While I was at a cocktail party last night on 14th street in Manhattan, a publicist told me the following: “I don’t want to be on TV ever! I want to be behind the scenes. I’d hate to be a celebrity. They have awful lives. Nothing in their life can be kept secret. Please don’t ask me to ever be interviewed or to give speeches.”

Now, this attitude is an affront to my very being; and it’s a very rare attitude to hear from someone working in Manhattan in media circles. But, this publicist’s perspective is a completely normal attitude held by the vast major of Americans and other psychologically healthy people around the globe.

Two quick thoughts came to mind when I heard the publicist make this comment:

1. There is nothing wrong with valuing privacy rights above fame and fortune , and

2. It’s insanely hard to actually become famous. You don’t become famous with one interview or speech or even with 1000.

Personally, I’ve been interviewed thousands of times and/or interviewed people thousands of times. Yet I am hardly a celebrity. The only way I could get in People Magazine now is if I were to kidnap Britney Spears children.

In a fragmented media world of thousands of reality shows, and a gazillions of web sites, it’s actually harder to become a celebrity these days—not easier. And part of the process is sitting through numerous profile interviews.

One of the central elements of the celebrity manufacturing machine is the full profile interview. In a full profile interview, you often sit with a reporter for several hours; sometimes over several days or even weeks. This type of an interview is much more revealing and personal than, say, a quick interview regarding a new product launch. Unlike an interview where you are a spokesperson for a product or a company, in a profile interview, you are acting as a spokesperson for your own life. The pressure is greater in interviews like this. There is also more time for self-doubts to set in like, “Oh my god, the reporter is asking me what music is on my iPod—I’ll look like a fool if I confess I have nothing more recent on my iPod than Led Zeppelin.”

The rules of how to handle yourself in a media interview still apply during a profile interview, but it requires greater discipline due to their often lengthy nature. There are more opportunities to get too cozy with the reporter and start saying foolish, quotable things. You must still have a focused message and deliver compelling sound bites. But you’ve also got to be really interesting as a person, or the whole interview could get spiked.

So how would I let myself be profiled? See for yourself. I recently sat for several hours over a couple of days with a feature writer in Charlotte, NC.

http://www.mediatrainingworldwide.com/press-charlotte2.pdf