Stina Lundberg Dabrowski is one of my favorite journalists. She published a book 2006 about some of the various interviews she has done over the years. And they are many. She has a large CV with people ranging from the Dalai Lama to Margaret Thatcher and Arnold Schwarzenegger.
What amazed me about the book were basically two things: first, she is not the woman with the big confidence that I thought and two, there are quite amazing things happening behind the camera.
When she finally got her interview with Senator Hillary Clinton for instance (around the time for the release of Mrs Clinton’s book) she realized that she would not look good arriving alone, without entourage. This time she didn’t even go with a crew, because she shared the camera guys with two other TV stations due to budget.
So she called the embassy in Washington D.C. and asked if they had anyone interested in act as her assistant and meeting Hillary Clinton.
Once there Mrs Clinton’s assistant informed her that the interview was about to be only fifteen minutes, not thirty. Stina had sold a half-hour program, based on a half-hour interview (already that too short material) and only fifteen minutes was out of the question.
She starts an argument so when Mrs Clinton arrives she is “red as a Christmas apple” in her face.
They sit down and Stina searches in her purse for her powder to dampen her blushing cheeks only to realize that it was back at the hotel. She asks Mrs Clinton if she could borrow hers and gets a look in return as if she had asked to borrow her underpants.
The interview couldn’t get a worse start.
And none of this is seen on TV.
2 comments:
My favorite behind the scene story is when I was doing what is called a parasite interview.
On the steps of City Hall in Kansas City Missouri a Newsman from a local TV station is doing this great interview of a mayoral hopeful when his cameraman misses the shot.
I capture the whole thing and last edit I saw it was still in the movie Begging for Billionaires.
Ha ha, great story.
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