An interview is a medium to collect information directly or indirectly from a person.
Interviewing a celebrity is one of the most common interviews and read by the audience at very large level.
The way a interview is held, questions asked in interview can directly affect both the parties and in case of celebrities it become more important to ask right questions with right attitude.
Interview with celebrities becomes more important due to their fan following and demand.
Celebrity’s Interview:
Celebrities interviews are the most sought after interviews throughout the world, people wants to know more about their favorite celebrities but there is a thin line between asking a good question or a question which can lead to disaster and embarrassment.
Some time when asking a sensitive topic you should check the tone and attitude by which you are asking question. Generally bad publicity directly affects the brands and public relation.
Preparation Before Work:
Good homework before actual task is the key to success; prepare well before going for an interview as you never know which question is the good one to ask and which one is going to put down the mood of the person. Each interview is unique and always remember that.
1. Make Notes:
Making proper notes before interview is essential as it keeps you on the track and you can easily avoid any mistake at the last minute and can properly focus on the interview. Making notes also help at the later stage when you gather notes from the interview and use them for the further use.
2. Avoid last minute changes and update:
Do not change your format at the last minute because it cause you so much trouble and waste lot of precious time which can be used in doing something productive. Keep the track of all previous record; they may help you in your questioning time.
3. Proofread your notes:
Proofread your notes before you start interview so you can prevent any misunderstanding before it create big issues. Preparing well before interviewing a celebrity can assure you the success of interview. It also helps in rehearsing last minute details.
4. Prepare notes during interview:
It is important to keep track of conversation in form of notes, that way you don’t have to memorize entire conversation; you can easily skip the unimportant part. So prepare notes during interview very carefully because they sum up your all hard work on few pages and going to use as the record and also keep a voice recorder with you just in case you need it during interviews.
Asking the Right Question:
Asking a right celebrity interview questions in an interview is one of the most important parts of overall interview.
A right question has the ability to make an interview unlike a wrong question which can tick a celebrity off or can turn them sour for other questions, it may cause them to leave interview without completing which cause negative publicity for you and them as well.
So asking a right and good questions to ask celebrities at right time is the key point of a successful interview.
5. Dress up:
Dress properly and wisely for interview, this makes you look like a professional and make sure your outfit should fit you very well. Do not overdress or under dress and keep it within the level of decency.
Type of Question that should be asked:
When interviewing, it must be kept in mind that interview questions for celebrities asked during an interview should be directly related to him/her, there upcoming projects, interest etc. When asking a question less relevant to them or about social issues, then check the way you asked the question.
The interview questions to ask a celebrity which are related to any controversies save them for last and ask their permission before asking any such question.
Type of Question that should not be asked:
There is always some celebrities interview questions you should avoid asking to any celebrity or most likely avoid them asking on live programs or interviews.
Asking a wrong question is kind of a mistake which can cost a reporter to his/her job or public embarrassment for both parties.
Avoid any interview question for a celebrity which is too personal to ask on any public platform as every celebrity also has their personal life, so respect it.
Here are simple strategies to score a celebrity Interview:
1. Start small
2. Work your connections
3. Appeal to their interests
4. Be where they are
5. Persist
6. Use social media
7. Dig dirt
Different Set of Questions for Different Type of Celebrity:
A celebrity can come from any field and from any part of the world , we live in the time of globalization where there is lot of talent from different backgrounds like music, sports, film, TV talent, authors etc and there are specific set of questions that should be asked them while interviewing. The following are few good questions to ask famous people.
1. Questions for Musicians:
Interviewing a musician you should at least know some of their famous work and awards. Ask a question about their inspiration, why they want to be a musician, memorable moment while creating music, challenges they face in creating music and why a certain type of music etc.
Ask about the stories behind their music or any special dedication and can ask about the music created by others.
2. Questions for sport celebrity:
Interviewing a sport celebrity, you should start with the inspiration: who inspired them and support for this particular game. Then ask about training, workout, fitness, injuries and practice. You can ask about upcoming sport event and their preparation, their aim and goal for their career.
Ask question related to their interest in other sport or hobbies or their favorite part time game and what they thought about the future of the game.
3. Questions for Film Celebrity:
When you interview a person with filmy background then you can talk about their film: currently working on, completed, successful, flop, upcoming films, challenges faced during the film, their hard work and homework for particular role and their interest in any other role. Celebrity with filmy background is most talked about and people want to know about them more than anyone else.
4. Questions for Authors:
Ask a author what kind of work or book they are working on, which author inspired them to write their own and they choose to be a writer and why they choose this particular genre than other, difficulties in writing a book and challenges they face. You can further ask about their character in their books and thoughts behind creating them.
Set Some Ground Rule:
It is important to set some ground rules before interviewing. Give them choice to pass question if the person do not like or feel it is too personal, keep your ground and stand for your right, keep your tone firm and light and maintain friendly environment throughout entire process. Interviews generally affect the image of a celebrity, so keep that in mind while questioning.
Be Specific:
While questioning keep questions on the topic; when the celebrities interview is done, it often happen that interviewer indulge in questions which are less relevant to the topic and it sometimes create huge mess for interviewer. So keep that in mind while asking, the question should be on the point, direct and not for creating any controversies.
Avoid Controversial Topics:
Celebrities and controversies are the two parallel road that moves together; it is hard to avoid controversies as they follow the stardom so while questioning avoid them as best as you can. Being an interviewer it often happens that question related to controversial topics may set celebrity in sour mood and they avoid answering questions. Keep these kinds of topics for the end of discussion so that risk of losing interview can be low.
Make your interview Interesting:
People want to entertain and learn about the celebrities so make your interviews fun and keep them on a light mood. Serious interviews often lose their charm of attracting people and we are interviewing because people want to. Use different tactics and approaches to ask questions, add innovative ideas, ask different type of questions in form of a quiz etc. Make sure at the end of interview the required information is gathered as per the need.
Be Prepared:
Interviewing a celebrity is an opportunity no one want to lose so be prepared for all kind of challenges after all a celebrity is also a human being and anything can happen. Keep all the records and questionnaire up to date so that you can have all the information you need and use it as an opening to ask more question related to different issues.
Time:
Most celebrities are time bound; they hardly have time for public appearances or interviews so manage your time well and ready for the fluctuation in times. Sometime interviewer has to change their schedule as per demand by the celebrities. Timely completion of interview is also important as every minute is valuable and it can cost large amount of sum.
Use innovative Approach:
Innovative approach always have their benefits, you can make your users ask their question that way you will have more content to ask and it may give you a window to ask some questions which needed to be avoided most of the time. Just post updates before the interview start, that way more questions with different content can be asked and better answers can be reaped.
Live audience:
Live audience have a huge positive impact on the interview. It shows that people are interested in the interview and eager to know their favorite celebrity. It also gives a breather for both parties as the audience asks their own question and you have to prepare for less time and less notes and also can make your own notes for further use.
Impact:
Interviews with the celebrities have the huge impact on the common people. So many people follow them and idolize them as their role models. What celebrities do have is a great impact on people’s life in both positive and negative way, they have power over their hearts. Their actions can easily manipulate them for good as well as bad.
Conclusion:
The conclusion of this is that in celebrity interview it is important to ask right question without creating any fuss, misunderstanding or controversies. A right question asked in a right way can make the whole process more simple and easy to tackle. The person who is giving interview is also a human being who happens to be having a personal and private life and have great pressure on mind. They have to deal with public expectation as well as the performance.
Prepare well to work under the pressure and keep your calm and maintain your cool all the time, don’t hesitate to stand your ground and keep your voice firm and respectful.
Keep the record of all the question you going to ask and which flow question is going to follow, it should always be firm soft to funny to easy to difficult that way both parties can familiarize with each other and can be comfortable during tricky part.
Celebrities are like god (for some hard core fans) and there are many people who love them dearly and also there are people who hate them. There are also a category who just ignore them and their presence in our life but the fact is we acknowledge or not celebrities play great role in our life whether a superhero, villain, romantic sweetheart or musician, sportsperson , author etc.
So create a positive ambience and ask right question using soft and firm tone with interest shown in the eyes even if you can stand their site or have zero knowledge and interest in their work. No matter what, be a professional always and gives your best at any given situation or pressure.
