by kellie abrahamson kabrahamson1@aol.com
Designed to Sell host Shane Tallant took time out of his busy shooting schedule to chat with EU about his humble TV beginnings and what he hopes to be doing in the future.
EU: Have you always wanted to be on television?
ST: My aspirations were to be a professional baseball player. That's kind of how I'm tied to Jacksonville, because I went on a baseball scholarship to Flagler.
EU: What stopped you from becoming a baseball player?
ST: Well, if you ask me, I'll tell you it's because there's a little thing called a curve ball that I couldn't hit very well. But if you ask anyone else, they would protect me and my feelings, it's because I had an injury to my shoulder, which is true but over the years that injury has been blown into [something] a lot more severe than it was.
EU: What do you remember about going to school at Flagler?
ST: Well, I grew up in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, so right off the bat it was Culture Shock 101. The southern lifestyle, the slower pace. The laid-back lifestyle was a good chance for me, being the first time I was on my own in my life. To be able to walk into a beautiful city with beautiful beaches and beautiful women and just to be able to relax and go to school in a setting like that was, first and foremost, just phenomenal. And then to be able to play such high level of competitive baseball, it really was a win-win.
EU: What did you do once you graduated?
ST: Actually, I got a job with Fox 30 News and UPN 47 before I graduated. I literally had some resumes and took them up to all the news stations in Jacksonville on my own the second half of my senior year and just dropped them off and literally was dropping them off at Fox 30 and the news director walked by and I guess I caught his eye. He asked me what I was doing and I told him that I was looking for a job in news and I was a student at Flagler and he hired me sight unseen. So, I kind of owe it to a guy named Jim Labranche. He's the first person that took a chance on me with no experience and actually being very green, not even a college degree at that point, but he saw something that he liked so that's how I got my foot in the door. I started out as a morning editor so I worked nights editing the morning newscast, basically bottom of the totem pole. And then, fortunate for me, unfortunate for the guy who it happened to, but a full-time photographer was fired for whatever reason and they needed someone to be a photographer. So, they asked me if I knew how to shoot news, I said absolutely, lied through my teeth, and they put a camera on my shoulder, gave me about a 30 minute crash-course in how to do it and they sent me out and then I was a photographer for 6 months. Then they knew I had aspirations of being on the air and the general manager just kind of came up with a concept and they decided they were going to take a chance with me and make me a VJ, in a sense, where I was basically the face of the station. I was the contest guy, I was the concert guy, the entertainment reporter kind of thing, and just basically a branding tool for them. And that's how I got started in TV and that was in 2000.
EU: How did you go from Jacksonville to San Francisco?
ST: Well I went from Jacksonville to San Francisco with a little two-year pit stop in Pittsburgh, my home town. In this business you just put resume tapes together, like a demo reel, and I basically pitched the idea of the VJ, the face of the station contest guy, to the station in Pittsburgh and I got the CBS affiliate to pick it up… and I was basically the entertainment reporter. [I] created the position and they took a chance on me, so I spent two years doing that. And then I did the same exact thing in San Francisco. I actually applied for a job listing as the host of an entertainment magazine show. It was already up and running in San Francisco so I sent the tape that I put together for Pittsburgh off to San Francisco, didn't hear anything for five months, then out of nowhere my phone rang. Went out, auditioned, got the job, and then that's what I was doing. Literally overnight I went from doing local entertainment reporting, like playing one-on-one against the Harlem Globetrotters, to sitting down face-to-face with Robin Williams and Steven Tyler.
EU: You interviewed quite a few A-listers when you were over there. What was your most memorable interview?
ST: I'm just going to be honest. I always say Steven Tyler and Robin Williams because they're the two that are the biggest names as well as favorites, but I gotta say Angelina Jolie. I'm just going to let the cat out of the bag and for obvious reasons my 7 minutes with Angelina Jolie is probably the most memorable.
EU: You won an Emmy a couple years ago. That's amazing. Congratulations.
ST: Thank you, thank you, thank you. I think my approach when I was doing entertainment reporting, I was a film critic, my approach was I didn't really care who the people were. A lot of other reporters allow this person's title or this person's star power to intimidate them and I just didn't really care that much. I just had fun with it. So, I would walk in and sit down across from Anthony Hopkins or [Robert] De Niro. Most people would get really nervous but I didn't really care all that much and I think that ended up working out for me. I definitely had a really good rapport with all of the actresses just because I came in, I was a little bit fun with them and I would be myself. I could kind of relate to a lot of the younger male actors such as Paul Walker or Nick Lachey or… Chris Evans [because] I'm just like them. They just happen to be an actor, I just happen to be a reporter. So we really hit it off. It was a lot of fun and it came easy to me so I think that's where the Emmy came into play. I think my natural persona with the major, major stars created moments that a lot of people didn't create or didn't have the opportunity to receive from them.
EU: Where do you keep your Emmy?
ST: Oh, man, that's a funny question. My Emmy is actually… Where is it? It's been around. I sent it to my parents for about 6 months and they displayed it proudly of course on the main mantle, perfect centered, polished [laughs]. I lived with my sister for a while and my brother-in-law and I had a few drinks one night and he busted it out and he put it on their mantle for a few months and now I have my own place and I've never even unpacked it. Now, if I get multiple and I have enough for a trophy case, maybe there might be a place for it in public, but at this point it would just be the Emmy and a bunch of little plastic trophies I won in Little League, so it's really not so appropriate.
EU: For those who may not have seen it already, tell us about "Designed to Sell."
ST: Well, what I'm doing now is basically night and day of what I was doing before. There was so much structure in working with the producers of an entertainment magazine show, where I was expected to get this answer from this actress and this musician to sing this portion of a song and I had a lot of demands and requirements. Now what I'm doing with Designed to Sell is they basically just give me free reign to just do whatever I feel is natural. Create natural, humorous moments and let them pull the reigns back on me. I have been waiting now, it's been seven years and I finally have the opportunity to let my personality out there and just have fun with it.
EU: What's your role on the?
ST: Basically I'm the only non-expert, which sounds pretty lame but I've kind of embraced the role. If you watch the show we have a designer, who's the expert designer, we have two expert contractors and we have two expert real estate agents. I am just the host, plain and simple, and that's usually how people [refer] to me, "Oh, don't worry, he's just the host." So, my role is basically, the way it was explained to me, is I'm the glue. I have to introduce why we're going to this person's house, introduce the players, try to dumb down some of the projects. I'm the guy that makes the mistakes that Bob Smith on his couch would make, and it works because I'm not the handiest guy in the world. I do know how to use a drill and use a screw driver and things like that, but I have absolutely hit my thumb with a hammer and not on purpose. And then I kind of bring it all together by hosting the open house at the end of the show. So from start to finish my role has kind of been explained to me as the glue that explains why we're there, explains what we're doing, and explains how people react to the work we've completed and all while trying to be funny and look presentable.
EU: So they do try to put you to work every now and then?
ST: Oh, yeah, I don't get away with much. I think if anyone on the crew reads this they're probably going to be mad that I say that because I probably have the lightest schedule than everyone else but, sorry folks I'm the host [Laughs]. No, seriously, they do. I leave there dirty and paint on my pants. You don't know how many pairs of jeans I've gone through that get paint on them and not having time to clean it off. I love to get my hands dirty and if I get paint on a pair of Diesel Jeans I'm not real happy about it, but it's happened.
EU: How does this show differ from other design shows?
ST: I think what's cool about Designed to Sell is that we didn't recreate the wheel, but what we're doing is presenting that wheel and showing people that it's really easy to make that wheel roll. $2000 is not going to break the bank. If you don't have the $2000 right now, because that's our budget, wait three months, save up that $2000 and then watch our show for a couple weeks and take a bunch of ideas that would be appropriate for your house and go to work. We make some pretty dramatic transformations in these homes that aren't going to break the bank. Most of them are to the point where, if you pay attention and maybe have to get a little advise from the guy at Home Depot or maybe buy a how-to book, you can do it and not be afraid of it. If you screw it up then you just have to hire a contractor to come in and fix your work [laughs]. Call me.
EU: Well, how do we get you to come to our house if we need a little help?
ST: I will only come to your house in Jacksonville if you provide me with a big, extra large chocolate milk shake from The Loop and hot chicken zingers from The Ale House. If you can do that for me, I'll come and "Design to Sell" your house. [Laughs]
EU: What's the selection process like for the show?
ST: The way it works is we work with some real estate companies. We posted ads saying that a production company was going to start producing this show. Real estate agents submitted their names and stuff and then we interviewed them and then they just basically provide us with listings. Then the producers go out, look at the home, meet the homeowners and if it all works, they're on the show. Of course we produce the show here in DC but people can also go to HGTV.com, the network's website, and submit photos and their stories; why they're moving, why their house has unfinished projects, "we ran out of money," "a traumatic event happened," "we were from New Orleans and we had to sell this house because we had to raise money for Katrina," whatever, and then producers will contact you if you're the lucky ones. The producers will get in touch with them and they call me and I MapQuest their address and I show up at their house.
EU: When can people tune in?
ST: Designed to Sell itself is on weeknights at 8:00 and now starting I think next week, Sundays at 9:00 as well, Eastern Standard Time. But viewers will probably realize that there are three teams that are doing this right now. There's the Los Angeles team, with the hosts of Clive Pearse and Lisa LaPorta, there's a team in Chicago that is Monica Pedersen is the designer and Michael Johnson is the host, and then here in DC [I'm] the host and Tonya Nayak is our designer. If you want to watch our episodes in Washington DC people can go to my MySpace page and I have them listed when the DC versions air. It's MySpace.com/ShaneTallant.
EU: My last question is…
ST: Boxers. Boxer briefs, actually.
EU: [Laughs] That was actually a question I nixed.
ST: Oh, ok, what's up?
EU: I was actually wondering what are your long-term goals are now that you've achieved national status?
ST: I don't know how to say this but Regis Philbin better watch out because I might take him out if I see him on the street, for two reasons. One, because Kelly Ripa is probably the cutest little thing ever, and he's got a great gig because he has free reign like I have on this show to be himself. He's developed his allowance to be himself and everyone feels like they know him. He makes a lot of people happy and he gets to [do it] in a talk show format. He gets to interview people, have fun with them. So, ideally, major network talk show, whether it's a late night talk show or a live setting like that. But I've always said I would love Regis Philbin's job. And if it doesn't work out for me and Kelly Ripa, maybe I'll come back and see how much longer Phil Amato's gonna run Jacksonville because I had a great time living there, and First Coast News, they're at the top of their game.
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