I got fired from 3 talk shows and decided to start over in Hollywood with a lot of credentials and no contacts. What I had was a belief in myself that I was a terrific interviewer. I did press junkets for years and knew that with no TV show I would never be invited again to interview movie stars. Since I was desperate to work, I thought what would happen if I could get a studio to listen to my idea that my single interview could play on many TV stations, which had never been done before. I had a list of 55 TV stations, I called a 100 to get them, who would take my interviews and pass them off as their own. This idea came from my being invited to press junkets where only 50 people could do a one on one interview. Would a studio be willing to test this idea? Initially, no studio would take my calls. After one year of working for people with studio contacts and proving my idea worked I was finally offered my first job from Universal and worked for the next 23 years doing movie star interviews. The 55 stations became 110 as everybody wanted my interviews and then I added the world. Hollywood is tough but don’t be afraid to try something you never can tell what will happen.
Posts tagged Secrets
The Ford Factor
I am on my way to Los Angles to do some interviews for my morning TV show on CBS in San Diego. I love movies and their stars so I am looking forward to the short plane trip, limo ride and hotel suite that Fox is providing. It’s early May and this is one of three films that I that I will work on over the weekend. The first screening is arranged for that night with interviews set for the following morning, then more screenings and interviews to follow. I see the film and like it but do not love it, so I only ask questions from the production notes that the studio provides. Since I have never heard of any of the actors I am looking for stories that would introduce them to my TV audience. The last interview for the film is with the star, a really good looking guy with starling blue eyes. Oh so handsome and oh so boring, it could have been my questions, but I cannot wait for the interview to be over. I even look at my watch to see how much time is left and know he has no idea that I cannot wait to leave, as I keep smiling. I have to wait 3 weeks for the film to open and when it does on May 25,1977 it becomes the biggest film of that year. I know you guessed it, the film is Star Wars and the boring star: Harrison Ford.
I am only sorry that the interview was not a better one, I found it later in a grocery bag in my storage locker and still have it. Years later, I sat down with Ford for the film Air Force One and had one of the greatest interviews of my career, this time I did a lot of research and the personal stories just poured out, some of them are in my book Nearly Famous: Secrets, Lies and Addiction. So when they announced the new cast of Star Wars this past week all those memories came flooding back.
Everything old is new again
I am starting to follow what I learned in New York on how to publicizes my new book Nearly Famous: Secrets,Lies and Addiction. I sent out 20 emails looking for a TV appearances or magazine articles. So far I got 2 rejections but nice ones. One will keep me on file and the other passed me on to another women’s magazine. Fingers Crossed.
I was told by the power players in Hollywood that I created a new way to market films. So It came as a real surprise that I couldn’t figure out how to market my new book. Shhh don’t tell…
