Masat01′s Guide to Interviews

Many people have asked me how I do what I do. I’ve decided to write this nifty little guide to help those who have the desire to do what I do.

NOTICE: IF YOU ARE PLANNING ON DOING THIS SOLEY FOR THE PURPOSE OF POPULARITY AND NOT OUT OF GENUINE INTEREST IN THE INTERVIEWEE, YOU WILL BE LOOKED AT AS AN ASSHOLE AND MANY PEOPLE WILL NOT GRANT YOU INTERVIEWS BECAUSE OF THIS.

Okay, so you’ve gotten this far. Well, the next couple of steps are to insure that you know what you are doing when it comes to this kind of thing.

Step 1: Do you have a genuine interest in the person you want to interview?

This is a vital part of the job simply because it’s a courtesy issue. Many people do not want to talk to bloggers and reporters simply because these bloggers/reporters are doing the interview simply for fame. It’s not only shallow and lame, but it’s rude and gives you a bad reputation.  Do you think I would have only 6 interviews if I were interviewing everyone I WANTED to interview? No, I’d have far more most likely. But, I only interview people I have the most genuine interest in and that is why I have only 6 (seven soon) interviews.

Step 2: Gathering Information

How many times have you gone to a test where you didn’t have all the information you needed to complete it, or you got the information mixed up with another class? Same idea applies to interviewing someone. If you’ve read my interview with Chris Patton, you’ll notice that I mixed him up with Crispin Freeman (they both have awesome hair!). This was because I neglected to double check my facts and make sure I knew what I was talking about. So, depending on who you are interviewing, you need to gather: resume, basic background info, and anything else you yourself deem to be important.

Step 3: Write down the interview before-hand

Exactly

Step 4: Get in contact with the person you’d like to interview

Okay, this, though it may sound simple, is the hardest part of the whole process. A lot of the time, it’s easy to find the contact address for contacts like Voice Actors. When you get to authors, it gets more difficult. Composers, more so. And actors…woah boy, you have to go through agents for that.

Okay, let us say you have multiple contact addresses for a person…in this example we’ll use Crispin Freeman. Crispin Freeman has 3 different means of contacting him: Twitter, Fanmail, and his agent. In this case, what I did first was carefully read his instructions on contacting him (they are all over the place on his site). It was kind of tough to choose between the three because when you see AGENT, you think “Oh crap, maybe I should ask them first!” But, if you ever see FANMAIL, always try that one first. If that doesn’t work (you should wait a week for a reply), then you go to the next best thing (Twitter, in this case). If that doesn’t work, it’s time to contact the agent.

Alright, making the request isn’t too difficult, but it isn’t something you can half-ass like a High School paper, either. You need to be polite, I mean really really polite. You need to act as if this person is your boss and you’re asking for a raise. Keep it simple, but not too simple. Tell them your name, why you want to interview them, how you would conduct the interview, and be polite. Wait at least a week for a response and then, if none is given, check out the other forms of contact.

 

If you got this far, then you’ve gotten the YES or NO. If YES, then go ahead and send them the questions AFTER LOOKING THEM OVER FOR GRAMMAR AND SPELLING AND CORRECT INFO.

Once you get the interview answered, tell them thank you and give them the link to wherever you plan on posting the interview.

 

INFORMATION ON TELE-INTERVIEWS TO COME SOON