All About Our TODAY Show Interview
We were so honored to be interviewed by Sheinelle Jones for a segment on our family last week for The TODAY Show, and we thought it would be fun to look at a little behind the scenes explaining how it all went down.
A few months back, we received an email from a producer on The TODAY Show asking if we would be interested in being interviewed for a segment. It came completely out of nowhere and we almost thought it was fake at first. We responded saying yes, we would be honored and were interested in learning more.
After that, another producer set up a call with us to ask us a few preliminary questions to see what they could frame as a storyline for the interview. She asked us questions about our history and our story, foster care and what we do for work. The whole thing took about 30 minutes and when it was finished, she said they would be in touch soon. That was that.
We didn’t think too much of it afterwards and in truth, kinda forgot about the whole thing for a few weeks. We both know that everything in TV is either extremely quick or it’s a waiting game, so we weren’t holding our breath. They could have still decided not to move forward with our segment at this point.
But then we received an email a couple of weeks later saying they would like to go ahead with the interview! Kevin, the producer who pitched us for the whole thing, set up a time for a Skype call a few weeks out and said he would have more info closer to the date of the call. We were so excited. At this point, we still weren’t 100% sure what they wanted to talk to us about or what's would be covered, but we were optimistic.
A few days before the interview, they sent over a guide on best practices and advice. In it, they said that Apple AirPods or any other type of headphone that fits in your ear would be great to use for recording, as it picks up better sound and everyone can hear each other better, which was a great excuse to finally get a pair of AirPods that we’ve heard so much about. So the day before, we got some and set them up with our computer.
They also had us set up a camera angled off to the side of the computer to capture a different view of the interview. We just used our phone for this, and that’s the angle you see when it goes between straight on and to the side. I made sure to turn my phone on airplane mode so that we weren’t interrupted and so that the camera didn’t accidentally stop recording. Can you imagine how awful that would have been?!
So the day was finally here. We had a time and we were informed Sheinelle Jones would be interviewing us. SHEINELLE JONES. We’ve watched her for years on The TODAY Show and suddenly she would be in our dining room talking with us (virtually, but you get the idea). The whole thing still seemed so crazy, but we were definitely along for the ride. What would we talk about? Is this all about us or are we a part of a larger segment they’re doing on…I don’t know, gay dads? Foster care? Renovating houses? At this point, we still weren’t sure what the whole thing would be about and what our role in it was.
Before Sheinelle came on, we were talking with Kevin and getting the sound set up. As it turns out, it actually sounded clearer without the AirPods, so we all decided it was best to not use them (we still gladly kept them, though, which has made working out at the gym so much easier). We talked to Kevin for maybe 15 minutes before the interview began about, well, mostly how Taylor Swift’s new album was coming out two days after the interview would air. He’s a Swiftie, too! I knew we were in good company.
Side note: the segment was originally scheduled to air around Oct. 3, but it got pushed back to Oct. 19. I can’t imagine how they schedule airdates for all of the things they have going on. My brain hurts just thinking about what they have to plan and keep up with. An organized person I am not, and could never be a producer of any kind (even though it seems like the absolute most fun and exciting job ever).
So after a bit, Sheinelle joined and the interview began. She was so personable and made the whole thing very easy. We were extremely nervous beforehand, but once we all started talking, it eased our nerves and calmed us down quite a bit. She was very friendly and asked really good, detailed questions so that we felt like we were catching up with a friend the entire time.
We did the interview in our dining room because it had the best lighting in the house. We originally set up our computer and phone in the office with the wall of paintings as the background, but it was so dark and didn’t look as good as we thought it would. Then we thought our front room with the fireplace would be the perfect backdrop, but we were backlit (something they said to be aware of in the brief they sent over) by the two windows over the built ins, so we decided against it. This was all an hour before the interview was scheduled to begin, so we were slightly panicking. I suggested the dining room because of the double windows in there that got great light that time of the morning, so we used the dining room table as a desk and set up the area behind us to make it presentable for national television. You know, NBD.
The whole interview lasted almost an hour, and when it was over, we all thanked each other endlessly and that was that. I kept wondering which parts of the hour-long interview they would use and how they would frame our family, but I didn’t have long to think about that. We both agreed, after it was over, that we were completely drained. We stayed on the couch the rest of the afternoon because our bodies and our minds were gone. I think we had put so much pressure on ourselves and we were so unsure of what the whole experience was going to be like, that we accidentally stressed ourselves out. We were just tired at that point, and coming down from the rush and excitement took all day.
The next day, Kevin asked for a few b-roll shots of things we had mentioned in the interview, like a shot of the wall of postcards we have from sweet subscribers and readers in our upstairs landing area. He also said any other photos or videos we’d like to submit we could, but that he would gather all the footage needed for the interview. That was actually a huge relief, because usually when we’ve done interviews with publications or media outlets, they ask us to send them the photos/videos for it, and it gets pretty time consuming, so I know how hard Kevin worked to comb through our seven years of sharing our life online.
As for the actual segment, we thought the entire thing was so well done and we were very happy with it. We didn’t know how it would turn out, so when it aired, we were surprised it was four minutes long and actually all about us. Up until it actually aired, we still didn’t know if we were part of a larger overall segment or what. The things they highlighted and chose to focus on were so sweet and I almost started crying while watching (I’m pretty sure our moms actually did).
It’s funny, in a way. You live your life day to day and don’t think much of it, because you deal with the realness of it and you see the messiness and imperfections up close and personal, but when you zoom out and look at the overall picture, like the segment did, you realize you have so much to be grateful for. Life is such a gift, and it’s one we’re both thankful for every day.
We want to give a huge thank you to Kevin who pitched the idea to feature our family for the interview. None of this would have happened without him, and we’re endlessly grateful for the opportunity he provided. We’ve already talked about meeting up in IRL when we visit NYC one day (whenever that’ll be-hopefully sooner rather than later) and we can’t wait to say thank you in person!
So there you have it! A little behind the scenes of our TODAY Show interview. We hope you enjoyed the segment, and thank you all so much for the sweet messages of love and support you’ve sent our way since it aired. You can watch the whole thing here.
