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By Suzanne

Interview with David Bromstad of "Design Star" HGTV 6/20/11.

MEREDITH CORPORATION: HGTV Q&A with David Bromstad
June 20, 2011/3:00 p.m. EDT

SPEAKERS
Cathy Choe – New Media Strategies
David Bromstad – HGTV Design Star

PRESENTATION

Moderator Welcome to the HGTV Q&A with David Bromstad Conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later, we will conduct a question and answer session. Instructions will be given at that time. As a reminder, this conference is going to be recorded.

I would now like to turn the conference over to our host, Ms. Cathy Choe.

C. Choe Good afternoon. This is Cathy Choe from New Media Strategies. I’d like to thank everyone for joining us for today’s HGTV Q&A session and start things off by thanking David Bromstad for being with us today to answer questions. As you know, David is back to join the new season of Design Star which premieres Monday, July 11th at 9/8 Central on HGTV.

In a moment, we’ll begin the Q&A session. I’d like to remind all participants that you will receive a transcript of the session within the next 24 to 48 hours. I would also like to remind everyone to please limit yourselves to one question and one follow-up at a time and then reenter the question queue for any additional questions. This will ensure that we field as many questions as possible within the allotted time.

I would now like to turn the call back over to our Moderator to begin the formal Q&A session.

Moderator We have a question in queue from Nancy Harrington.

N. Harrington Hi David. Thanks so much for talking to us today. We’re big fans.

D. Bromstad Oh my gosh, my pleasure.

N. Harrington So, I guess we wanted to start off by finding out more about what your role is going to be on this season of Design Star.

D. Bromstad Well, I am going to be doing the mentoring role, and I’m really focusing on really honing their skills as on-camera talent and doing camera challenges. I’m there to assist them, and I’ve been there. I’ve done it. I know how nerve wracking it is. I know what craziness is going through those brains and so what better person then to mentor them than me.

N. Harrington If you were competing on Design Star again, would you approach it differently than you did the first time you were actually on it?

D. Bromstad I am sure I would have. When I entered the competition, I was like, sure, I’ll do this, whatever. Host, what does that mean? And when it came down to the hosting challenges, I was a mess. And you know, if I would have had somebody like myself who had already been through the process or just taught me how to enunciate and just say things correctly in really short bursts, it would have helped tremendously because that was the hardest part for me in Design Star. The design was fun. It was great, but it was the hosting challenge is where I really struggled.

N. Harrington Well, it sounds like a great ... we look forward to seeing it. Thanks.

D. Bromstad No problem. Thanks.

Moderator We now have a question in queue from Troy Rogers.

T. Rogers Hi David.

D. Bromstad Hi.

T. Rogers Thanks for taking the time.

D. Bromstad My gosh, pleasures.

T. Rogers I was wondering, what were your initial thoughts going into Season Six as a mentor after winning Season One?

D. Bromstad It was like everything’s just been full circle. I was thinking wow, this is pretty amazing. I’ve been watching Design Star since I won and just in awe of the talent that has come through there, and now to be a part of it is just, it feels right. It feels amazing, and I had so much fun. It’s a true honor. It really is.

T. Rogers Excellent. Good to hear. What kind of advice will you have for the Season Six contestants, including things that you’ve learned while doing Color Splash?

D. Bromstad You know, I think the biggest advice is to not lose yourself in the competition, is just to stick with who you are and be that vibrant personality that brought you onto the show in the first place. And, you know, whether you’re great at camera challenges or horrible at it, you can always be taught to be great on camera, but you can’t be taught to have a great personality.

T. Rogers True. Alright, thanks.

D. Bromstad No problem.

Moderator Okay, we now have a question in queue from Sarah Fulghum from CraftForum.com.

S. Fulghum Hi David. Thanks for taking the time today.

D. Bromstad Oh my gosh, my pleasure.

S. Fulghum Oh no, the pleasure’s mine. I’d like to know, do you think the competition to find the design show host leads to a better end result, such as a stronger fan base when the winner show does premiere?

D. Bromstad I’m sorry. My brain blanked on the first part of the question.

S. Fulghum Well, having the competition to find the next host for the design show, do you think like the end result is better, you know, is there stronger fan base? Does it work out better this way?

D. Bromstad I think it brings in a stronger sense of the camera challenges when, you know, now that I’m in there. Before, these contestants were just going for it not knowing what to do, and my role is now to guide them and tell them what to do and guide them and just be that mentor that they didn’t have in the past.

S. Fulghum Yes. Having a mentor makes all of the difference.

D. Bromstad It really does. It really does.

S. Fulghum Speaking of which, how did you become the mentor? Did HGTV call you up out of the blue or was this in the works for a while?

D. Bromstad Well, I don’t know how in the works it was for a while, but I mean they’ve been talking about it for almost close to a year, so they’ve been talking about it, mulling it over, and of course, I am gung-ho on the whole process because I’m a Design Star junkie of course. That’s how I got my beginning. So I was more than honored to be a part of it.

S. Fulghum Well, that’s great. Thanks for answering my questions today.

D. Bromstad No problem. Thank you.

Moderator We now have a question in queue from Layla Palmer with TheLetteredCottage.net.

L. Palmer David!

D. Bromstad Hi.

L. Palmer So pumped to be talking to you.

D. Bromstad Yay! That is so good to hear.

L. Palmer So proud of you. So, so proud of you.

D. Bromstad Thank you so much. Thank you.

L. Palmer No problem. We actually have a mutual friend in Patrick Jager.

D. Bromstad HGTV Patrick, love him.

L. Palmer Yes. We’re going to be shooting a pilot with him pretty soon, and I’m kind of nervous though. I kind of wanted, while you were on the phone, I wanted to ask your advice about just the whole process, especially when mentoring these people. How do you suggest they go into this to keep calm and to have a goal and keep focused on that?

D. Bromstad You know, it’s so much easier said than done because when you’re in a competition setting, it’s just intense, and I remember when I was doing it, there was even the producers like just relax ..., but at that point, as an artist and as a designer I did things because it looks great. I didn’t know how to express those things in clear terms, and now that I’m able to do that and give advice to these contestants, it’s just fantastic. I feel like it’s just one less stress that they have to worry about. It’s like, I’m their buddy and their mentor, and they can ask me anything about design and ask me anything about the camera challenges, and I will be 100% honest.

L. Palmer And you’re like, why didn’t I have this when I was on Design Stars?

D. Bromstad Exactly, because I was a hot mess.

L. Palmer Well, no you weren’t, but I mean, I’m sure it was stressful. You didn’t have that mentor and it was all new to everybody.

D. Bromstad Absolutely and personality can really— You have to have an amazing personality, but you have to also, being—having your own show on HGTV, you have to know how to talk about design and how to make sense and how to be exciting at the same time.

L. Palmer Yes, articulation.

D. Bromstad Articulation, exactly.

L. Palmer Well, and then, the other question—we have tons of readers. Our blog is getting read by all these people, and so of course, we’ve been talking about the new season and that you’re going to mentor. So a lot of them wrote in and kind of the main question was how do you mentor without diminishing their style while still letting them do their thing?

D. Bromstad You know, it’s I’m not giving so much design advice. I’m definitely there checking if they’re on their design and being intriguing asking them questions, but you’ve got to keep it pretty neutral because it is a competition. And yes, I have to have very strong opinions about certain designs, but if I’m going to give those opinions, then that’s an unfair thing to the other contestants. So, I’ve just stayed very neutral, ask challenging questions. I’m there as basically America. I’m representing America going I’m going to ask you a question that everyone else out there wants to know. Why are you doing this? Are you scared about this because what happened last time? What’s going to happen this time? I’m that person.

L. Palmer Got it. Okay. So, less on the helping them with their style, more helping them just be the design star.

D. Bromstad Exactly. There’s so many facets of being a design star. You know, design is just one of those facets. I’m not there—we already have judges giving advice on their designs, and they already have that. I’m there to kind of wrap up the package.

L. Palmer Awesome. You’re the big bow.

D. Bromstad I’m the bow. I love it.

L. Palmer Well, thank you.

D. Bromstad I … helping them tie their bow.

L. Palmer Yes. There we go. Well, I can’t wait to watch. It’s going to be awesome.

D. Bromstad Well, thank you. It’s going to be—I’m really excited. This is really, really incredible.

L. Palmer Yay!

Moderator We now have a question in queue from Dawn Clark with So a Blonde Walks In.

D. Clark Hi David. Thanks for your time.

D. Bromstad My gosh, thank you. No problem.

D. Clark My question was actually sort of personal. I have moved from a home into a rental townhome, and I’m finding it challenging to make it feel like a home—with such a smaller space, not being able to paint. I’m wondering what your advice in the design would be to someone like me who wants to make it feel like home.

D. Bromstad How long are you going to be there? What’s your lease terms?

D. Clark Good question. I have six more months on that lease, but it may be renewed after that. So, it could be a very short time. It could be another year.

D. Bromstad Well, I’m probably going to give horrible advice right now because I’m sure everyone out there is going to be like, what? But, I think in every lease, every rental agreement that I was in before I bought my place, it always says don’t paint, but I always did. It was the first thing I did before I even moved in just because that is one way that you can just put your stamp on it and make it feel cozy. And all they want to do is have it look nice and have it be painted white when you leave.

So, if you’re willing to paint it white when you leave, that’s just fine. So, I was always willing and you know what? Every time that I did paint it, the landlord would come in and would be like, “You’re not supposed to paint, but it looks really great.” And I’m like well do you want me to paint it back, and they’re like no.

D. Clark Yes. That’s what I was thinking too, yes.

D. Bromstad And if you don’t want to take the time to paint, just bringing in personal effects and just hang things on the wall—hang pieces of art, hang mirrors, make sure that it looks lived in. My house, honestly, is all white. So, you—and it’s very comfortable and it’s very cozy, and I’ve done a lot of homes that are all white with all white walls. You can still make it look sheik and still make it look amazing. Don’t let the white walls fool you.

D. Clark That’s wondrous. So would you say that paint though, is the most—?

D. Bromstad Yes. I think it’s the easiest and the fastest and the cheapest way to transform your house for sure.

D. Clark Okay. Alright. That’s all I have. Thank you so much.

D. Bromstad No problem. Good luck.

Moderator We now have a question in queue from Pattye Grippo with Pazsaz Entertainment.

P. Grippo Hi David. Thanks for talking with us today.

D. Bromstad My pleasure. Thank you.

P. Grippo So, let me ask you, thinking back to when you were a contestant on the show, what advice do you wish a mentor had given you at that time?

D. Bromstad There’s a lot of advice I wish I could have gotten, and it was all with the camera challenges. You know, design wise I was fine. I could do that. I was enjoying that process, but it was the camera challenges that I really struggled on, and I just wish someone would have told me just break it down, slowdown, relax and, you know, but continue to be yourself. It’s just someone there to hold my hand, even if they didn’t tell me the best advice, but if I was there coaching them or someone I mean someone was there coaching me, that would have been nice. So, just a little handholding would have been good.

P. Grippo I can imagine, yes.

D. Bromstad I was on my own momma.

P. Grippo See, that’s why I love you. So let me ask you; all the time now you’ve spent on the camera between different shows, what has been the most surprising thing that’s ever happened to you?

D. Bromstad Surprising thing that’s ever happened to me? Oh, Lord. That I got comfortable in front of the camera. After doing Design Star and winning it, I was like, oh my gosh, now I have to do this on a daily basis, be in front of the camera, articulate, talk about things. I was honestly really scared, and, you know, even a few short months after I got into Color Splash, I was like, wow, we’re not in a competitive setting any more. I don’t have to do it in one or two takes or three takes, I can do it in 50 takes if I want, and the ease of kind of being a host has been, it’s been a lot easier than I thought it was. I think that’s probably the most surprising because when I first thought, I was like, what? I’m in trouble.

P. Grippo Okay. Well, thank you very much.

D. Bromstad My pleasure.

Moderator We now have a question in queue from Troy Rogers with TheDeadbolt.com.

T. Rogers Hello again, David.

D. Bromstad Hi.

T. Rogers I was just wondering, since you will see the contestants weekly, how do you stay impartial and not fall into the trap of having favorites or things like that?

D. Bromstad You know, you have to be professional, and even though there’s definitely people that you like and there’s people’s design styles that you like more, get in the competition, and I’m not there to infuse my opinion in their designs and how they are and how they act. I can give them certain pieces of advice, little pieces of nuggets, but they have to take those nuggets and run with it. I’m not there to say, you know, going here’s what you need to do to win. I’m there to just guide them to give better Design Star if they by chance happen to win.

T. Rogers Okay. Thanks then. And, I also wanted to know, what’s your first inspiration for a space? Like when you first walk in, is it paint, furniture, art? How does that work?

D. Bromstad My inspiration is my homeowners. If it wasn’t for them, then I wouldn’t be inspired because I can walk into a room that looks terrible and needs to be redone, and I have a lot of opinions, but I need to be inspired by my homeowners and what they’re inspired by and the colors they want, and that is where I get my inspiration.

T. Rogers Okay, excellent. Thanks again.

D. Bromstad No problem.

Moderator I have a question in queue from Layla Palmer with TheLetteredCottage.net.

L. Palmer Okay, me again.

D. Bromstad Hi.

L. Palmer One of the things that I thought was really cute that people wrote in when I mentioned that we were going to be talking today, was they loved your lightheartedness. And one of them actually mentioned a moment when you were skipping in a field, and you hear, it says you hear him say, “I think I stepped in something squishy.” I don’t know if you remember that, but do you remember that?

D. Bromstad I think I have an idea of which episode that was.

L. Palmer That is funny. That is so funny, but then, the word lightheartedness came up a lot. And the main thing is, is they love your fun, lightheartedness, and they want to know what you think of the more serious format now of the show.

D. Bromstad I happen to really like the serious format of the show. I think my lightheartedness and easy going comes across just as good as it did before, but, it’s we have bigger designs now that we’re in Miami. We’re spending more money. We’re more invested. And so, I don’t mind it being a little bit more on the serious side, but I have to make sure that we’re always keeping it fun, always keeping it light because then there’s design.

L. Palmer Yes, right. That’s what it’s for.

D. Bromstad Absolutely.

L. Palmer And then, I think what Susanna said, I’d also love to know what he likes and doesn’t like from the format he starred in to the new format. So what did you like that was in your format that’s gone now but maybe something that they added that you didn’t have?

D. Bromstad Well actually, I think more the Miami show, this is more my speed. I mean I loved the San Francisco show, but it was, I didn’t know myself as a designer. I was still so fresh and so green and just learning and now that I’m in Miami, this is it’s great to build a room with my clients. It’s great to be inspired by a space, and the whole inspiration part of the show was my idea, and because there’s so many amazing places and locations in Miami. And I was like well there’s so many people that go around everywhere in the country, everywhere in the world and go, ahh, this hotel’s amazing. I want my house to look like this or to feel like this. And that was my idea to say like the, okay you can go to a hotel or a club or a restaurant or an outdoor space, here’s how we’re going to bring it inside into your own home.

L. Palmer Right. And you know what though? I think they’re actually talking about the serious format of Design Star.

D. Bromstad Oh, the serious format of Design Star. Design Star is serious.

L. Palmer This lady’s like, I kind of miss when the judges smiled more. They’re saying things like that, and so they’re like what does David think?

D. Bromstad You know what, I agree with that. Last year, I think it was a new production company, it was someone who has never done Design Star before, and I don’t feel they had the HGTV aesthetic. We have a new production company doing Design Star this year. They do Food Network site. They’re amazing. It’s a very lighthearted show. It’s not as serious. It’s not The Apprentice. They’re laughing. They’re giving compliments. It’s a love fest. It’s going to be a little bit of poking and prodding, but it’s a competition, but it’s going to be a much more fun show to watch. I can guarantee you that. And you know what, it’s because I’m on it.

L. Palmer Well, that sounds amazing. These people are saying that their kids would be in big trouble if they acted like the judges. And I’m like, whoa, okay.

D. Bromstad They’re much more smiley this year.

L. Palmer Okay awesome. It was a little scary at times, but you know, it’s TV. Well, thank you. I will let them know that it will be a little more lighthearted and a little more stepping in squishy things.

D. Bromstad It will be. It will be a lot of squishy things.

L. Palmer Okay, good.

D. Bromstad Thank you.

Moderator I have a question in queue from Kat Tierney with Blissfully Domestic.

K. Tierney Hi David. It’s so nice to talk to you.

D. Bromstad Nice to talk to you too. Thanks

K. Tierney I too am going to go down a more personal route. I’m curious what your favorite type of room to design is.

D. Bromstad That’s unfair. What a hard question.

K. Tierney Okay, then I’m going to go the challenging route.

D. Bromstad I’ll do both. I think that my favorite room to design is the bedroom. There’s just something about it that’s really personal, really dramatic. It can be elegant. There’s just so many things you can do, and the great thing about a bed is that your bed is the feature piece of furniture, and you can really go fantastic with it.

Like with the living room, you have a lot more pieces to deal with. You have the couches. You have your feature wall behind the couches. You have your TV area. There’s a lot more things for you to focus on, and I think the bedroom is like one focus, the bed. Let’s make it fabulous.

K. Tierney Do you have a favorite bedroom that you have done? You’ve done a lot of fabulous ones.

D. Bromstad I know, my gosh. I can’t even wrap my head around how many I’ve done.

K. Tierney How about kids’ bedrooms because you’ve—

D. Bromstad I’ve done tons of kids’ bedrooms and that’s how I got started in this business and the interior design world was in fantasy kids’ room, and oh my gosh, I have so many good ones that I love because they’re all inspired by Disney and themes. You know what it is? It’s my Little Mermaid bedroom. This huge clamshell bed, and it looked like it was open and I did a pink velvet comforter with a big, I painted a silver beach ball to make it look like a pearl. It was fun. It was one of my favorite bedrooms ever.

K. Tierney Thank you. It was so nice to talk to you.

D. Bromstad No problem.

K. Tierney Good luck in the next season.

D. Bromstad Thank you very much. I appreciate that.

Moderator We now have a question in queue from Gina Luker from Shabbychic Cottage.

G. Luker Hi David.

D. Bromstad Hi.

G. Luker Thanks for talking to me like everybody else. I have a question more about will you be talking to the judges about your experiences mentoring?

D. Bromstad The judges and I have very little contact with each other. So, basically when the judges are on, I am in a different place and vice versa. So, we’re constantly missing each other. I think I actually used to see the judges very often. This year, only in passing, which is kind of a little bit of a bummer, but no. I don’t chat with them. They simply—I’m mentoring the designers, the contestants and whatever comes out on their mentoring, whatever comes out on their camera challenge will come through to the judges. And then, the contestants can argue with the judges as much as they want.

G. Luker That’s really all I had. Thank you so much.

D. Bromstad Thanks.

Moderator We have a question in queue from Layla Palmer with TheLetteredCottage.net.

L. Palmer First of all, hi to Gina. I know Gina. So, I just wanted to say that. And second, Dawn is asking, how do you keep from getting into a color rut? She tends to circle around the same colors. She does warm colors in the main rooms and then greens and blues in the bedrooms always, and she can’t break from that. So she wants to know how you do that?

D. Bromstad Well, I love color. So, I love when a homeowner comes to me with anything but blues and greens. I love blues and greens. They’re my favorite colors, but everyone wants blues and greens because when you design for couples, what are the two colors that go with boys and girls? Blues and greens. So, anytime someone’s like I’ll do pink, I’ll do purple, I’ll do fusia, I’ll do yellow, I’m like, what? To me, it’s great. I love color, and I’m never in a color rut because if I’ve never used a color, I want to use it and use it in a really fun, interesting and unique way that hasn’t been done before.

L. Palmer Right. So, it’s mainly just hoping that you get a client that’s open to whatever because you’ll do whatever.

D. Bromstad Absolutely. Yes. When someone goes do whatever you want, and I go you don’t want to know what I’m going to do to your room if you say that again.

L. Palmer Yes.

D. Bromstad ... up in your house.

L. Palmer Well, yes, you know, if you get the green light, you’ll see where you would just be like alright it’s on.

D. Bromstad It’s on. It’s on like Donkey Kong for the show.

L. Palmer Awesome. I will tell Dawn, and hopefully she will be inspired to just break free.

D. Bromstad Fantastic. Just tell her to take some of the one colors and put them and start mixing and matching, so yes, just so she has pillows, just bring them into the other room and see what it looks like with the one colors and vice versa and just have her just break free of her—

L. Palmer Yes. Because she may be surprised if she brings whatever different colored pillow into the green and blue bedroom, then she might be like whoa, I can do this.

D. Bromstad Absolutely. And you know and another piece of advice that I have for Gina, what’s her name, I’m sorry?

L. Palmer This is Dawn.

D. Bromstad Another piece I have for Dawn is, go out to the store, buy pillows that you probably never would buy again, bring them into your house, play with them, whatever ones you like, you keep and the other ones you take back.

L. Palmer Keep the receipt. Exactly. Alright. That’s the ticket. It’s all about keeping the receipt and not removing the tags.

D. Bromstad Absolutely.

L. Palmer Okay, I will pass that little nugget on, and I’m sure she will be super glad and hopefully braver.

D. Bromstad I hope so too.

L. Palmer Thank you.

D. Bromstad Thank you.

Moderator Okay, we have no questions in queue at this time.

C. Choe Ladies and gentlemen, that will conclude today’s session. I’d like to once again thank David for joining us and remind everyone to tune into the premiere of Design Star on Monday, July 11th at 9/8 Central on HGTV. Thanks for participating and enjoy the rest of your day.

D. Bromstad Awesome. Thanks guys.

Moderator Ladies and gentlemen, that does conclude today’s conference call. You may now disconnect.

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