SXSW 2010 Panel Picks – Working The Press: Intellectual Intercourse and Interviews
With so many panels to choose from during the SXSW Music and Media Conference, it can be hard to decide which to attend. We’ve gone through the list and will be bringing to your attention the ones that we thought would best help the independent musicians. Starting off with our first pick, Working The Press: Intellectual Intercourse and Interviews.
Ali MacLean knows her stuff. It’s as simple as that. With the entertainment industry constantly plagued with a flood of “self-described experts” that amount to nothing more than smoke and mirrors, individuals that have the actual experience to back up the talk are few and far between. Maclean possesses an enviable resume that would make those of her colleagues appear anorexic and lacking in comparison.
Vast experience as an on-air talent, writer, producer (MTV, VH-1, ABC, Fox, Indie 103.1 FM, Little Radio, Vlaze TV, Sirius Radio, Kathy Griffin’s So Called Reality, Celebrity Death Match) as well as a background in stand-up and sketch comedy (HBO’s Mr. Show, VH-1’s Ill-Ustrated) have allowed MacLean to learn the ins and outs of the entertainment industry from being both in front of the camera and behind it. All of this combined with her journalistic talents (Urb TV, Antiquiet TV, Huffington Post) and her passion for good music (expressed via her occasional dj sets and radio shows) lead her to be a logical choice to bring a Music Panel focusing on teaching the “best interview techniques and ways to use press attention to your advantage,” titled Working The Press: Intellectual Intercourse and Interviews to the 2010 SXSW Music and Media Conference.
Fresh from directing a film short called ‘DJ Intervention,‘ starring Arabian Prince from NWA, Adam 12 from She Wants Revenge, Ken Jordan from Crystal Method, and Rhettmatic from the Beat Junkies (Part One can be found on Funny or Die.com where you can vote funny for it, and Part Two will soon follow), Ali MacLean took some time to answer some of our questions regarding her upcoming panel (set to take place Wednesday, March 17th at 2:00 pm in Austin Convention Center Room 11B) as well as why she decided to bring this topic to this years SXSW attendees.
TRAffIK: What prompted you to want to bring such a topic to SXSW?
AM: A lot of people ask me questions about how they can get press or get their demos to the right people. That paired with some disastrous interviews and really bad behavior during interviews I conducted or interviews I’ve seen, I figured it would be very useful to the musicians and the publicists attending the festival.
TRAffIK: What should those in attendance of your Panel/Discussion expect to come away with?
AM: Hopefully they will have a better sense of how to get press for themselves or how to approach a press campaign, get a publicist or journalist to notice them… and definitely how to behave when they are on a TV show or radio show.
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