Your Public Best - Lillian Brown [100]
Also be sure you know in advance how any visuals will be used—objects you intend to display, the cover of your book, illustrative pictures, or film clips that you may be supplying. Work out the details with your station contact so that you both understand what you plan to do. For an effective presentation, materials that require special handling need to be provided in advance to be viewed by the director. Pictures from your book can be duplicated a day or so in advance and cued into your presentation or interview. Slides need to be numbered in the sequence in which they will be shown. Indicate clearly on your script when the visuals will be used.
For example, if you are going to hold up a long chain of gold links recently recovered from the ocean floor where it had lain for several hundred years, a model of the human brain, a live snake, or an example of an unsafe toy, you should practice holding it up, if possible, before the actual interview. During the interview, the floor manager or director will tell you which camera will show a close-up of a given prop, and which camera you are to look at.
When possible, watch the program in advance of your appearance so you know what to expect when your turn comes as a guest. You will also have a chance to study your interviewer. Examples: If the interviewer constantly interrupts his or her guests, practice in advance using a polite phrase such as “Yes, but before I respond to that, let me finish my last point.” If he asks shallow questions, pick out a sample question or two and, once on the set, say something like: “By the way, there’s an interesting point that I could make about _______ if you asked me about it.”
Television and radio deadlines are usually inflexible. Plan to arrive at least fifteen minutes early, so that you are relaxed and your hosts know their expected guest has arrived. Planning to arrive early gives you some leeway, in case you are delayed in traffic, you can’t find a place to park, or you want time to freshen up. If you are coming from an airport, allow at least an extra hour for unforeseen delays.
If you are running even a few minutes late, call your producer-contact to tell him or her that you are on the way and give your estimated time of arrival without being too optimistic about it.
When you arrive late for a live TV interview, the staff members have already panicked, considered all of their alternatives, tried their best to repair the now-in-jeopardy schedule, and possibly have already replaced you with the next guest or with an evergreen interview from the tape bank.
On the other hand, never hurry on your way to the studio or run the last couple of blocks on a hot or rainy day. Arriving breathless shows you are not in control; uncontrollable perspiration may break out on your face after you go on the air, giving you a nervous or harried look, which is not the image you want to project.
Finally, it goes without saying that if you arrive drunk at the station you will never have to worry about being invited again.
I once did the makeup for a quasi-famous guest on a nationally televised talk show who showed up—wearing a tuxedo—so high he could barely walk. He had come straight from a formal party. Just before taping the interview, he went into the men’s room and, unbeknownst to the producers, snorted some cocaine.
He pulled himself together enough to begin the rather short interview, except that halfway through, white powder began falling out of one nostril down onto the black lapels of his tux. Needless to say, not only was the interview never aired, that particular guest was never invited back to appear