Behind The Scenes At View From The Bay – Part 2

Here’s part 2 of my interview with Zuzy Martin Lynch of Cooking For The Clueless.  She gives us the behind the scenes scoop about her experience as a guest on View From The Bay.

Duration:  5:39

Questions

1.  Did you provide them with sample questions ahead of time?

2.  Did you do your own makeup or did they have a makeup crew there?

3.  Did you bring a couple different outfits along?

4.  Did they ask you any questions that you weren’t prepared for?

5.  Give us the scoop on the Tasty Award you won for the DVD “Cooking For The Clueless”

Hot Links

Behind The Scenes at View From The Bay – Part 1

Zuzy’s segment on View From The Bay

Cooking For The Clueless    Website and  Fan Page

Online Makeup Lesson By Kimberly Taylor of Trish McEvoy

On-Camera and Media Training – we’ve got you covered!

Production

Location:  Zuzy called in on ichat from sunny Florida while I was in the cold, dark rain of SF!

Cameras:  Zuzy and I both used our Mac built in iSight cameras.

Mics:  Zuzy used the built in mac microphone, I had a lav mic on that plugged directly into the mic connector on the mac.

Lighting:  Zuzy was in Florida and had nice ambient lighting.  I used additional spot and fill lights.

Editing: imovie

Interview Date:  January 21 2010 on ichat from Florida to San Francisco

Produced By:  Jenn Flaa

Music By:  Francois Didier Bouvet, You can purchase the song Sir Oliver on itunes.

About Zuzy Martin Lynch

Zuzy became obsessed with good food and restaurants at an early age. She grew up eatinggrandma’s home-cooked food while her single mom was out working all the time.

Trying to spoil her, grandma never let her in the kitchen. As for mom, cooking was something she just “didn’t do.” Couple that with living near NYC, it’s no surprise that restaurants soon became an obsession.

Cooking, however, became more and more a distant concept – until she hit her thirties and eating out every night became a norm that lost its luster and felt too expensive a habit to keep. Today, she’s on a mission to admit she was clueless, ask all the questions and start to slowly help her generation get cooking.

Transcript

Jenn:   I’m here on iChat with Zuzy Martin Lynch, the founder of Cooking for the Clueless.  Zuzy was recently on View From the Bay.  So, did you provide them with sample questions ahead of time, or did they just totally wing it?

Zuzy:   What I did was, I provided them with the recipe and all the ingredients, which we went over during the segment, and then I put my top six points, six points that I wanted to get across; three regarding Cooking for the Clueless, which is my DVD that we just launched that I went on there to promote, and three regarding the actual recipe itself.  So my goal was to actually teach some of the clueless people out there some tips, so I kept them very brief.  Again, three tips about being clueless and getting into the kitchen, and three tips about the actual recipe, and I think I got five of them in there.

Jenn:   So it sounds like you did your own makeup.  Did they have a makeup crew there?

Zuzy:   I did do my own makeup.  So what I did was, I know makeup is very, very important when you’re on camera, so the day before I went to Saks Fifth Ave and I went to the Trish McEvoy counter, and they gave me a beautiful makeover and gave me some tips, and I bought some great makeup.  So the most important thing, from what I understand is foundation, because when the lights get on you, you don’t want to appear like you’re sweaty or blotchy, so that’s the most important thing.  So I took my fresh tips from Trish McEvoy and I used my newly bought foundation and I bought blush that looked really nice on camera; and I probably would not have chosen this color unless they put it on me, so it was really nice.  So I used this and pretty much recreated.  And then another tip on the makeup was for my lips.  I was going to just put gloss on my lips and the makeup artist, Jeffrey, told me to use a lipstick that has a gloss finish.  It’s better than just the gloss, because the gloss can look kind of sloppy.  So, I really appreciated it, so I took those tips and did my own makeup.  They usually have someone just putting foundation and powder on you on the set, but that day they didn’t have anyone, so go prepared with everything.

Jenn:   And did you bring a couple different outfits, in case they didn’t like what you had on?

Zuzy:   I did.  I wore all black; only because I knew they told me at the time they wanted me to wear a red apron.  So I thought, definitely I wanted some color and the red apron would take up most of my frame.  I did though bring another top just in case, but they didn’t say anything and it worked out really well.

Jenn:   And did they ask you any questions that you weren’t prepared for?

Zuzy:   Yes, they did.

Jenn:   How did you handle that?

Zuzy:   Well, at first I wasn’t sure that I heard the question correctly, and I think that was my brain saying you don’t know the answer.  She asked me what was the lactose intolerant version or substitute for the cream dish that I was making.  And being that I’m a new cook, I didn’t know, and I’m not lactose intolerant, I didn’t know the answer right away.  So my first answer to that was; oh, if you want to be healthier, you can use yogurt and substitute for the cream.  And then I realized that she was not asking me if I wanted to be healthier, but she was asking me what’s the lactose-free version.  And then what I said was; hey, just use the milk substitute if you’re lactose intolerant, there are plenty of them out there.  So, I didn’t know the answer, but I answered with certainty.  I kind of answered in a confident way, so I think at the end of the day it came across okay.  I immediately found out what the lactose intolerant substitute was, and I’m actually having an expert write an article about it for my blog now because now I know better for next time.

Jenn:   Thanks Zuzy.  But before we go, I know you just won the Tasty Award for your DVD, so can you tell us a little bit about that?

Zuzy:   I have it here to show you.  Yeah.  There’s a little reflection, but here’s the Tasty Award.  This is so exciting.  The Tasty Awards, best food and fashion programs on television, film or on the web.  So we threw our hat in the ring last minute and I really didn’t think we were going to win, just because there were so many other amazing nominees, and we ended up winning and the winners were announced at an awards show in San Francisco and the Sundance Kabuki Theater.  So it was really, really exciting, and oh, this is our DVD, Cooking for the Clueless.  Yeah.  It’s for people who can’t cook, obviously.  So, it’s helping them get into the kitchen.  Really, really exciting and just gave us a nice pat on the back for all the hard work we’ve done to put this together.

Jenn:   Great.  Thanks so much Zuzy for sharing your experience and your insights, and again, congratulations on the award.

Zuzy:   Thank you so much.  It’s my pleasure and I hope it helps other people for their live TV appearances.

Behind The Scenes At View From The Bay – Part 1

Last Friday my friend, Zuzy Martin Lynch, was on View From The Bay – the Bay Area live talk show. I asked her if she’d give us the low down on what happens behind the scenes from a guest’s perspective.

Have a listen, she’ll bust a few myths (“they’ll train me before the show”, “they’ll do my makeup”) and give you loads of insight and practical tips.

Zuzy called in on ichat from sunny Florida while I was in the cold, dark rain of SF!

Duration:  5:56

Questions

1.  Describe your day on View From The Bay

2.  Did they give you any tips about being on camera?

3.  Did you get to meet the hosts before you went on the air?

4.  After your experience, what are your 3 tips for being on a live interview show?

• Practice, Practice, Practice
• Memorize 2-3 talking points or tips you want to communicate
• Take a deep breath and focus on the interviewer
• She also had mentioned: Go sit in the studio audience before you are on the show so you know what to expect.

Hot Links

Behind The Scenes At View From The Bay – Part 2

Zuzy’s segment on View From The Bay

Cooking For The Clueless    Website and  Fan Page

Online Makeup Lesson By Kimberly Taylor of Trish McEvoy

On-Camera and Media Training – we’ve got you covered!

Production

Cameras:  Zuzy and I both used our Mac built in iSight cameras.

Mics:  Zuzy used the built in mac microphone, I had a lav mic on that plugged directly into the mic connector on the mac.

Lighting:  Zuzy was in Florida and had nice ambient lighting.  I used additional spot and fill lights.

Editing: imovie

Interview Date:  January 21 2010 on ichat from Florida to San Francisco

Produced By:  Jenn Flaa

Music By:  Francois Didier Bouvet, You can purchase the song Sir Oliver on itunes.

About Zuzy Martin Lynch

Zuzy became obsessed with good food and restaurants at an early age. She grew up eatinggrandma’s home-cooked food while her single mom was out working all the time.

Trying to spoil her, grandma never let her in the kitchen. As for mom, cooking was something she just “didn’t do.” Couple that with living near NYC, it’s no surprise that restaurants soon became an obsession.

Cooking, however, became more and more a distant concept – until she hit her thirties and eating out every night became a norm that lost its luster and felt too expensive a habit to keep. Today, she’s on a mission to admit she was clueless, ask all the questions and start to slowly help her generation get cooking.

Transcript

Jenn:   I’m here on iChat with Zuzy Martin Lynch, the founder of Cooking for the Clueless.  Zuzy was recently on View From the Bay.  Zuzy, I’m wondering, could you give us your insider’s behind-the-scene scoop on how that day went?

Zuzy:   Hi, Jenn.  Yes, I would love to give you the inside scoop on behind-the-scenes.  So, yes, I was on View From the Bay and the show airs live at 3 p.m. everyday, so they told us to arrive by 12:45.  And I wanted to just get there early and set up with plenty of time, so I arrived a little bit earlier than that at 12:30, and an intern greeted us at the door and basically was with us the entire time.  So from arriving at 12:30, 12:35, they wanted us to be set up by 2 p.m.  So, that sounds like a lot of time and I had everything in bins, preset, all of my ingredients ready to go, but it took us a long time to set up because we were talking with the producers and making sure what angles we wanted from the camera.

So before you knew it, it was almost 2:00 and I had to hurry up to finish things up.  So 2:00, they took us back into the green room and there were five other guests there with us and it was exciting to meet everyone else.  So, I was actually the last segment before the show finished, which was good and it was bad.  It was good because I was on right before Oprah, but it was bad in case other people went over, I was going to be crunched for time.  So, I got to watch people as the show progressed and about 15 minutes before it was my time, they brought me out to the front.  And then they gave me a 30 second warning, and then I was on.  The segment aired five-and-a-half minutes and then after it was over, the show was done, so I said goodbye, took pictures with the host and we were cleared from the studio at 4:15; cleaned up and packed up and walked away.  So, it was pretty quick once we got there, and it was really important to be prepared with everything.

Jenn:   So, while you were with the interns or the producers, did any of them give you any tips about being on camera?

Zuzy:   They didn’t give me any on-camera tips.  I definitely practiced before hand by myself with a little flip camera, but they did just practice the shots they wanted to get.  They wanted to hone in on a couple of ingredients and different things while I talked.  So, no, I had to prepare on my own for that.

Jenn:   Wow.  So, it sounds like you didn’t get to meet the host, Janelle Wang or Michael Finney before you went on?

Zuzy:   And Spencer Christian was out on Friday, but Michael Finney was in.  So, no, I didn’t get to meet and I actually knew someone who was on the show before, and I called her beforehand to see how things worked, which I think is really important to have some contacts, and I asked her if she met the hosts.  She was on the show twice, my friend, Gabrielle Feuersinger of Cake Coquette.  The first time she said the host came out, I think one of them came to meet her.  However, the second time the producers wanted it to be a little more spontaneous, so they did not meet the hosts until it was ready to go, just maybe a minute or two before they went live.  Which is what happened with me, and I think it did make things more spontaneous and it was fun that way.  The producer did come out and walk through the segment with me briefly, so I was able to practice and let them know what points I wanted to get across.

Jenn:   So if you could give three tips about being on a show like that, what would they be?

Zuzy:   The most important thing is practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice.  I practiced my recipe definitely 10 times, I think maybe 12 times.  So I bought that many ingredients, I just bought a big bulk of ingredients and made it over and over and over and over again.  The first couple of times it didn’t taste like the recipe should taste, because it was a tomato herb cream reduction and I wasn’t letting it reduce enough.  This was one of the recipes from our DVD, so I watched the video again and noticed that I wasn’t letting it reduce enough.  So once I got the recipe and the taste down consistently, then I realized, whoa, I need to get this into five minutes worth of time, or less.  They told me I had five to six minutes, and I should really prepare for four minutes in case I was crunched for time.  So I would say practice the actual recipe is the most important thing.  Practice it several times.

And number two would be, write down some talking points like I did.  What do you want to convey to the audience?  If things get crazy and they go off on a tangent, you want to be able to bring it back to the one or two most important things that you want to convey for whatever it is you’re representing.  And number three, take a very deep breath before you go on and make pretend that nobody is there except the host.  That’s what I did.  I passed the audience, I waved at my husband and I kept going and then I made pretend they weren’t there, and I made pretend the cameras were not there; I didn’t look at them once.  And I’ve never been on live television before, so I just was in a tunnel and tried to keep my energy up.  So, those are my three tips.

Jenn:   Fantastic.  Thanks Zuzy.

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