David Stephenson's Blog

How to interview a celebrity

david stephenson — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 19:37:26 +0000

How to interview a celebrity
I’m the TV Editor on the Sunday Express and I interview celebrities every week. In general terms, they are very friendly though it can sometimes get sticky if you roam into areas which they don’t like. Here are 5 ways to ensure you get the best interview from a celebrity every time.

1) Polite and friendly approach
Whether your interview is face to face, or over the telephone, or indeed in a “round table” set up with other journalists, politeness is the key to a good chat. In Britain, we have famous interrogators on the television such Jeremy Paxman. Under no circumstances, should you approach an interview in this way. You will get nowhere. I have seen celebrities in round table situations stiffen up immediately upon sensing an aggressive style. Obviously there is a place for this, but not when discussing a cosy period drama with a young actress. If face to face with your talent, smile and engage the talent and try to strike a rapport before you turn on the recorder. If taking notes, make sure you look at the talent, too, otherwise you won’t connect. And look INTERESTED even if you’re not!

2) Stick to the boundaries
PRs and press agent now listen to most interviews as they take place as a matter of course. On some occasions with noted celebrities you may find yourself with as many as five other staff connected with the talent in the same room. Their job? To protect the talent. Each interview will have some agreed boundaries. The discussion may be very informal. Stick to it or the interview is likely to be terminated. Indeed you may not even get the access unless you agree to disclose exactly what you want to talk about. Don’t get cross about it. Just work with it. PRs and minders are a fixture on the media landscape and you must learn to work with them.

3) Bullet points
It’s that simple. Eight to 10 should do the trick. You should think these up while you’re doing your research, such as looking at newspaper cuttings or reading stories on the Internet. In a way, these are thoughts rather than outright questions. If you like, they are subject headings that you can expect to come up during the course of the interview. If they don’t, the bullet points are there to jog your memory. If it is an audio interview, for radio or for the interview, you can glance quickly at them and move seamlessly to the next subject. So obviously don’t make the points too detailed on your pad. You want to digest it and move on quickly. Try not to ask questions which only solicit a one word answer. This will make it a very long interview for both concerned!

4) Listen!
Again, this is stating the bleeding obvious. Or is it? So many times as an interviewer you can be concentrating on what you next need to ask, and completely miss a new thread to the interview. This is a bad habit of mine. Listen, listen, listen! The best practice for interviewing, apart from doing it over and over, is to do it without questions prepared whatsoever. This is often the case for news interviews, where you are put on the spot immediately. It makes you listen.

5) Don’t be a fan

Difficult not to be too starstruck, indeed nervous when first meeting a celebrity. Thankfully, you have a job to do, which tends to distance you from the star sitting in front of you. The interviewee is simply a person telling you a story, from which you need to get your own story, your own angle. That will concentrate the mind, if nothing else!

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James Corden Matt Smith Doctor Who

david stephenson — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 09:30:48 +0000

Always a treat to talk to Matt Smith, this time on the set in Cardiff. Here he chats, among other things, about whether it’s possible to change the innate character of the Doctor. And James Corden, too. Wouldn’t he make a great permanent assistant?

Matt smith dr who

James corden dr who

Salary Packages after Pursuing Journalism Courses (via Mass Communication College in India)

david stephenson — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 20:57:32 +0000

Some interesting thoughts on salary packages in India

Today, Journalism Course is one of the most popular courses amongst the students as it brings many career options. Journalism is the investigation and reports of issues, events and trends to a broad audience. The job profile of a journalist includes in providing proper interesting information to the people. The salary package of journalist depends upon a lot of factors. If you have just started your Career in Journalism, you can earn a good salar … Read More

via Mass Communication College in India

Anastacia

david stephenson — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 17:32:55 +0000

Anastacia is infectious company. You can’t fail to be engaged by her enthusiasm, humour and general warmth. And that’s my view after waiting for her for two hours in Soho House media club in London’s Soho. This delay, I hasten to add, was not her fault, but a rescheduling of other journalists.
It was also an interview done against the background of the World Cup. Just as our chat began, the groans about England’s poor performance against Slovenia were subsiding. Anastacia just loved the atmosphere and also claimed to understand football. Now this is getting silly.
The windows in the stuffy room had been thrown open and she was posing for photographs. This girl is in a perpetually good mood. Check out Stuart Clarke’s pics in the Sunday Express.
Those who know little about Anastacia beyond the fact that she is a singer, will be interested to learn that she’s only been a big part of the music scene for 10 years. The Chicago born performer came to prominence after coming second in an MTV talent contest. Her debut album, which included the hit I’m Outta Love, made the top 10 in eight countries. She arrived on the scene fully formed you could say.
Anastacia has a diverse fan base with a very strong following in Europe, which brings us to the subject of the interview. The American is the star turn on the judging panel for Five’s Dont Stop Believing, a talent show. Her career is going full circle.
This is a role, she says, she has been looking for, and she wouldn’t say no to a slot on the X Factor either. As a judge!
This interview covers everything, current career, talent shows, her health – she’s a breast cancer survivor and has suffered Crone’s Disease since 12 – but not her love life. That was out of bounds because of her recent divorce. At the very end of our meeting, I do my best to talk about romance. Hear the result yourself.
Here’s part one of three. The show starts Sunday 18th July on Five, and it’s live! Could be a riot, in every sense of the word.

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Sunday Express print interview

Bt Vision

david stephenson — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 08:58:13 +0000

It’s worthy of a spread bet: BT versus Sky. If you were a bookmaker it’s a mouth-watering encounter. Two British companies thumping it out for the sake of the British sports fan. Well, so they say. It’s laudable and we appreciate it. In one corner is Sky who have a stranglehold on the sports TV market with the majority of rights for anything decent i.e. Football, rugby and cricket. Then along comes new upstart player BT who think it’s wrong that Sky have such a monopoly. The regulators agree and force Sky to offer their content to BT Vision, their pay TV service. Half of all people surveyed said they would take up BT Vision if there were sports. Let’s wait and see. So the Sky Sports packages are now available and if you’re already a BT Broadband customer it’s a good deal and cheaper than Sky depending on just how much sport you would like to watch. The BT pitch is that as a Sky customer with a sports package there are many other channels you simply don’t want. Makes sense.
My initial view was that it was wrong for BT to be allowed this content since they hadn’t originally paid for the rights. But now I’ve come around to the punters’ view: get prices down. There’s too much money in rights anyway and it doesn’t help us win a World Cup, or a Champions League final (it may have helped with the Ashes). So good luck to BT; the long suffering British sports fan is with you all the way. The man with the vision behind BT Vision is Marc Watson. He has great belief in this service, which will also be incorporated in Project Canvas next year. That’s the new BBC-driven, Broadband TV service about which you will hear many things over the next six months. Here’s my chat with Watson, CEO of BT Vision, from whom you will hear much in the next six months too.
And yes I declare an interest. I already have Sky Sports.

David Stephenson\’s TV blog

Martina Navratilova “walks out”

david stephenson — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 11:48:26 +0000

Martina Navratilova staying put on BBC News

Sports types have a particular aura. It’s not something spiritual, just a definitive sense of who they are. So it is with Martina Navratilova whom I met in Wimbledon – the local cinema, not the All England Club – where she was promoting a new film on ESPN about her long-term friendship with Chris Evert. The paradox of the documentary is great rivals on the court, but off the court they could talk about everything. When you talk to Martina, you encounter a warm, funny and sometimes self-deprecating woman, but also a woman who, bizarrely, doesn’t like to talk about British tennis. Ooh no. Listen at the end of the interview when I broach the subject. Did she “walk out”? Well, she made it very aware that the interview was over and walked away to sign posters and that was it. I didn’t even get a, “Missing you already”. I’m blaming Andy Murray of course.
Putting that aside, the film itself is a departure for a sports doc. It’s focussed on the personal story of these two women. Incredible rivals of the court, but close friends in the locker room. For the record, Martina has the bragging rights in one-to-one contests in grand slams. Here is the Q & A in the cinema, together with my interview. The film goes out in October 2010 in the UK, but sooner in the States. Hannah Storm is chairing the session, and produced the film too.

The interview

David Stephenson\’s TV blog

london to brighton cycle ride

david stephenson — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 20:49:48 +0000

A break from the TV agenda, to let you see a “photo-essay” on a wonderful day raising money for the British Heart Foundation. One of the things about the day is that it’s a “ride” and not a race. People ride too fast, yes, but that definitely doesn’t include us. We left at 7am, and arrived at 5.30pm. I was thinking of phoning ahead for a B&B. We also stop far too often, obviously allowing our muscles to cool down inviting injury and the prospect of pulling in for another pit-stop. It’s a wonderful, sociable day, with terrific support from locals along the way. It will surprise you.

I heartily recommend the ride to anyone.

Three of the crew. Tilt sideways to view

Seventies combo reform for one last gig

Top of Ditchling Beacon, with Jane, Andy and Jeremy

Kind soul gives up their back garden at base of Ditchling Beacon

The brass band Turners Hill. What lovely people

Early traffic jam. Chance for a pic!

Not banner from heaven admittedly, but the "love story" of the day

Eat your heart out Wiggins!

Jeremy defies current thinking about calorie intake

Keeley Hawes and Identity

david stephenson — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 14:59:28 +0000

Keeley Hawes and Philip Glenister

It’s never a good idea to schedule the launch of a new drama on the day of the Queen’s Speech. So it was with ITV’s new series, Identity. No celebrity worth their equity card ever takes the Tube in London, and to be fair, the broadcasters lay on cars anyway. Central London is brought to a standstill while the Queen takes a coach to the Palace of Westminster, which meant that Keeley Hawes, star of Identity, and undoubtedly the turn of the day, would be late. She was indeed very late. So much so that the writer of the series, Ed Whitmore, became a stand-in attraction for half an hour. He was in fact terribly interesting, about how he formed the drama and how it has already been picked up in America. Whitmore also has a project with the BBC but was having much less to say about that as you will hear.

Aidan Gillen Courtesy of ITV

After Whitmore exited, Keeley Hawes made her entrance together with the other leads, Aidan Gillen and Holly Aird.
There was another issue with the timing of the launch. It was only four days after the end of Ashes to Ashes, in which Hawes got a farewell kiss from Philip Glenister. How long would it be before she was asked about the end of such a fine series? One insider admitted: “Why do you think we launched when we did?”
For those interested in how these events come together, ITV, for the first time conducted a simultaneous press conference over Ready To Air, the online preview service for journalists who write about TV. It worked rather well but could interrupt proceedings, too. One suspects more journalists will attend these press conferences “remotely” in the future. Monday 5th July ITV

David Stephenson\’s TV blog

Doctor who and the Pandorica

david stephenson — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 19:00:26 +0000

Matt Smith

Every time I think the fuss around Doctor Who is waning, I’m proved very wrong. Like no other series, it has a wonderful ability to re-invent itself. The penultimate episode in the series tonight was a wonderful “best of” smorgasbord of monsters which will delight fans. Last week I went to a great q&a session at Bafta on Piccadilly in which series runner, Steven Moffat (the bloke who okays the scripts etc), Karen Gillan, Arthur Darvill and yes, Matt Smith explained what the series has been like for them. When I last saw this lot, the new Doctor and his assistant were like nervous teenagers when the new show launched in Wales, where the show is made. Now seeing them on the stage at Bafta, there’s a great deal more confidence from the leading players in this iconic drama. The thing about these q&as from my point of view is that it’s not like a round table with journalists. This is a night for fans, children, and industry types. The questions, as you will hear are more fanzine than magazine. At the end of the screening when Matt and Karen left the building they were mobbed by fans who chased them down the middle of Piccadilly, then started knocking on the windows of their car when it got caught in traffic. It’s the stuff of popstars. These guys are big, even if Stephen Fry thinks it’s a “children’s show”. Here’s the audio from the q&a, for which you will need to wind up the volume a little.

Series finale trailer from the BBC Series finale trailer

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doctor who’s hat?

david stephenson — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 22:32:10 +0000

karen gillan

When was the last time Doctor Who wore a hat? Well, this adornment could be set for a return in the next series. At a preview tonight for the first of the final two-parter in the latest series of Doctor Who, Matt Smith, the Doctor, gave his biggest hint yet that headgear of some sort is being considered. A great episode, too.

Full Q&A to be posted on Saturday after the episode.

David Stephenson\’s TV blog

And the trailer for the ep

The Pandorica Opens trailer