EXCLUSIVE! (...sort of)
The world of "Exclusives" is tricky.
Many viewers believe that an exclusive only exists if you're the ONLY person who asked the question or the only place where they can find the info. Most producers believe any interview when you're one on one can be considered an exclusive.
But the reality of today's world is that everyone reports on everyone else's reporting so the whole idea of an "Exclusive" is completely muddled. And if you're not the only interview that person is doing that day, it's almost impossible to guarantee true exclusivity.
For example, I recently interviewed Joseph Fiennes at a press junket. During my research, a couple other producers and I noticed that he (a White British actor) was going to be portraying Michael Jackson soon. Alarm bells went off for all of us and we knew we had to ask!
But here's the thing about junkets, a celebrity could do anywhere from 5 to 50 interviews in a day. And this information was readily available on IMDB. But as far as we knew, no one had asked about it, so it was fair game and needed to be done.
The interview went well and Joseph had a thoughtful answer about taking the role, so - SUCCESS! Now it wasn't until a couple days later when the story really took off that we realized that my interview had real value, not just a random one-off question.
So that's why my interview with Joseph Fiennes is a "sort of exclusive", but exclusive enough that it counts!
See what he had to say below!
(And yes, it shocked me too that a white British man was playing an African-American...but hey, it's Hollywood)
