Claire Richmond from FindaTVexpert.com on Why Authors Should Flaunt Their Expertise

December 9, 2009 in Interviews | No comments

In this interview with AuthorShock’s Debbie Jenkins, Claire Richmond from Findatvexpert.com explains how important it is for non-fiction authors to build their media profile, how to pitch to TV commissioners and how she addressed the balance as producer of Topless Darts!

Claire is a TV producer with 15 years of experience developing and producing terrestrial, digital and cable TV programmes. She got her big break on The Big Breakfast in 1993 and went on to series produce Changing Rooms, Ready Steady Cook and Don’t Get Done Get Dom for BBC1. She also developed, launched & headed up digital and mobile TV channels (London TV for Visit London and Today on 3 Live for 3 mobile) and produced all number of shows for L!VETV. Finding experts and new talent was always part of her job – and the inspiration for her business: www.findatvexpert.com.

You set up findatveexpert.com in January 2008 – how’s it going so far?

I went ‘live’ on the 28^th of April 2008 so it’s been just over a year and a half now – and so far, so good. FindaTVexpert is doing exactly what it set out to do, which was to bridge the gap between the professionals and the programme makers and help ignite the creative process. More members of the media are registering to search the site every day and experts are being found and booked for interviews, screentests, series and other media opportunities. From classical, medical & witchcraft historians to psychologists, business gurus and vocal coaches – and many more. For recent success stories, have a browse through the findaTVexpert blog: http://findaTVexpert.blogspot.com.

Your site focuses on helping media experts meet up with media opportunities. It sounds like a great idea, how important is it for an author to be considered a media expert?

What I know is this: non-fiction authors are clearly experts on their subject matter. They’re passionate about it. They’ve done the research and they’ve written the book. And the TV industry needs inspiration, which experts often provide. Think about it. Food, property & parenting shows; science, art & history shows; business & finance shows; health, fitness & education shows; animal, wildlife & natural history shows; news & breakfast TV shows; and even programmes on how to clean your house and tame teenage mums all have once thing in common: experts. Find the right one and combine it with a great format and you’ve got a TV hit on your hands. So if you’re an expert you should flaunt your expertise to industry because you never know what’s going to catch the eye of a producer and set the creative wheels in motion.

How did you get over the initial chicken and egg syndrome, needing experts and media companies to join you, in order to get the business going?

As anyone who has set up an online business will know, there’s a lot of ‘testing’ that needs to be done before a site goes live as different computers, browsers, servers, firewalls, etc react differently. By February 2008 we were ready to start testing so I contacted some experts I knew or had worked with and offered them a year’s free membership in exchange for their help & feedback. And I also contacted colleagues within the industry and asked them to register as members of the media to test out that side of things. And I’m glad I did because there were quite a few gremlins we needed to track down! But we got there in the end and went live two months later with experts and members of the media on board.

What are the 3 most important things a potential media expert needs to understand about the business in order to make them of interest to the media?

A TV Commissioner is like a publisher: they want a hit; a successful show. They get pitched hundreds of programme ideas by numerous production companies every week and need to make sure the one they commission is going to deliver. And this takes time. So patience is a virtue.
Production companies are always on the lookout for a formattable, recommissionable series – ie 10 Years Younger, How to Look Good Naked, Property Ladder, Ready Steady Cook, etc. These are the shows where everyone wins: viewers keep tuning in which is good news for the broadcaster and the series keeps getting recommissioned which is good news for the production company and the experts. So if you have an expertise, think about how it could be formatted into a series – ie 6 x 30 minutes shows with a beginning, middle and end. Or 6 x 30 minute shows that follow a journey that has a beginning, middle and end. Like The Choir and The Apprentice, for example.
Keep it simple and think in pictures. If you have a TV idea, you have to be able to describe it in a paragraph and create a picture in the producer or commissioner’s mind. They need to ‘see’ what it would look like on TV. And remember that the aim of TV is to entertain, inspire and inform. That’s why makeover shows, raw human emotion & drama, fish-out-of water situations, transformations, etc work so well on TV.

You produced the show “Topless Darts” – was that men or women darts players?

The dart players were all women but to help ‘address the balance’ I also pitched and produced Handy Hunks: handsome, topless men doing DIY jobs around the house. All very gratuitous and sexy.

What one thing do you wish you knew when you started out in business?

I know this is going to sound strange, but very little has come as a surprise to me. I think it’s because I wrote a very comprehensive Business Plan before I started, so I knew exactly what to expect. I knew things would take time – and that I’d hate the admin/accounts side of things – and I knew that I’d have to ask people for advice & suggestions along the way because I wouldn’t have the answers to everything. And that’s what I’m doing. In a way it’s like producing a TV show. You’ve got to be extremely organised – yet flexible – and able to juggle a hundred things at the same time. You’ve got to be positive and motivated – even when things aren’t going as planned – and you’ve got to believe in what you’re doing and be passionate about it. Because that’s what keeps you going and makes it all worthwhile.

I suppose the one thing that has taken me by surprise is how much writing is involved to keep findaTVexpert in people’s mind, in the press and moving up the search engines – ie weekly updates to the industry, monthly updates to the experts, PR/Mktg on twitter, regular updates on the findaTVexpert blog, press releases, responding to PR opportunities like this one, responding to journalist requests, nominating the company for start up awards and submitting all the information, etc, etc, etc!

What’s next for you?

The plan for this year was to set up partnerships with companies that offer bespoke media training (ie workshops designed to prepare experts for TV&Radio interviews and help them develop their X-Pert Factor) and short, succinct and affordable showreels. So in the words of Gordon Ramsay: “media training and showreels – DONE!” Next year the plan is to organise monthly seminars which give experts the chance to meet members of the industry and network. And long term I want to launch the service in the US, Canada, Australian and New Zealand.

Is there anything else you want to tell people?

The X-Factor is for singers, Britain’s Got Talent is for dancers and findaTVexpert is for experts who want to showcase their passion, skills and knowledge to the TV industry. So if you’ve got it, flaunt it!