Tuesday February 21, I went to Nate Cesco's VandaliaTV office and we did a Good Evening live stream and recorded a brief interview beforehand. The live stream was nerve wracking because I had to sit in front of a camera for two hours and try to be entertaining, or at least not an absolute bore. The 10 minute interview was a little more stressful. Talking about myself in a public forum is not something I am accustomed to. That being said, it went smoother than I thought. Nate's energy was enough to make up for my apprehension, which intentional or not is a great tool to utilize if your guest (me) is a cardboard box.
I would be lying if I said I didn't participate in introspective thought regarding my craft, but those thoughts usually aren't articulated in an anecdotal form easily navigated in an interview setting. Trying to figure out on the spot how to translate something I haven't verbalized previously is not something that comes natural to me. On the flip side, I did not want to know what the questions were beforehand because it would then take this already fabricated situation and add more artifice through premeditation. Making a movie is a difficult thing for technical reasons, but promotion for the movie is it's own kind of difficult because I'm not good at selling myself. Unless you're one of the unfortunate few who frequent my house, I don't like talking about myself and what I'm doing creatively. With all of this laid out, it sounds like it was a negative experience, but it absolutely was not. It was a good time in unfamiliar territory.
During the interview, I was able to lean on Nate's energy and presence when I was feeling unsure. Whenever I felt like I was losing myself in thought, he was able to maintain a balance that kept me talking, not in a leading kind of way, but one that felt natural and helped me stay on the track that I was about to derail. Not that meandering is a bad thing, but especially when nervous, I will either keep talking potentially leading into nonsense so there's no moment of uncomfortable silence, or I will encounter a mental gridlock. He was able to navigate and then cut the interview in a way that it almost sounds like I know what I'm talking about.
On Sunday, February 26, I was late to my interview for Nathan Thomas' Huntington based podcast, Commonplace. I am appreciative that they had me on the show. Nathan did an excellent job as the host, not only with insightful lines of questioning, but with their ability to make me feel at ease in a situation that is very unnatural to me personally. The interview and live stream a couple days earlier definitely helped with my nerves, but with the subtraction of video, a podcast is way more my speed.
With all of the promotion this past month, dealing with heavy social media engagement really had me scatterbrained. I typically don't deal too much with social media because I would rather send that working on my next project. However, in today's day and age, especially with a premiere on the horizon that I would like people to attend, I've been putting all of my efforts and energy into that and it has been exhausting. All of this is to say that my mind has been elsewhere and I was late to the recording of Commonplace.
When I arrived at Nathan's apartment, I was met with understanding for my tardiness and a great sense of welcoming. We sat down and from my perspective it seems like our catching up was recorded, whether it is used or not, it was a good tactic to help me fall into the most natural I could feel during a recorded conversation. Once the questions that indicated to me the start of the session started emerging, I was feeling as relaxed as I possibly could be. It was a pleasant experience and I appreciate both of their understanding and time.
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