'Entertainment Tonight' has 70 staffers at wedding
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - "Go big or go home."
That's how the executive producer of "Entertainment Tonight" and "The Insider" describes her shows' approach to covering Friday's royal wedding between Prince William and Kate Middleton.
The two shows have 70 staff members in London, including seven camera crews and four hair-and-makeup teams for anchors Mary Hart, Nancy O'Dell and special correspondent Jane Seymour. The wardrobe department brought more than 15 suitcases to ensure they'd be wearing bright colors on air.
"Nobody's getting any sleep," Linda Bell Blue told The Hollywood Reporter. "We all meet in a hotel room suite that we've converted into a newsroom. We have all kinds of producers working around the clock booking stories."
Indeed, for Wednesday morning's dress rehearsal, O'Dell began working at 2 a.m. The show also filmed with night-vision cameras.
To stand out, ET and Insider staffers first flew to London in January to begin planning coverage. They're also working with the CBS News bureau (CBS owns the gossip shows). When not doing location shoots, Hart has been reporting from Buckingham Palace and O'Dell has been at Westminster Abbey, where Middleton and Prince William will wed.
"We were here first. We have hired two British women to set us apart in our coverage," added Bell Blue, referring to Seymour and Sharon Osbourne, who is working with Kevin Frazier on "The Insider." "Piers Morgan has an edge on CNN. Everyone knows him here. So we're taking our strongest women and coupling them with Jane."
Seymour, who was named an Officer of the Order of the British Empire by the Queen in 2000, was able to get an exclusive interview with Prince Harry, where he said he's not nervous to watch his brother walk down the aisle.
"This is the biggest undertaking in the 29-year history of 'Entertainment Tonight.' We've never put this much manpower or committed so many resources to covering something," Bell Blue said. "This will be the most-watched entertainment news television event in history."
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/28/us-wedding-idUSTRE73R5ZY20110428
Jane Seymour finds royal correspondent gig 'quite fun'
LONDON — "This is completely insane. I think there's nothing else happening in the world!" says Jane Seymour, actress-turned-correspondent for Entertainment Tonight. "Clearly there is no news, because all the media are here."
Seymour is loving her royal TV gig and is bubbly after just bumping into Today co-host Meredith Vieira while doing a promo shot at the media grandstand near Westminster Abbey. "I find it quite fun. It's like I'm on the other side of the camera."
And yet the first time she flashed her credential, a security guard recognized her. "I thought, 'Oh, that's great security —— if you've been on telly, they'll let you in.' "
The Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman star, who was born in England but is now an American citizen, calls herself an "AmeriBrit. I'm British enough to be British and American enough to be American."
And she knows those royals. "My perspective is fairly unique. I've been presented to the queen a number of times."
She adds, "I've had dinner at the palace with the older royals, Edward and Prince Charles and Princess Diana, and I know Prince Edward. Fergie, I know very well. She's an old buddy. … So I do know several members of the royal family. A lot of people know them as distant figures."
As for Prince William and Kate Middleton? "I have not met them. I wish I had because they seem amazing. I think they are in love. I think they are perfectly matched. I think they've spent enough time together and apart to know each other. And I think he's had enough time to see if she's the right person for the job."
Seymour's prediction of their marriage: "As challenging as their life will be, they have the best chance of anyone out there."
Seymour is part of a team that includes veteran Mary Hart and former Access Hollywood anchor Nancy O'Dell.
"Jane's a classy lady," says O'Dell, who is also in royal wedding overdrive and pondering what color to wear on camera for the big event, when she'll be right across the street watching Middleton and the prince exit Westminster Abbey.
For ET and sister CBS show The Insider, which may be small compared with the giant network coverage, the wedding is a very big deal.
"This is, by far, the biggest amount in resources and money we have spent on any event," says Linda Bell Blue, executive director of both shows. "It's the Oscars, the Super Bowl and the Grammys all in one."
They have 70 credentialed staff members on site and spent "in the six figures" for a 15-square-foot media studio near Buckingham Palace. And that's why she hired Seymour and Sharon Osbourne, who's working for The Insider, to help with coverage.
"They bring a different perspective," says Blue.
For The Insider's Kevin Frazier, who'll spend much of the week working with Osbourne, it's "a moment in time," and he's convinced that "guys really are paying attention" to this. "We've dealt with Charlie Sheen the last month and a half — let's bring back the elegance."
http://www.usatoday.com/life/people/2011-04-27-jane-seymour-royal-wedding_N.htm
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