How to pitch to The Project with Georgia Done

So you want to know how to get featured on The Project?

Good call. After 10 years on air, The Project is one of Australia’s most-loved news and current affairs programs. With an average of 437,000 viewers a night and millions tuning in online to watch The Project social media clips, the show is noisy, influential and packs a punch.

So how do you pitch successfully to The Project? Georgia Done is a Field Producer for the show – an investigative journalist who will travel anywhere, if the story’s worth it, to follow and produce a five- to seven-minute news story.

Georgia assesses pitches, chooses the best ones, and is then literally out in the field, putting her heart and soul into making those stories the best they can possibly be.

Here are Georgia's top tips for your pitch to The Project making the cut.

Move me, inform me

When it comes to pitching a story that we’re going to pay attention to, we’re looking for something that’s really going to create impact and connect with the larger part of Australia.

What constitutes a good news story to me is something that will emotionally affect someone in either a good way, or a bad way, but also a story that will be informative. Yes, we want to move people, we want people to feel things, but we also want to inform them.

That's the perfect three. But at the same time, I also love to hear about stories that are out of the ordinary, the weird stuff, the special stuff.

Share your vision

The big thing for me is vision – or footage – that’s everything.

I find sometimes people will pitch me great ideas that I love and I'll respond saying that sounds great, what can we film? And they’re like, oh actually nothing.

Always remember we are TV, and we need stuff that we can show over the course of six to eight minutes. That means we need to film a lot. Most of the time, we're filming over two days, so vision is a big thing.

Of course, in the current climate, I don’t want people to feel like they can’t pitch to us here at The Project. It’s a weird time and we still want to report on everything that’s funny or sad, quirky or different, as long as it’s informative. So please everybody, feel free to reach out!

Bring the talent

When I’m pitching a story to our internal team, I need to clearly demonstrate what the story will cover, how we would put it together, how long it will take to shoot and how it will impact Australia.

To do that effectively I need to bring the talent to the table.

The talent check is one of the hardest parts of the process and it basically means having a longer conversation to find out more about the talent that’s been pitched to us. 

While someone could sound amazing on paper, we need to make sure that everything they’ve put in an email is what they feel comfortable saying out loud, too.

Also, a lot of the time, when you’re having a conversation with someone over the phone, you find out really interesting, awesome things about people that they wouldn’t think to include in their pitch, story overview or online profiles. It’s these conversations that help us to uncover who they are in real life and whether the story has legs.

Vet and prepare your case studies

Make sure your case studies are happy to talk to TV and that they have great things to say about what you do. You want them to feel confident to say “Jacinda has fantastic leadership skills, I trust her with my life”.

They should have a story to tell, not just give you mad props.

Ideally, they have had a transformative experience as a result of the ‘thing’ that you do. “We worked with Erin Brockovich because we heard she understood how the system was broken and that she would do everything in her power to support us… we weren’t disappointed. She helped us claw back our dignity after the gas companies started fracking in our town, taking our health and our life savings invested in our family home”

Consider your timing

When you’re planning your pitch, consider planning it out 2-3 weeks in advance so you have plenty of time to plan your shots, prepare your talents (case studies) and allow time to win the producer or journalist over!

Ideally you might want to align your story to a key date, release of a new report or to a special event.

Pitching to The Project: a checklist

Where to from there? Tune in to the podcast with Georgia to see what goes on behind the scenes when pitching her own stories to her bosses and the simple formula to a great pitch for The Project.

Oh, and when you’re ready to get pitching to The Project yourself, download this free checklist to help you along the way. You’re welcome!

Now that you have the framework, it’s time to weave a well-researched pitch that combines a topical ‘newsy’ angle, your why story, expertise and access to talent and case studies, and vision in it. Good luck!

Tag me on Instagram @odetteandco when you secure some prime time coverage.

Catch my full interview with Georgia on the Hack Your Own Podcast, available on Apple and Google Podcasts.

Want a hand pitching your story to TV news? Consider signing up for my Hack Your Own PR program. 

Transcript Georgia Done, The Project

Odette: Well, thank you so much for joining me today, I am pretty chuffed that both of us are set up within our pillow forts during the isolation life that we're slowly becoming accustomed to. I really appreciate you sharing some time. 

Georgia: Oh, thanks so much for having me on. I'm excited.

Odette: All right, well let's jump straight in. I have done a little bit of research on your background and it's been interesting seeing such a young, talented journalist coming through the ranks and taking up a pretty epic game with The Project.

What were you dreaming of becoming when you were growing up?

Georgia: Well, first of all, thank you for those kind words you make me blush in my little pillow fort here. And when I was growing up I actually wanted to be a marine biologist, very random I didn't even really, like, science, I just had this idea of being with marine animals and I loved it. That didn't really turn out, but when I left school I started studying communications and I actually only did a minor in journalism, but when I started doing that minor I went well.

Odette: And so, you left uni, what was next?

Georgia: When I left uni I started an internship with Channel Seven in Brisbane. And that was a big eye opener for me. It just really made me realize how much I wanted to be a journalist.

I was still doing other jobs here and there, but I was really focusing on my interning so I started doing a few paid days, just as a associate producer in Brisbane and on the Gold Coast, and I had some fantastic mentors, especially on the Gold Coast, who really pushed me to start doing some regional Queensland work. So that's when I started to do a little bit on the Sunshine Coast, and which opened the door, my first job as a sports reporter in Harvey Bay for Channel Seven, which was pretty crazy for me because I wasn't really into sports.

But I definitely was excited enough to study all about the different sports and you meet some cool characters in regional sports world so that was amazing, but I loved news so after about four months of sort of learning how it all worked. I moved to Rockhampton where I was a reporter again for Channel Seven for about a year and a half. And that was probably the best year and a half, ever. It was so much fun. I made some friends for life. 

I had fantastic bosses, it was just really good I mean it was tough. You are covering some pretty intense things you cover things when you're a regional journo from murders, to really basic things to natural disasters, really everything under the sun. But it wasn't until I became a producer, which I really got an idea of what it's like managing people so after a year and a half in Rockhampton I moved to Bundaberg, became a reporter again for Channel Seven, which was wonderful. I had again made some awesome friends, but it sort of got to a point for me where I was really missing city life, which is probably a bit embarrassing to admit, I miss my friends and I miss my family. 

When you’ve spent three years going around to different regional towns which was amazing but it gets to a point where you need a change, so I started doing a bit of work in Brisbane for Channel Seven which was wonderful, but was keen for a new challenge. So, moved to Melbourne, and then found my way working for The Project.

Odette: What an awesome gig I'd say that The Project is definitely one of the most highly desired outlets but any clients I ever work with, it is one of the few media programs, I would say, on television these days that people really flock to in the younger demographics. The work that you guys are all pulling together with the program is very well received.

Georgia: Thank you all for your great place to work. Everyone is so creative. And I think a lot of people don't realise the amount of work that goes on behind the scenes I mean every news outlet, everyone works bloody hard but at The Project it's another level. And the way people work together it's just unbelievable it's really open and collaborative.

Odette: Oh, cool. Well, I think the work is very much appreciated. So, how did you score the gig there, what was involved?

Georgia: Well, it was a bit of a weird one for me, I actually applied for a job at The Project, while I was still working for Channel Seven, I don't know if I should have been. Anyway, I didn't get it. And then about six months later I got a call saying that job wasn't appropriate for you, but we've got this different job in the daily news department.

And then I was very lucky, I moved to Melbourne and went straight into a gig at The Project and their Daily team, which is the team that does all the Daily News. It was stressful and fast paced and the big difference for me was that I wasn't covering just Queensland news, it was everywhere within Australia.

The biggest news of the day, which was great, but the team at The Project that I really wanted to be a part of was the field department, which is basically the team that gets to travel across Australia covering the news that isn't really covered.

The field team produces the stories that people want to hear but have no idea how to find. I applied to that team about six months i and I got the role as Melbourne-based Field Producer for The Project. The group of people I work with, we're all like family it's, I don't know, I'm sounding pretty silly here but it's pretty awesome.

Odette: Oh I don’t think that’s silly, I think it's probably one of the most enviable jobs in Australian media at the moment. There’s only a small number of Field Producers in similar roles – is there three in Melbourne and three in Sydney?

Georgia: At the moment, yes, and we occasionally have freelancers that come to work for us, most of them had worked for us before so they know how we work because it's a little different to normal news but at the moment it's just a small team of us. And yeah, it's pretty good.

Odette: Awesome. And so, for the people at home that don't know what a field producer is, can you give us a little bit of a definition.

Georgia: We produce the longer form stories that run for about four to seven minutes or a bit longer if it's worth it. But really, Field Producers are literally out in the field, so we go everywhere if the story is worth it.

And we put our heart and soul into making those stories in the best shape that they can be, so a daily story or what a daily producer would work on is still amazing stuff but it's short and it's snappy and it's the news of the day. While we cover stuff that you could probably watch in a years’ time, and it would still hit you it in the same way.

Odette: Yeah, that's amazing. I know that you mentioned that it's a much longer form piece than the Daily News grabs. What goes into behind the scenes? I know you're producing around a story or week, which is a big investment for a story these days in news media. What does a day in the life look like for a field producer?

Georgia: Yeah, it's very different to what I used to do when I was a reporter. I think it's because we do put a lot of money and a lot of time into these stories. So, we want to make sure that they're perfect before during and after.

For me, the process starts when I find out about a story or I get pitched a story then I need to learn all about it. I have to talent check anyone who would be in it. Then I need to run the idea past my bosses to see what they think, we kind of workshop angles. Then I need to write a skeleton script to make sure that’s the way we want to go about it and that my bosses think that this is an appropriate story for our audience.

And then after that we get our production crew involved, we organize flights. If there's a host involved, which is more often than not we need to completely brief them, make sure that they know everything about the story before we head there. And then we'll fly there usually or, we'll drive there, and film it over, usually one to two days minimum. If it's worth longer then we'll be there for longer and then we come back and then we have to transcribe all the interviews, which sounds like an easy task, but it's seriously not…that such a big job.

It takes half a day to a whole day sometimes just transcribed but it is worth it because it makes you make sure that you know everything that was said and you're picking out the best bits and not rushing anything.

Then we write the script, and that needs to be approved. And then it goes into the postproduction process which is the part of The Project which just blows me away every time.

Usually with a long form piece we like to have at least two to three days to edit. But, you know, if it's timely then it won't take that long, but our editors work their magic.

And we get music put on it from our wonderful music producers get graphics put on it from our great graphics team it's a real team effort to put together this one story.

And then at the very end, needs to get fact checked by our fact checker, and it's like legally approved and then finally approved by my bosses before it goes to air. It is the biggest process. I tell you what it's so worthwhile because the product you get is the best you could get in the end.

Odette: Absolutely. That is an enormous, enormous undertaking. I'm curious though, you know, obviously staying really close to the story in that transcription process is important, but do you reckon that one day you would outsource that transcription and still stay close to it, or is that an essential component.

Georgia: We do outsource sometimes when we're really busy. For example, if there's a big breaking news story happening and we need to get the story out tomorrow, we would send out our clips to transcribers.

In saying that, though I still think it's really important to listen through the whole interview because sometimes on paper it looks good but sometimes it doesn't go well together on camera or it's just sounds different to what you think so I still try to sift through everything but transcribers are lifesavers, you send things off and you get back so quick and I just think wow! How did you do that?

Odette: I have found an app called Otter which is amazing for transcribing so anyone who needs to transcribe, check it out. So, what's involved in that pitching meeting because I think you do that fortnightly. That's a pretty huge intimidating and scary task, tell me about pitching a story to your bosses.

Georgia: Oh yeah, you should see me the first time I did it. I felt like I was gonna be sick, it is a pretty intimidating process.

Basically, we all sit in a room. My bosses and the rest of my team. And we have prepared documents of our pitches.

It's the story, our tagline, how we would put together, how long it will take to shoot it and how it will impact Australia. We give that to our bosses an hour before the meeting and then we need to present it to them. This really takes us back to my uni days of really trying to sell myself. 

So that's basically what we do. We usually need to have at least two to three stories each and even just putting together this pitch takes a while because you want to make sure it's perfect.

And the hardest thing is that you need to talent check and do all of that before the pitch meeting.

So, it's hard sometimes when you're talking to someone and you feel like it’s a good story, but you still have to get it over the line. You think, you sound amazing and most of the time it does get over the line because you wouldn't invest your time in a story that you don't think is worth it anyway.

And you know we do that quite often.

At the moment, obviously with everything that's going on, not so much. It's a lot over email and calling. Usually we do that, like you said twice a week and it takes it out of us but it's worth it.

Odette: Yeah. So, tell me about the talent check process, what are you looking for in really great quality talent?

Georgia: Really when I talent check someone I just want to make sure that what they're putting in an email is what they feel comfortable saying out aloud. And a lot of the time when you're having a conversation with someone over the phone you find out things about them which you didn't already know, I think a lot of people when they're writing down things about themselves online, it's not maybe who they are in real life.

A lot of the time you find out really interesting, awesome things about people that they probably wouldn't feel comfortable or confident enough by themselves.

So, it's really when we say talent check it's really just a longer conversation to find out more about somebody.

Odette: Yeah, nice. Awesome. And, so when it comes to pitching a story that you're going to pay attention to, obviously you're looking for stuff that's going to really create impact and connect with the larger part of Australia. What in your view constitutes a really good news story?

Georgia: What constitutes a good news story is something that will emotionally affect someone in good way or a bad way. But also a story that will be informative. I mean, we want to move people, we want people to feel things, but we also want to inform them.

So that's sort of the perfect three. But at the same time. I also would love to hear some stories that are just out of the normal, give me the weird stuff, the special stuff.

But also, pitches that I love are the ones from regional areas or farming communities and that sort of stories that start with ‘Oh I know you're really busy but he's crazy thing that's happening out here’ I'd love to hear that sort of stuff.

The stuff that I struggle with sometimes is when someone will email me say, telling me about a report that's about to be released, or something like that and although maybe some of the information in this report is super interesting starting with the journal will be released in five days’ time, it just, yeah, it makes it hard to feel attached to it.

Odette: Yeah, totally. So, finding that way to connect in and make people feel is key. So, that sort of takes us through to what are some of the do's and don'ts of pitching to you. Specifically, I know that everyone on your team will have different things that work for them.

But if we're talking about pitching to you: What are some of the times of day that work best for you and what you're looking for, like, what, what's the recipe that is going to help you quickly determine whether a story is going to be a good fit for you?

Georgia: Can I just say at the moment. In the current climate we're in, I will take everything and anything. I don't want people to feel like they can't reach out to us at the moment because we want to report on everything that's funny, that's quirky, that's sad, that's informative. I mean this is a weird time so please reach out everybody.

Normal non pandemic period. I think the big thing for me is vision.

Vision (footage) is everything. I find sometimes people will pitch me great ideas that I love and I'll respond saying that sounds great, what can we film? And they’re like, oh actually nothing. There's nothing here, or you could maybe think of that or this person lives in Zimbabwe.

We are TV and especially in long form, we need stuff that we can show over the course of six to eight minutes which means we need to film a lot. We're filming this stuff over two days, most of the time so vision is a big thing for me.

And the other thing is that we get sent so many emails, it feels like a mean thing to say to PR people but get interested quickly because we're so busy. A lot of things end up in the deleted folder, sometimes by accident.

Odette: That opening sentence and subject line is gonna be pretty important for you.

Georgia: Yeah, it's really important to me as quickly if I was going to see a lot of stories at the same time which is usually what happens.

But, the big thing to me is, reach out and get us interested quickly, and then we can talk further.

There's nothing better than when you get pitched something and you can call a PR person and say, tell me more about this, and they can and they've got vision opportunities and I've got numbers ready for me to call.

The hard one is when I say ‘oh this sounds great but I need talent check’ and then I don't get talent contact numbers for a week. That happens a lot and I've moved on from the story by then.

Another big don’t for me is when I get pitched a story and there's no case study available. I would love to have enough time to find my own case studies for these types of things, especially if it's about medical topics but it's hard especially if you're an expert in your field or you know someone who is if you can help me find a case study it saves a lot of time.

Odette: I think those case studies are something that for anyone that's involved in the media landscape that's like media 101 and something that I think a lot of people understand but for lots of small business owners that don't understand, or may not have much experience with media pitching, the case studies are basically anyone that can speak to your story and help add colour and experience to the story.

Georgia: Absolutely. So, if you're wanting to say, oh, this is a horrific example I just, it just came to mind probably because I've been at home for so long. If you want to pitch me about an awesome vacuum cleaner or cleaning product that's going to help people with time or something like that. Find me someone who uses it and loves it and I can film them using it. Please keep in mind we would not do stories on vacuum cleaning.

Odette: I can just see an influx of vacuum cleaner stories coming your way, Georgia. Be careful what you wish for.

Georgia: Yeah, well that's shows what I'm thinking about at the moment. But this is an example of, we need to see in action. And if you're pitching me a medical story about an awesome thing that potentially could one day cure cancer. Is there a cancer patient I could talk to see how it would help them. Can I come into the lab and film? There's just a lot of elements I start thinking about really quickly and it just saves so much time it's already all about.

Odette: Yeah, they’re a big part of getting some groundwork done and prepared well in advance of sending that first pitch off. So we had a bit of a chat earlier about some of the work that you've been really proud of in your career, and you obviously were reporting some of the massive natural disasters across Australia and earlier this year in particular the bushfires. I know you mentioned that that was some of the work that you've been really proud of.

Georgia: Yeah, I think for most people in the media, anyone who reports on or takes photos or speaks to people that have been through a natural disaster knows it's a lot.

It's pretty exhausting, but it's such important work.

I think for me, working on the bushfires I put my hand up straightaway because I thought this is going to be in Australia's history. It's a big moment but you can also get out there and tell stories, you can get the message to government that people probably couldn't get out there themselves.

One thing I really love is when you go out there and you meet someone who is in desperate need of help, but you're there with the camera gear and clothes for the next two nights. You can't really help them even though you'd love to.

But you put them on TV and then you suddenly have some random bloke from whoop whoop calling up The Project saying, ‘Actually I've got this thing and I can help them’.

“Oh, I live near there I can bring them food”. It's just the best feeling when you know you can make those that sort of contact

I mean I've been reporting on natural disasters since I was a baby job at 21. It's important work but it takes it out of you and you also meet a lot of people that will be within your mind forever, they tell you of the destruction that they've been going through sometimes their houses are burned down or they've been wiped out by a cyclone.

And then here's you a reporter who can go home and go to bed at night knowing that you've got a roof over the head.

So, you try not to take their stories on too much because it just makes you really sad but all you want to do is help them. So I think that's where the media can be so important because you get those stories out there.

And you also get to help, sometimes I find you you're knocking on people's doors and they say you’re the first person I've seen in 48 hours, and sometimes you just don't even get the camera out, you just talk to them.

And I don't want to sound like I'm tooting my own horn here but sometimes we just chat to people, and they can vent to you and it just makes a difference in their lives.

And then you just created a connection with someone who you never thought you would and that's probably the best part of my job. Creating these relationships with people you never would meet in any other any other job.

Odette: Yeah, and I think that the role of sort of like grief counsellor for a lot of the people that you speak to that are in such close proximity to trauma when they speak to a news reporter is a heavy burden to carry. is that one of the most challenging parts of your work?

Georgia: Definitely. It definitely is, I think you find yourself sometimes acting as a psychologist, which we're not really trying doing it ever.

I mean I'm very lucky to work for a company that offers us counselling afterwards and, you know, I put a.guard up and you know I don't need it. But sometimes I look back and I think I probably should have done that.

Because you're taking on a lot like you said, a lot of grief.

A lot of hardship and you're trying to help people but you're also not trained in, you know, medical backgrounds or finance backgrounds, so I can can't keep them with all of that advice but you try to because they're in a position of you know that's just horrible.

So, in saying all of that. I'd like to think I'm pretty tough. I don't know I’m sure people out there who disagree, but I like to think that I hold it together when I talk to these people.

Now the big reason I do is because what they're going through, I've never gone through and hopefully I never have to go through but I need to make sure that what I'm putting out there is fair.

And also represents them in a way that they want to be represented. And if you can't, though, don't get me wrong, I've had times where I've had been talking to people and tears start running down my face, but it's not about me, it's about them.

So, sometimes even with the bushfires this year. I got home, and I remember having a big sook to my boyfriend.

And then I just woke up the next morning and I thought: I'm okay. I have a great job, great family, great friends, great boyfriend, and the house isn't burnt down. I'm okay. Let's get to the important stuff which is making sure those people who aren't okay, get a little bit of help and that's where the media comes in.

Odette: It definitely sounds like the right person is in the job. I know you did some pretty amazing work and I think one of the beauties of this high investment of time and money and energy in the long form stories that go on The Project, one of the beautiful benefits is your ability to really connect in with the people that you work with and tell a really beautiful full story, unlike some of the news grabs that we are accustomed to watching on quick news. Now, I know you mentioned a story that you really enjoyed working on Sheds of Hope. Can you tell us a little bit about that experience?

Georgia: Yeah so Sheds of Hope I filmed about a month ago. It was about a group of men and women who lived in regional New South Wales, and their town was in their surrounds, was badly hit by the bushfires I'm talking completely wiped out, out near Casino.

And they all quit their jobs. And basically they said we needed to do something. And they started building sheds for people who have lost their homes.

So they were finding supplies anywhere they could, they were getting donated. They were driving to find it. And they basically said to me, you know it's been really great having all of the charities out here and all the government assistance, but they all gone now and these people are still really struggling.

So, this is where we (The Project) come in and where we can be some on the ground help.

And I went well, we need to get out there and film you - because these people don't get government funding, they run off donations. So putting them on the big screen could help with that.

At this stage they had already built I think it was around 17 sheds and they were also getting all this food and caravans and things that they could give to people just for free, just to help them. When I went out there. I was pretty blown away, because the whole region was just wiped out. It was just black and you could still see homes just burnt down and the rubble was just sitting there rotting.

It was just, it was like something out of a movie. It made me really sad and then you sort of drive up to this shed, and all these people for every job, any background you can think of, they all came out there was so nice. And they're. I mean, I know getting paid to do any, any of this, but they're just giving you their time to do it. So we went out with them and got an idea of who they're building the sheds for, why they're building, and what they need.

During that process. I met a beautiful couple who host everything. I'm talking, everything that they own and sheds a boy built in this shed and they basically said to me, if these guys had built me this shed. I don't think we'd be alive right now.

And I remember standing there going. Holy wow, this is real life. These people getting this little tiny shed built for them. And it's just changed their whole perspective, I mean they've still got a big battle in front of them, but this is just that little glimmer of hope and I just, gosh, it made me feel sad but also so proud that there are people out there who are willing to just do anything for others that are struggling, and I probably built a bit of a too much of an emotional connection to that story.

But we put it out there. And it really helped.

I think they got about $21,000 worth of donations in 24 hours after our story went to air.

Odette: Wow.

Georgia: People calling in saying, how can we donate to this is? This is what we want to donate to help you.

And I still see them on Facebook, they're the loveliest team of people and they're still working. Well, I don't know if I should be saying this during this period, but we've got a new crisis on our hands, but the bushfire crisis isn't over. I mean the fire has stopped yes, but the devastation remains.

Odette: Yeah I think one of the really beautiful things that like beyond the immediate snowball of donations that comes from that initial story, I think also understanding the ripple effect of putting those stories out by a media, and then becoming, you know, people coming up with lookalikes and you know getting inspiration to do other things to help their own communities.

Georgia: Yeah, that's exactly it. I mean, I think there's a lot of people out there, especially after bushfires. They've donated money here and there, but they also don't. I mean, there's a lot of people who probably don't know where their money's going.

They still want to help, and they don't know how. And it stories like that that just helped connect them to, you know, people in places they didn't even know about. I mean, these Sheds of Hope, group they need your leftover supplies, they need your team's food that you don't want anymore.

They need your old caravan that's sitting at the back of your house, like, they'll take everything it's.

But I think a lot of people don't, they don't know of course how would they know it's not given to them awareness so that's really important. 

Odette: Yeah, well I mean I know that it was a big investment for you guys to be out there and sharing those stories but it's such important work.

I know you mentioned that you are a pretty strong resilient human by nature. But I think a lot of journalists that I speak to do experience some sense of anxiety throughout the process of dealing with so many stories that are pretty depressing at times. How do you, what sort of things do you do to manage your mental health during times of crisis and perhaps even more important now during Covid19?

Georgia: I think the big thing to me, and it has been like this since the beginning is remembering that I'm not in that position, and you're here to help. And that's what you need to do.

So I think really focusing on my work actually helps, knowing that you're doing really good job but presenting topics, fairly and the way that they deserve, is what gets me through.

I think obviously. Sometimes I, you know, yoga or polities or eating lots and lots of chocolate and cheeseburgers helps my anxiety.

I think everyone in the media has a some form of anxiety because everyone in this whole world has tough jobs, no matter where they work, but for me it's just what gets me through is knowing that I'm daily reporting this and that I'm making a difference because if you're not making a difference if you're not informing anybody. And why you're doing it. There's no point, really.

Odette: Yeah, yeah. That's a fair call.

So, The Project has obviously done very, very well of late, but in particular it does really well online. I wonder, does, how much of the sort of syndication across digital platforms, inform the sorts of storytelling that you guys do. Is that part of your planning process when it comes to pitching your stories to your bosses?

Georgia:  I think at the moment in the day and age we are in everything we do, needs to be able to do well on social media, because a lot of people, especially in our generation, they don't really watch the news anymore, so it needs to go well on social media.

And the big thing about The Project which I love, is we put music to stories, we have a lot of graphics, which really, I think makes it much more appealing to people when they're watching it.

They're not sitting there watching a boring news story with voice grab, voice grabs.

We try to make it catchy so even in our long form stories. We keep in mind that we need someone to be watching this at home before they go to bed or you know when they're about to make a coffee, and they see something that's interesting. So, I think, with us, we need to be on all the time and that comes down to music, graphics, scripting, whatever is on the screen.

I think you need to capture people's attention within the first five seconds, so that obviously comes in handy with TV, of course, but really with social media because you're scrolling and scrolling you see so much you need something to catch your attention.

Odette: Totally. When you come to storyboarding out your pitches and do do that before you pitch to your bosses and initially come up with a bit of a storyboard for the story.

Georgia: Usually yes, because you know, our bosses, a lot of people have been in the game for a long time, but they want to know how it's going to work. They want to know that you've already thought about that.

So, usually yes I do trying to plan it all out before I go into a pitch meeting, but it depends. I mean if it's something a bit more timely that you're working on faster then that's something you would maybe do afterwards but usually, especially the ahead of one of our big pitch meetings, I'll try to do that before.

Odette: When it comes to that pitch to your bosses how do you present that to them?

Georgia: Usually it's just verbally. So usually I try to convince them with my voice.

But I'll also hopefully sometimes have some photos or videos that maybe a PR company has already sent to me that I can just say, here's my backup of what I’m saying I mean that's in a perfect world if I can have that backup ready to show them, but usually it's just me talking.

Odette: Nice. So, the pressure is on the stories that you're pitching. What's the split between stories that have been pitched to you or things that you have found when you're out and about?

Georgia: Oh, it's a it is a real mix I find most of the time, if I'm pitching a story, only around 50% of them are what PR companies have pitched to me.

Sometimes I'm even finding that a company will email me with, did you know this… and it'll be a statistic. And then you kind of move away and do your own research for a couple of days and find a story within that.

But I think a big part of my job and a reason they hired me is so that I could find stories that are out of the normal news cycle. So that comes down to a lot of talking. A lot of knocking on people's doors, and that's where my regional Queensland background is really helped me.

I'd have contacts in really random places and sometimes I’d call them and they’d say I don't know about that but why don't you pull this person from a farm I know in South Australia and they might know a little bit something.

So it's really in talking to people I find that gives me the best story ideas, but at the same time when I can work closely with someone in PR, a media representative, and we can find an appropriate angle together, it's, it's pretty awesome.

Odette: You've given so many useful tips here and I think that our publicity community but also the small business owners that are trying to wrangle their way through pitching their own media stories are going to pick up so many tips from everything you've shared today. So, I just wanted to say a massive, massive thank you to you for sharing some time during isolation from your pillow fort. Where would the best place be for people to get in touch with you if they want to find you? 

Georgia: Yes, please everyone get in touch, even if you just want to chat over this weird period.

My email is gdone [at] network ten.com.au - please get in contact.

I love chatting with people and I love hearing new ideas, the best part about The Project is that we can report on anything.

Sad, funny, informative - we're an entertainment program but we're also a current affairs program which means we can really cover a lot of stuff so please get in contact.

Odette: You are amazing. Thank you, Georgia.

Georgia: Thank you. Thanks for having me.