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Topic: Face-to-face celeb interviews
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| Author | Message |
| Write_or_Die | Posted – 2/1/2005 7:58:08 PM | show profile Does anyone have any dos & don'ts for interviewing a celeb in person? This is my third time, but I think I'm nervous about this celeb because he's very high-profile right now. Most of my interviews are phoners w/ up-and-coming acts where I'm chilling in my office. Can anyone speak on how they developed their in-person interview style? After reviewing my last tape, I realized that I missed several follow-up questions because I probably felt rushed by the tour manager and nervous in front of the artist. But I did secure some great original quotes, so it wasn't a disaster. |
| prophetmac | Posted – 2/1/2005 9:10:47 PM | show profile re: face-to-face If you are nervous because you are a fan of the person, it is best to avoid any mental or physical excitement; they will only disappoint you and most likely your editor because your focus has been derailed. If you are nervous because it is a big story for you than do a lot of preparation including thinking about potential follow-ups and making sure you don't have any dead end questions that can be easily receive a fluff or one word answer. It helps me if i write down one or two word clues to the next question so I can listen closely to the person and have more of a real conversation than one in which my head is stressing the next question. Another successful strategy for me has been to approach the person in an untrusting, cynical manner so I get more complete and clear answers. Often people will say something that is quite on-point with what they actually mean to convey. Celebrities are also big manipulators of the press, Susan Orlean (The New Yorjer, author of The Orchid Thief) tells a story when she speaks about interviewing Tom Hanks. She thought she had this unbelievable scoop/personal insight exclusive when he told her I've never told anyone this but I really think I'm ugly and unattractive. Afterwards she talked to a friend who had recently interviewed him as well and they both came back with the same he thinks he's ugly story. |
| WritingSoul | Posted – 2/2/2005 1:28:31 AM | show profile Just treat them like an interesting person that you are probing. |
| eriksherman | Posted – 2/2/2005 3:58:06 AM | show profile I'll through in some practicalities. If you're going to tape, then bring a couple of tape recorders, because you won't be able to go back if something fails. Have a list of questions in front of you. (This may seem obvious, but, for example, I often do interviews without question lists if I know the ground well enough.) Chances are you'll have limited time, so figure out your strategy ahead of time. You might pick up a copy of Lawrence Grobel's ''The Art of the Interview.'' It offers some good tips particularly for celebrity interviewing, and Grobel has done some of the highest profile work in this area. Grobel will say do your research and homework - that's a given. You might bring a digital camera, not to take a pic of the celebrity, but to get images of the surroundings for visual back-up detail notes. As for those details, I'd stick to things that are really telling, and not the typical woman's magazine checklist of ''she wore this, we ate that'' and so on. (Of course, if it's for a woman's magazine, do get those details. <s>) If you think of a follow-up, write it down on your list of questions as you are going through the interview so you can have it there and not be overly distracted as the person talks. Give yourself plenty of time to arrive and bring something to read or do in case the celebrity is running late. ------ Author of "Geocaching: Hike and Seek with Your GPS" - hidden at a bookstore near you... |
| eriksherman | Posted – 2/2/2005 3:58:33 AM | show profile I'll even throw them in. Up too early with too little coffee... ------ Author of "Geocaching: Hike and Seek with Your GPS" - hidden at a bookstore near you... |
| yesvirginia | Posted – 2/2/2005 7:44:31 AM | show profile In person interviews The best advice I can give you is to try to relax. Being with someone in person gives you the chance to really get to know him or her. You are right there using all your senses to take in what is being said -- or not said. You make eye contact. You can make yourself so approachable that it's hard for the interviewee not to like you. I think the previous advice is very good -- except, sorry to say, the cynical tone one. I've worked as a celeb publicist for several years and the best interviewers I've worked iwth really make the celebs feel comfortable so they open up. If you are too cool, too in charge, that can be a turn off to some celebrities who don't like to be interviewed anyway. The initial ''shock'' for some people of seeing a celebrity in the flesh can be unsettling . It takes a while to really hone in on the purpose of the meeting and that can take away from your interviewing. You may start to think, ''he/she looks better in person than onscreen,'' or vice versal. You may fall prey to being overpowered by a highly charismatic personality when you first are introdcued to him/her. Celebrities and their publicists are pretty good at taking over and steering things the way they want them to go. It's your job to prevent that from happening and being friendly, but professional, appears to me to be the best way of doing that. Try to remember at all times that celebs are people, too. Many of them really dread interviews and have developed pat answers that can be reeled off as if they are off the cuff. Remember, most celebs are actors, right? If you show an interest in someone as a person -- rather than as a celebrity, it really will be appealing to that person and he/she will relax more, too. As for follow up questions, if you really listen to what someone is saying and if you don't let anyone make you feel rushed, you should be able to focus clearly enough to ask appropriate questions that will give you more insight into what is going on. Even if your time with the celeb is limited, if you approach it without that rushed feeling, it will ease the celeb, too. Never feel badly about going back to a point, even if it's toward the end of the interview. If you have jotted down new questions, you can refer to them and bring the interview back to where you want it to go at any time during the process. Good luck with this interview. And, really, keep in mind that believe it or not, many celebrated people are nervous when they give interviews, too -- no matter how many they've done in the past. If you make someone -- anyone -- feel relaxed and comfortable during an interview, you really are going to get good responses from them. |
| Lotus665 | Posted – 2/2/2005 9:11:40 AM | show profile Make a list of 3-5 questions to which you MUST have the answer. Get those asked first. Then you can relax a bit as you move to your other questions and also allow for a bit of spontaneity. One editor I consider a mentor told me when interviewing a bigwig, he doesn't even bring questions, he just lets the person discuss what's on his/her mind and let the conversation roam where it will, on the theory that that will bring out the most truth and be most interesting. Me, I'm of the write-down-a-list-of-questions and have them in front of you person, as I tend to be very nervous in any and all interview situations (a shy journalist...go figure). So, you have to figure out what's right for you, personally. ------ Lotus665 |
| Write_or_Die | Posted – 2/2/2005 9:12:15 AM | show profile I appreciate the great advice everyone. MB is wonderful, no one in my office could be so helpful. I only have 15 minutes so I think I'll go in with a short list of questions which will leave more room for follow ups. I'm usually drowning in written questions. I bought a camera phone after my last in-person interview b/c I realized my visual details got fuzzy after a few days. I'm gonna check out that Grobel book, too. Thanks! |
| barton fink | Posted – 2/2/2005 10:15:18 PM | show profile Where do you put your list of questions at the interview? I always feel a need to hide them in my lap, partly because I don't want the celebrity/interviewee to see what I'm asking, but also (probably more to the point) so I appear more ''spontaneous,'' like I'm doing my job effortlessly (even though I still feel like a novice every time). |
| WritingSoul | Posted – 2/3/2005 1:19:12 AM | show profile | email poster You know, that's a good question about placement of notes. I have them in front of me, but I'm one of those people who really keeps eye contact through interviews and so I find it hard to sneak a look at my notes without breaking the 'bond'. So I usually just sneak little glances at my questions, a few at a time... But having them with me, while making me far more secure, also does cause me to think about whether that makes the interviewee film more like he is being probed. But honestly, I think in the end what matters most, as someone wise on here mentioned, is how comfortable and relaxed you can make someone feel. Or, I'd add, you can make someone feel like they are taking part in a bit of a game -- a game of wits. Or a confession. Or whatever will get the best, most honest, lively interview. For each person it's something else. Some want comfort, others want excitement. You have to be a very good listener to figure out what they are like and what they need to talk freely. Probably my sole talent in interviews and dealing with people is that I can understand exactly what they are like and what they need from just a phrase or two. But I also find that I truly, sincerely, care about each interviewee that I deal with. There is usually this instant bond. And I think that also makes the interview much more open and interesting. It's never really about the answers. It's about how they are answered. You could ask John Smith what he had for lunch and he can answer: a) some sushi or b) I figured that since the most important meal in a day is breakfast, I'd just skip the rest. So for the past 3 years, I've only been eating breakfast. You know, breakfast for luch. Breakfast for dinner. So here you are. Both a & b answer the question. Both are truthful (one can assume). But one is a bit more intriguing. And that's all based on not what your question is, but HOW you ask it. |
| Mr. Complex Adaptive Systems | Posted – 2/3/2005 12:40:27 PM | show profile If you're really nervous and you're sure you're going to say or do something stupid, then do it right at the beginning of the interview to get it over with. I did that once when interviewing Wed Anderson. I'm a big fan of his movies and so when I walked into the cafe where he was waiting for me I was really tense. I saw him sitting there and took a deep breath and walked up to his table and poured a pot of scalding hot coffee over his head. Everything went comparably smooth after that. |
| ideefixe | Posted – 2/3/2005 4:10:40 PM | show profile If you sit there, waiting for them to gush on about something, eventually they'll call the publicist and your time will be up. A celebrity on a junket, esp, is well aware that your time is their money. Have a good list of questions prepared, pertinent to the task at hand, and once you get through those, find a tangent to go off on. Don't let the publicist or the PR person rush you, but don't gas on about how cute their shoes are or how great they are. |
| cryptica | Posted – 2/5/2005 3:56:35 PM | show profile REALLY LISTEN - so obvious, yet. . . Wrte-or-Die-- I've been doing celebrity interviews for a zillion years -- for print & TV and have trained a lot of people at work to do them, too. To me, the number one thing to remember is a piece of advice I learned years ago in an acting class: Really listen and really respond. It sounds so obvious, but when they get nervous, people forget to actually listen to what the celeb (or interview subject) is saying. One of my colleagues was so uptight, she asked somebody about the color of the costume she wore in a movie, the star said, ''It was blue satin.'' And then my colleague asked her, ''OK, great. And what color was it?'' She was so concerned with her list of questions and getting them in the time allowed, she completely forgot to listen. With newbies, I advise them to literally write at the top of their list of questions -- in their notbooks or on index cards --whatever they use...''Really listen / really respond.'' Seeing that reminder in front of them every time they look down to scan the list of questions keeps them calm and more spontaneous and too focused to be nervous. I'm sorry, what was your question again? |
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