Unpacking the upcoming "End of Life Choice Act" referendum
Caralise Trayes being interviewed by The Project hosts, Jessie Mulligan, Kanoa Lloyd and Jeremy Corbett on THREE about her book, The Final Choice. End of Life Suffering: Is Assisted Dying the Answer?
“New Zealanders, if you want to do your homework, that [The Final Choice] is the book.”
I got the call from The Project segment producer a few days before the scheduled interview. With TV interviews you have to prove you know what you’re talking about and have a bit of “on-screen talent”. No one wants to hear someone rabbit on about how they spent hours tossing around words for a book title, or how statistics can be interpreted in all sorts of ways.
TV in particular needs good visual storytelling: And that’s why the concept of interviewing two people - Esther Richards and Claire Freeman - as an introduction was a winner in really bringing things to life. The Project segment clip has had more than 27,000 views on Facebook - making it one of the most popular clips this year.
It was a surreal moment sitting in the makeup chair having my face powdered (and reading Kanoa’s make-up artist’s notes which were stuck next to the mirror) before being led through to the multi-camera studio. I was offered a chair in front of a green screen; a camera two metres in front of me glaring for my attention. It was no time to be shy.
Presenters sat across the room and quickly cut the ice with good humour and hospitality. And the TV crew in the studio were very kind.
A couple of tricky questions were dished out and my answers had to be incredibly short. Clever editing helped with that. In just a few minutes it was all done.
I had a brief chat with the presenters at their desk and gave each of them a book, and took a quick promo photo. They were ready to continue filming and I was led to the exit.
The resulting piece: a quick yet powerful introduction into some of the key elements at play.