Watch This: Stringers: LA

September 6th, 2008 Written by: Liana Aghajanian· No Comments

The night that I discovered “Stringers: LA” on Tru Tv, it became my guilty pleasure. Actually, I shouldn’t say ‘guilty’ because I don’t feel ashamed to be watching it at all. If you’ve never heard of this television series, Stringers: LA follows freelance video journalists who prowl the streets of Los Angeles to find news as it happens. This routinely includes shootings, car crashes, hostage situations, explosions and fires. Their cars come equipped with police, fire and EMS scanners that help them to find and get amazing footage that is then fed to news organizations. Chances are that the car crash you’re watching on KTLA’s 11 o clock news was filmed by a stringer.

Stringers: LA is like COPS without the mental cases. Not only is it an intriguing and fascinating show for the action and adventure it provides on the mean and lean streets of this city, it makes you appreciate the efforts of these journalists who risk their lives on a daily basis to bring you the news. Seeing the work that goes behind stringing, gives people a rare glimpse into the behind the cameras work that goes into bringing footage to your local news station. Make no mistake about it, this is real reality tv.

Meet the stringers:

Scott Lane

Scott has been in the business for eight years, ever since a fellow stringer recruited him after seeing him film at a nightclub. He knows the streets (nooks, crannies and all) of Los Angeles like the back of his hand. “I never said I’m the best stringer in the world,” Scott says on the Stringers: LA website. “I’m just the best one in Los Angeles.”

Osh Harville

Stringing it seems, has been in the future for Osh ever since he was a child, having dreamed of being a cop so he could chase and catch criminals.”As a stringer, I do everything, go everywhere and see everything that a cop does,” he says. With a camera and a bulletproof vest, Osh risks his life to be among the city’s top news cameramen. “The true art of being a stringer is getting the story and making sure the story gets to the news and gets to the public. ‘Cause the public has no idea what this city is really like.”

Marc, Howard and Austin Raishbrook

As you can see, stringing is a family business for the Raishbrooks. Twins Howard and Austin created RMG News, a news photography company that as become one of the most successful in the industry. The Raishbrooks grew up near Stonehenge, England, where Howard describes everything as “less than exciting” In 1995, Howard moved to L.A. has has been stringing ever since. He often arrives before the first responders to a scene and consequently has been shot at and chased by gang members. His brother Austin, who is younger by six minutes has traveled around the world as a cinematogrpaher. Behind the thrill of stringing, Austin hopes to enlighten the city about the courage and heroism of their police and firemen. “I have a lot of respect for the cops and fire departments. Their job is a lot harder than mine,” he says on the “Stringers” website. Though Marc, the younger of the three brothers hasn’t been in the business for long, he loves the adrenaline rush that comes with stringing. “I love the danger. It’s not normal to like danger, but I do.” Marc says, “I take my camera and scanner everywhere. You never know what could happen.”

You can catch “Stringers: LA” on Tru TV on Wednesdays at 10:00 p.m. and 10:30 p.m.

Photo by Pichado Photography

Subscribe to our RSS Feed And checkout our coffee competition to win a $30 gift voucher to your favourite coffee shop : click here

(No Ratings Yet)

Loading ...

Categories: Entertainment · TV

0 responses so far ↓

Subscribe to our RSS Feed and leave a comment to enter the commentator of the week competition and win a $20 Amazon.com gift voucher.