Earlier in the year I took a break and visited my parents in Cornwall. It was the same time that Storm Franklin, a potent whirlwind, clattered about the UK pushing over bins and uprooting trees and making a general mess of things. Just beginning to relax into a day off, we drove to the local beach, Porthtowan, near my parents’ house. The wind had created a strange phenomenon on the sand of huge hills of sea foam, wobbling about in the leftover gusts of the storm. It was bizarre, like an alien landscape, a bit like a ship full of washing-up liquid had sunk offshore. To our delight, we mucked about with it as a family, took some film footage with our phones, posted clips on social media and had lunch. And that, was that, so we thought… Perhaps a generous like or two may result…
That evening, I was bombarded with messages from media companies from all over the world. They wanted the rights to the footage. Some offered nothing but the glory of the publicity but some put money on the table. I wrote a little press release for one of them, gave them the clips and got a little money in return. Here is the story on Yahoo.
Companies are always watching your content, which can lead to unexpected offers. It surprised me that so many jumped on the footage all at once from an innocuous Twitter post. Such is the power of one relevant, unique piece of content. The purpose of this tale is, to keep your eyes open, your story heads screwed on and to always think what a story you see unfurl in front of you could do for you – it might change things fast.
Writer for Hire 