Liz Nable 0:00
This week is a very special episode of the podcast, because I'm taking you behind the scenes of TV news and talking all things on camera, charisma and confidence. Since the inception of media magnet, the podcast, I've interviewed dozens of journals, editors, PR, specialists and storytellers. But it occurred to me this week as I write the plan for my exclusive TV talent accelerator one day event on the 10th of October that I've never actually interviewed anyone who works behind the camera. TV news camera crews are crucial to getting the right pitches, the perfect sound quality, and capturing exceptional and exciting moments in time and interviews on the record these days, when we say on camera, yes, I'm talking TV news, but I'm also talking about video content for your business and your brand. Yep, across every single social media platform, your website, YouTube channel, LinkedIn, you name it, video content is king right now, and so it's paramount that you and your brand exude confidence and charisma when that camera is rolling and you can articulate and share your message, even if it's just on your smartphone. For now, you're still telling stories, and I still want to make sure you're telling the best ones possible. I can't think of a single more experienced talent in this field than my guest today, Mark Heine. Mark is a respected cameraman, storyteller and seasoned TV professional whose career spans decades and continents, from starting out in regional Australia to working on international assignments in London, Hong Kong and the US. Mark's journey includes everything from covering historic moments like the Rwandan genocide and Hollywood red carpets to memorable interviews with icons such as Robin Williams, Hugh Jackman, Nicole Kidman, Cate Blanchett, Tom Hanks and notably President Donald Trump, that was actually a 60 minute story with me in Trump Tower in New York in 2008 Keep listening for the inside Goss on that one, that story is wild. Mark's behind the scenes. Insights reveal what it's really like to succeed on camera, confidence, clarity and authentic communication. In this episode, Mark shares practical on camera advice every business leader and aspiring TV talent needs to know how to speak with substance, avoid common interview pitfalls and prepare for high pressure moments. We reflect on the art of great journalism and content creation and how all those basic principles still apply today if you want to shine on camera. We're also excited to announce the upcoming TV talent accelerator, on camera intensive. It's a one day exclusive hands on event happening in Sydney on Friday, October 10. It's designed for founders, experts and entrepreneurs eager to master their message and elevate their media presence. The event features personalized coaching, practice drills and direct feedback from both Mark and myself, and there's only two spots left. Listen in for lots of reminiscing about our heyday on the road and invaluable TV camera advice, and don't forget to check in the show notes to secure your place at the TV talent accelerator before the last spots are gone.
Liz Nable 3:32
Hello and welcome to medium magnet, the podcast for female founders and women owned businesses, startups and side hustlers who want to learn how to grow their business leveraging the media and free PR, I'm Liz Nable, and I'm your host, personal publicist. PR, strategist and dedicated hype woman. My goal with this show is to give you a behind the scenes tour of how the media works to break down the barriers between your business and the big mast heads, so you can see how easy it is to get featured simply by giving journalists what they want. At media magnet, you'll also get access to the top journals, editors, writers and PR people in your industry and beyond, sharing their secrets and expertise on the how, why, what and when of pitching and getting featured in the media consistently, I will share with you how to build your reputation as an industry expert so successfully, the media will be knocking down your door. When I first started in small business 12 years ago, I had no idea what I was getting into. I had spent 15 years as a television news reporter working at several major networks in Australia, and then as a freelancer in the US and around the world. I spent years dividing my time between working long shifts on a news desk and traveling the world, chasing stories it was unpredictable and exciting until it wasn't anymore. I decided I. Wanted a life where I was in charge of what happened next and where I was working to build my own empire, not someone else's. There was a lot I had to learn about running my own business, but getting media and great free PR was not one of them. I already knew what the media wanted. I knew the secret formula for what made news, and I knew how to leverage those media outlets to build my business, get more exposure, and ultimately make more sales. I was featured in every major media outlet in the country, and I never spent a single cent on PR. I took that knowledge for granted until it dawned on me one day that I could teach what I knew to other businesses, let them in on the secret, and they too could build their brands with organic media and PR, let me help you take your brand from Best Kept Secret to household name. This is media magnet, the podcast, and I'm pretty pumped to have you here.
Speaker 1 6:00
You Hello,
Liz Nable 6:13
Mark, welcome to the podcast. It is a pleasure to have you on the show.
Unknown Speaker 6:16
Thank you, Liz, and good to see you again.
Liz Nable 6:19
Yeah, it's funny because we've known each other for a really long time. We've worked together overseas on lots of different interesting stories, which we're going to cover in a second, and now we just live a few minutes apart on Sydney's northern beaches, and we're
Speaker 2 6:33
about beaches, yes, so for
Liz Nable 6:37
the Liz nables, can you tell them a little bit about what you do, and some of the experience I guess you've had, both in Australia and overseas, that sort of led up to where you are now.
Speaker 2 6:48
I started in TV, in regional TV, in orange, when it was channel eight, CBN eight, back in 1982 and I was laboring at the time. I'd finished year 12, deferred from university, and my uncle was sharing a house with some people said there's jobs. Trainees come up here all the time. So I put my hand up. Three months later, had a job. After a couple of months, I realized it was a good bunch of people and such a great industry that I thought I won't go to uni, and it was all on the job training. So I went through different aspects there of TV, studio, lighting, studio, camera, sound recording, and then got into shooting stills and then editing and then shooting video for news, current affairs and commercials. After a while, I realized that the Big Smoke was my not my calling, but I thought I'd head to the big smoke. So ended up there. 1990 stayed for a couple of years at Channel Seven, mainly shooting sports world, which was fantastic, headed overseas for a couple of years, to London, freelance and a lot of overseas jobs there, back to Sydney for a while, a couple of years with Premier sports, which became Fox Sports. Then I moved to Hong Kong in 97 a couple of months before the handover, and then stayed there for five years and ended up in New LA in 2002 and then DC, and then New York for we stayed for the States for a total of 15 years. So that was 20. The end of 2016 we came back, my wife and I and two boys came back to Australia then, and I worked for 60 minutes for nearly seven years. And now I'm freelancing.
Liz Nable 8:40
You've had a very colorful career. You might not realize it, because this is what you do for a living, but you have covered some incredible stories as a cameraman. Can you give us some highlights of some we met in New York and we covered, which we'll talk about in a second, some funny and interesting stories there together. But what else? What would you say is the highlight of your career, or a few of the best stories you've covered, and what was that like?
Speaker 2 9:03
There's a lot that you do throughout your career, and you know, I'm still going, so a lot of things spring to mind. In particular, I think one, when I was flying from London, we were going to Georgia and Armenia. This is in 1994 and we're flying in at night. We took off from Vienna, and we'll fly in Russian Air flight airlines. Everyone was smoking and drinking. They were standing up in the aisle, these big Armenian Georgian blokes, and they're all smoking and drinking, cigars, cigarettes, just eating bits of food here and there. And this is on, take off and landing. And I went, Oh, this is incredible. This is and the producer and I were looking out the window, looking down, seeing all these orange lights along the highways and a few lights downtown. It was under severe economic pressure. Russia. At the time, Russia was cutting off the electrical power grid and power supply to the country and to the city anyway, so flying over that, I just looked down and I thought, I don't know what's down there, and I just don't know what's going to happen, but I was so excited, and I think that was the bug that hit me after traveling around a little bit with other jobs, but that, I think that was it, that I thought, wow, this is what I really want to do. And it was a great trip. We landed. There's a the first thing that came onto the plane was a dog, and it was just a wild dog from the airport, not a drug dog or anything. It was running around the plane, and these Russian blokes are trying to kick it. They're throwing water at it and trying to get the dog off the plane. It was hilarious, anyway, so that was, yeah, that was an interesting beginning to I'd done some overseas trips, so that was one that sticks in mind. And then other ones going to Lithuania, Tbilisi to do a fashion show. Yeah, in the middle of winter, and again, suffering from its separation from the USSR, then Rwanda and the genocide down there that was horrific. The world events that you get to cover as a an international working for an international agency. They're incredible, sad and traumatic, and really hit you to your core, but being involved in those stories was, was incredible.
Liz Nable 11:34
Yeah, you've done a lot of work, obviously, for Australian media outlets, both here and overseas, 60 minutes, four corners, some really high profile, longer format news shows. I know together, we've worked on a lot of stories and met a lot of famous people. Who's your sort of rattle off a few names of who you've met on the along the way.
Speaker 2 11:55
I think because being in LA for three years, you do a red carpet, you might do one a week, and there are one a week two a week three a week. So you go there and you get access to everyone that's in that movie, and they just walk along. There's a the local media, or the stills guys, the local media, then the international media, and then probably some still guys at the end. And now there's social media and other vertical platforms that do their little bit, but it's who haven't, who don't, you meet in those environments, you know? And then there's the award shows, and this is just the Hollywood scene. The award shows, everyone's there, and you have access to everyone that comes along. And it's funny that all the a great actors are fantastic that I've dealt with other people I'm sure have had different situations and circumstances. But the when I was working and I filmed all of these people, they were great on I think it was a People's Choice Award. One year, I was working for a Canadian network, and they were all lined up, and Robin Williams came along, and he was promoting a movie, and he was going for an award, so the journal is asking all these questions. And he said, Well, I think that's about it. And there was a backlog. All the actors were sort of there, and he had nowhere else to he couldn't go anywhere. He was in the line. So we sat there and had a chat for, I don't know, maybe three or four minutes, five minutes Robin Williams, yeah, with Robin Williams and the journal, and I just, and I told him I was from Orange, from a farm, and he wanted to know why it was named orange. And I said, well, it grows apples, cherries and grapes. And he was not at his comic best, but it was just a one on one chat. He was really curious. So in those environments, you meet everyone, but there and those, it's more the B rate actors that have got a bit of a chip on their shoulder that I found this is only in my experiences as well. So on names, I don't know about names, but Hugh Jackman. Hugh Jackman, He's great.
Liz Nable 14:02
He's a great fellow. Nicole Kidman,
Speaker 2 14:05
Nicole Mick Kidman, yes, she was fine when we did her and Keith Urban, yeah. Kate Blanchard, Kate Blanchett was lovely. Who else Tom Hanks? Tom Hanks. He's a gentleman. He stops. Same with Tom Cruise. They stop and they spend the most time on the red carpet, because they know the worth of that, because a three month, four, month, five, month, whatever it is that stint on a movie to do a junket like a red carpet, and then they do three days of a junket, it said I'll do Press TV, and Then papers and online, I'm not sure in what order, and that's just they're stuck in a hotel for that time. And most of the time people are good. They'll come along and they'll go okay, and they're lined up from eight to five or nine till six, whatever it is, and they do three or four minutes or five minutes per interview, next. First someone comes in and sits down on the longer format programs like 60 Minutes or Sunday night, or even four corners, or other programs you will get 15 to 20 minutes with, supposedly with the talent. And sometimes they're amicable, sometimes, most of the time, they are because they see the worth in that, unless they're too far up themselves. Or sometimes it might be that the journal is broached the subject that they've been told not to, which has happened, and the manager is off to the side, shaking their head, going like that, to cut the interview or to wrap it up, but that happens. But yes, their personal life is sort of touchy feely to them a lot of the time, and you're told not to go there, but they're a public figure, and that's up to the the correspondent or the journalist as to how they handle that and the program.
Liz Nable 15:55
Yeah, so I could be here all day. You sound like you've met everyone. So you and I have obviously teamed up to do this in person event on the 10th of October. It's camera intensive, where we're going to be essentially transforming people's confidence on camera over the course of that day. So I wanted to talk to you a little bit about what you've noticed along the way over these decades of experience you've had about what makes good TV talent. And when we talk about TV talent, for anyone who's listening, they not might be thinking, I don't have plans to be on TV, or this is not really what my goal is. But video is such a massive part of social media content and branding content. These days, we're talking about anything on camera, be it traditional TV or social media and those sorts of things. What have you noticed about that secret sauce about what's what makes good TV talent in your experience
Speaker 2 16:50
in this line of work and the workshop that we'll be doing, people will be talking about their business, themselves and their business, so it's a topic they should know a lot about. It's and they should have confidence in that, knowing that I'm talking about myself and my business. And should be proud of the fact of where they are and what they've done to get to this point when we're going to interview them, but they should be confident in that. And the other thing is that they're not talking to the camera, they're talking to you or to someone else in a media environment, interview environment, situation. So that's where they should have the confidence and in the back of their mind, although there's a camera there and there's lights and there's a microphone, it's okay, um, I should be confident in this, because it's about the business. The other thing is that you should try to, when the questions put at you or asked of you, you should put, try and enable to put the question in the answer, are you hot today? The weather is quite warm today, yes, it is, rather than Yeah, or Nabal or something like that, it's put the question in the answer, because a lot of the time, journalists and editors and producers and whoever else is involved in the program would rather hear your voice than the journalist, most of the time. So if you can put the question in the answer. It makes it easier to edit. Yeah. So that's just one thing that I've noticed. And make sure that when you're talking to the journalist or the producer reporter that you're you're aware of when the camera is rolling. So you can be chit chat, chit chat, and the camera might already be on. So you just have to be careful of that. So make sure you're aware that the camera's rolling and you know, away you go. I just think it's as long as you and do a couple of tests at home, have some questions prepared and get someone to ask at home. So you're you're aware of how it sounds to be asked a question.
Liz Nable 18:59
Is there anyone you've interviewed in or filmed, I guess, being interviewed by the journalists in your career, that just was really special on camera talent, because I know you've probably seen someone who might be quite and not necessarily a celebrity, but someone who's quite ordinary in their life, or just your average person, and then on camera they just shine. Do you? Can you think of anyone who's done that for you? Or if you can't think of someone specifically, what is it? Do you think about someone who's just got a great on camera presence? It might even be a journalist or a presenter? What? What makes that on camera bit special?
Speaker 2 19:38
I think first of all is when people are relaxed or aren't nervous. So you can really tell when you're behind the camera and you're filming someone, be it a correspondent, a journalist, juicer or talent, that they're nervous, and it shows obviously being in their speech the way. Stand in the way they hold themselves. So I know it's very hard not to be nervous, but that's the the I'd say the number one point is try and be relaxed as much as you can. As a someone that sort of springs to mind, I loved working with Liz Hayes because she has a such a professional attitude all the time. And she's such a lovely person, but she comes across just so naturally. We'll just roll stuff off, off her tongue, just how's this sound? Blah, blah, blah, and away she goes. Charles Woolley was great. He's he is unpredictable. We'll give you a great one line or another. Bloke was Matt Fry from the BBC on he's now Channel Four ITN, but he would just come up with these one lines that were incredible in a story when we're in Hurricane Katrina. In your there was a couple of shots that a cameraman got, and we're all out shooting for the BBC. And there was one of all these little outboard tinnys Just screaming around all of the streets of of New Orleans. And then the The stadium was the roof had been ripped off, and there was a statue at the front. So he came up with a great line. He started with all a shot of all these little tinnys criss crossing across the all of these streets. And he said, Welcome to the Venice from hell. And it was just, you go right, that is it. That sums it up. And there was a soldier, a statue, a salute in he said it was a cast iron salute to a balding stadium, or something like that. It was just these lines that that fit the pictures. So there's great journalists that have stood out for me. A lot of the world leaders that you interviewed just have that charisma. Barack Obama, you see the bloke, and you go, wow, and he's very good, and he's not, he wasn't fazed by people yelling at him or people trying to trick him up with questions. He would just remain calm and take the high road, digging deep and going low. He just stays high. And he was fantastic. One other fellow I interviewed a long time ago was Gough Whitlam. Oh, wow, yeah, he was incredible, such a witty man. He was in a lab the labor headquarters. There was him and Bob Hawke there together. This is a long time ago, and I just remember him just being an incredible let alone what he'd done. But even this was quite a few years before his death, but he was quite ugly, but he still had that spark and that width and that charisma,
Liz Nable 22:44
in my opinion. And it's interesting, because as a journalist or former journalist, I don't know if you're ever a former journalist, I think you just always think you remain, yes, yeah. I've just feel, and since I've started this medium PR business, to me that on camera presence, or that ability to project your voice, speak articulately, like you said, like Barack Obama was so beautiful with words, but you don't necessarily have to be good with words. You just need to be able to kind of understand the message that you're trying to get across, to have that on screen presence. And now it's, I think it's a really important asset for your business, because there's so much of it that will be on social media or even perhaps on stage, if you're looking to get keynote speaking opportunities or pitch to investors, or pitch to business other businesses, for other business partnership opportunities and those sorts of things. Is there any sort of habits or pet peeves that you have as a journalist that you don't think sometimes your talent even know they're doing like things like saying all the time or twirling their hair, or what kind of things do you need to be aware of if you're not comfortable in front of a camera?
Speaker 2 23:54
Yet, the one thing that a lot of people do, and even producers or journalists when they're asking questions, or talent when they're answering will start with so, so, and that's the first word that comes out, and it might be 90% of the time. And if I don't know that, that annoys me, I'm not on the other end. So it's a little bit hard, or people that you know, I think it's just having that confidence that, especially in a business, you know what you're talking about, and you're trying to get that message across so and now it's you're not, it's not an ad going on the six o'clock News, which was prime time back in the day. Now, with social media and other platforms that you can, you can, you should have the confidence to be able to get up there and just talk about yourself and your business. I know it's easier said than done, but I think just and do a couple of rehearsals before you you. Go on and as I said before, have someone ask you questions, or have have us have something written out so you you've got it in dot form, so you've got your message messages there that you want to get across. So rather than get up and ramble for five minutes, which people will get tired of very quickly. If you can be concise in in your answers or in your message, that would be very, very beneficial.
Liz Nable 25:31
Or they could just come to our TV town accelerated day, and we can teach them how to do it.
Speaker 2 25:36
Or they could come to an accelerated day with Liz Nable podcast in the nation. I think
Liz Nable 25:43
just before we finish, we can't finish this without talking about your worst TV interview talent ever, which we discussed very briefly, and you forgot that I was the journo on this story. Tell us a little bit about who is the worst TV talent, I guess he was in character as well as talent. Tell me a bit about what that was, set the scene, and tell us that story.
Speaker 2 26:07
There's a few people that have this facade that they're on TV or on camera or radio or online, whatever it is, and they've got a facade that this is their personality, this is their character, this is who they are. And there might be one input. There was a lot of actors like that, and a lot of journalists that I've worked with were like that as well. But one in particular might be a current president who we were doing a sim set. So it was a camera set up in a tower, a tower in New York, and we're in the bowels of that tower, and we could not get a mobile signal from this conference
Liz Nable 26:50
room. Just explain what a sim SAT is, because is where the
Speaker 2 26:55
talent is talking to the journalist back Well, in this case, back in Australia, and they're talking to the camera and that they've got an earpiece and they can hear the talent talking to them. So it's a simulated satellite interview. Sim sat and we and it was pre recorded. Obviously, that's what it is. It's pre recorded. And so we were in this tower in the middle of Manhattan, sitting down my sound recorders was at the one end of this boardroom table trying to get through this towers switchboard, and he was on the phone to them downstairs. I had the talent in front of me on camera with an earpiece in his ear, not hearing anything really tearing us to shreds. Who is this outfit? Who do you work for? I don't know. This is the worst outfit. I'm never doing an interview with these people again. I don't know. Is this an a bit of a germophobe? So he pulled his earpiece out and we it was a new one, and so he's got it. Did you clean this? Yes, sir Mr. It's a clean one. It's a new one. Yes, I don't know who are you. Hello, Charlie. How are you? Suddenly, the earpiece is working. He can hear Charlie the other end in Sydney, nice as pie. Nice as pie. This facade just 180 and did the interview. It was about a real estate venture, blah, blah, blah, and spooking about himself, let alone who we were talking about, and chatting up Charlie. Then it was great. Okay, thank you, Charlie. Bye, yeah, that storm pulled the microphone off. I'm never doing that again. I'm never working with this outfit. It's the most unprofessional bank slam goes the door. I looked at the sound recorders, and we just went, Wow, he's a joke at
Liz Nable 28:49
risk of getting the podcast pulled off the air this podcast. Yeah. So to clarify, we were interviewing a current US President. We're I was really excited about that interview. I was like, Oh, my God, amazing. But he wasn't obviously current US president at that point. No, that's right for a story for 60 minutes, and the journalist was in Australia, so I was standing in as the producer.
Unknown Speaker 29:10
Yeah, so you heard
Liz Nable 29:12
the tirade. He was so rude to that poor sound guy, so uncomfortable.
Speaker 2 29:19
Yes, he had three phones. He had one in the boardroom. He had his mobile, and then I think he had another phone from one of the hangers on that were there trying to get through to the switchboard downstairs to let this call go through, so we could get it out, so the earpiece could go through his mixer to get to the talent. So it was, it was not our doing. It was actually their switchboard downstairs. Anyway. That was, that's one, yeah, one joke, yeah.
Liz Nable 29:51
That was an eye opener that interview. And I, I guess he's possibly the most high profile person I've ever interviewed, not realizing it at that time, the mind. Boggles to think of what we would have been thinking back then, knowing what we know now. Yes, exactly, very unexpected off camera behavior and a different person on camera, which was yes, yeah, very much. Alright, before we wrap up any kind of hot tips for anyone who's thinking about doing this in person, TV talent accelerator,
Speaker 2 30:21
I would just say, do your homework. It's you can't be caught off guard. You can be caught off guard. So that's the secret, not the secret, but it's just a little bit of common sense. Is making sure that you've done your homework and know what you're going to be talking about, other than other than that. I think it's just yeah, try and be relaxed, try and not be nervous, and just enjoy the enjoy well, especially, enjoy the day with you. Liz, and hopefully myself there. Enjoy the day and feel free to ask as many questions as you can on the day, because we'll if we don't know the answer, obviously, we'll find out. Hopefully, with our knowledge and experience, we'll have some sort of an answer for you.
Liz Nable 31:05
Yeah. I'm excited to do this. So to recap, it's Friday the 10th of October. We've only got two spots left at the time of recording, so very limited amount of people due to the fact that it'll the whole goal of this day is to transform people's confidence on camera. So we'll be spending a lot of time one on one with each student.
Speaker 2 31:23
Yeah, I think, and that's great. I know we've discussed what, what you've got planned, and I think people that come will be certainly enlightened at the end of it for to get an understanding of a procedure that will happen down the track for them, hopefully, if they are on board with another channel for a TV show or a news story, or someone on social media wants to come and interview them that we will, hopefully, at the end of the day, have them give them a clearer understanding of what's involved and how to present yourself and your company.
Liz Nable 31:56
Yeah, absolutely. And I don't think there's anyone else doing what we're doing. There's a lot of corporate training, media training teams, no one with a news background like us, so it's certainly a once in
Unknown Speaker 32:06
That's great. Yeah, that's great. Yes. Um,
Liz Nable 32:08
alright, so in the show notes, guys, we I will pop in the link to sign up or register or learn more, so you can click that link, or you can reach out to me on social media or in my DMs or email Liz at Liz Nable.com. Thank you so much. Mark. It has been a pleasure having you, and I will see you in October.
Unknown Speaker 32:26
Yeah. Love Liz, thank you.
Liz Nable 32:29
This episode of media magnet was brought to you by my signature group coaching program, the media masters Academy. The media masters Academy is a live, online, six week course taught by me and designed to teach you how to become your own publicist and give you exclusive access to pitch the country's top journalists and editors. Doors open just three times a year. Check it out at Liz nable.com along with a ton of free resources to help you get started taking your business from Best Kept Secret to household name right now. If you love this episode of media magnet, please share it with your business buddies or on social media and tag me at at Liz underscore Nabal. And if there's a specific guest you want to hear from on the show, or a topic or question you want to know more about, please tell me so I can make sure the show stays dedicated, especially for you.
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