Cerebro Power

Do you ever notice that some people in the public eye give numerous interviews but still seem to always trip over their own tongue, fumble their words and use “um”, “ah” and “like” a lot?

On the other hand you will also see people in the entertainment industry who give clear, concise interviews and always seem to be right on point. It’s almost like the people who excel at interviews have been coached?

Well I’m telling you right now that from my experience most of the people who give great interviews have had some coaching or training in how to do just that!

When your in the Entertainment industry perception is everything! You don’t want to come off as a mumble mouth or people might not take you (or your client) seriously.

That is why in today’s interview I am talking to media coach David Mitchell of DAM Media Group. He is also the producer of Amalgamation Magazine, a industry quarterly magazine.

David helps people prepare for their interviews with the media (television, radio, online, etc.). That can include helping an artist, an actor, or an entertainment executive.

He is going to give us some good tips on how to prepare for interviews, what you should say…and probably more importantly what you should not say.

So lets get right to it. Here is the video of our chat with the full text underneath.

Richard

David, welcome to LawyersRock.com.  Lets jump right in. What does a media coach do?

David

Typically I get hired by publicists from the labels, managers, or attorneys. They usually call me in to assist their artist with interview preparation.

Whatever type of media, whether it is an interview for radio or TV or pre-interview or an online interview, I try to help them define their talking points, to get their message out, and to basically streamline that message within so many seconds or so many minutes; and to discuss their new album, film or some particular project that they are out there promoting at the time.

Richard

It sounds like you should be in high demand.  How you did you get your start?

David

Well, I actually question whether it is a high in demand career.  I don’t get nearly enough customers, and even some of my mentors don’t get nearly the amount of clients that they used to get.

I think at this stage of social media, people are trying to, I guess you can call it, “keeping it real”, they don’t want to get their artist too polished.  They don’t put in their budgets the type of development that they need.

I got into this, and I’ve been working for, Urban Network for 16 years and then I published my own magazine for the last 5 years.  I’ve done well over a thousand interviews, and I can really see the good interviews from the bad interviews. I thought, “hey I think I can come in here and help a few artists and maybe even some executives” and so I made a few calls to my contacts, and people are happy with the results.

Richard

And that is a perfect lead into my next question.  What are some common mistakes you see the artists making in interviews?

David

Wow! Common mistakes, I guess it depends on the artist.  Some artists tend to ramble.  You also get those artists that get those filler words, like “uh uh” and “you know what I’m saying”, and “like and like”, or the over gesture, or they don’t filter themselves during the interview, or they just lose track of their talking points.

Those are big things that we really try to concentrate, and narrow in on, when I am working with the artist.

Richard

What if you are in an interview and you get that “gotcha” question, or you just don’t want to talk about something?  What is a good way to address that?

David

Well one of the things I try to reinforce during my coaching is always be in the moment.  I know that is very Oprahesque, but listen closely to the questions that are being asked to you.

Try not to allow your mind to drift and when you do get those questions that you are asked that maybe you are uncomfortable with or that are not part of, lets say the agenda that was given prior to the interviewer by your publicist, I try to teach artists how to pivot, you know there are those pivot answers that you can give; that can kind of get you out of those uncomfortable questions.

Also remember why you are there in the first place, what is it that you are initially selling, I mean to discuss my album, film project or  next week’s game. Those are the things that we want to focus on, and I think that there are subtle ways in which you can pivot out of those uncomfortable questions or awkward moments. I teach artists how to do that.

Richard

It sounds like preparation is important.  What are some tips you can share with the audience that would help them prepare for an interview?

David

Well, I always tell artists you know, when that interview is being scheduled for you, ask your publicist or your manager, who am I speaking with, what kind of interview, is it a television interview, because that is going to be treated differently that if it were an online interview or a radio interview where you may spend you know 20 minutes on the phone talking to an audience, or you may spend 20 minutes in the actual studio talking to an audience and it becomes theater of the mind.

There are  just so many different facets to good interviewing and I really take this course that can last six to eight hours over 2 or sometimes 3 days depending on the attention span of the artist.

Richard

All great points David, thank you.  Well before you go, tell us a little bit more about yourself, how to get in contact with you, and how did you come up with that name “Amalgamation” for your magazine?

David

Well I chose a pricey word to name the magazine, amalgamation, meaning unification or blending many different elements and you can find me at amalgamationmag.com, it is a wonderful site, we ask people to come and visit us, I put out an actual printed magazine quarterly and this year I am partnering up with the Urban Network Digital to host a music conference, Back To Basics: The Music & Entertainment Summit 2014.

I was part of Urban Network for 16 years and we are bringing back the music entertainment so I am in.  It is going to be May 1st through the 4th at the Four Sheraton in San Diego, California.

Richard

Thank you David for the interview, very good information.

For more information on DAM Media Group and Amalgamation Magazine, follow this link.

What did you think of what David had to say? Do you think that we are headed towards a trend of people in the public eye “keeping it more real” and using media coaches less and less? Do you think the public prefers our celebrities unfiltered or does it open up a PR nightmare?

Look forward to your opinions, just add to the comment section below.

If you found value in this post I hope you will take a moment to share by clicking one of the social media buttons.

Cheers!

Hello everyone! I’m excited to post my first article of 2014, and launch my newly branded site.

Over the past year I focused primarily on Reality TV, but I wanted to expand to cover more areas of the Entertainment Industry since I also receive many questions about the music business, indie films, branding, and entrepreneurship. If you want to find out more about what we will be blogging about you can go here.

So on to today’s post! Today’s post is for all entrepreneurs because pretty much anyone in Entertainment who doesn’t work in-house at a studio, network, or label is a true entrepreneur.

I have put together the Top 5 Legal Tips Entrepreneurs Need To Succeed so that you can start the year off right.

I hope you found this information helpful, please subscribe to my newsletter and leave me a comment to let me know.

If you would like more details please see the following written post below.

All the best, Richard.

The Top 5 Legal Tips Entrepreneurs Need To Succeed

I have worked with hundreds of entrepreneurs over the years and many of the same issues pop up over and over again. The tough part is that if they had known what to look for at the very beginning when starting their company or project they could have avoided many of these issues.

In this blog post and video I am going to give you my top five legal steps that I think every entrepreneur should take while in the start up phase of the business. If you follow these 5 steps you will probably avoid many major pitfalls that I have seen over the years…and likely save a lot on legal and accounting fees.

All right, so here is the list. Let do this backwards like a countdown since it is the New Year, Number 5.

5.  Always Use Written Contracts (Avoid Oral Contracts)

 You are running a business, so don’t depend on an oral contract to protect your interests.  I know people say, “aww but an oral contract is enforceable”.  Yes, it is, but try to prove an oral contract in court! Trust me when I tell you that it’s very hard.

So, I don’t care if it is an email or pieces of paper, you need to get everything down in writing so you have a “meeting of the minds” documented and can’t be sabotaged by someone’s selective memory.

Think about it from the standpoint of what position you want to be in if there is ever a dispute. If it comes to that, it means you have a disagreement and probably two different sets of facts. If it is just your word against another person’s word, then there is a lot left up to chance. On the other hand, if there is a written contract that states what you two agreed on, it will be much easier for a third party to see where each of you are coming from.

Again, even if it is just an email between parties detailing what you both agreed to, that is better than nothing!

4.  Properly Categorize Workers (Independent Contractors Vs. Employees)

 Properly categorize your workers.  I know everybody wants to make everybody an independent contractor so they don’t have to pay taxes, but in reality if you have a contractor acting as an employee…then they are an EMPLOYEE. The law will come down on you hard if you miscategorize a worker, so it just makes sense to do it the right way from the start and avoid any problems.

I have seen a number of companies go out of business because they had miscategorized workers. The workers became disgruntled (with the help of an opportunistic attorney) and they won a Labor Board hearing, which classified the workers as employees and awarded missed meal time and overtime pay. If you have not been paying your workers properly, you will possibly also have to pay penalties, plus you are going to have to pay legal fees to defend against the law suit that you are probably going to lose.

Remember to keep this in mind with regards to interns as well. As Fox Search Light Pictures found out last year in an intern lawsuit that they lost in 2013, you have to be extremely careful about how you are using your interns. It is just not worth it to save a few bucks for the total devastation to your business that could possibly come later.

A very simple but inexpensive way you can help protect yourself from an employee lawsuit is by getting some really well written and comprehensive employee handbooks. If you have employee handbooks it does not necessarily mean an employee cannot bring a complaint against you but it is far less likely.

3.  Register Domain Names For Your Business (Names that Identify Your Business Brand)

 Register a few domain names that contain the name of your brand that you are trying to build.  There is nothing worse than building a brand and finding out that a cyber squatter has bought your name and plans to extort you for a large amount of money before he or she will turn it over.  Be proactive. Register and maintain those domain names early.

Most experts will advise entrepreneurs to not get ahead of themselves and spend to much money early on, but it becomes a cost/benefit analysis. Domain names are relatively inexpensive. You can register most available domain names for as low as $9.99 at places like GoDaddy.com

2.  Register Your Trademark

 A trademark is the legal basis of any brand, it basically is the logo or the name associated with the product or service you are offering. Registering your trademark protects you from having no recourse if someone uses a similar mark for the same product or service without your permission. Initially, protecting your brand may not be a big concern, but the point of all your work is to one day be successful and build a brand. When that happens then there will be people coming out of the woodwork trying to associate themselves with your brand.

For example, if you are a recording artist and are selling music, then your name would be in a certain class (likely Class 9 or 41) and you would register your trademark in that class. You don’t want to continuously do all that work to build your brand and have another artist come along and use a name that is similar to yours. You can’t stop people from doing bad things like this, but you can prepare your response if it does happen.

Also, note that there is a way that you can reserve your trademark while you are building your brand. That is a pretty smart way to start because initially you may not have the evidence needed to secure a trademark registration.

1.  Create an Entity

Drum roll please….The number one legal step I think you should consider when setting up a new business is to create an entity. That means forming a limited liability company (LLC) or incorporating (forming a corporation) for your business.

The main reason for this is that you want to keep things separate – ALWAYS keep your personal assets separate from your business assets!

Imagine someone sues you for a business matter and they end up winning a judgment against your business and you personally. They would be able to collect from your personal assets, like your bank accounts, home, car, etc. It’s one thing to lose business assets in a lawsuit, but its much more devastating if you lose personal assets. That could affect your personal and family life. You don’t want a judgment holder from a business lawsuit to be able to collect from your personal assets, and vice versa.

There are other valid reasons, like fundraising, worker issues, and tax benefits, but essentially the main reason why you setup an entity is to separate your personal and business lives.

So there you have it! If you would like a convenient PDF of my Top 5 Legal Tips For Entrepreneurs you can download that here.