This week my focus has been on trying to arrange an interview with a director. Ordinarily this isn’t too tricky however this one’s had a couple of hurdles to navigate. The first is the director’s insanely hectic work schedule which makes finding a time that suits us both difficult. The second is a chunky eight hour time difference between me and him, so when we do find a suitable time to chat it has to be either crazy early or really late for one of us. As a result, this week I’ve been up late, woke super early and stopped what I’m doing to power-walk to the nearest suitable interview spot all to no avail. I’m not complaining though, far from it - it’s all part of the deal with freelance work and I love it - but it did get me thinking about interviews in general.
I enjoy doing interviews, mainly because I find them hard to do. I’m not naturally a very conversational person and sometimes casual chat can seem like the most daunting thing in the world for some reason. With that in mind, I often wonder why I voluntarily put myself into the position of actively seeking out one-on-one conversations with people who in in all honesty, have no reason to chat to me whatsoever. And yet I still do it - regularly. I think the endorphin kick that comes from actually proving to myself that I can do it and coming out the other side having had an enjoyable chat with someone I had no real right to ever cross paths with is probably what keeps me coming back.
That’s not to say there haven’t been a few awkward moments here and there. In fact, now I think about it there have been plenty of funny-in-hindsight bits during the chats with actors, directors and musicians that I’ve collected over the years. Like the time I spoke to Hanoi Rocks frontman and hair-rock veteran Michael Monroe and he kept telling me the same story of when a gang attacked their tour bus at a gas station during their early years in Finland over and over and over again. Remember Del Preston’s M&Ms story in Wayne’s World 2? It was like that, only real and harder to think of an original reaction to after the fourth time I'd heard it. "A gang you say? At a gas station? What happened next?"
I enjoy doing interviews, mainly because I find them hard to do. I’m not naturally a very conversational person and sometimes casual chat can seem like the most daunting thing in the world for some reason. With that in mind, I often wonder why I voluntarily put myself into the position of actively seeking out one-on-one conversations with people who in in all honesty, have no reason to chat to me whatsoever. And yet I still do it - regularly. I think the endorphin kick that comes from actually proving to myself that I can do it and coming out the other side having had an enjoyable chat with someone I had no real right to ever cross paths with is probably what keeps me coming back.
That’s not to say there haven’t been a few awkward moments here and there. In fact, now I think about it there have been plenty of funny-in-hindsight bits during the chats with actors, directors and musicians that I’ve collected over the years. Like the time I spoke to Hanoi Rocks frontman and hair-rock veteran Michael Monroe and he kept telling me the same story of when a gang attacked their tour bus at a gas station during their early years in Finland over and over and over again. Remember Del Preston’s M&Ms story in Wayne’s World 2? It was like that, only real and harder to think of an original reaction to after the fourth time I'd heard it. "A gang you say? At a gas station? What happened next?"
Then there was the time I got into a bit of an awkward ‘Thank you’ loop with Flight of the Conchords man Jemaine Clement. The chat was coming to a close when he joked that I’d thanked him too many times. Then for about the next three minutes I was unable to figure out how to end the conversation without saying it again, like some sort of malfunctioning robot. Transcribing it was painful. Went a bit like this:
Me: So thanks for taking the time to chat…
Jemaine: You did it again!
Me: *Awkwardly Laughter* I guess I did! … *Long Silence* So thanks again..
Jemaine: You just said thanks again.
Me: I guess I like to say thanks! …*Pause* So thanks again for taking the time to chat.."
Jemain: There it is again!
There’s plenty more moments like this lurking on my dictaphone but I’ll save them for another post.
Got an awkward chat story? Let me know in the comments below!
Me: So thanks for taking the time to chat…
Jemaine: You did it again!
Me: *Awkwardly Laughter* I guess I did! … *Long Silence* So thanks again..
Jemaine: You just said thanks again.
Me: I guess I like to say thanks! …*Pause* So thanks again for taking the time to chat.."
Jemain: There it is again!
There’s plenty more moments like this lurking on my dictaphone but I’ll save them for another post.
Got an awkward chat story? Let me know in the comments below!
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