Secrets To Becoming A Guest
The phone rings. You hear a voice saying, " Hello, I'm the producer of...Good Morning America or Oprah, or Larry King Live" or any other top talk show, you name it. This is your big moment, the break you've been waiting for.
After you catch your breath what do you do?
Producers make an instant assessment of you in 30sec or less. When you get that coveted call from a producer, you aren't just talking to him: you're auditioning. You are being screened to be accepted or eliminated as a guest on their show.
How can you pass the audition?
Secret no. 1:
Ask Before You Speak
Before you even open your mouth to start pitching yourself and your story to the producer, ask them a simple question: " Can you tell me a little bit about the kind of show you envision? " In other words, ask the producer the angle he is planning to take.
Doing so has two advantages.
1) It gives you a moment to overcome the shock and to collect your thoughts.
2) Once, you hear the producer's reply, you can gear your pitch to the type of information he's seeking. Listen closely to the angle that he's interested in and tailor your points to it.
Publicists often use this technique to get their clients booked on shows. They "get" before they " give" .So, they are in a good position to tell only the most pertinent information about their client.
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Secret no. 2:
Wow the Producers with Brevity
Follow the advice of Jazz Musician Dizzy Gillespie:
- "It's not how much you play. It's how much you leave out."
Keep your list of talking points by the phone when you call a producer (or a producer calls you), so you'll be succinct. You will already have rehearsed your points so that they'll sound natural and inviting. Be prepared with several different angles or pitches, different ways to slant your information.
A Publicist Leslie Rossman says:
- “Nobody gets on these shows without a pre- interview,"
- "Be a great interview but don't worry about the product you want to sell them because if you're a great guest and you make great TV, they'll want you."
And keep in mind the words of Robert Frost:
- "Half the world is composed of people who have something to say and can't, and the other half who have nothing to say and keep on saying it. "
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Secret no. 3:
Prove You're Not a Nutcase
If your area nutcase on the air, the producer will lose their job.
What constitutes a nutcase?
You may think it's a positive trait to be enthusiastic (and it is), but anyone who is overly zealous about his passion is considered a nut.
Richard Price talks about this phenomenon as
- "The dangerous thrill of goodness. "
He says,
- "What happens is you can get very excited by your own power to do good."
One way to tell if you're being too zealous is that you're hammering your point at top speed with the energy of a locomotive pulling that toot lever non-stop. I remember a man calling me up about how he was single-handedly taking on Starbucks - who, he felt, had done him wrong. He wanted me to promote his cause. While this could have been a great David versus Goliath type story, he was long on emotion and short on facts. Some stat
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