Deez Interviews: Meet the Cosmo video producer wrangling celeb shoots with Cardi B, Tan France, and more
Happy Friday, Deezers! This week’s interview is with Erika Trombley, a former producer on the Cosmo video team. If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to shoot the likes of Tan France and Kelly Clarkson for video, this is your time people!! Erika’s got all the deets on building your network, staying cool under pressure, and talking to A-listers like they're your co-workers.
Enjoy!
//
The interviewee: Erika Trombley (follow her @erika_trombley )
The gig: Associate producer at Cosmopolitan
The hustle: We have shoots 2-3 days per week, and the other days are spent in pre- and post-production. Depending what kind of shoot we have that day (celeb, style, beauty, food, fitness), I could be doing anything from greeting talent and going through legal/payment paperwork to conducting the interview and coordinating the crew.
Pre-production involves pitching video ideas, working with PR reps/talent managers/agents and booking crew, while post-production involves processing paperwork, updating the budget and working with my co-associate producer and video editor on the cut.
You work with a LOT of A-list celebrities for your job, from the Queer Eye guys to Hilary Duff. What's that like??
I would be lying if I said it wasn’t fun and a little surreal! I love getting to meet and talk to people whom I look up to or have admired for years, and I especially love the moments when we get to watch celebs in their element, like Jonathan Van Ness showing how to create a gorgeous hair moment or Kelly Clarkson trying to remember the lyrics to her own song.
I love celeb videos when we come up with an idea pegged to their personality, career or project, because it feels more personalized and can make them feel more comfortable. For example, when we interviewed Cardi B, we brought in the drag queen Naomi Smalls, dressed as Cardi B from the Bodak Yellow music video, to interview her. Cardi absolutely loved it, and while that kind of concept definitely would not have worked for everyone, it made the video super unique to her.
What advice do you have on being professional but also like, ~chill~ around celebs?
The biggest lesson I’ve learned from interviewing and working with celebrities is to be confident. I’ve found that, most often, when I talk to talent like I would talk to one of my coworkers — because, for that half an hour, they in some ways are — it’s been much more comfortable.
In the same vein, being confident also means having (or acting like you) have all your sh*t together. Last week, we had a celeb show up a day earlier than we thought. The celeb was not ~thrilled~ that we weren’t expecting them, but when we came back out with our game plan for the shoot (as well as everything we had already prepped in advance), it completely eased the tension, because we showed we were still on top of our ish.
Keeping calm/not panicking/playing like it was totally cool allowed us to pull it off — if we came off like we were super stressed, the celeb would have totally picked up on it, and that would have come through in the final product.
This is more of a technical Q: what tools do you use as a video producer, and how did you first learn how to use them?
Our team uses Adobe Premiere to edit and Canon C300s and Lumix GH5s to film. We have a wide range of lights for the studio — Arri, Astra, Kino Flo. I knew exactly nothing about lighting and camera equipment (minus, like, setting up a tripod) coming in, so I learned everything from our videographers.
I asked them a TON of questions — like, really, a ton — and wrote down everything they taught me. Since I’ve moved from production assistant to associate producer, however, I don’t really set up lights, cameras, or edit, because now my focus is on the producing aspect — casting, booking crew, scouting locations, coordinating shoots, interviewing, etc.
For casting, I use modeling agencies, social media, word of mouth, and Backstage, depending on the shoot, and we book most, if not all of our crew (freelance videographers, gaffers, audio, PAs, makeup artists, hair stylists, stylists, etc.) through word of mouth.
One of my biggest tips that I’ve learned from my time in video production is to build your own network of contacts (crew, agents, etc.) It will be KEY as you move between teams and jobs.
Video production is a huge area of interest for so many young people in media. But without a journalism education or roster of internships, what's the best way they can get noticed for their work?
Even though I graduated with a degree in journalism, I had little experience in video — I studied advertising and PR, and decided junior year that in reality, I wanted to do video. I basically threw myself into learning video through internships and on my own time.
I got my job at Cosmo through a fellow University of Missouri grad, and in the interview, I just kept telling my soon-to-be boss that anything I didn’t know (which thankfully, he didn’t realize was pretty much everything), I could learn really fast. After that, I asked a lot of questions, I wrote everything I was learning about equipment, editing and producing down, and researched on my own time.
As far as getting noticed for your work, I would suggest having some kind of channel or site where you keep all your work, and making sure that work really reflects your area of expertise and interest.
Personally, I don’t think there is a specific platform that’s best for showing off your work, just make sure that it makes sense. Also, if you’re looking for work, make sure your email is handy!! I find people on IG all the time that we would love to work with, but if I don’t see an email in bio, there’s a chance I won’t reach out!
Finally, can you link us to one of your fave Cosmo videos and tell us a little about what was going on behind the scenes?
I think our video with Tan France from Netflix’s Queer Eye is such a great example of how wide the scope of my job can be. My senior producer and I confirmed the shoot the night before, and had to finalize all the details, including casting, in ~16 hours.
We decided to do mini-makeovers with five different guys -- four Hearst employees, and one Hearst employee’s husband — and wanted to get clothes from Topman for the makeovers. The next morning, I had to coordinate with Topman’s PR team to pull 10 pieces — and then I had to go to the store in Soho and pull them myself… eek!
In a semi-panicked state (stemming from the fact that I am a producer, not a stylist), I basically went off of Tan’s IG to decide what he might like to style the guys with, and tried not to panic at the thought that he could realize the entire rack of clothes we had for him was basically his own closet, LOL.
Tan was absolutely incredible to work with, though— extremely warm and professional — and, he even tried to FaceTime my mom because my boss told Tan she was such a huge fan. Plus, the video and the makeovers both turned out great.
//
That’s a wrap on this week! Don’t forget to follow Erika @erika_trombley — she JUST recently became a segment producer at Hearst, so you know there’s lots more good video ish to come. Have a great weekend!
Like Deez Links? Forward this to your fave Queer Eye guy.