adapted for TV. Learn more about me here (https://jessebarron.com/) and here (https://www.nytimes.com/by/jesse-barron).  
• I typically work on a few in-depth stories every year—mostly related to the legal system, but not always. I try to write actual narratives, with a lot of reporting underneath.

About you

• You don't need feature-writing experience, just some basic reporter/fixer/researcher experience, and good instincts about where to look for ideas that deserve longer treatment as investigative narratives. (Can't emphasize good instincts enough!) Maybe you've worked as a fact-checker for a few years; or developed stories for radio or docs; or are working on your own stuff and looking for side income. 
• An idea can come from anywhere; there are no rules. It can be an obscure needle-in-the-haystack case that nobody has ever heard of, or a widely-covered criminal case that is actually misunderstood. It can be in the US or international. 
• This is part-time, collaborative, and hopefully very fun. It will start around 8-10 hours a week. Hourly rate depending on experience.
• You can do a lot of the research on your own, but I'd like to meet in person at least weekly, in my office in Chinatown here in Los Angeles.
• So you have to be in or around Los Angeles. 
• Get in touch at jesse.barron@nytimes.com. Looking forward to hearing from you!