Updated
Control over a media interview starts at the pitch, not the interview itself. Add a point of view section to your press release or pitch email, five to ten bullet points headed what insert your name would say in an interview, and write out your actual answers. A producer reading it very often builds questions to draw out exactly what you already wrote.
I spent years on the other side of this desk, reading pitches as a producer, and I can tell you exactly what happens when one of these lands well written. The producer reads the point of view section, thinks, that is fantastic, this is what they will say, and starts building questions specifically to get the guest to say it on camera.
Why this matters (and what most executives get wrong)
Most pitches describe the guest. Credentials, background, a general topic area. That information helps a producer decide whether to book someone. It does almost nothing to shape what happens once the booking is confirmed, because it never tells the producer what the guest would actually say.
What gets missed is that a producer under deadline is often building questions from whatever material is in front of them. A pitch with nothing but biography leaves the producer guessing. A pitch with a written point of view section hands them the guest's own answers, pre-written, ready to be turned into questions.
A point of view section reads to a producer like a gift. It answers the only real question in their head: what will this person actually say if we book them.
How to add a point of view section to your pitch
1. Write it as your own answers, not a topic list
Head the section what insert your name would say in an interview, then write real sentences, the way you would actually say them on camera, not a list of subject headings a producer would still have to interpret.
2. Include five to ten bullet points
Enough to give a producer real material to build from, not so many that it reads like the whole interview transcript in advance. Five to ten specific, well written points is the range that gets used.
3. Write the points you actually want to be asked about
This is the control mechanism. A producer who reads your point of view section and builds questions from it is, in effect, asking you the questions you already decided you wanted to answer.
4. Keep every point quotable on its own
Since these lines may become the basis for actual questions, write each one the way you would want it to sound coming out of your own mouth in the interview, not as a dry summary a producer has to translate.
You think up the answer in advance, and they build the question around it. That is control, earned before the camera is even on.
The mistake most executives make
The most common mistake is treating the pitch as a formality, something the publicist handles that has nothing to do with the substance of the eventual interview. That thinking leaves real control on the table, because by the time the guest is preparing messages, the producer has often already built their questions from whatever was in the original pitch.
The second mistake is writing a point of view section full of vague, safe generalities. A bullet that reads we help clients improve their business gives a producer nothing to build a real question around. A bullet with a specific point, a specific number, or a specific claim is what actually gets used.
Case study: the pitch that wrote its own interview
J Connelly, a NYC based public relations company that focuses on financial service companies wanted me to train their team, They showed me a pitch for a business story that had gone out from a junior associate. They had kept the pitch itself thin, a paragraph of background and a general topic. The interview that resulted was broad and unfocused, because the producer had nothing specific to build from and asked generic questions instead. I wanted to show them that there was more control that could happen at this stage.
For the next pitch, we added a point of view section: eight bullet points, written as full sentences, on the exact claims and ideas the client most wanted to make.
A few weeks later, I got the new feedback. The resulting interview followed those bullets closely, almost question for question. Nothing about the client's expertise had changed. What changed was what the producer had to work with.
What to do next
Before your next pitch goes out, add a point of view section with five to ten bullet points written as your own real answers, on the exact points you want to be asked about. If you want help drafting the section itself so it reads the way a producer wants to use it, get a quick quote.
For what producers are looking for once the pitch lands on their desk, read what TV producers and bookers want from a pitch, then prepare the messages themselves with key messages for media interviews.