#entreprenerial

SARAH KRAMER is a documentary storyteller and journalist. She was recently a fellow at Sundance New Frontiers Storytelling Lab and currently heads up content at a soon-to-launch storytelling start-up. Prior, Kramer worked at The New York Times for six years where she was a reporter and multimedia editor, creating series such as Emmy-award winning One in 8 Million and Emmy nominated Coming Out. Her credits also include senior producer and founding staffer for Peabody Award-winning StoryCorps where she created the signature sound, provided editorial oversight on the weekly NPR broadcasts and the New York Times bestseller, Listening is an Act of Love.

Her radio stories have aired on All Things Considered, Morning Edition and Marketplace; her writing in The New York Times and digital storytelling on NYTimes.com. She launched her career in documentary films for PBS and HBO and is completing a documentary short on her father. Kramer is an adjunct professor at CUNY Journalism School where she teaches the Art of the Interview. You can follow her @sarahk11.

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1. What are you working on right now? I’m working at a very early-stage startup, where we’re thinking about memory and story. More information soon.

2. What was the most surprising place you've found yourself for the sake of story? Stories have led me all over: behind the stage at the Miss America Pageant, to an all-male prison in Alabama to a rough rider re-enactment in Texas. But the spots that come with the most surprise are often average sounding: the office of an accountant at 2 a.m. in the morning; the home of a shut-in; the living room of a 101-year old woman; the bedroom of a transgender high school student in Wichita, Kan; and it’s in those spaces, where sometimes the best conversations and the most interesting scenes unfold.

The toughest interviews are the ones where the subject is emotional. I almost always feel a swell of sadness.

3. How has being a reporter affected your life outside journalism? Being a journalist has given me permission to be curious. My mother tells me that when I was a kid I asked endless questions. I wondered about everything – watching the Brady Bunch, I wanted to know where the characters changed their clothes between scenes. Fortunately, I’ve learned a bit about what’s important and what isn’t important to a story since then, but the instinct is the same.

It’s made me more engaged and interested in the world and people around me.

4. What was the most challenging interview you’ve conducted? For me, the toughest interviews are the ones where the subject is emotional. Trying to navigate that–showing empathy and making the person feel comfortable and safe–without feeling overcome with sadness myself is a balance.

5. What makes a multimedia project, such as One in 8 Million, so powerful? I think One in 8 Million was notable, in part, because it pushed Web storytelling. Todd Heisler’s photos are arresting and hearing people tell stories in their own voices – the rhythm, pauses, the intonations – always helps me to connect with the stories being told.

Last night I attended an event hosted by the AAR (Advertising Agency Register), an advertising intermediary, between clients and agents.

It was a great evening, great location, food, drink and people – The perfect recipe for a nice evening, Right? – Well...

The evening was a panel Q&A with four clients, Morrisons, Magners, O2 and M&S, and the audience was about 90 advertising professionals, the majority of people working in new business.

I was slightly overwhelmed first entering, as an Advertising newbie, as everyone seemed to know everyone – Turns out the industry is extremely incestuous. The night started well and I was oblivious to any tensions or ill feeling.

Half way through the discussion a lady at the back stood up and voiced her opinion. Soon after someone else stood up and started with, ‘I totally disagree...’ There was no malice in her voice and she continued to raise a good point.

As she was speaking however the lady behind seemed astonished that anyone would disagree with her. Along with a few delegates surrounding her, she proceeded to speculate on the second lady’s motives and personally discredit her.

At that point I realised that although the majority of people knew one another, almost everyone in the room was in direct competition, fierce competition.

The night ended with the usual pleasantries and was in fact a great event. The clients gave an interesting perspective on approaches and pitching and it was genuinely nice to meet my counterparts in other agencies.

The most interesting part for me however was the temporary crack in the chummy veneer. Previously I have worked in highly competitive industries but the fact that staff tend to move so freely between agencies and because many agencies work together on projects, there is an additional interesting element to the relationship with your competition.