Monday, September 12, 2011

Whore In The Window



          Conan, Craig Ferguson, Jimmy Fallon, Bill Maher, David Letterman.  What do these fine men have in common?  They haven’t interviewed me.  Yet.  

          Being interviewed is part of the job of being a celebrity or promoting a product, service or agenda.  It’s a way of letting people know about something.  Actors and writers need to do interviews in magazines, webzines, television and web shows to help broaden their audience.  If acting is like being a whore, then doing an interview is like being a whore in the window at the Moulin Rouge; it’s a glimpse of what you have to offer.   

          My latest whore-in-the-window stint (or “interview”, if you prefer) was actually a lot of fun.  And, money and fame aside, fun is the only real reason to do anything.  (Actually, fun is the only truly satisfying reason to do anything.)  I had been interviewed as a writer  by Actors Reporter a year or so ago for a production of my stage play “Cold Lang Syne”.  Now their sister station “Actors Entertainment” was having me talk about my acting as well. 

          The studio is small, but the atmosphere is warm and friendly.  Producer/director Pepper Jay meets me, offers me coffee and explains the logistics of the shoot, DP John Michael Ferrari gives me camera notes and my host, the beautiful Kristina Nikols, arrives looking like she just walked out of a glamour magazine.  As she alights next to me, I suddenly feel akin to Quasimodo.  I just needed a bell tower. 

          The show begins.  It’s a live chat show so we’re taking questions from online viewers.  What surprises me is that questions come almost immediately.  But it’s a kick because, if there weren’t any questions, we’d never know we were being watched.  (Well, we’d know, but it’s more fun to interact.  And I did mention “fun” is the name of the game.)   

          We talk about my acting and my writing and I answer all kinds of great questions posed by Kristina as well as by the folks out in cyberland. The amazing Assistant Editor Roxy Shih manages to insert all kinds of appropriate media into the frame as we talk not only about my projects, but about charities I support (like “The Trevor Project”) and even the double  rainbow that had made an appearance in the sky the night before.  Intern Josh Thrower expertly fields questions from the online viewers.  It's a well-run, very fun shoot.

          And, before I know it, we’re wrapping up and the show is over.  All good things, eh?  So until next time, thanks to the glory of technology, you can watch the interview if you missed it by clicking on the photo below.   Yeah:  the one of Beauty and the Beast!  ;)


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