The clock is ticking and you need a quote – the fraught world of celebrity interviews

As journalists, we know what headlines and quotes we are looking for. It’s scary when you feel you aren’t getting anywhere, writes Charlotte Cripps

Rita Ora, singer and judge on ‘The Masked Singer’ (Getty)

It’s not often you get invited into somebody’s home when you’re interviewing them – but it happened to me recently with Rita Ora, who was promoting ITV’s The Masked Singer on which she is a judge.

It was a blessing and a curse. After three hours – including her mum cooking us supper – I had so much good material, I didn’t know where to begin. Not all interviews produce gold dust so easily.

In other interviews, I’ve had people eating crisp sandwiches, making the first 10 minutes inaudible, and opening the door to a postman, only to disappear for ages because their dog bit him.

One famous author I interviewed this week on Zoom spent the first 15 minutes talking about the era of her period property and then went off on a wild tangent about her first husband’s career, rather than her own novel.

As journalists, we know what headlines and quotes we are looking for. It can get scary when you only have a set amount of time and you feel you aren’t getting anywhere – especially with big names ­– and a PR is breathing down your neck to finish on time.

To keep up to speed with all the latest opinions and comment sign up to our free weekly Voices newsletter by clicking here

Do you just let people talk to get to the good parts – or forcibly stop them and change the subject? I’ve done both. Often, if you keep pushing with the questioning, you get that great quote. If you steer it too much, you might lose the unexpected gems.

You can try to master the art of the interview – or keep a subject in focus – but it isn’t always easy. Even with a list of well-thought-out questions, it’s often a person’s fleeting thought, the odd connection, or a moment that takes them off autopilot, that makes all the transcribing worth it.

I just wish I did all my interviews in people’s houses – it makes them far less guarded. There’s no doubt about it – home is where the heart is.

Yours,

Charlotte Cripps

Culture writer