What Goes on in the Green room

Everything that goes down in the green room before the show is as important as all the moments leading up to it. The green room is the calm, cool, collected place where you wait before you go on set and on air.

Call Time

Call time is the pre-arranged time to meet at the studio in which you’ll be taken to the green room to wait before you go on set. The call time is specific. Being a guest that arrives too early can often run into a lack or limitation of green room space that is booked for other guests who have earlier call times and taping times. Sit in your car if you are early. Naturally, it goes without saying what the unspoken consequences are for being late for a call time.

You want to make sure you’re the easiest person the show will be dealing with all day. That means being ready to go on camera the second you arrive on set and doing your best to be free the rest of the day. And that if you DO have a later commitment that you can’t get out of, keep it to yourself, or at least to your coaches at TVGuestpert! Always remember that anything can happen—and often does—to throw off the day’s shooting schedule.

On the front end, another guest may be running late or needing extra time in hair and makeup. You, on the other EASIER hand, can keep the shoot on schedule by being able to tape your segment early. I’ve also seen plenty of shoots running behind when the other guest is an A-list actor who is giving the producer a hard time because she has to get to a movie premiere. Yes, your time is valuable and in demand. But you don’t want to let your ego get in the way in these cases.

I’m sorry, but there is no real value in presenting yourself as an in-demand commodity. Producers will simply release you and move on. There’s far greater value in being able to say, “Not a problem. I don’t mind waiting in the green room a bit longer. We can tape my segment after they’re finished.”

Trust me, these are tense moments. The green room is where everyone has to sit in their nerves before being called to set. If you’re ready to go right away, or can be flexible if segments need to be switched (as in the above example) and yours ends up taping an hour later, what do you think that makes you? You’ve become the solution to the producer’s problem!

Even though producers tend to see guests as being interchangeable, making their day easier is something that will help you stand out and ensure that you get asked back. Need I remind you, producers go from show to show to show and take their contact list of valuable assets with them. So let’s make sure you stay on that list!

Mic’d

Once you’re in the studio, assume anything you say can be heard by anyone at any given time. This is especially true after you’ve been mic’d, but it’s even true when you’re talking to someone on the production staff, who could just as easily be wearing a mic capable of recording anybody anytime. I can’t count the number of stories I’ve heard (including some I’ve witnessed) where people on set think they’re sharing an intimate moment with someone else that can easily be broadcast to everyone back in the control room, and sometimes throughout the set.

Donald Trump’s conversation with Billy Bush on the set of Extra was not private in the way that he thought. Everything you say can and will be used against you.

Many of these stories have a certain degree of humor to them, but not all. The most dramatic I’ve heard involved a young expert on his first appearance. He had called his friends on his cell phone and was bragging about how great the feeling of being on the set was for him. The problem was that he was making up lies about members of the crew and saying crass things about the women in particular. He was asked to leave the set without a taping. Don’t let this happen to you unless you want your segment to be cancelled and to never be asked back.

Expert Tip: If you’ve been mic’d and you have the desire and time to use the restroom before your segment tapes, that’s an appropriate situation to ask whether or not your mic is on and if it can be turned off. Other than that, assume anyone on set can and will hear everything you’re doing and/ or saying.

Jacquie is the founder and CEO of the 15-year-old cuttingedge, media and content development, promotions and booking platform, TVGuestpert that offers full-service promotion, marketing, business strategy and media services for her clients, partners and collaborators, TVGuestpert Publishing - a NY Times Best Selling publishing house, and The Guestpert Academy - an online program offering visibility, media training and TVGuestpert OnCamera Training. She is also a two-time Emmy nominated TV Producer, three-time author and the host of Front & Center with Jacquie Jordan, a broadcast podcast.