My First Interview/Screening Experience

On Wednesday, June 24, NiceGirlsTV.com was invited to a private press screening of FOX’s 2-hour movie Virtuality at the Hitchcock Theatre on the Universal Studios lot in Studio City. Louise and I had the opportunity of covering this event as a team; and since it was my first interview and screening for NGTV, I just had to write about how exciting the experience was for me. Especially since I got to be on the other side of the red carpet (so to speak) for once.

For a number of years now, I have had the chance to attend a multitude of television-related events such as the LA Times “The Envelope” panels, the annual Paley Festival held by the Paley Center for Media (formerly the Museum of Television and Radio), the San Diego Comic Con, science-fiction based conventions run by Creation Entertainment and the like. For these events, I have simply been a fan and attendee, but for the Virtuality screening I actually had the chance to take part in interviewing the cast and being part of the press.

Like most avid TV-ophiles, I have seen my fair share of interviews either live at events or via TV specials. But this was the first time that I dipped my toes into the deep end of the industry pool and I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

The evening started out by my arriving at Universal Studios around 6 PM, collecting my pass to gain access to the lot and my entrance into the theatre, meeting up with Louise who had beat me there by mere minutes, then meeting up with our FOX contact, Janice, from the network’s publicity team. Louise and I were “assigned” our spot in the lobby (a nice large leather couch) where we would be stationed to hold our interviews. As the 6 cast members participating in the event arrived, the FOX staff would escort each of them to our area and we would have five minutes with each of them. As more press arrived, and the cast traveled the circuit around the room, my earlier anxiety slowly dissipated and my confidence level grew. Before too long, Louise and I were on our last interview and everyone was being ushered into the theatre for the actual screening.

While waiting for the screening to begin, I saw some familiar faces in the audience – other than the cast members who were on hand – including Mark Sheppard (Battlestar Galactica), Leisha Hailey (The L Word), Katherine Moennig (The L Word and soon to be Three Rivers) and Neil Jackson (Blade: The Series). After sitting through the screening, which was uninterrupted by commercials – such a better way to watch programming by far – Michael Taylor (Writer/Producer of Virtuality) invited everyone to a nearby restaurant for an after-party. I decided to forego said party, as I had a long drive ahead of me in order to get home and I had to be up early the next morning for my real life job. I bid Louise a good night then headed home.

I hope this event will be just the first of many to come and that I will gain valuable experience from each one and have some fun along the way.