When we got into the car, Angel handed us our talking points for the interview. I looked at mine and was done quickly. Eve seemed to be memorizing them. This was not going to go well. Interviews go much better if you loosely follow the script they give you. It has to be in your own words. If you tried to recite it back to them verbatim, it would come across as awkward. I needed to make sure Eve knew this.
“What’re you doing?” I asked Eve.
“Learning my lines. Now leave me alone.”
“Do you realize I’ve done a few of these?”
“Yes, you’ll be great. I just need to learn these so I get them right.”
“They’re called talking points. They’re not called talking scripts. They’re intended to give you ideas for responses to questions. They aren’t scripts you’re supposed to memorize.”
“How come?” Angel asked.
“How come what?” I asked her.
“How come you don’t just memorize them?”
“Because you’d sound like whoever wrote them. It doesn’t sound natural,” I said, and I grabbed the sheet from Eve. I read the first line. “David inspired me with his heroics on the football field. He is a role model for so many in the community that it was just natural that I chose him.”
“That sounds pretty good,” Angel said.
“Eve, when was the last time you said I was a heroic role model in the community?”
She had to think about it. She still wasn’t getting it.
“Take the word ‘community.’ When you talk about where we live, what do you say?”
“I guess I would say our town or our small town.”
“Good. That sounds like you. Now think about the rest. ‘Heroic role model’ sounds like I need to get my Superman outfit out. I know I’m pretty special, but do you want me walking around telling everyone how heroic I am?”
That got her to laugh.
“Okay, I got it. I’m just supposed to use it as a guide.”
“I guess you learn something every day,” Angel said.
“If you really want to learn this stuff, talk to Tom’s daughter Tracy. She made me look good a number of times, and that’s no easy feat, let me tell you.”
I then needed to explain what the interview was going to be like.
“Sunny’s job is to get you to say something you’ll regret. She’s trying to get a story. Our job is to promote your song’s release on iTunes. If she asks you a question that you don’t want to answer, ask her to repeat it. This is taped. If you’re completely unsure, stop and think about it. They’ll cut that part out.”
“But won’t she look like an idiot?” Angel asked.
“Not a chance. Sunny will edit it down to a few sound bites. Believe me, they don’t want to air you staring at her. She’ll do a ten-minute interview to get ninety seconds of tape that actually gets shown.”
“That makes sense,” Angel said.
“This is what I’ll do: before the interview, I ask Sunny what the purpose of the interview is. If she says anything I’m not ready for, I’ll take some notes and call Kendal. She’ll get me new talking points. Then when Sunny tries to ambush me with a question I’m not prepared for, I’ll just say something like, ‘Sorry, let’s get back on track.’ I’ll remind her what the interview’s about. If she gets pushy, I’ll stop the interview. She can’t force me to make a fool out of myself.
“Now the art of the interview is to not answer the questions she asks you. She may ask you something like ‘Is the sky blue?’ You answer ‘That’s a great question. What I really want to tell you is ...’ and pick a talking point. Do some variations on that and you’ll be golden.
“Have you ever watched some of those Sunday-morning political shows?” I asked.
She nodded.
“Do they ever answer a straight question?”
“No, and it pisses my dad off,” Eve said.
“We’re selling your record. We’re not talking about your first kiss.”
If she got into trouble, I’d just kiss Sunny. That seemed to get good ratings.
SUNNY HAD RENTED A conference room for the interview. I noticed one of the cameramen from the local affiliate. I went over and said ‘hi’ as Eve and Sunny got to know each other. We were talking football when I changed the subject.
“So, what’s Sunny going to ambush me with?”
“You know she’d kill me if I told you that.”
“Hmm, so she is going to ambush me.”
“Dang it, David, you’re going to get me in trouble.”
“Hmm, who do you see once in a lifetime, and who will you see for the next three, possibly seven more years on a regular basis?” I asked him.
“Don’t you dare do that to me,” he said, shaking his head.
“All right, I’ll go talk to Sunny,” I said, and turned to leave him.
He grabbed my arm. I had him. “Something you want to tell me?” I asked.
“There may be some photos of your Miami job that are ... umm ... unauthorized. What I hear is one of the models took some shots of you and Adrienne with her cell phone.”
“Has she sold them yet?”
“No, people are a little gun-shy of the possible issues. That doesn’t mean they won’t. She just hasn’t talked to the right people yet.”
“Have you seen them?”
“No, she’s been smart and kept them under wraps. If she’d shared them, they’d already be all over the Internet. You know how it is.”
“Tell Sunny I had to make a call. I’ll be right back.”
Shit, shit, shit. I called Deb Thomas. Might as well go to the top and work my way down.
“This is Deb.”
“Hey, it’s David Dawson,” I said.
“What can I do for you, David?” she asked, all business.
It was obvious our relationship had cooled.
“I’m about to go into an interview with Sunny Skye. I talked to her cameraman and he told me that she has some potentially damaging information she’s going to use to ambush me.”
“I have a meeting in five minutes,” she responded.
I took a deep breath. It would do me no good to go off on her, but I’d had enough.
“Fine, I’ll call my attorney and you can explain why you don’t have time. I’ll do you the courtesy of calling you Monday.”
“Wait, I may have been a little hasty. What’s wrong?”
“Don’t you have a meeting in five minutes?”
Okay, so I’m a teenager. That makes me a borderline idiot, sometimes.
“Just tell me, David.”
“One of the models in Miami took photos with her cell phone of Adrienne and me getting ready for the shoot. She’s trying to sell them. Sunny Skye is interviewing me in five minutes.”
“Do you know who’s trying to sell them?”
“No, but if I had to guess I’d say it was one of the college girls. A model would have known either who to ask or would know who to sell them to. This would be in one of the tabloid rags by now.”
“What’s the interview supposed to be about?”
“Two things: Eve Holliday is releasing her first single on iTunes, Tuesday; and this is my second date with my three faux girlfriends.”
Deb went into full business mode.
“You need to separate the interviews. Do the one she wants with Eve. For the one about the pictures, you don’t want Eve on camera. If this blows up, she’ll not want the bad publicity. I would even change clothes so it looks like a completely different deal.”
“Should I tell Sunny I know?”
“You’re going to have to or think of some way to separate them.”
“All right. I’ll call you after and give you an update.”
“We’ll work to track down the photos,” she said and then shocked me. “Thank you for telling me. This could still get ugly, but at least we aren’t going to be blindsided.”
I hung up and went to find Sunny. She gave me a sideways smile and a kiss on the cheek.
“I can’t believe they talked you into wearing that.”
“I like it. I’m trying to start a new clothing trend. I call it ‘teen cowboy.’