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 album releases by major label musicians.• 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 about Wilson's vast discography. • 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."• Wrote several lead music stories for PopMatters that have been picked up in syndication by McClatchy-Tribune newspapers. • Joined Twitter in 2009 as a way to share stories, build a network, and spot industry trends. • Conceptualized and pitched profiles, reviews, and trend stories about movies, television, music and books.• Attracted repeat commissions from editors after filing deadline pieces that required minimal editing.

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, arts & entertainment, sports, and books. • 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. • Acted as assignment editor, looking for stories and commissioning pieces for staff writers and freelancers. • Formats: first person interviews with musicians, directors, movie stars, in-depth profiles, movie reviews, album reviews, reported trend pieces.

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.