Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Good Morning Texas

Well, we survived our television debut this morning!  We were invited to appear on Good Morning Texas, which is a local lifestyle show that follows Good Morning America.  Here's the backstage dope.

We arrived at 8am; the show airs live at 9am.  The studio is located in Victory Park in downtown Dallas, just outside the American Airlines arena where the Stars and the Mavericks play.  The unmanned lobby (which is really not much more than a vestibule with a couple of chairs) was beginning to fill up with all the day's guests.  Within minutes, one of the cameramen/producers came out and called for us to set up our prop table in the studio.  While we were setting up, the local weatherman (Greg Fields) was in front of a green screen doing the weather after the local anchor finished doing news cut-ins.  All of this was taking place in roughly a 20' x 30' room.

Susan and Sarah at the prop table 
After setting up, we went into the break room right outside the studio.  Greg Fields was sitting on the sofa taking a catnap!  I guess in between cut-ins, he doesn't have much to do, and there's no telling what time he has to report to the studio in the mornings for the local news.  I'd take a catnap too!

We were supposed to present pillowcases to Lynne Sipiora of The Samaritan Inn, but we received word that she was involved in an auto accident on her way down.  So now, we had to rearrange the shot.  We spoke with Paige, our host, and reviewed our materials.  She was just the sweetest - so down to earth and friendly!!  We found out that we were scheduled during the first segment of the show; no time to get any more nervous than we already were!

Lynne arrived at the studio, but it was too late to squeeze her in.
Susan, Lynne, and Bridgette from LuckyU PR
Before we knew it, it was time to go into the studio.  We were set up 8 feet away from the first guest.  Kinda weird to be standing that close to live TV.  The next guest was filmed outside while they turned the camera around and prepared for us.  Paige was right there with us being calm and reassuring, and then BAM! we were on!  Probably the fastest 3 minutes of my life!  While we were filming, Nanci was outside taking photos of us on the Jumbotron on the AA Center.  How cool is that?

We then packed up all our props, visited with Paige a little longer, and headed to our car.  We were back on the highway by 9:30.  The funny thing is, I started shaking once we got to the car.  PTSD??

It was a great experience.  It was interesting to see how they utilize such a relatively small space for a variety of guests and setups.  I still feel like a dork, but apparently we did a decent job.  Who knows?  Perhaps they'll invite us back!

If you didn't see the show, you can watch our story here.

1 comment:

Sewjoe said...

You both did an awesome job! It was so neat to see our local shop on TV.