Whenever I interview someone on camera, I want them to feel at ease. I like to get them chatting about something fun and light so they feel like the pressure is off. (It’s also a way for the sound person to get proper audio levels without having them countdown from 10.)
My go-to questions usually involve food. I love to eat and try new dishes, and I hope my enthusiasm will be contagious.
But recently, my usual topic for starting an interview was a big disaster.
I was filming for Housing Up, my client that supports formerly homeless families with housing and services to keep them housed.
An extremely shy and quiet middle school boy sat ready for his interview. I asked my go-to question. “Tell me what you had for breakfast this morning.” His response: “I didn’t have breakfast.” Not everyone eats breakfast, so I asked, “What did you have for lunch?” He replied, “I didn’t eat lunch… I wasn’t hungry.”
Anyone who knows tween boys knows that most would be starving by the afternoon if they hadn’t had breakfast or lunch. It was heartbreaking to realize that getting a basic meal was still a struggle for his family, even with housing.
I felt insensitive for asking the question and fortunate that this was not a usual concern for most people I interviewed.
Thankfully, the event we were about to film was a make-your-own taco party. Housing Up serves a critical role for their families, providing food vouchers, coordinating daily donations from DC Central Kitchen, and providing meals and snacks for the children in their buildings. We were glad to showcase their important work as a part of Giving Tuesday last year.
But clearly, I need a better universal topic for interviews in the future. “Where are you from?” might be good, as everyone is from somewhere. Or maybe, “What season of the year is your favorite?”
Do you have suggestions for good universal questions? Or stories of warm-up questions that went wrong? Please share in the comments below.