The Joy of Moderating
And remembering that time Oprah joined a panel I was moderating!
First off, this past week has been a busy one for me, which I admit I’m not used to since life in Bangkok has been a bit slower and less hectic (by design and also just the nature of living in the Land of Smiles!). But it’s a welcome kind of busy because I had a few freelance writing assignments come due the same week and I was also asked to moderate two virtual panels. (More on that in a moment)
What I’m trying to get to is an apology for the later-than-usual post this week. I do strive for Wednesdays every week but I’m finding that that’s easier said that done some weeks more than others. Moving forward, then, I remain committed to posting at least once a week. I like aiming for Wednesdays but some weeks it might come on Monday or Thursday or, like this week, Saturday. Thanks for understanding and for continuing to support me and Coffee, TV & Me.
Back to that moderating mention. I knew I would miss several things about working as an entertainment journalist in Los Angeles once I relocated to the other side of the world and this week’s moderating gig reminded me just how much. You see, I really, really love moderating panels and getting up on a stage to talk TV with producers, writers and/or actors while an enthusiastic audience watches? What’s not to like? It’s always something that I felt was an added bonus to an already cool job.
While in the States, I had the good fortune of moderating panels at Los Angeles-based venues like the Paley Center for Media, Writers Guild of America and the SAG-AFTRA Foundation. Also, at TV festivals like ATX TV Festival in Austin (which begins May 30th and while I won’t be there this year, you should go. It’s awesome and a beacon for TV lovers), SeriesFest in Denver, SCAD TV Fest in Atlanta and the Tribeca TV Festival in New York City. Then there are the Cons like WonderCon in Anaheim in the spring, New York Comic Con in NYC in the fall and the big daddy San Diego Comic Con every July.
Being in Bangkok makes moderating a bit of a challenge. Zoom panels were all the rage during the pandemic but they’re fewer and farther between now that in-person is back to being the preferred option. Also, time zones are a big factor considering Bangkok is 11 hours ahead of the East Coast and 14 hours ahead of the PST time zone.
However, the planets aligned this past week when I had the honor of moderating two panels for the SAG AFTRA Foundation Conversation series with the Lead Actor and Lead Actress nominees for the 51st Daytime Emmy Awards (airing on CBS at 8/7c on June 7). Besides being days I was available, even better was the panels were late in the day in the U.S. but perfect timing for me having my morning coffee and talking TV with some fine actors. The Lead Actor panel included The Bold and the Beautiful’s John McCook, Scott Clifton and Thorsten Hayes as well as Days of Our Lives’ Eric Martsolf. The Lead Actress panel featured Days of Our Lives’ Tamara Braun, General Hospital’s Finola Hughes and Cynthia Watros, The Bold and the Beautiful’s Annika Noelle and The Young and the Restless’s Michelle Stafford. So. Much. Fun. (Once the panels are posted on YouTube, I’ll be sure to share them!)
Also, I’ve always loved doing panels for the SAG AFTRA Foundation because while you might be promoting a TV series or a body of work by acting talent, you can ask questions about the craft of acting and really learn more about an actor and how they work. My acting background is limited to being a theater minor at Indiana University, Bloomington where I loved acting and felt it made me a better creative writer. I also came to respect actors because it’s not easy work so being able to ask some of the best in the biz is heaven to me.
I had such a good time moderating those two panels and it send me down a rabbit hold of looking through photos from past panels I’d had the honor of moderating. The first thing that struck me is how many there are and with some really cool people like Jane Fonda & Lily Tomlin, Helen Mirren, Jason Momoa, Steve Martin & Martin Short, Jennifer Hudson as well as the casts of TV shows like Brooklyn 99, The Fosters, Black Sails, Shadowhunters, Will & Grace, Mad About You, Manifest, Grace & Frankie and so many more! I’m a lucky guy.
One panel always come to mind when people ask me about a favorite experience while moderating. It was October, 2016 and the SAG AFTRA Foundation asked me to moderate a conversation for the OWN drama series Greenleaf, which had aired its first season earlier that year (season two would come in 2017). I was a fan of the show and had talked to the cast members before for other projects so it was a quick yes. Cast members Merle Dandridge, Lynn Whitfield and Keith David were set for the panel and it would be the usual chat about the show itself as well as the cast members talking about their careers as professional actors to an audience of primarily SAG AFTRA members. The theater at the their Los Angeles offices is intimate (maybe 100 seats) so it’s a very personal, lovely space for this kind of conversation.
A few days before the panel, when I normally start writing down my questions and maybe watch whatever might be screened before the Q&A, I received an email message that there was an addition to the panel - Oprah Winfrey. She was an executive producer on the series and also had a recurring role as Mavis McCready, estranged sister to Whitfield’s Lady Mae Greenleaf so it made perfect sense she might be there. My first reaction was to release a giddy, nervous laugh. I thought, “so I’m going to moderate a panel with a legend who had had a 25 year long talk show, had talked to everybody and is, well, Oprah?!’ The short answer was yes!
I had moderated a lot of panels at this point, had had many good experiences (and thankfully only a few not so good ones) but at the end of the day as long as I knew the project we were talking about and was well prepared with more questions than I’d ever need, I’d be just fine. In this case, I was a fan of Greenleaf, knew I could come up with a plethora of questions and decided I would just do my job as moderator and go with the flow.
When I do get a little nervous about an upcoming panel as happens, I tend to calm myself down by reminding myself my basic rules of moderating that I’ve learned by watching really good moderators over the years but also by watching some that are I’ll say should not be moderating. The most important rule in moderating, I think, is that it is not about you. I keep my opening remarks short and sweet, introduce the panelists and guide the conversation as best I can. I don’t spend much time talking about my own experience with the show or the talent because I know nobody is there to see me. People come to a panel to see the panelists so that’s what I give them. I hope any enthusiasm I may have about a show or talent comes through my questions which are always from the viewpoint of a journalist and a TV fan since I am both.
I shouldn’t have been surprised that the Greenleaf panel went great. Everyone on the panel was terrific and are such pros they know how to talk about their characters, working together and also how to have some fun along the way, which the audience always eats up. And it will come to no surprise that Oprah was an awesome panelist. She spoke when asked a question and attentively listened to everyone else talk. And I had not met her before at this point and she couldn’t have been more warm and gracious talking to me before, during and after the panel.
Actually, I have to share a small part of that panel once it wrapped up. Normally, once the panel ends, the panelists are escorted off the stage and exit the space. A lot of the SAG AFTRA panels were in the evening so I always get that once the work is over, you just want to head home. But I noticed as the panel ended and we started exiting off the stage, Oprah stayed put in her chair and this is one of the reasons why she’s so revered. She knew audience members would want to come to the stage and say hello to her so she stayed there to do just that.
Sure enough, suddenly there was a line of about 20 people who waited patiently as they came up to either say hello, tell her what they meant to her and I remember one women even handed her a gift (a journal book I believe she had decorated to give to Oprah). It was a beautiful thing to see and also a good lesson in graciousness that I hope I’ve carried into every panel I have moderated over the years (and into the future).
And, to watch me in action, here’s that 2016 conversation with the cast of Greenleaf including Oprah! It was a night I’ve never forgotten! (Also, if you haven’t watched Greenleaf, all five delicious seasons are available on Netflix.)
My queen, Oprah. Such a great story. Thanks for sharing.