Originally Posted by reckon

I'd get a digital video camera and a police/fire scanner and get some juicy news video,....then your not a papparazzi, your a "STRINGER", and TV stations pay anywhere from $150 on up for a 2 minute stringer video,....thats $150 for EACH STATION IN TOWN(because you shot it, you own the rights, it can't be re-sold-legally anyway) fires, rescues, collapses (you guys seem to have lots of those) anything you have seen on the news before, can be a news story. if your really slick, you'd get some sort of mobile internet access, then you can check the news wire, and the highway patrol page, real time traffic reports, yada yada,.... if the wire services post it, and you have video that no one else does, you gotz money.

the hours you describe: midnight to 7am,...thats when the **** goes down.

I made over 5K a month in NYC from 1997 to 2004 (I retired from the buisness) doing nothing but stringer work, sometimes graveyard shift, sometimes daylight and during daylight hours, a bicycle or motorcycle is THE ONLY way to get around the gridlock (the news vans get stuck ALL THE time) I ALWAYS had video they were late for: I'd just wait around after the FDNY put out the flames, then the news vans start showing up,..I'd just walk around to each van, call their news desk, get the PO number, have the van make the copy, give the news crew the PO tag, send in the bill later, and get a check in the mail about 2-3 weeks later FROM EACH STATION,...sometimes there was like a couple of GRAND in the mailbox each week. crazy money if you have skills and papparrazzi desires.

call your local news station and ask to speak to the "desk", say your a stringer, and then ask what they are paying for stringer video, and if there are any caveats (like they only take digital, or they want a spanish sound byte, or you MUST have a PO [purchase order] (which is bull****, because if aliens landed and you had video they'd ALL buy it, PO or not!) etc..) then go get your gear, and get to work!

it's actually rather fun and challenging, and great if you like puzzle games for money (papparrazzi work is WAY harder)