The biggest challenge I faced in trying to find an interview was finding people to ask. I had gotten some suggestions for people to contact, but almost no people specifically had an email to contact. Personally, I have no form of social media at all. That made it very difficult for me because almost every person I tried to contact only had a public Instagram or Twitter. I did not create a new account because I thought it would be strange for an account with zero followers to ask for an interview. I think it may have been worth a shot, but it was too out of my comfort zone. One person that I tried to contact was Britney Spears’ publicist. Unfortunately, the only way I could try and email her was to get a subscription to websites that had her contact information. I was hoping to get a media package since I knew an interview was very unlikely, but I could not even get a package.
To make up for the lack of an interview, I tried to research as much as possible about Britney, and the interviews she’s done. I soon realized that it wasn’t going to be very effective, as most interviews have a topic such as an album release, so the questions I was wondering about would not be answered. It showed me how she talked and expressed herself, which was something nice I got out of it. After watching many interviews, I tried to watch as many documentaries as possible. I tried to email the documentary makers, but I either could not find an email, or the people I did email did not reply. Most documentaries were about Britney’s conservatorship, as that was one of the biggest mysteries and controversial things about what was happening to Britney. Some of them briefly talked about Britney’s success, but it was not anything new that I had not already researched independently. Checking YouTube, I found many videos about her success which was helpful. It gave me some insight, but again, it was information I had already done prior to looking for these videos.
To get an interview for any similar projects, I will make sure to have multiple ways of contacting people. I will try to be less shy, and ignore whether I get an interview since that is what prevented me from sending out many emails. I will also try to also better compose the emails I send. Such as being more concise yet professional and flexible. Asking other personal friends for connections and networking is something I will also try to do next time. Even if it results in interviewing someone less knowledgeable on Britney than a documentary director.
One goal of mine was to interview someone who had lived through the popularity of Britney. I think that could have given me a lot of insight into how it was for a bystander to see how she took over the media. Since it would have been more personal, I think it would have been very interesting. Articles about this era were either behind a paywall or had no personal insight behind living through her success. I think it would have been very difficult to get something new out of an interview because news about Britney was already highly publicized, and the interviewee’s knowledge would have been retrieved from sources I could have looked at myself. Reflecting on this process, I don’t believe that the lack of an interview significantly affected my knowledge of Britney. It was a tough process to find and email credible people, but I thought this experience was beneficial to my growth in knowledge and research skills.