NJ - Image Interview

Justin - Elvis did not live to see his daughter marry actor Nicolas Cage - forcing us to wait almost ten years for the kings speech - I haven't seen it but I think that's what it's about. Cage has hit the headlines recently with claims that he lied about his age to carve a career in show biz - chronological lies are common in this business. One Direction are in their forties and Jim Davidons stand up routine is from nineteen seventy four. We are now joined by the man who discovered Cage's show biz porky to talk about his findings

Man 1 - It began when I found a picture which if you believe Nicolas Cage was taken before he was even born

Justin - Really? How long before?

Man 1 - Eighteen seventy

Justin - Eighteen seventy?!

Man 1 - Yeah. I'm an Antique Image Dealer so I can state categorically that this is genuine and quite a find. I would like to think I will go down in history with the likes of Alexander Fleming, Alexander Graham Bell and (Unsure) erm

Justin - Aleksandr the meerkat?

Man 1 - Yes. I'm very proud of this

Justin - It's very interesting. There's such a thing as Antique Image Dealer? At school I was an amateur contemporary image dealer

Man 1 - Really?

Justin - Yeah, I swapped football stickers with the other boys

Man 1 - Let's not get silly it's an important discovery

Justin - Clearly it's a picture of a man who looked like him or maybe an ancestor. So tell me what does an Antique Image Dealer do? Do you sell VHS videos? Or do you go further back? Betamax?

Man 1 - Can we get back to the issue? Nicolas Cage is a vampire. Fact

Justin - Do you sell stills of Antique Road show host Michael Aspel?

Man 1 - I knew I should have gone on The One Show

Justin - Sorry. So after definitively proving the existence of vampires what's next for you?

Man 1 - I'm hoping to find a picture of Nick Clegg with hope in his eyes

Justin - That would be antique

Opener is a bit long. It started to sound like Comedy Dave's 'Tenuous Link' spot on Radio 1!

I didn't think you can photograph vampires?

There are a couple of really good lines in here (football stickers gag, last two lines) but I didn't buy into this myself. Just seemed a bit all over the place and not focussed enough. But what do I know?

Dan

I agree the opener is a bit long - I crow bared the elvis thing in and had to justify it's place with more lines but should have just cut it. How do you mean all over the place? too many lines of justin of making fun of his job? Looking at it now I could see how I could have got to the punchline quicker

Yeah, the Alexander thing is a bit off the point. We don't even know his name is Alexander as it's not mentioned. (As an aside, I think you should always introduce an interviewee with a name.)

And Justin asks if there is something as an Antique Image Dealer, then immediately states he used to be an Amateur Antique Image Dealer! That's something a script editor is not going to even try and rewrite, even though the footy stickers line is funny.

It should stick to a focus/funny point; get to it quickly, make it, get out.

Dan