Holy fucking shit.

[rivka]

Dr. Wald,

My name is [Name]. I am a producer with Journey Films (www.journeyfilms.com). Our company has been retained by the Templeton Foundation to film the Forgiving Conference and some of its participants for a future public television documentary on the subject of forgiving.

We are seeking an opportunity to interview you on camera about the psychosocial correlates of forgiveness in persons living with HIV/AIDS. [Note: That's the name of the talk I'm giving at the conference.]

We have a separate room at the Westin Hotel where the conference is being held. It will be prepared with camera and lighting equipment. This would be a 30-minute interview conducted in a relaxed style. You will have the opportunity within the interview to strike any "sound bite" you do not want us to use.

[Then there's enough contact information to choke a whale, suggesting that he really does want to talk to me.]

We feel that this subject has great potential for broad public interest and that your participation in an interview will help to shape that interest.

Sincerely,

[Name]
Journey Films

Comments

[pernishus.livejournal.com]

Congratulations! I hope you are luckier with the cutting room floor than I was when interviewed on my views about the last strike at Dalhousie by the local TV station, which cut my thirty seconds of well-reasoned commentary to a fatuous five-second off-the-cuff remark... I felt like Pernicious the Musquodoboit Harbour Farm Cat did after sitting, quite briefly, on the burner of my stove -- he no longer sits on hot burners, but I have noted that he avoids cold ones, too -- which is why I am not advising you not to be interviewed... Best wishes!

[rivka.livejournal.com]

I was interviewed by the local Fox News station at one of the Dean Meetups. The reporter spoke to me for 3-4 minutes and used, as you say, a completely inane five-second clip that made me sound like an idiot. But this is different, I hope, because it's a documentary film company rather than the local news. I think they'll be looking for something beyond the sound-bite level. I hope.

[oursin.livejournal.com]

I would be inclined to be just a tad sceptical about this, on the basis of my own experience! It's surprising how sound-bitey even an apparently serious documentary can become. (And what they won't tell you beforehand, like the interview I did that got chopped up and interspersed in snippets between dramatised extracts from My Secret Life, famous Victorian pornographic memoir.)
However, I hope it works out.