National Media Writer George McQuade reports on the secrets of getting on the radar of TV producer's radar.
(PRWEB) November 16, 2004 -- Email your pitches and make your story angles relevant," was the message from a panel of producers and bookers of TV news and magazine shows at a PR Newswire Entertainment Publicists Professional Society (EPPS) media event held recently at the Wynham, Hollywood.
Im in a unique position as a consulting producer for NBC Nightly News, and most of you probably know me from People Magazine TV. I was the executive producer for People Magazine TV who managed a strategic partnership with Dateline NBC, the today Show and People magazine so we would get to do two or three shows at a time," said Karen Jackovich, NBC Network News, producer. She has an office at NBC and across the street at Time Inc. and hears what senior producers wanted at several meetings on a daily basis, which was important to know, because each of the shows were different.
I have to sell the shows to various stories. Thanks to Michael Jackson, Im not making a living as I decide whether a story should go on Dateline, Nightly News, Bravo or Today Show. Im actually filling in for Stacie Gottsegen, whos principally at Dateline, however to get to the desk sometimes you have go through her as a broker depending upon what the story is. It usually takes about two weeks to get a story on Dateline," she said. Gottsegen can be reach at Stacie.gottsegen@nbcuni.com, while Jackovich can be reached at Karen.jackovich@nbcuni.com.
We go from news to entertainment," said Lillian Mizrahi, E! Entertainment. In entertainment theres not as much flexibility as news. We have gotten far more selective than the old days. Now, there are just so many outlets and so many events, with AP and everything we have to choose to get footage n the air without actually getting a crew there." For E, which does a lot of red carpet events, we love getting a pitch, especially if you know what youre talking about and where happy to go with any of your guests as long as they can go beyond the three questions that are on the page. I thought I would never thought I would say send me an email, but its really the best way, and if I dont respond, followup with a call." Mizrahi can be reached at lmizrahi@eentertainment.com.
My interest area is mostly film, so I basically work with studio publicists, but I also do other stories as well," said Sharlette Hambrick, senior supervising producer, Entertainment Tonight and also works on Insider, which has been on for six weeks. The former NBC news producer also said, Its called Entertainment Tonight, but what exactly is entertainment, I dont know, if you guys know you tell me. We know it when we see it. Never feel a story is not entertaining, because it is really all about finding angles. Never feel that a client is 'a has been,' its really about find the angle. Dont ever think a product is not interesting. You put a celebrity with that product, the celebrity hosts the event and it becomes entertainment. Entertainment Tonight is more celebrity-driven, but we do branch out as well. And it is a difficult to decide whether a story should go into Entertainment Tonight or the Insider, which has a different perspective. Our most successful shows are the weekend shows. It is important to watch or TiVo the shows before you pitch. If you sit home on a Saturday and watch the shows, youll know who the talent is and it will give publicists such an advantage." Hambrick prefers email pitches at sharlette.hambrick@paramount.com and then a follow-up call.
Our nightly show is 30 minutes on PBS late night and started in January and were in 90 percent of the country," said Luke Sader, Tavis Smiley show, Los Angeles. This is his fourth talk show and previously worked at ET and CNN Showbiz. The show is about empowerment and enrichment, and he currently still has his African-American themed show on NPR. Our show covers everything. Typically we look for a political guest and author for the first 12 or so minutes, then we break and come back with a Hollywood type of guest, who is almost always in person in LA for the second guest. Occasionally, if it is the standard Jim Carey or Denzel Washington, well give them the whole half hour.
Tavis can pretty much talk to anyone including presidential candidates. We have wide range of guests from philanthropists, authors of all types to movie stars. We dont always need to have the Denzel Washington. Sader prefers email and a followup call on all pitches relevant to the show. Sader can be reached at lsader@kcet.org.
I think its important to watch the show and know a little bit about him, because I still get questions about women in bikinis jumping on trampolines and all those things you do in a mens show, which kind of sucks," said Joy Dolce, producer, Jimmy Kimmel Live, Los Angeles. I know it existed, but I never actually saw it. Jimmy comes from radio and it was something I didnt know much about. He loves leaving a hole in a show not book it until the day of, which is enough to drive you crazy. We have Elvis Costello tonight and it doesnt get any better than that, and he (Jimmy Kimmel) thought that some brilliant person would show up to be the second guest, and as late as 7:00 last he decided on a second guest. He really works very hard all day long, and it is not as easy as it looks. We have six people looking at tapes and TV from news, entertainment and everything to get little pieces he can use to get in what he calls the first act. Its like a special every night, its like a special. The Jimmy Kimmel show is in its third year. Knowing the show youre pitching will help publicists. We dont have the time, but would love some of Tavis guests. Basically, hes comedy oriented, when people pitch Im amazed at some of things that come in and I say gosh I dont think this person knows the show. So you try to help and give the basics. First of all were not live anymore, and when people pitch hey you can do this because youre live, we say actually we havent been live since Janet Jackson." Dolce can be reached at joydolce@yahoo.com.
All the panelists conceded that backgrounder information, save-the-date" cards, early teases and preparing guests for a show is the best thing a publicists can do. The second best is watch the shows to learn what kind of stories each show airs and see where your client, product or company might fit in. All bookers would love an exclusive and all want email pitches first, followed up by a phone call.
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