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Dear John

What can I do to improve my TV appearances?

First published 10th August 2006

Question:
I've had a few TV appearances on the strength of my live work but I never seem able to come across as well on TV, so none of them have led to anything more. Any tips to make it less terrifying and on what I can do to improve the next time?

Answer:
Well, you could start off by finding some of my old broadcast tapes and doing the exact opposite of everything you see me do. But since I buried them in a landfill that is unlikely. Joking aside, I'm sure there are some much more established TV names who would happily rent space in my landfill for their own early efforts. As with any other performance medium, you learn TV mainly by trial and error. Unlike most other media your trial and error is preserved for posterity for all to see. In its infancy TV must have been terrifying to do as it went out live, yet in the 21st century the increasingly hectic schedule of production and 24-hour broadcasting means that live or recorded material is churned out with even less margin for error than in the old days. Pace and pressure goes with the territory if you are a TV person but if you are a performer thrown in at the deep end it can be a shock to the system. To give you some practical advice on keeping your head when all about you are losing theirs and to help you decide which skill-polishing option is be most practical for you, our two contributors have experience on both sides of the camera.

What the experts say:

Gillian Joseph

Gillian Joseph is no stranger to pressurised TV environments as she anchors the evening output from Sky News. Prior to joining Sky, Gillian presented the news on BBC Breakfast and on BBC London. She has also worked as a presenter for BBC News 24 and Radio 5 Live.

"If you work well with live audiences you have cracked the more difficult element of the market. It is more daunting to have hundreds of live faces staring back at you when you fluff your lines, as you inevitably will. The camera on the other hand can be stopped - at least if the show is being recorded.

"What you must do is banish all thought that you are on a runaway train and can't get off. Yes there is pressure but remember that nobody does everything in one take. And don't always think that the retake is down to a mistake that you made - directors have false starts too.

"As for working live, what one learns from doing 24-hour rolling news is that 'live' is synonymous with 'flawed'. People expect live TV to be rough around the edges but real. The reason people 'believe' live television is because they can see the mistakes. Highly polished, flawless delivery suggests something that has been tampered with, something that has been created. That's not to say that you can't be live and polished - this requires the ability to respond to whatever is thrown at you. Mistakes will happen. The skill comes in how you deal with them. Embrace the slight slip-ups and make them part of the performance.

"As regards the technology, you must disregard it. Employ the methods you use when you are performing to a live audience. But though it helps to disregard technology, do not disregard the technicians. They really are all there to support you, not to trip you up. I find it helps if you can familiarise yourself with the crew. The more comfortable you are with the people around you, the better you will perform.

"Solicit as much advice as you can so that you both take ownership of the project and have made an investment in the end result.

"As for getting it right the first time I can only offer three bits of advice - rehearse, rehearse, rehearse and then rehearse some more. Well, maths never was my strong point."

Colin Barrett

From working on Standard-8mm and Super-8mm productions as a teenager, Colin Barrett's interest in the potential of new camera and broadcast technology has seen him devise and oversee production of training and promotional programming for companies like Xerox and the BBC. He now runs the Simply DV website, where people can come and find out about what equipment is available and how they might use it to best effect.

"I think the advances in technology in recent years have created two avenues by which performers can gain more TV experience.

"Firstly they can get training and there are many companies offering all kinds of presenter and broadcast training. But if you are going down this route it can be expensive so you need to be clear on what you want and if the company or person you are hiring is the right person to give it to you. You don't want to be paying to learn things which are actually not essential to your needs and have just been added to justify high training fees, nor do you want to be learning techniques and technology which were current 20 years ago or whenever the trainer worked in TV.

"The companies with the slickest looking facilities or showreels aren't necessarily the best either - you should aim to develop sample material that is fast-paced, short and simply shows you being you. Nobody will have time to watch long pieces to camera or try to identify the real you amid a host of flashy production tricks that the company uses on every showreel.

"The second avenue I mentioned relates to new technology because it really is possible these days to get a genuine idea of how you come across on TV, record your progress and ultimately make a good quality 'homemade' showreel with relatively inexpensive equipment. You must be prepared to invest in learning to use the equipment to its best advantage and to remember that the same rules about keeping your presentation simple and done well and not trying to be too tricksy apply when you're doing it yourself just as much as when you're hiring 'a company'.

John sums up

Not surprisingly both Gillian and Colin seem to agree that the technology is there to help you, not to throw you and the best way to ensure the gifts you have, which obviously come across well live, also come across on TV is to focus on what you are good at doing. Let the technicians focus on what they are good at doing and ask for advice when you are not sure if what you are doing is working well. I've spoken before about the importance of having good-looking marketing materials but in all honesty I have seen as many terrible showreels that people have paid quite a lot of money for as I have those done on the cheap. It is always worth taking time to do something properly and it is also worth investing in good quality. However, you can't decide what 'properly' or 'good quality' actually looks like unless you have taken the time to decide what end result you actually want to achieve. And it is a very good idea to have decided that long before the studio lights go on, whether on live TV or a presentation course.

* Gillian Joseph presents Sky News Tonight every weekday

* Colin Barrett assures me that even the least techie visitor is welcome at www.simplydv.co.uk and that the bulletin boards are a particularly friendly place to get all the advice you need on cameras and other issues.

* You can also check out a number of TV-related resources in the How to and FAQ areas of this website.

* Feedback/queries are welcome to dearjohn@thestage.co.uk

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