We’ve had quite a few TV appearances lately, just to make our mag’s presence felt. It’s part of our job, and it eats up a good number of hours of a work day (or night). So what goes on exactly when we have a TV shoot?
First, we find ourselves in a makeup chair.
For this particular show, Snow White (who did Coni’s makeup before) worked his magic on my bare face. “Parang hindi bagay sa ‘yo ang makapal na makeup. Nafi-feel ko lang,” he told me. So he just gave me a light layer. “Light” by TV standards meant I still used up a lot of cotton balls getting everything off after the shoot.
And then there are the preps. Sometimes, we’re given cheat sheets–the questions that are going to be asked and all that, so we can start thinking of answers. Often, we just talk about a specific section in the mag, so we just try to know it by heart, and pick up some additional info that might be useful talking points.
Here, Coni does some last-minute memorization. See sometimes, we have to talk about articles we didn’t write. Other times, we just have to refresh our memories–we work on issues about two months in advance, so details can get a bit hazy!
For some shows, we might have to prepare a few props–like when we demo how to make decorations or other DIY touches for entertaining, for example.
And then…we wait.
For live shows, the wait isn’t that long. They have to stick to a schedule, so we know exactly what time we’re coming on. For taped shows, the wait can be longer–the ngarag camera crew could get stuck in an earlier shoot, or a busy busy host could be running late. So you could be waiting for hours.
Once everyone’s there and ready, it’s showtime!
This was Coni’s segment in our recent guesting on ANC’s Shoptalk with Pia Hontiveros. My least favorite part when it comes to live shows? The Q&A portion!
While it’s a great chance to interact directly with our viewers/readers, it’s also slightly nerve-wracking. You really have to think of good answers quickly, even if you’re not all too familiar with the subject matter! (Which reminds me…to the viewer who asked about getting rid of spiders–since it’s a persistent problem, maybe it’s time to call in a professional pest controller.)
For taped shows, you don’t have to worry so much about saying something stupid or bleep-worthy because they can just edit it out.
At the taping of The Sweet Life with the very tall Wilma Doesnt and Lucy Torres (our pimp, er, PR girl Kriztel Lorbes is also shown in the photo), we did a retake because one of the crew members thought I should have said something another way. He was very…straightforward, and it was all good (I get how stressful life is for production crews), but Lucy (who is all sugar and niceness) seemed to think he was being rude and gently reprimanded him. He apologized to me profusely after the take.
At these shoots, you also get to see hosts behind the scenes, and get a general impression of what they’re like off-cam. You see who’s genuinely nice, and who’s kind of mean to the crew. The Sweet Life ladies, thankfully, are both very agreeable. It’s funny how Wilma’s and Lucy’s personalities are as different as their appearances. While Lucy is reserved and soft-spoken, Wilma is all craziness and funny antics!
After the shoot, we sometimes receive a token from the show (a basket of fruits from The Sweet Life, for example). No payment or anything–we do this because we love our mag and want to promote it as much as we can! For the Jan-Feb ish, I think we’ve talked about everything there is to talk about, both on TV and on radio, so we (and you) get a month-long break from our invasion of other forms of media!
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