Pitches wanted (Bay area spirit, culture) | $200 to $400 per article

COMPANY/PUBLICATION: SFGATE

Dan Gentile, Culture Editor at SFGate, is looking for pitches:

Hey freelance writers, it's been a long time, I shouldn't have left you, without a pitch call to step to. Features are 1000-1500words, $200-400. SFGate reaches 1M readers/day. I want stories with broad hooks that showcase the Bay Area spirit.

Please have a compelling headline to your pitch. If you don't, it's simply not going to work. Also, check if we've written the story before. Also, just read our site! Also, I'm not assigning stories, so no emails that just say "hi i write can i write 4 u."

I am not looking for: profiles of touring bands, interviews with authors of very niche books, concert reviews, movie reviews, super niche fine art stories.

I am looking for: unique sex/dating features (but not diary entries), hidden SF subcultures/organziations, TV/movie features with local ties, histories of unique SF venues, historicals on very strange SF events/trends, profiles on fascinating locals.

Examples:

• Our dive bar columnist Stuart Schuffman went on a dive bar art crawl, a cool way to cover art in a way that can appeal to people beyond just museum/gallery-goers (and spotlight some of our favorite bars in the process): https://www.sfgate.com/bars/article/san-francisco-mission-dive-bar-art-crawl-19367291.php

• We love histories of classic SF shows/movies that people have emotional attachments to. Allison McClain Merrill went deep on what's strangely the only Full House episode that was actually shot in SF: https://www.sfgate.com/sf-culture/article/full-house-san-francisco-episode-19361650.php

• Our Oakland columnist Liam O'Donoghue went to a gigantic DJ party at Oakland's City Hall, going into the history of the plaza and showcasing what this type of event means to modern day Oakland: https://www.sfgate.com/sf-culture/article/frank-ogawa-plaza-black-coffee-19391954.php

• Hunter S Thompson has deep SF roots — Christian Baba researched the SF hotel where he wrote one of his most famous books: https://www.sfgate.com/sf-culture/article/hunter-s-thompson-san-francisco-hotel-18684777.php

• Another Oakland goodie — Cayenn Landau interviewed a woman who creates wildly popular crossword puzzles: https://www.sfgate.com/sf-culture/article/oakland-new-york-times-crossword-puzzle-writer-18640432.php

• Civic pride is one of our biggest touchstones, and Eddie Kim nailed this story about drag queens taking over the city for a day: https://www.sfgate.com/sf-culture/article/sf-is-a-drag-event-18525082.php

• There are certain SF bands that our readers can't get enough of — Grateful Dead are one of them. Our defacto Dead scholar Nicolas Meriwether explained the significance of one of their iconic Halloween shows: https://www.sfgate.com/sf-culture/article/grateful-dead-san-francisco-halloween-18452365.php

• This is an oldie, but worth sharing because this type of story is just so hard to find — a totally unique SF subcultural history of a place that everyone in the city is aware of, told with respect and grace by Matt Charnock: https://www.sfgate.com/sf-culture/article/buena-vista-park-cruising-renaissance-17691917.php

My email is Dan.Gentile@sfgate.com, use it!

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CONTACT INFORMATION (please do not share the email address publicly): 

• Questions/submissions: dan.gentile@sfgate.com

• Website: https://www.sfgate.com/

TO HELP YOU CRAFT YOUR PITCH:

• Learn more about the publication: SFGate is an online source for news and entertainment related to the Bay Area. Provocative, energetic and unapologetic, the Gate is in constant conversation with the world's most eclectic region. More information here.

• Read through a selection of recent culture stories/articles here.

• Check out our collection of pitch excerpts on this page and find more sample pitches at The Open Notebook Database and at SuccessfulPitches.com.

• Do not forget to end your pitch with (1) a short introduction about yourself; (2) a paragraph highlighting your writing experience, relevant credentials and publication credits; and (3) links to your strongest work or portfolio, and online profile. 

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