Is the art of the chinwag lost? It was perfected with talk show hosts Johnny Carson, Jay Leno, David Letterman and Conan O’Brian. They were the 4 kings of late-night in my opinion and nobody has been able to fill those shoes, despite the new blood on stage. Daytime talk is quite a different animal and is ruled by the queens of chatter – Oprah, Ellen and Wendy Williams. From the outside looking in, it can appear to be the easiest job in the world. You get to dress well, meet interesting people and your audience loves you. We don’t concern ourselves with the preparation, the hard work, bookings, research, politics, ego… we just want to be entertained.
As we crave more and more escapism, due to the constant rescheduling of the pandemic’s demise, it’s difficult to find brain candy that is fresh, easy, unique and intimate. Fortunately for us, someone was aware of Newton’s third law: For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. The statement means that in every interaction, there is a pair of forces acting on the two interacting objects. In evoking this 3rd law, Face to Face With David was created by David Oulton. It’s a daytime talk show that was born from a simple idea and blossomed into an anomaly that’s now holding its own against heavy hitters, Ellen, Kelly Clarkson, The Social and The Marilyn Denis Show.
Face to Face With David has only existed as an entity for a little over a year but it’s catching fire, in a controlled environment and I could not be happier to put my support behind this show. From concept to delivery, this show has all the elements of an underdog story and it’s now international. Success has arrived and the future looks bright but it keeps getting better. David’s show has recently been picked up by OWN, the Oprah Winfrey Network! Now that’s what I call progress and the pinnacle of networks, in terms of social issues/current events and interesting topics that impact our planet. Face to Face With David can be seen on Prime Video, OUTtv, Slice, Apple TV and is set to air on OWN in Canada beginning August 30. The series will have a two-hour premiere beginning with the first season and will air Mondays and Wednesdays at 11:00 am EST.
I spoke to David Oulton shortly after the birth of his show and I was very anxious to hear all about the fabulous progress. Vanessa Williams, Carson Kressley, Perez Hilton, Margaret Cho, Natasha Henstridge and countless other recognizable names from Hollywood have already been on Face to Face With David and that guest list keeps growing. Roll the tape!
HNMAG “A huge congratulations on your success since we last spoke a little over a year ago. You’ve made huge strides, you’re international and you’ve recently been picked up by the Oprah network, OWN. That’s tremendous!”
DAVID “It’s been insane. Amazon on its own, was a big deal but we also have Apple, Slice, OUTtv, the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) and the Global Network app, it’s insane and surreal.”
HNMAG “When you first started this endeavour, it was intended to be a part time project. It’s now become a full-time endeavour, hasn’t it?”
DAVID “Yes it has and I was just telling a friend about how horrible Covid has been with all of the tragedy that’s come from it, but for myself – I was able to get a new full-time career from it. I used to put all of my time into selling real-estate, with the odd film or television project on the side… but that’s done a 180 degree turn since Covid. Now I spend most of my day dealing with the show and other projects. It’s surreal and I’m still processing it. It’s all happened so fast. From the first inception of the show to wrapping on the first season (6 episodes), was only 6 weeks. That also included the signing of Amazon documents, finding the crew and here we are, just over a year later and we’re starting on OWN on Monday. It’s very surreal and happening so fast.”
HNMAG “What was that pitch process like, when you approached the Oprah network, OWN?”
DAVID “That was through Corus and was quite a smooth process. I find, once you get past the gatekeepers, people really want to help you succeed. I think there’s this myth that you can’t succeed in this industry unless you have millions of dollars to put into a project with hundreds of people helping you. We are a team of 4 people, at our core. We started in our living room and now film in a hotel but at its core – it’s the same team. Since Covid, many people have been staying home and consuming more content because the theatres are closed. If you have a project that’s wrapped up, packaged and ready to go… that’s appealing to a network. I really wasn’t expecting the networks to be so receptive, with their willingness to work with us. Once you prove your concept and get the first person to say yes, it shows the others that it’s a viable project.”
HNMAG “Are there other networks that you’ll be reaching out to?”
DAVID “Yes. I spend a lot of my time reaching out to people, networking and taking a very gorilla approach to it. Instead of going through agents and distributors, I like to take a very personal approach by getting on the phone and sending off emails. As far as other networks, it really comes down to the audience and if they’re interested in what we’re putting out.”
HNMAG “When you’re booking a guest, will they sometimes ask for the questions in advance?”
DAVID “It’s happened a few times… but the great thing about our show is that you’re almost tricked into feeling that it’s an intimate setting. For the guest, they only see me sitting in front of a screen taking the Zoom call… but from my POV, there’s an entire crew, multiple cameras with lights set up. When a guest comes on, it is very intimate and they can let their guard down a little. People know ahead of time that its one on one, there’s no audience and it’s not a studio. For the most part, people have been comfortable to go with the flow, but there were a few guests that requested the questions in advance. Mostly, they don’t mind talking about anything – but they want to ensure that you also ask about certain key topics/talking points that they’d like to discuss. Although I have my teleprompter beside me, I use talking points and interesting facts to keep the conversation going. It keeps it much more natural and organic as opposed to a defined/structured format of 12 questions. I’m in a Versace bath robe drinking a glass of wine, so we set the tone from the get go. There’s so much on television these days that’s so heavy, with Covid, Afghanistan, the election and I believe it’s refreshing for people to turn on a program that’s light-hearted and easy. We have covered serious topics, with the understanding that people leave happy, good and with a smile on their face.”
HNMAG “How do you go about seeking out your guests?”
DAVID “There’s two criteria. They have to be interested in coming on the show and having a conversation. They also have to be interesting. It is a TV show and there is a business model in booking the guests. The guests come with a household name, millions of followers, which get people watching the show, but it’s also interesting to talk to people that aren’t famous but doing great things. I had talked to a girl in the US that started a non-for-profit to promote anti-bullying and rising above it. The idea behind her anti-bullying was to have all the kids send photos of themselves through her website that would be placed inside a capsule and sent to the surface of the moon. That capsule is presently on the moon printing photos of those kids, so the next time they feel belittled or knocked down, they can find some comfort in knowing that their face is literally on the moon and they’ve risen above it. I found her very fascinating. I’m also fortunate in being able to talk to independent filmmakers about their movie or the industry, which is also interesting. You don’t have to be famous to be an interesting guest.”
HNMAG “Have you had any musical guests?”
DAVID “We’ve had a few. Vanessa Williams was on the show and is a great musician. We had Amy Hef, a local (Calgary) artist, whose music is very interesting. It’s used in Vanderpump Rules and Keeping Up With the Kardashians. I found our interview so fascinating because I thought she had made a ton of money from the licensing of her music – but I found out that she doesn’t receive a penny, which was really interesting. We’ve tried to book Jann Arden a few times… but I guess she’s been too busy with work. Fun fact – she lives 5 minutes down the street from me (laughing). I think we should start a petition to have her as a guest on the show (laughing).”
I couldn’t agree more with David on the petition. Jann Arden is Canadian gold and her voice is unmeasurable by comparison. If Jann Arden is reading this, please talk to David on Face to Face. He’s talked to some of the very best talent in the world but it’s not a complete list until Jann Arden is on it!
HNMAG “How many guests have you interviewed so far?”
DAVID “I’ve had over 50 guests, so we’ve been very fortunate with it. I couldn’t have imagined that just over a year ago, we were sitting in the corner of my living room and now we’ve done just over 50 interviews with some really fascinating people. You always hope for things to go well when you start something… but we’re going to be airing on the Oprah Winfrey Network starting Monday. That had never crossed my mind.”
David also gushed about the far-outreaching-possibility of getting Oprah on his show, Face to Face. I think everyone on the planet would love to have the ‘Queen of Talk’ on their show and it must be a crazy long infinite list. So, David wants to add Oprah to the petition. Let’s get Oprah on David’s show to demonstrate to the world – that you can have influence from anywhere, which is how the world should work. Money should not dictate how long the olive branch can reach, if your intentions are valid, reasonable and honourable. Just my thoughts.
HNMAG “How do you go about reaching your guests?”
DAVID “I would say that 1/3 of the guests are booked through a manager or publicist that I’ve reached out to on imdb. Another 1/3 is booked through social media and building relations, following them and sending a message. The balance of the guests is acquired from publicists reaching out and contacting/pitching us/the show. When we first started reaching out to guests in our first season, we had contacted over 200 people to ask if they’d come on the show and 14 people said yes. When we first started, we really didn’t have any credibility… but thanks to guests like Perez Hilton, Carson Kressley and Debra DiGiovanni, we came out of the gate and did quite well. In season 2, we invited much less people on and the ratio was about 50/50 for yes and no. When we got to the third season, almost everyone that we asked, said yes. It’s been quite a contrast in comparison to the first season. I believe we’ve proven ourselves and our guests now know what to expect. I really think that we owe that success to our first round of guests for taking a chance on us.”
HNMAG “Can you tell me the top 3 guests you’ve reached out to, that you still anticipate hearing back from?”
DAVID “I can tell you who we’ve reached out to and they’ve said no at the time. We do hope they change their mind in the future. Madonna was one of those people we’d reached out to. I think she’d be such a fun guest and I’d pick her brain on some things… but she said no. It was a very gracious no inside of a very nice note, declining. I would definitely reach out to her again. Someone else that I would selfishly want to have on the show and reach out to, is Kate Mulgrew. I was such a Star Trek nerd growing up and I watched Star Trek Voyager obsessively. She was on it and now she’s on Orange is the New Black and other things. I would love to book her as a guest, to satisfy that childhood dream and to check it off the bucket list.”
HNMAG “Are there any questions that are off limits?”
DAVID “As a personal choice, I don’t like to talk about Covid, politics or religion. We try to be light-hearted and avoid talking about what they’re doing right now, anything that is time sensitive, and instead focus on the present and overall body of work. I try to steer the conversation toward their career highs, anecdotes and funny stories. It also sets it apart from other shows whose focus is on current/timely productions/work. I really enjoy the approach that offers a different perspective to our guests and I find that they are generally open to most anything.”
HNMAG “Do you have a little ritual, to help with the nerves before an interview starts?”
DAVID “A glass of wine (laughing). It’s not a live interview and although some interviews can range from 20 – 50 plus mins, they’re edited down to 15. It’s all about providing an easy and relaxed environment, to allow for an easy exchange of information.”
HNMAG “Have you continued to use the same crew?”
DAVID “For the most part it’s been the same crew. There’s been Candace Schmidt, Jose Gonzales, Rae Farrer and our publicist, Lesley. However, recently Rae has chosen to step down and go in a different direction, which is so unfortunate because she was an anchor and part of that core of four. It definitely changes the dynamic and you can feel the loss. Rae was incredible at booking guests – she was the talent producer and I believe she’ll go onto do amazing things. I sincerely hope that she comes back, but I’m also an advocate for ‘you don’t know unless you try’ attitude and she can use some of the leverage as a producer of a syndicated talk show to pursue other opportunities.”
David Oulton is a force and his team is making waves around the world. He told me that he had recently browsed through the TV guide and found his show to be appearing 68 times in the next 2 weeks… just in Canada. Now that’s progress!
In addition to the aforementioned, notable guests have included Corbin Bernsen, Melissa Rivers, Debra DiGiovanni, Ali Landry, Caroline Stanbury, Manjit Minhas, Amanda Tapping, Emmanuelle Vaugier, Gretchen Carlson, RuPaul’s Peppermint, Fortune Feimster, Josh Flagg and others. We wish him continued success and will be sending him a bill for smashing the ceiling.