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By
Krista

Interview with Andrew Llinares and Rob
Wade of "The X Factor" on FOX 2/26/13
Final Transcript
FBC PUBLICITY: The X Factor Conference Call
February 26, 2013/11:30 a.m. PST
SPEAKERS
Andrew Llinares - Executive Producer
Rob Wade- Executive Producer
Hayley Hindinger - Host
PRESENTATION
Moderator: Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for
standing by. Welcome to The X Factor Conference call. At
this time all lines are in a listen-only mode. Later, there
will be a question and answer session. We do have a firm
request that everyone keep their questions to one question
and one follow up question, please. As a reminder, this
conference is being recorded. Now, I'd like to turn the
conference over to your host, Hayley Hindinger. Please go
ahead, ma'am.
H. Hindinger: Hi, everybody. This is Haley Hindinger from Fox
Publicity. Thank you for joining our call today with The X
Factor executive producers Rob Wade and Andrew Llinares.
Auditions for Season 3 of The X Factor kick off next
Wednesday March 6th at the Galen Center at USC in Los
Angeles. Then open auditions will continue in Charleston,
New Orleans, Long Island and Denver. Without further ado, we
will open it up for questions for Rob and Andrew.
Moderator: Very good. Ladies and gentlemen, we'll go to our
first question. It comes from the line of Reg Seeton from
Deadbolt.com. Please go ahead. Your line is open.
R. Seeton: Hi, guys. Thanks for taking the call.
R. Wade: Hi. How are you doing?
A. Llinares: Hi. How are you doing?
R. Seeton: Not too bad. Well, now that the show's moving into
its third season do you think The X Factor has reached its
full potential with the audition process or is there still a
lot more room to grow?
A. Llinares: I think what's been incredibly exciting for us
when we set out on these auditions is you go into it not
knowing what to expect. You have high hopes and you hope
that someone amazing is going to walk in and you just don't
know. It's what's really exciting about these shows. So I
don't think you could ever say you've reached your full
potential. You always hope that you're going to find
something amazing and we're certainly very, very excited
about that this year.
R. Seeton: How did you approach the audition process this
season in terms of what worked and what didn't work the last
two seasons?
R. Wade: I think essentially our audition process has been
incredibly successful. We've got amazing talent out of the
show. We have phenomenon amounts of people coming for our
open calls and we get a huge response to our online
auditions as well. I think, what we're looking for
essentially is a jewel, an uncovered diamond.
So, obviously, a lot of that is down to hard work and a
little bit about that is down to luck. All we're trying to
do is just get the word out there, let people know these
auditions are on, make them excited to enter, show them what
can happen, show them that you can actually fulfill your
dreams. You can go from being a very normal everyday person
with a very normal everyday job and then become a recording
artist. We've been doing that very successfully and we want
to continue doing that.
Moderator: Okay. Our next question is from the line of
Dominick Patten from Deadline Hollywood. Please go ahead.
Your line is open.
D. Patten: Hi, guys. How are you doing?
A. Llinares: We're good.
R. Wade: How's it going? All right?
D. Patten: Good. Obviously we're talking about the auditions
but there's a lot of speculation about what's going to be
happening on the show in the judges panel. Can you give us
any indication of where things are looking to replace
people?
R. Wade: Well, it's always exciting in this process. We don't
know what we're doing yet. We're speaking to a few people.
The judges are an incredibly important part of the show as
we know. Really, right now, our focus I've got to say is on
the contestants. We start these auditions on Wednesday. We
want to make sure that that's where our focus is right now.
You'll have to kind of watch this space on the judges, I'm
afraid.
D. Patten: Do you expect it to see it–
R. Wade: Sorry. We lost you there.
A. Llinares: You've cut out there.
Moderator: Please go ahead. Your line is open.
D. Patten: I said, do you expect to see with bringing in a
new judge we might see a ratings rise?
R. Wade: I think, obviously, what we're hoping to do this
year is to improve the show, make it as good as possible. Of
course, we obviously hope to have a ratings rise for a
number of reasons whether that be the new judge or any
tweaks we do to the format. Of course, we're the EP's of the
show that's what we're hoping.
Moderator: Our next question comes from the line of Jessica
Sims from InTouch Weekly. Please go ahead. Your line is
open.
J. Sims: Hey, guys. How are you doing?
A. Llinares: Good. How are you?
J. Sims: Good. Doing well. Thanks. So I know that you've kind
of touched a little bit on the judges but, of course,
there's also the host. Of course, there's rumors buzzing
that Khloe is not coming back next season. So we're
wondering if there's still going to be a two-host format?
R. Wade: We're sort of at the beginning of the whole process
at the moment. We're kind of looking at everything in the
show whether it's the hosts, the judges, the contestants,
the whole show, really. We're sort of working through it
all. So it's a little bit early for us to say, really. We're
still kind of open to all options I would say on that. We're
working through it.
Like I said, the focus for us right now is these auditions
which start very soon. At the end of the day, the stars of
this show are the contestants. They really, really are and
that's what we need to focus on is making sure that we do a
great, great set of auditions around the country. Hopefully
find some true stars there.
J. Sims: Fantastic. I know that the focus right now is on the
contestants and there was a question earlier about how the
contestant format if that was going to change the audition
format is going to change or stay the same. So does this
mean that other things might be a little bit more flexible
moving forward as far as either the amount of judges or this
is all subject to change at this point?
R. Wade: Absolutely. We're looking at everything again. We're
looking at the judging panel to set the format of the show.
We're looking at ways to improve the show is much as we can
right from the audition process to the middle stages of the
show and, of course, the live show. So we're looking at
everything again and trying to make as good to watch for the
viewer as possible.
A. Llinares: It sounds like we're cloaking everything in
secrecy. It's generally a process we're going through at the
moment. It's not quite as mysterious as we're making out,
maybe.
R. Wade: I think it's worth saying, at this point, we want to
take the best elements of Season 1 and we want to take the
best elements of Season 2 and then we want to add to that a
bit and make the best show that we can because I think we've
been really proud of the last two seasons. I think there's
been some great talent coming out of it, great moments,
great TV. That's what we're working on at the moment. As
Andrew said we're not trying to have everything secrecy
we're just trying to get the most out of this show and make
it the best show we can.
J. Sims: Okay. All right. Thanks guys.
Moderator: Very good. Our next question comes from the line
of Russell Weakland of Hollywood Life. Please go ahead. Your
line is open.
R. Weakland: Hey, guys. How are you?
A. Llinares: Hey. How are you doing?
R. Weakland: Fantastic. Do you think that the contestants are
at all at a disadvantage by going into the auditions without
judges being there that will be judging them in the future
when they get on the show?
R. Wade: I think that's just a reality to the process. This
show attracts huge, huge crowds. I mean we've seen crowds of
10,000 - 15,000 sometimes showing up in these cities and
there's just a physical impossibility for one panel of
judges to see those people in a day. I think if they were
actually to see everybody audition they'd be here until next
Christmas doing it. So we kind of have to have a filtering
process.
Actually, I think we feel our filtering process and the
process that people go through when they turn up at these
first rounds of auditions is a very fair process actually.
We get to see everybody individually and we have a little
chat with them. Then we get to hear them sing. So they
really do get a proper process. They're auditioned in front
of some great producers from the show and also
representatives of Sony, the record company, some people who
really know what they are looking for. So it's a really
great process. I think most people that come along feel like
they've had a great, great day.
R. Weakland: Fantastic. Thank you.
Moderator: Our next question comes from the line of Jeanne
Jakle of San Antonio Express. Please go ahead. Your line is
open.
J. Jakle: Hi, guys. Thanks a lot. I just wanted to ask you,
obviously, the turnout for the auditions depends in part or
is stirred up by the excitement surrounding the former
contestants. Can you just give me an update on the top three
of Season 2 especially Fifth Harmony because they were kind
of in an usual finalists?
R. Wade: Yes. Sure. Starting off with Tate, our winner. I'm
sure you also saw that he had the music video during the
Grammy's. He's currently working very hard. He's recording
his first album and that's being released in April. Last
year our winner released much later in the year. We want our
winner to release kind of early this year. So they've gone
through to April and we push it up to April. So we're
excited to hear that.
We've heard a couple of songs, well I've heard a couple of
songs. They’re good, you know, and it's very exciting. Tate
is working incredibly hard. Of course, that guy, everything
you saw on the screen, that is him. He really wants it. He's
working incredibly hard.
Fifth Harmony, as you know they've signed with Epic and
that's L.A. Reid's label. They, again, are working on their
first album. We don't have a release date for them yet.
They're doing some press, they're out and about and they've
got a lot to work on. As you said, they were a brand-new
group and obviously they're gelling together really well and
we're really excited about them. It was interesting on the
show in the first couple of weeks of the live show you kind
of just saw them forming as a group and by the end they
really kind of hit their stride.
Then, Emblem 3, they signed with Columbia, they're recording
their first album. It's coming out in spring. They've got
some tour dates this week. They'll be southern California
and the East Coast. So that's where we are with everyone. Is
that a good enough answer? Do you want any more information?
A. Llinares: I'm not sure you could give any more
information. ....
R. Wade: Yes. Sorry. I went on a bit.
J. Jakle: That's okay. As a follow up I just wanted to ask
will we be seeing more of that kind of mix-and-match like
Simon did with the girls in this coming season that was sort
of successful, right, with the ...
R. Wade: Yes. It was very successful with Fifth Harmony. I
think what's exciting about this whole process is it's a
pretty organic process. So that is something that kind of
very naturally came about as a boot camp last year where
there were these five girls that the judges felt may come
together and create a great, great group and it really,
really worked. Who knows? Maybe that could happen again,
maybe not. I think it's all about who walks in the door and
that's what's exciting about it for us. We just don't know
what's going to happen. Some things none of us could imagine
might happen. It's kind of exciting.
J. Jakle: Well, thank you. I really enjoyed the show last
year.
R. Wade: Thank you.
A. Llinares: Thank you very much.
Moderator: Very good. Our next question comes from the line
of Amber Garrett from WetPaint Entertainment. Please go
ahead. Your line is open.
A. Garrett: Hello. Am I coming through?
R. Wade: Yes. Hi how are you?
A. Garrett: Sorry. My question was are you guys looking for
anything specific this year based on the performers that
sort of popped? How are you guys defining X Factor as going
into Season 3?
R. Wade: I think it's interesting. We get asked that question
and a lot of what we're going to expect to see and the truth
is, we want to be surprised. When we went into Season 1 we
didn't expect that we'd suddenly find some little voice like
Melanie Amaro. In Season 2 we just talked about Fifth
Harmony. Who knew that someone as exciting as them or who
knew that a country singer would win the show in that second
season? We never know what we're going to find.
We're very open-minded about who enters this competition and
it's what makes us very different to the other singing shows
out there. Someone who's over 25 could win this, a country
singer like Tate, a group could win this a young group like
an Emblem 3 type, or it could be a solo singer. So we're
very lucky in our format that we have such a broad outreach.
We accept talent in all shapes and sizes. So the truth is
we're not out there looking for one thing. We're looking for
everything and we're looking for the very best of
everything.
A. Garrett: My follow-up question is are you looking to lower
the age requirement for this season or are you going to
stick with the parameters of last season?
A. Llinares: No. The age will still be 12. So anyone from 12
upwards can enter the competition. But like Rob said, what's
really exciting is ultimately in this show you could have a
12-year-old singing against a 60-year-old. It really is a
show that's open to absolutely anybody. So you've got people
who are just starting out in their lives and potentially in
their careers who might be facing people who may think that
it's too late for them and that maybe this is their last
chance at actually achieving something like this with their
lives. So it's a show where dreams really can come true but
for people right across the age spectrum which is incredibly
exciting I think.
Moderator: Very good. Our next question comes from the line
of Krista Chain of TV Megasite. Please go ahead. Your line
is open.
K. Chain: Hi there. Thanks for taking the call today.
R. Wade: Thank you.
A. Llinares: Thank you.
K. Chain: What is your favorite part of the whole process for
the show? What are some of your favorite parts?
R. Wade: I think being in the booths over the next month is
great. I know this sounds like a cliché but we do believe
that the talent, the contestants, are the stars of the show.
It's a very special moment when you get someone really great
in your booth. They come in and they sing and they blow you
away. There's a little bit of competitiveness between all of
us who go and do these auditions because we want to be the
ones who found that star, that they came into our booth. So
I really, personally, enjoy that. Andrew, you?
A. Llinares: Yes. I would agree because at the end of the
day, you want to have that moment when you're auditioning
these people. You want that moment when you kind of tingle
because you think you found something special. So I think we
all kind of look out for the moment when we look forward to
the moment where we might get that special kind of tingle
where you think, oh my God, this is something really
special. It doesn't happen that often to be honest. We see a
lot of people but we've always got our eyes and ears open
and we're always hoping to find the next big thing. When you
think you might have done it that's kind of a really magic
feeling.
K. Chain: Okay. Do you have any favorite? Do you favor solo
artists over groups or which type of talent do you prefer?
R. Wade: From a personal point of view, I'm kind of quite
easy. I like everything. It's not like I prefer them within
their categories. From a personal preference and I think as
a show preference as well we just like originality. You
don't want a cookie-cutter-like personal act. You want
people who really excite you and feel original.
K. Chain: Okay. Thank you.
Moderator: We have our next question from the line of Jamie
Ruby of SciFiVision.com. Please go ahead. Your line is open.
J. Ruby: Hi, guys. Thanks for doing the call. I was just
curious, you talked about how, obviously, a lot if it's open
ended right now and you're changing things as you go. Is
that stressful as producers because if it was me I'd be
going crazy not knowing what's going on?
A. Llinares: Sorry. I missed the beginning of that. What was
that? Sorry.
J. Ruby: You were saying that everything's open and you don't
have things decided yet, who's going to judge and all of
that. I'm just curious as producers is that stressful not
knowing exactly what's going to happen?
A. Llinares: No. I think it's all part of the process really.
I think like we said with the additions it's quite an
organic process, the whole thing. So I think there's
obviously lots to sort out on the show of this scale with
the auditions, the judges, the hosts and all of the
different elements of it but it's an exciting process. We're
all really lucky to do something for a living that is so
exciting. It's a really, really, really exciting thing to
do. So we don't find it stressful. We love it. It is all
part of the journey of it.
J. Ruby: What do you find the most challenging out of the
whole thing?
R. Wade: Working with Andrew. No. What's the most
challenging? The show has been around in the UK for ten
years and what's challenging is just constantly trying to
update and refresh it and make it relevant that's what's
challenging. It's just constant. We're very hard on
ourselves, in a way, and we want this show to be brilliant.
We always push each other and push our team to make the best
show possible. We love what we do so it's not too bad.
J. Ruby: Perfect. Great. Thank you.
Moderator: Our next question comes from the line of Claudia
Cagan of E News. Please go ahead. Your line is open.
C. Cagan: Hi, guys. Great to talk to you today.
R. Wade: Hello.
C. Cagan: So, we are partial to our Khloe here at E. We are
proud of the work that she did. If you have any advice for
her and any other hopefuls who have never actually hosted
before what would that be?
R. Wade: I think having our show like this it's all about–I
always think you've got to come to it from a place where
you're speaking with your heart. It's a show about real
people. It's a show about people who want to change their
lives. You look at someone like Tate Stevens and you see
someone there who had a very normal life in and a very
ordinary job and he wanted to change his life and he came on
the show. Now he's living his dreams. I think everybody's
who's on the show needs to kind of understand that and speak
with their hearts.
C. Cagan: Interestingly enough, Khloe being a reality star
and a popular celebrity, it would seem that she was the
perfect choice. So what advice would you give future host
hopefuls or do you think perhaps you will more likely go
with someone who has some hosting experience this time?
R. Wade: I think, as we've said, we're still working through
the questions. I think Khloe did a great job and she
obviously hasn't hosted before. We all felt she did a great
job. I think hosting, in general, is a really interesting
position in television because it's very often people are
very rarely very nice about it. It's always everyone thinks
it's an easy kind of gig and it's not. It's really, really
difficult. The great host that's been for years and years
make it look very easy and that's the truth of things. We
would never presume to put someone in a hosting role in
their first year of having done it and expect them to be
perfect. How could you? We felt Khloe did a good job.
C. Cagan: Yes. I think that was part of the challenge was
putting her with Mario who has many years of hosting
experience. That was an extra challenge for her to meet that
challenge. She did a great job and we're proud of her. By
the way, I picked Tate Stevens because I felt that America
would speak to that wonderful talent.
R. Wade: Well there you go. I hope he makes some money.
C. Cagan: Yes. Thank you. Bye bye.
A. Llinares: Thank you.
Moderator: Our next question comes from the line of Adrian
McNaughton of Premier Guide Media. Please go ahead. Your
line is open.
A. McNaughton: Yes. You talked about having where you're
placing a host and whatever. Does the show really need two
hosts up there? Mario seems to do a very good job. It seems
like one person could really carry it. What's the purpose of
having two?
A. Llinares: I think we went with two hosts because we like
the idea of doing something a little bit different to maybe
some of the other shows. We like the idea of almost bringing
those kind of award ceremony feeling to the show. So I think
that's one way of looking at it. There's obviously a case
for having one host or two hosts. Like we say, we're sort of
working through all of these things at the moment before we
decide exactly what we're going to do. I think there's pros
and cons to both really.
A. McNaughton: Okay. Do you have any surprises coming up that
are going to be changes to the show that's going to be any
different?
R. Wade: Yes. We do. I think we're going to change some of
the elements and the format. I wouldn't say we'd call them
so much as surprises. There are ways we're planning on
improving the show. As soon as those are finalized we're
going to kind of be letting people know.
As Andrew said a couple of times now, we're focusing very
much on new auditions and the contestants at the moment.
Getting people to our open auditions to LA, Charleston, New
Orleans, Long Island, and Denver because if they don't turn
up to those positions then the show would be poorer for it.
And any surprises we do are going to be kind of pointless
because that's where the show is made. We are very aware of
that. We're getting this bit right now getting this bit set
off correctly. Making sure we're maximizing our talent
search and then everything else will fall into place.
A. McNaughton: How about the storytelling of the individual
artists that are out there? Are you going to be doing more
of that in the audition part?
R. Wade: What do you mean, sorry?
A. McNaughton: Like, the format where they do the background
they do some background on the different people that are
trying out for the show. Are you going to be doing more
storytelling on individuals?
A. Llinares: I think our ambition with the storytelling is
always to engage people as much as possible and all the
contestants are coming through. We're always looking at new
ways of doing that. Some of that might be about seeing them
back where they come from. Some of it's about just
experience in the day they have at the auditions with us.
We're always looking at ways of making that story as
engaging as possible. We want people to really feel what the
contestants are going through when they watch the show.
It's a very emotional experience auditioning for something
like this. You've got real highs and lows of emotion. You've
got excitement, you've got tears, you've got all sorts of
different things. It's our job, I think, to get those
emotions over. We want the viewers to feel the motion of the
day. It's an incredibly emotional experience. If people can
feel what the contestants are going through then I think
we've done a good job. So that's certainly what we're aiming
at.
A. McNaughton: Thank you very much and good luck.
A. Llinares: Thank you.
R. Wade: Thank you.
Moderator: No additional questions. Please continue.
H. Hindinger: We're going to conclude the call now. Thank you
everyone for your questions. As always, please reach out to
Fox publicity or visit The XFactorUSA.com with any other
questions. Thank you, Rob and Andrew.
R. Wade: Thank you.
A. Llinares: Thank you, everybody.
Moderator: Ladies and gentlemen, this conference will be
available for digitized replay from today at 1 p.m. pacific
time through Tuesday, March 5 at midnight. Now, this does
conclude your conference for today. Thank you for your
participation and for using the AT&T Executive
Teleconference Service.
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