portfolio
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Work With Me
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Work With Me
portfolio

some words: interview chat, Off The Record

8/13/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
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?"
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!
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author: Simon Bland
    t: @SiTweetsToo

    Simon is a freelance entertainment journalist and this is his blog.

    Archives

    October 2023
    February 2023
    November 2021
    July 2021
    April 2021
    September 2020
    April 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    July 2019
    April 2019
    February 2019
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    May 2017
    February 2017
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016

    Want to Time travel back to my old blog? Click below!

    Picture

    Categories

    All
    Academy Award
    Actors
    Alien
    Animation
    Arctic Monkeys
    Avengers
    Avengers Endgame
    Awards
    Bill And Ted
    Blockbusters
    Blog
    Blogs
    Breaking Bad
    Cinema
    Cinemas
    Comedy
    Culture Dump
    Curb Your Enthusiasm
    DC
    Festivals
    Film
    Films
    Game Of Thrones
    Gary Oldman
    Gigs
    Gremlins 2
    Harry Potter
    HBO
    Henry Selick
    Horror
    Indiana Jones
    Infinity War
    Interview
    Jim Carrey
    Joe Dante
    Jon Snow
    Jurassic Park
    Kevin Smith
    Kit Harington
    Kit Harington Interview
    Larry David
    Mad Men
    Marvel
    Movies
    Music
    Nostalgia
    Pirated Movies
    Pop Culture
    Predator
    Quotes
    Rick And Morty
    Roma
    Sequels
    Some Words
    Star Wars
    Stranger Things
    Superhero
    Superhero Movies
    Superior Sequel
    Television
    The Disaster Artist
    The Oscars
    The Simpsons
    Tim Burton
    Total Film
    TV
    Young Adult

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.