Skip Hollandsworth, screenwriter, and executive editor of Texas Monthly, swaggered into a room full of 250 journalists. Photographers swarmed him, snapping photos as reporters grabbed pads, wanting to record his story in hopes of becoming better at their craft.
Hollandsworth was a featured speaker for high school students at the Gloria Shields All-American Publications Workshop this July.
Kiersten Ehr from Brandeis High School said Hollandsworth gave tips and answered questions about life skills and general reporting.
“Start taking notes in a journal,” Hollandsworth said. “It will be gold one day.”
Students asked Hollandsworth questions about how to be a better journalist, and he bantered back and forth with them as he answered their questions. Whenever the students would introduce themselves he would ask “where are you from?” because they spoke too fast. Arthur Beckel from the Episcopal School of Dallas said that many of Hollandsworth’s remarks were “obviously funny”, and many were interesting. He also said that Hollandsworth was in their faces.
Hollandsworth gave tips on making their stories better, and said to learn the rhythm of a good sentence, Hollandsworth was told by his professors to type sections of books by his favorite authors.
One student asked him how he keeps his readers.
“If the quote goes too long, you’ll lose your reader.” Hollandsworth said. “I don’t ever try to write a cluttered sentence.”
When asked the challenges of being a journalist, Hollandsworth said, “I still feel fear. No matter how bad it is, keep on writing. Write a sentence, then another, then another.”
Hollandsworth said to remember that all drafts are bad, but don’t stop writing.
“I love getting the detail that makes people gasp,” he said. “That’s reporting.”