The Studio Experience

My big TV debut was about to happen and I didn't want to be late. I was suppose to be there at 11:45am for my interview and so I made sure I was early. I found a parking spot right in front of CTV and waited in the car until it was a little closer to 11:45am. So after about an hour and a half of waiting in the car I went inside (just kidding).

As I walked into the building I grabbed the door handle and pulled toward me. My arm shot back towards the door and I realized it was locked. I peered inside and saw a woman right there behind a desk staring at me. Our staring contest only lasted for about 2 minutes when I finally admitted defeat and looked away...luckily right to where the sign said that the door is always locked and needs to be opened up from the inside. I suddenly heard the buzzing and pulled the door open. This time it magically opened and inside I went.

I told the lady at the desk that I was there for the News at Noon interview and she told me to go down the hall and wait in the room until Jeff came and got me. Not being familiar with the building I started to venture down the hall looking for this "room" that I was suppose to "wait" in. I figured the first room I came to must be the one and so when I saw the first room I walked in. As I looked around I realized it was about as big as an airplane bathroom. "Man, hopefully there aren't a lot of other people here for interviews because I'm not sure how we're all going to fit in this room," I said to myself as I glanced around. I finally came to my senses and figured this can't be the room. As I squeezed on out the door I decided to walk a little further. Ah, sure enough, now this was more of a waiting room.

I walked in (there was no door) and sat down on the loveseat (do you still call them loveseats in a waiting room...seems a little too cozy for two strangers). About 1 minute later the room was getting pretty full as 3 people from a Native theatre company came in. I tried to make small talk but they pretty much all but ignored me. I was kinda surprised, but they just talked among themselves. "Oh well", I thought, "I've got better things to do," and I went back to staring at the wall. Finally another girl came in and her and I chatted until they came and got us for the interview.

As they brought us into the studio for the show I was surprised at how small it was. There was just one camera guy and the little stage where the interview would take place was right beside their anchor desk. It' funny how different things look on camera. Jeff wasn't there so it was Jennifer doing the interview and Trish was also there to do the news. We all just sat against the wall and watched it all until it was our turn. I've already blogged about the interview so I'll skip that part. It was very nerve racking up on the mini stage which is part of the reason I stumbled over my words in the beginning of the interview. I felt like I did a terrible job and as I drove home afterward I wished I had told no one about it. Howver, over the course of the next few days people who saw it emailed me and said it looked good, so I felt a little more relieved.

The scary part was that my boss in Toronto wanted to see it. Now you have to understand that she has never even seen me before. I only interviewed with her over the phone and it was another lady from Calgary that actually interviewed me in person. So now she was going to see me on TV for the first time in an interview I was not proud of...I could feel the words "You're fired!" about to be thrown into my face again. I delayed getting a copy of it made, but on the day of our local snowstorm I decided to venture out and get a copy made. After nearly spinning the tread right off my tires and rocking to get out of numerous spots where I was stuck I finally shipped them the video so they would get it Friday morning.

Friday morning came and my boss didn't say anything. Friday afternoon came and went and I still hadn't heard from them. "Hmmm," I thought, "they probably are trying to figure out how to fire someone over the phone after they watched my interview." I forgot about it over the weekend and when Monday morning came around I waited some more to hear the feedback. Monday passed and I still heard nothing. "Ok, this is crazy, " I thought, "surely they've watched it by now." Finally, Tuesday afternoon I got my first feedback...they LOVED it! She had even shown it to the President of TrojanOne and he liked it too and wanted to be sure they showed it to the Hbc executives. Pheww! I wasn't going to be fired.

So everything turned out great. I've even spoken to some of the top Hbc guys/girls and they told me they liked the interview a lot too! All that worrying for nothing. Well, I really wasn't worried. I just expect so much of myself and so it would take a lot for me to believe that I did a really good job (there's a little inside knowledge into the world of Sheldon for you!)