90 – The Original Traffic Tootsie: Tom interviews Gayl Murphy

Episode 090 – Gayl Murphy
[00:00:09] Welcome to Screw the Commute. The entrepreneurial podcast dedicated to getting you out of the car and into the money, with your host, lifelong entrepreneur and multimillionaire, Tom Antion.

[00:00:24] Hey Everybody it's Tom here with episode 90 of screw the commute podcast. I got a old friend Gayl Murphy here with me today. She's the original the original traffic Tootsie and not only is she a longtime Hollywood Reporter she teaches us how to do great media interviews. I'll tell you about her in a minute bring her on in a little while the last episode was eighty nine with Stan Walters the lie guy. This guy has been in prison 36 times and he promised to take me there with him. I mean that kind of sounds like if I go down you go down but now he's he's one of the foremost experts in the world on deception so he trains people to spot deceptions not only law enforcement people and military but it's business people like us when we see inconsistencies on employee applications and employee disputes and all kinds. He's very cool guy. So check that out later that was episode eighty nine. Now our podcast app is in the iTunes store. You can go to screwthecommute.com/app. We've got complete instructions that it'll do all kinds of cool stuff on your mobile phones and tablets to save your favorite episodes and if your phone rings it'll pause the the podcast and then started again after the phone call's done so all kinds of cool stuff like that. Check it out at screwthecommute.com/app. Now our youth program has started where once a month we highlight an entrepreneurial youth and when I say youth it was a little confusion. This is up to early 20s. If it's older than that they might be a candidate for our regular podcast but we really want to highlight youth and get that entrepreneurial spirit going and the young people so if you know anybody the way they can apply is to email me at orders@antion.com and I can send them details on how they can apply to be featured. All right our sponsor for this episode is the internet marketing training center of Virginia a distance learning school which teaches legitimate techniques to make a great living either working for someone else or starting your own business or both. So you can check that out at IMTCVA.org but just because it's in Virginia. Remember it's distance learning and it's called asynchronous which means you don't have to be a certain place at a certain time for your online classes. You can do them any time you feel like it. So check that out. IMTCVA.org.

[00:03:11] All right let's get to the main event. Gayl is a Hollywood correspondent. Media and presentation coach she says you got to tell it the sell it. She's the speaker and author of Interview tactics how to survive the media without getting clobbered. And also the Insider's Guide to Giving a killer interview she reports on and works with entertainment media on TV radio print and online. Gayl are you ready to screw. The commute!

[00:03:42] Oh yeah baby bring it on.

[00:03:46] I don't want you to bring that travel or tootsie helicopter on my head get mad at me.

[00:03:51] Well it's a 57 Chevy that's what the Tootsie drove was a 57 Chevy with spongy dice hanging off the mirror.

[00:04:00] Did you really have one.

[00:04:02] Yeah. Seriously there was a guy here in L.A. named Chuck Barris. Yes of course. Chuck not not the TV show guy but he had the same last name. He had these car.

[00:04:15] Yeah. He created the Batmobile and all. Yeah I know him.

[00:04:19] Rent his cars from him. So what we did was I got a hold of Ringo's 57 Chevy I laid across it with stiletto high heels on. I had a phone in my hand. We took a picture it was in the newspapers. He was the nicest man and we the way in which we did it with all the car crash sounds in the back in the background we went to Pep Boys at that time. I got a tape of them from a variety of different kinds of car sounds. You know when you beep the horn we would do it with the Godfather.

[00:04:59] So we're going to get into some of this history lesson here a little later but tell them what you're doing now. Because I've known you for many many years and tell him I know you. You worked in Europe for something right and and also teach people stuff. Is that right.

[00:05:23] Yes you're talking to the celebritizer. I work with CEOs show biz pros authors experts entrepreneurs. I teach them the successful interview tactics and techniques that some of the biggest superstars in business and entertainment use so they can celebritize themselves. So I'm a Hollywood correspondent I've been doing that the majority of my career.

[00:05:50] Explain what the definition of a correspondent.

[00:05:55] Well a correspondent and a reporter is pretty much the same thing but a reporter can be print and an online correspondent typically is radio or television. So I met so many people along the way who had such a great product and service but they were so unprepared to tell another person about it that it drove me completely nuts. So I thought if I taught people how to survive me in an interview I wouldn't have to work so hard. So you got that right Tom. So it turned into immediately turned into a speaking and a coaching career. And so I had been teaching it at something called the Learning Annex here in Los Angeles So it was in L.A. San Francisco San Diego and in New York and I would go around to all the different ones and I would teach. So I took my table of contents. I mean my lesson plan and turned it into my table of contents. And I wrote interview tactics how to survive the media without getting clobbered.

[00:07:04] And then when we look on TV and they the anchor person says Let's go to Joe Schmo in Toledo now they're just talking directly to the camera. They're not actually interviewing people but they interviewed people prior to coming on camera to give us the synopsis right. Is that what you do.

[00:07:20] My stuff is all done one on one.

[00:07:25] Which means you're interviewing somebody and that's what's aired or you're telling tell us what they said.

[00:07:32] Well I tell them what they said and then they'll also play it when I was doing hard news for ABC News. I would let's say I was covering the Grammys so I would be backstage covering the Grammys and the person who won says you know I want to thank this person was that person I never thought I would win I I hate myself but I actually love myself right now. So we would create packages and so the packages are what would air. So everything was sort of prerecorded and prepackaged. I don't use packages anymore. I'm a live reporter. So I have a very short tail in terms of in terms of finding my stuff on the Internet because I work with very big companies. And the idea of asking them to actually get out of their chair and walk across the hall hit record and send and send it to me is very unlikely.

[00:08:28] Okay now would you be at a fire scene or would you just be reporting on some celebrity that just wrecked his car.

[00:08:35] Well there was a time when I would be on the fire scene but a lot of times there was this I remember when I was working at KFWB There was a spate of young children being bitten by pitbulls. So I spent a lot you know a lot of time interviewing owners victims that kind of stuff but mostly now I'm back at the Four Seasons eating you know tuna rolls and talking to celebrities. It's much more my style.

[00:09:10] Now when you said you used the term hard news and now there's been a lot of stuff lately about how the president is complaining the people that supposed to be doing news are editorializing and I mean when you were doing a news story did you sometimes think man that guy's full of it but you just can't say it. You just have to report what they said because how do you keep your opinions out of it.

[00:09:38] Here's the thing here's the thing. If a friend comes up to you and tells you something about A friend that you both know one of the first questions you're going to ask them is who told you that. Where did you hear that. That's called citing your sources. What is the source of that information. And this should be a life lesson for anyone who is ever told about the quote fake news end quote and they tell them something. Ask them where they heard it cite your sources as a journalist I can not report a story unless I've seen it with my own eyes or or heard it with my own ears. I can not report a story that two other sources have already confirmed.

[00:10:30] Well the thing is is that all you hear is like Well anonymous sources said. So how do you check it.

[00:10:39] Well typically they well you can't you really can't. So you're actually skating on thin ice. But what you might do is check who is saying that if it's if it's the daily grind you know filthy news from the streets of Ohio they might have less credibility than the Associated Press. You are always in the driver's seat anyway whether you choose to believe it or not. I could tell you something that was absolutely true and 100 people could verify it behind me if you don't want to believe it. You're only sitting in the driver's seat. But you choose to not believe it.

[00:11:22] What I wonder is how you keep your your opinions out. So if a celebrity is telling you straight to your face. Oh I love kids and I do this and that and you know for a fact that they're just full of it.

[00:11:36] That is a fact and he's been he's been accused of child abuse and has served time for it. I'm going to put that in the story because it's always about the listener and the reader.

[00:11:48] Well what. Well we're seeing a lot of things as people were conveniently omitting things that don't support their agenda rather than reporting both sides.

[00:11:59] Even the Bible is open to interpretation. You take the best and you leave the rest. If it doesn't resonate in you I could stand on my head and spit wooden nickels. You don't you're not going to believe me.

[00:12:11] Well what I'm saying is is the hard news source is supposed to give you both sides of the story and not omit things.

[00:12:18] Well that's why you have to go with a credible source like the Associated Press or Reuters or the independent or ABC News or you know you have to go with something someone that's credible.

[00:12:29] And also if they do make a mistake they have to publish it. They have to make it public. Like if you read the New York Times if you open up the the the newspaper itself on the left hand side there is a column that says what we screwed up on yesterday. We said the person's wrong age. We said the wrong place he worked for because he doesn't work there anymore. We said he was from San Francisco and he's from Los Angeles. Yeah they have a whole column.

[00:13:03] But it seems like they kind of bury the mistakes. They're not going to get as much in people checking them out then the original story that was giant on the front page.

[00:13:14] Listen. Transparency is transparency and Page two is page two.

[00:13:21] All right. So let's go back then you were to something else besides the traffic Tootsie and what was the traffic tootsie.

[00:13:28] Well I was something else before that it was Greta Le Gumbo a German dominatrix. This was on all on radio. It was my first real job on radio in Los Angeles. It was a character called Greta le gumbo. I was doing standup and improv comedy at the Comedy Store. I've been doing it for years and that she was one of my characters and I was listening to this program and she was perfect for him. So I had a couple of shots of Tequila and I called him up and I actually got right into the air studio and I said hello this is Greta le gumbo. And I feel listening to your program and your young gnocchi is a really really naughty naughty boy. You need some good spanking. And so they put me on the air so I was with him for about 10 minutes and when they came back they said Who are you and can you come back next week. Can you call in next week. I said Yeah. So did that show for two years. And then I got a real job where they actually paid me on a station called KWest That first one was K Rock went to KWest And. They said we we like you but what can you do. And I said well I can't do sports and you already have somebody doing news I could do you know I could do traffic because he liked the I. He liked the idea of me and what I could bring to it. So I said Well let me come back and pitch you properly. And I came up with the traffic tootsie. It was basically me and I came up with this whole idea of these car sounds and everything and he said I love it like I would say a two car combo did the mambo on that one of one. And the five is down and out. So I did that for another two years. That was in the 57 Chevy. On the streets with the car sounds and then from there I went to KLOS which is owned by ABC which is how I got to work for ABC. I worked for the network and the locally owned and operated station. And I did that for about 20 years.

[00:15:43] So I talked KLOS into letting me they would do all this promo and advertising and all these big shows that were coming like U2 and Springsteen and Aerosmith and all these shows and I said you know you're like a bad date. You spend all this money on promoting these shows and then five o'clock on Friday when the show is on you're gone send me in let me in. I'll arrange to interview the band beforehand. I'll get the set list and let me come on three times in the evening three or four times in the evening and give people updates for the people who didn't get to go because they got sold out. And also what sometimes what they do is production kills so 200 seats will suddenly become available. So I would be able to impart that information so people could show up And I did that for about 20 years.

[00:16:35] What's it called production kills What does that mean.

[00:16:39] Well if production kills means like once they finally get the stage set they realize some of the seats that they were blocking out because it wouldn't have worked with all the equipment suddenly become available. And typically they're good seats sometimes they're behind the performer but you know they'll be on the sides but you still get to go. And so if if at 5:00 they say they've just released 200 tickets . You still can go. And I've had people throughout the years tell me that they went and saw shows. Because they found out that there were production kills and they could actually get in and see the show.

[00:17:23] What a fun job you have. So let's take it back before you got any of this on air stuff. Did you ever have any regular jobs.

[00:17:32] Oh yeah I folded the jeans and jeans stores I worked in record stores I worked in restaurants I was a terrible terrible bartender. The worst but I was really good at food because I would stand there and say OK. Taste it if you don't like it I'll take it back. But you have to love it. So I did very well as a waitress and then I owned my own business in Beverly Hills it was called two gray Hills and we brokered Native American jewelry and artifacts. It's a physical store. What it was was it was a store inside of a store. This guy had a big huge store and what he did was he found 10 entrepreneurs that he really liked that he knew they couldn't afford Rodeo Drive. That what they what they were selling would harmonized with what he was selling which was saddles and jeans and Western wear. And so I had a booth from him.

[00:18:41] That's a great idea. That's for the folks listening. So that's a great idea for people who can't really want to do something physical. You know I always push online stuff now because the risk is so low and you don't have to show up every day to a certain time. But but yeah. So you could pitch an idea to have a piece of somebody else's store and get started in your business.

[00:19:03] Yeah precisely. I mean you have to have your business license you can have your tax license you have to have insurance and so on and so forth. And of course you have to show up. But for me it was great. I loved it. Like three years on Rodeo Drive at that time. Are you kidding me. Well we moved around a couple of times and then I just went back to waitressing for a while. Oh I was. That's when I went to the Comedy Store and was doing improv and stand up. I auditioned for a lot of TV and I did voice overs.

[00:19:43] Okay so. So it wasn't really a clear cut. Hey I'm stopping working for a living and I'm going to go do my entrepreneurial stuff. There was seems like a lot of crossover there right. We still waitressing and doing some of this other stuff.

[00:19:56] Well when I was going to radio school I waitressed so I can pay my rent but of course in those days my rent was one hundred fifty dollars a month. Not twenty two hundred. You know I mean and with a roommate it was even better. L.A. was very very affordable and it shifted and became a crazy land In a very short period of time.

[00:20:25] Yeah. People were like exiting California generally because of the rising cost. Is that affecting you a lot.

[00:20:35] It's an exodus I get it. California is so expensive our sales tax is almost 10 percent nine point five. In the city of Los Angeles.

[00:20:46] And then all we hear from the East Coast is hey the whole state is burning up or something. Those fires everywhere all the time and does any of that ever affect you.

[00:20:54] Well we have a season. No. First of all is a fire station and a police station right around the corner So I always wave at them when they when you know when they come screaming Bye.

[00:21:07] So they recognize you. If you're trying to run for cover.

[00:21:10] Yeah. Give them the peace sign. Yeah yeah yeah.

[00:21:16] So what do you give us some tips on interviewing the stuff you're doing now and what people should know and why it's important to really get that skill.

[00:21:25] Well here's the thing. You could have the greatest product service business whatever it is you're doing. But if you can't tell it you can't sell it. And let's face it everyone at any time is always selling something whether you're selling yourself or your product your career or your grandmother's car. You know do you want to rent this booth in my store. And do you have to be able to. Take what it is and feed it to the person that you're trying to sell. Otherwise you're going to overwhelm them. So it has to become sort of an OK orchestrated conversation. Now it's a little bit different when you're doing TV and radio because they have their own language and their own language is called sound bites and talking points and that's how they map out what it is that they do. So a sound bite is a brief and outstanding mini version of who you are and what you're selling sort of like when I just said you got to tell it to sell it. So I have to peak your curiosity to the point where your driving the conversation not me. But really I have set you up. To drive the conversation. For example I call myself the celebritizer. Now if I'm speaking at a Tom Antion event and you come up to me and it says celebritizer are on my badge you're either going to say one or two things to me and you have to remember celebritizer's a made up word. So you're either going to say oh that's interesting. Can you celebritize me. Or what is a celebritizer. OK. Hopefully it's you're going to say what's a celebritizer. So I would say I celebritize fans of Tom Antion because now we're making it about them. Now if I'm at and if I'm speaking in an event for authors and you walk up to me and say what's a celebritizer I say I'm so glad you asked. I celebritize authors and they go I'm an author can you celebritize me. Of course I can. Tell me a little bit about yourself and you as a salesperson know I'm in like flint now in about four seconds. It's all about the conversation.

[00:23:53] Yeah as long as you don't say nah. I'm looking at you it doesn't look like you could make it.

[00:23:58] Yeah I can guarantee I'm gonna say that. Because maybe I can't sell them. And what am I selling them on. I'm selling them on the next step. I'm selling them on Letting me give them my card. I'm selling them on the idea that I'd like to give them something for free which is my thirty five interview tactics where you can get it online.

[00:24:27] What'd you say you had a freebie for them.

[00:24:32] Yeah I'll send it to anybody who's listening. So don't worry about it. It's 35 interview tactics for surviving the media without getting clobbered. So it's you know relax enjoy. You get to be the star of the me show starring me or in this case you.

[00:24:48] How many people do you think you've interviewed over the years.

[00:24:52] About fifteen or sixteen thousand. The biggest celebrities and newsmakers. Yeah I have I just talked to Ricki Lake yesterday. She just won on that Fox show called unmasked singer.

[00:25:06] I'm sure even in the celebrity status you probably are thinking wow they suck on interviews they could use my help. Just because they're a celebrity doesn't mean they're really good at this.

[00:25:16] Well that was the reason why I wrote the book in the first place. I mean I like I said I had. I've interviewed people who have been involved in amazing projects but they were so unprepared. And let's face it when I was working for ABC News because that was the height of when I was working a lot. I still work a lot but it's the everything is very different now. I had to do everything myself. By the time you came to talk to a network correspondent I have four interviews before you today. I've got three more after you. You better tell me something pretty tasty for me to push you to the front and tell your story that day. unless it's breaking news. Yeah. And so if you can talk to me in a language that I can just press play. In other words take it out of your mouth and start right up with that. I'm ready to go go. I'm ready to rock and roll. Because you just made my job a hell of a lot easier.

[00:26:19] The people on here have to think in terms of how to make it easy for you to pick them. Is that fair.

[00:26:26] And the way to make it easy for me is to know what I do. In other words we Google you know people that we're going to date. And that could be a dud. Right. But if I'm a network correspondent and I'm going to interview you and your stuff's going to get out I guarantee you it's not a dud. So find out about me if I'm a huge Laker fan read the paper or get online read how the Lakers did yesterday and be sure and push that into your conversation. I'm going to love you forever. I may not remember your name or what we talked about But it's like go purple and gold. Yay.

[00:27:09] So anything really crazy or bizarre happened when doing all these interviews.

[00:27:14] I know where all the bodies are buried but if I tell you I have to kill you. Well I mean the craziest thing was just trying to be a woman. A woman in broadcasting when I was doing it because you know in the 80s and 90s the things I had to do short of working for free. None of them were illegal. None of them. I sold my soul. You know I'm I'm a pretty on the upside kind of girl so I'm pretty hard to get around. I mean if you don't like me it's none of my business. I'm going to work anyway. I really don't care. I really don't. I really really don't. If you have a problem with me it's your problem with me. I'm more than happy to talk about it. I'll tell you. You just mentioned this. I would. I went to Berlin Germany when the wall came down. I had done a series of pieces for ABC on on rock music there and it was interesting to see what the East Germans were buying now that they could get across into West Berlin and actually buy music. So what was the face of of these hungry music fans from from East Berlin. It's called heavy metal. They sold out of all heavy metal. Anyway while I was there the wall was coming down and I brought back several pieces of it. Back. And I still have them. In the amount of time I worked at that radio station I had 13 different program directors which is insane. I have to tell you. And I also have to tell you that not a lot of a lot. They were all men.

[00:28:58] Some of them got who I was immediately because they had sisters or their wife was very hip and they got it and they loved the idea of working with me because some really no drama I'm a no drama mama. Just give me what I want and it's all gonna work out. But a lot of them just felt that women should be barefoot and pregnant they shouldn't even be you know working taking a job away from a man. And so you really have to crouch down and try and fit into their space.

[00:29:29] Things have changed around because the reason very honest way to reach one of the reasons I don't go to California much anymore because now everybody wants to sleep with me. This is hard. It's very traumatic really. I'm cheap and I'm not easy. So tell people how they could work with you or the stuff you have available you got books and you have training programs what do you got.

[00:30:07] Well first of all I have to tell you one thing about media coaching and and I don't know how many people that are listening to this have ever even thought about this before so. So it really doesn't matter if you've thought about it already you already know this. If you haven't thought about this already then you need to know it. When it comes to media coaching no one size fits all ever. It's personal. It's you. You're basically selling yourself. That's why I don't have an online course. I have a book and I have a five part workbook in the back of the book that teaches you how to find your story. Even if you find your story. You need a coach just like you couldn't do an online coach to play football because you always play.

[00:30:58] Doing interviews as a two person sport. OK so all of my media coaching is all customized to what the person is doing. If they're just looking to do local radio and podcasts or maybe host a podcast that's completely different than working with the star of Gotham and they're about to go on a press tour. What I teach is exactly the same. It comes from the same pot but it's at and the tenants of it are exactly the same. Be authentic be who you are speak in sound bites know what your story is. Bring your energy bring your A game. But at the end of the day there's certain things you don't need to know. And when you do need to know you do need to know where to where to go to find out. But typically it's usually just one part of the pie at a time. It's in you can't you can't teach someone. Media coaching 360. It's what are you doing right now and what do you want to be doing for the next six months.

[00:32:08] Can you do it remotely like with Skype or zoom or something because you need to see them. Right. Because especially if they're doing TV. It's a visual medium.

[00:32:18] Absolutely as a matter of fact when I do them on Skype I have them dress for success. And also when I meet them I have them dress for success because it really puts a wiggle in your swagger. It really changes you. You've got to show up to work in work clothes. Now if you're somebody who goes and takes meetings you know in a Hawaiian shirt. Let me help you pick out what I think is the best Hawaiian shirt.

[00:32:49] Yeah. We have to you have to be you. Because I mean with me with some custom tailored English suit would just be ridiculous it's not me.

[00:32:58] You totally have to be you. I mean if you're a rapper you're not going to wear a Brooks Brothers suit into a meaning you might if your company's going public but in the studio that's not gonna work for you. It doesn't make sense. So you have to be logical at the same time also.

[00:33:20] All right so how did they get in touch with you. We'll put in the show notes.

[00:33:24] They can e-mail me Gayl@GaylMurphy.com and let me tell you something. When you're telling your story to one person it's no different than when you're telling it to a million. So if you're listening to this and you're thinking well you know why I'm still doing my business on my kitchen table in the most I'm talking to other people is at networking events you are perfect because there you get to try out every single thing you've learned for free. So when somebody walks up to you and says So what do you do. That's the same thing they say to you on the Today show. So tell us about yourself. It's the same thing. And that's the greatest question anyone can ask you is so tell me about yourself because you get to decide in that moment where the story begins and ends. So depending upon your environment let's just say you're an actor. And I work with a lot of actors. Let's just say you're an actor and you're auditioning for a movie and you're a woman and you're auditioning about a movie about the first bronco riding woman. Let's just say and let's just say by coincidence you happen to be from Montana And you happen to have done this as a kid in 4H. If they say Tell me about yourself and you don't bring that up I will come over to your house and beat you with a cucumber because they want it because all they know about you is what you tell them So your job is you have to resonate with that person as much as you possibly can. You know why. Because it's showtime. It's showtime babe. So get get the lead out of your pants. It is showtime. Up your game. Be who you are your chance to shine but you have to. You have to figure out a way to connect with them in the shortest amount of time. Now if you're in a networking event it's a beautiful thing because the majority of the people there are all there for the same reason. So you already have a lot of information about them to begin with. So if I'm there and it's just guess what. And if it's a small business event. I Celebritize small businesses. I'm already in your house now.

[00:35:59] You're amazing. You know you said it's show time. Well it's sponsor time so we're gonna to take a break for our sponsor and then when we come back we're gonna tell the traffic Tootsie and Greta le Gumbo. We're going to ask her what a typical day looks like for her. And I'm afraid to hear what that's like in L.A. and how she stays motivated. So we'll be right back after I tell you about the Internet marketing training center of Virginia. I mean did you ever wonder how tens of thousands of people like me sit home and earn legitimate money and don't have to listen to a boss or get up and fight traffic every day and we don't have the traffic tootsie telling us where the traffic is and isn't we just got to make it on our own. Well no I'm just going to make these figures up but in the time you spent commuting to a job you could have raised three families become a professional figure skater and walk the Appalachian Trail seven times. You want to learn how guys like me have time to think up stupid statistics like that. Well it's because we have online businesses and you'll learn how to have an online business to get a high paying job at the only license dedicated distance learning school in the country. Probably the world the Internet marketing training center of Virginia. So check it out at IMTCVA.org and it will also be in the show notes and keep in mind just because it's in Virginia it's distance learning so you can be anywhere in the world and take the classes.

[00:37:38] All right. Let's get back to our main event. Gayl Murphy.

[00:37:41] Yes. Let's make it about me.

[00:37:42] Yes. It has to be about you for sure. Yeah but it also is about me that you took me through a cool party one time. John Travolta was like six feet from me and the guy from Microsoft. And my favorite part of it is we almost got in a fight with Fran Drescher. You remember that.

[00:38:01] You were telling me hold my jacket. I'm jumping into this.

[00:38:07] So everybody's trying to watch this band that this I don't know was after I forget what movie party it was the movie fire stuff love fire stuff. Yeah. Yeah. And then there was the band. There is after party with the cast and everybody. Fran Drescher. I think either somebody got in front of her and couldn't see. I thought I was going to be in the middle of a brawl in Hollywood.

[00:38:34] Just a typical night Tom.

[00:38:38] For you For you not us country bumpkins.

[00:38:43] If you're listening to this program don't believe him. He is wild. He's wild. He's a party animal. He was like took off his shirt. He was dancing with Travolta. No kidding.

[00:38:57] Oh you got to be careful talking about that. So tell us what a typical day looks like for you.

[00:39:06] Well you know it's very different than it was years ago because now I can. I work with BBC and Sky when ABC got bought by Disney. I really didn't want to go to work for Disney and I had been ABC had a pre-existing content deal with the BBC so I started working with them. So I cover lots of events but I do them over Skype now and like I'll be covering the Grammys this weekend. So I'll do that either on Skype visually or or radio because BBC does Radio and TV. And so that's that's kind of how I do it.

[00:39:47] But you're an independent contractor right.

[00:39:49] I have my own company.

[00:39:50] You have your own company and you're paid as a contractor.

[00:39:54] Yes I am paid as a contractor. Yeah and I'm a proud union person. Card carrying SAG AFTRA.

[00:40:07] I am too. So I get all the movies in the mail ahead of time.

[00:40:16] I'm a founding member of the broadcast film critics would is the critics choice awards two weeks ago. And that was that was pretty great being there. I didn't report on it because I was too busy just having fun and running around and saying hi to my friends.

[00:40:33] But let's say it's big events in town. The Emmys or the whatever else they got the Golden Globes so what happens to you in the morning you get up and do what.

[00:40:43] Well like everybody else I check my email see who's is looking who's looking for me. See what's going on. Like the Grammys are Sunday. So I you know the people that I work with are so busy I have to remind them And I'd rather know in advance if they need me or not. I work with them a lot. So I just send him an email saying you know the Grammys are this weekend please let me know if you're interested in coverage because this what otherwise I don't want to have to say no to anybody because they all want the same time which is the breakfast shows for the following morning and if if as you know doing radio if somebody goes a little bit late it affects all the other stations after that. And one of the things that I had decided that worked actually well having covered Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of these shows and that is people like to hear about stuff that they already know about. So it doesn't make sense for me as someone who's producing me as a product. I want to talk about what we all know. So typically what I do is we cover the broadcast itself and then of course I end the commentary to it because for the majority of these things I have history with a lot of these people. Or I've done the press junket for the movie. So and I've seen the movie when nobody else has. And also because I cover the entertainment industry as a business I can talk about the disruption of how movies are pushed out. Either. Streaming or what's going on with movie theaters and cable and all that. So it becomes like a three sixty 60 package. And it really kind of works for us.

[00:42:37] But what is that day look like. I mean you get up and go there spend the day talking to people. How does it work.

[00:42:47] Right now I have a day off I'm in the middle of the television. Television Critics Association press tour so all the networks it is a two week press tour. So every day each network has a different day and what they do it's a series of about eight to 10 press conferences every day. And we get to interview all the celebrities while we're there and talk about the shows.

[00:43:12] This is a stand up where they walk by or you sit down with them or what.

[00:43:18] You sit down there's about 200 people two hundred broadcasters and TV writers from all over the country.

[00:43:26] So don't the celebrities do they have to do like the same interview over and over and over again and they get kind of burnout.

[00:43:32] They do the way in which they set it up is they have a press conference so that the room gets it and they're not. That is all transcribed And then from the time the press conference is over. Fast forward 20 minutes that 20 minutes is what they call scrums. So everyone that's sitting anyone that's sitting in the audience that wants to follow up. They have these little. Groups of people surrounding the different people that were just in the press conference asking follow up questions because you don't get follow up.

[00:44:07] Does it get kinda chaotic.

[00:44:09] No it's not because it's like OK it's like a orchestrated chaos because we all know each other. So it's very very civilized.

[00:44:17] Oh yeah. Because though we see lately on TV is everybody screaming at each other and fight.

[00:44:23] All that stuff is all orchestrated. And the reason why they're yelling is because they're not miked. That's the only reason why they're yelling.

[00:44:32] There is one pet peeve I have about every press conference on the face of the earth. You would think like let's say there's a shooting a school shooting and then a couple hours later the police show up and there's 500 microphones. Like I don't know duct tape together in front of their face. Couldn't somebody in this day and age put a mike in the crowd somewhere so you can hear the question. I mean well you know that would be kind of simple.

[00:45:00] Well that's a very sort of Cadillac kind of thing you did. You know most of those people are not that but they can't do it. You can't certainly because you have to understand a lot of those press people are sitting on the ground and those kind of emergency sort of situations.

[00:45:17] One guy with the boom could cover 50 different people sitting on the ground.

[00:45:22] Well that's too much to ask for Tom. That's too much to ask for and is certainly in the case of the president right now. He's doing it with a helicopter in the background. Let's see all that is orchestrated for your entertainment. Because he could do that at the front door.

[00:45:44] Yeah that's true. But I'm just saying that the guy at the shooting and then they're sitting there waiting for the police to come out for 20 minutes and then nobody thought to mic the audience out.

[00:45:56] They just don't do it. They'll do that they'll do it at TCA because they're creating a transcript. So they have to have all the Q as well as the A.

[00:46:11] Yeah. I mean it's just seems from The if somebody if some executive had the brains enough to just sit in the in their living room and wonder what the heck is going on because you can't hear the question and then the untrained policemen just starts talking.

[00:46:27] How about we make it really really easy and somebody says just prior to before they're coming out you just say the people that are asking you questions their questions will never be heard on air. So when they ask you the question. Repeat what the question was and answer.

[00:46:50] Absolutely that's what we do all the time and speaking when the big crowd somebody yells something out and then I repeat it.

[00:46:56] But see they're not media savvy Tom.

[00:47:00] That's why they need you.

[00:47:01] It's one of the things I teach.

[00:47:03] Exactly yeah. They need you even more than ever.

[00:47:06] So that one of things that I teach because I can't leave anything on the table you want to eat everything you want to just just be just like like a crazy Beaver and eat everything there is that go crazy. You just kind of go crazy. Does it have your name on it. Take it anything that's going to help you get your message out. Even better. And especially visually we were talking earlier about some of my clients I worked with the buck Institute up in Marin County in San Francisco and they were being interviewed by the BBC on the work that they were doing. And so I met all the scientists they were pretty young a lot of them were graduate students. It was really great. And then out walks this guy who looks like he just stepped out of back to the future. He's like in his 50s and he's wearing a grateful dead tie dyed lab coat. Now I told him if you ever Ever get interviewed I don't even care if it's a radio and there's no visual. You always have to wear that coat.

[00:48:17] Absolutely because it completely brands him. It reminds me of that guy that were were question marks all over his suit.

[00:48:23] Yeah. He's a crazy guy. So what parting thoughts do you have for screwballs. This has been more of an exciting celebrity insider kind of interview but from the business standpoint they've got to be great on interviewing because it could really totally transform your career.

[00:48:46] If you can't tell it you can't sell it. Listen telling the world about who you are and what you do you live and die by what you say. But if you can't tell it who can't sell who who's going to sell if you can't do it who can and who will. But why would you want them to. That's right only you know about that rocky road to success. I'm speaking to musicians and songwriters at L.A. College of Music next month. And then on the 13th of this month I'll be explaining how to survive how to get the media to fall in love with you At the book publishers of Southern California. I'm actually doing a freebie right now for Mr. Tom Antion. I just launched my Gayl Murphy Web site and anyone that's listening that that cuts it. Anyone that's listening to this because I want to know you as much as you want something for free I want you to e-mail me and I am thrilled to send you thirty five killer interview tactics for surviving the media without getting clobbered.

[00:49:58] You can e-mail me which I would love because I never clean out my my mailbox so it'll be there in 2035 or you can call me 323-417-5172. Operators are standing by.

[00:50:26] All that is gonna be in the show notes in case you miss it. And you can get the show notes on our app also and be able to get in touch with Gayl like pronto unless she's busy hobnobbing with all the celebrities that she's been around longer than most of them.

[00:50:43] And if that happens, I'll have my people call your people and we'll do lunch. That's the kiss of death.

[00:50:51] Gayl it's so good catching up with you kiddo and I'll see you next time I'm out your way. But there you just got to keep the women from chasing me around. If you can.

[00:51:04] Ok you are so nineteen seventy five Tom.

[00:51:07] I mean I know there's enough of me to go around but it's just you know it's just taxing to to have to put up with all those socialites and everything.

[00:51:17] Take a nap you know get some B12 shots they're terrific and just get out there and let people dine on you.

[00:51:29] Well that's an interesting way to put it. So. So anyway thanks for coming on and everybody grab all the stuff and get hey if you're really serious about this this she's the bomb to teach you how to really be great on a one on one basis to Interview. So take advantage of that next episode is ninety one that's oh it's really exciting compared to this topic how do you get spectacular business graphics for your Web site brochures and book covers are boring compared to the traffic tootsie.

[00:52:03] So yeah you know what I just thought is what's up so I'm having such a good time with you. I will give anyone who calls me in the next two weeks.

[00:52:16] Be careful because you don't know when this is going to air. Exactly. All right. So two weeks from when it airs maybe.

[00:52:21] How about two weeks from when it airs a 30 minute interview tactics for twenty nine dollars and ninety nine cents.

[00:52:30] Look at that folks. That's hundreds and hundreds of dollars of value. Amazing amazing amazing. So we'll put all of that in the show notes and you want get a hold of her. All of this stuff will be there. And I love her to death. I have for many many years and she is. She's the real deal. There's anything in Hollywood real it's Gayl Murphy. And we'll catch you all on the next episode.

Join my distance learning school: https://www.IMTCVA.org
OR
Join the mentor program PLUS get a FREE Scholarship to the School: https://www.GreatInternetMarketingTraining.com