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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