Free Producer by Wendy Walker

only a few hours to spare before showtime? Think Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson.
    The
Larry King Live
show has gone through a number of cycles since its inception on June 1, 1985. You see, when Ted Turner first asked Larry
     to come on board with CNN and host the show, he took the offer reluctantly. After all, shooting a live show each night would
     mess with his baseball schedule. He would rather be at a game than anywhere else in the world. And I mean anywhere. He made
     the sacrifice, though, and his first interview was with then New York governor, Mario Cuomo. Larry wore no suspenders, he
     smoked cigarettes during the show, there were no colored lights behind him, and the production quality left a lot to be desired.
     CNN wasn’t even seen in Washington since there were as yet no cable capabilities in the district. In fact, most people hardly
     knew what cable was.
    When you fast forward to now,
Larry King Live
is an international show, presented in a highly produced, sophisticated format, with a famous colorful dotted backdrop and
     lots of video and fanfare. There is no smoking on the set, it takes a very talented staff to book and produce the show nightly,
     and this many years later, we have become a well-oiled machine with all of our moving parts communicating with all the others.This takes an enormous amount of organizing since we have gone from a simple format in which we booked a guest and Larry talked
     with him or her one-on-one, to our current format in which we include e-mail questions, tweets, blogs, and podcasts, while
     Larry interviews from one person to a couple, from a small group to a large panel.
    I always work with Larry to juggle his personal schedule with the requirements of the show. Someone may want him to give a
     speech or be in a movie, and I make time for him to do that while he still does the show every night. I also deal with the
     various network discussions on commercials, ethics, and legal issues that continuously arise. If guests are confused as to
     why we want them on, I am responsible for that explanation as well as explaining to more people than you could imagine why
     we are
not
asking them on the show.
    To keep up with the zeitgeist, my staff reaches out to all avenues of communication to stay current with trends so we can
     book the show accordingly. The thing is, what worked ten years ago doesn’t necessarily work today. And in five years from
     now (or even five days), something may come back and be in vogue again. I can’t count the times when someone on my staff reminded
     me that I had said no to a particular topic last week, and now I was dedicating an hour-long show to that very topic. It’s
     all about staying current with the changes, keeping our fingers on the pulse at all times, and making decisions according
     to what the public wants to see.
    We all know that everything changes in this life, including the popularity of political issues and famous personalities. And
     no one person can keep up with all of it. I have to rely on my intuition, my staff, and my ability to organize. In the end,
     a successful show is the result of a dedicated group of people whoare smart, flexible, and know what’s going on in the world. I need them not only to find out what is happening out there and
     report back. I also need them to tell me when they disagree with decisions that I make. And I listen to them. In fact, I wonder
     what on earth I would do without them. But all that aside, being organized gives me the ability to focus creatively along
     with my staff so we can produce the best program possible. Without organization, great ideas would be lost.
    A good example occurred in April 2002, when my staff suggested I book an eleven-year-old boy named Mattie Stepanek on the
     show. I didn’t know much about him except that he had a rare inherited form of muscular dystrophy that was terminal (his older
     brother, Jamie, had already died from it) and Mattie was supposedly a