Stephen Humphries Email & Phone Number

Greater Boston Area

I cover pop culture (movies, TV, music, theater, fine arts) and societal culture for the pioneering, Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper, which was founded in 1908.

Greater Boston Area

Greater Boston Area

• I freelance for publications including The Boston Globe, Filter, Classic Rock, Under the Radar, Prog, Rock Square, Reason and American Way (the in-flight magazine for American Airlines). I also write sleeve notes for.
• I wrote 12,000 word liner notes for the hardbound box set edition of Steven Wilson's album "To the Bone" (Caroline/Universal).
• I wrote content and edit a monthly newsletter for rock star Steven Wilson. It's like a monthly magazine for Wilson's worldwide fanbase and each issue includes in-depth interviews, features, and retrospective pieces.
• Wrote 7,000 word sleeve notes for the Porcupine Tree vinyl box set, "The Delerium Years" 1994-1997, which included new interviews with the band members. Released Feb. 2016.
• Wrote magazine cover stories about Isla Fisher, Kristen Bell, Emily Blunt and Robert Plant for American Way, the in-flight magazine of American Airlines (2.75 million readers per issue).
• Wrote liner notes for Vertical Horizon's 2013 album, "Echoes from the Underground."

Greater Los Angeles Area

• Moved to the newspaper’s Los Angeles bureau to write stories about TV, movies and music.
• Wrote pop-culture articles, including lead features, for the newspaper’s weekly arts section.
• During weekly calls with my editor and fellow writers, I specialized in brainstorming fresh pop-culture trends and discovering stories that hadn’t been covered anywhere else.
• Quickly developed new sources through networking.
• Helped the newspaper by contributing occasional articles outside my regular beat, including stories about workplace trends, innovation and Internet technology.

Greater Boston Area

• Conceptualized and launched a new weekly entertainment section for the newspaper. Executed this section with a magazine-like feel, snappier writing, new features, and coverage of a wider variety of subjects—leisure.
• In addition to frequent non-bylined pieces, wrote feature stories, music and movie reviews, and blog content.
• Managed a staff of four, implementing new productivity and quality standards. Hired and trained an assistant editor, and developed roster of new freelancers.
• Managed the section budget. Lowered section expenses by 40%.
• Instituted a search for and found a nationally recognized film critic.
• Won an internal award for excellence in recognition of the success of the section (nomination by peers).

• Initiated and wrote several articles (reviews, profiles, features, interviews) per month on top of full-time editing duties. Multiple articles picked up in syndication by USA TODAY and Yahoo!, among others.
• Responsible for the weekly Arts section on Fridays as well as arts stories that ran in the Features section on other days of the week.
• Trend-spotted story ideas for beats including music, pop culture, new media, movies, and pop culture.
• Managed three staff writers as well as dozens of freelancers.
• Edited copy, restructuring or rewriting where needed.
• Prepared display copy, line editing, fact checking, and, where applicable, restructured and rewrote copy by staff writers and freelancers.

• Sub-Editor: U.S. News Section (2001 – 2003)
• Edited copy by freelancers and writers for the daily paper. Oversaw a cadre of writers – both staff and stringers – in several geographic regions of the U.S., including California, the Midwest, and the South.
• Writers’ beats ranged from political stories to newsy society and culture pieces to environmental stories to news events.
• Learned to shape stories, rewrite and/or overhaul when necessary under intense deadline pressure.
• Acted as assignment editor by looking for regional stories and trends and encouraging freelancers to pursue these assignments. Read pitches and forwarded the ones with potential to the section editor.
• Worked with the best editor in the organization, gaining on-the-job learning from the top of the journalistic field.

• Sub-Editor: Arts Section (1999 – 2001)
• Worked alongside the section’s editor and assistant editor by editing a variety of pieces and providing display copy, as well as suggesting story ideas.
• Contributed stories, often written during off hours.
• Learned journalism basics and editing skills.
• Entered the organization as a junior editorial assistant and adapted quickly. Promoted to this position within a few months as acknowledgement of detailed knowledge of arts and popular culture.