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How
we helped Channel 4 "Fake It"! 24 February 2004
Tonight,
Channel 4 viewers will see 29 year-old mother of three, Jatinder
Sumal attempt to "fake it" as a showbiz TV reporter in
the latest instalment of the award-winning Faking It documentary.
What viewers may not see, however, is the behind-the-scenes
coaching given by Pozitiv founder, Glenn
Kinsey and his team.
The series is a transformational battle against the odds. Individuals
are plucked from their natural habitat and, with the help of expert
tuition, given four weeks to master a skill well enough to fool
a group of expert judges. Previous programmes have featured the
likes of punk rocker to classical conductor, solicitor to Garage
MC and Navy officer to drag queen!
During last summer's filming of the programme, concerned producers
called us in after they became increasingly worried that Jatinder,
who works in her family's Glasgow newsagents, may not be able to
convincingly
fool the expert judges, despite help and training from her "mentors"
consisting of two BBC presenters - Claudia Winkleman and Alex Stanger
- and Mirror newspaper editor,
Piers Morgan.
Claudia recommended that the team contact Glenn, the UK's most
successful presenter trainer - and credited with starting or transforming
the careers
of several
hundred TV reporters and presenters - who put a nervous Jatinder
through an intensive day's coaching at our Westminster
studios,
resulting
in a transformation
later described by producers as "the turning point".
And tonight, viewers will see her fool every single celebrity judge
- including TV executive, Janet Street-Porter - who all thought one
of the three professional presenter "decoys" was the "faker"!
Jatinder's "test" was the delivery of a live report to camera in
front of millions of viewers on GMTV's Entertainment Today before
conducting a celebrity interview with pop duo, The Appletons. And,
minutes after hearing that not one of the judges had spotted her,
she
called
Glenn
to say,
"I couldn't
have done it without your help!"
Our training mirrored the eventual "test", with coaching
in everything from using an earpiece to interview technique, with
the main focus
on bolstering Jatinder's on-screen confidence and charisma. In addition,
to enhance the "illusion" of a seasoned pro for her
upcoming "test", our team provided much help in ensuring that Jatinder
knew
how to
"interact"
with the
crew. Practical exercises included studio presentations and
interviews as well as
the setting
up of a live link to Westminster's Abingdon Green, where Jatinder
took questions from our studio "presenter"
before
conducting several interviews in front of The Houses of Parliament.
And, ironically, the co-host of GMTV's Entertainment Today and
the presenter who linked to Jatinder during her actual TV "test"
was Pozitiv client, Ben Shephard who started his career on one
of our courses.
Congratulations to Jatinder and her mentors from all of us here!
*Faking It is an RDF Media production for Channel 4.
*World leaders in presenter training
with clients in 14 different countries, Pozitiv provides a range
of coaching and services for both new and
experienced television presenters. Find out more here»
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