Producer

PRODUCER

Lessons Shared from 30 Years in Television

W
ENDY
W
ALKER

with

A
NDREA
C
AGAN

with a Foreword by Larry King

NEW YORK
   
BOSTON
   
NASHVILLE

Begin Reading

Table of Contents

Copyright Page

To

my children,

Amaya and Walker,

who constantly teach me

new lessons about life and love

“
L
essons” is a great word. Whenever I see it, I know that in the next few moments I’m going to learn something. And there is
no better teacher than Wendy Walker, my senior executive producer for the past seventeen years. She really is the driving
force behind
Larry King Live.
From early in the morning, throughout the day, and into the early evening, it’s all on Wendy who stays on top of things by
booking the show, making the calls, driving the crew, checking in with me, and putting out fires all along the way. Then when
she’s finished with her work, I get the last hour.

When I was ready to hire a new executive producer, the network narrowed it down to three possible choices. What a host looks
for in a good executive producer is knowing she’s right there, always at the helm, and always ready to stand up for me versus
higher management. It’s all about loyalty, an extraordinary trait which Wendy has demonstrated as long as we’ve worked together.

Before I met with Wendy, I favored a guy who worked on
Good Morning America
and was an avid sports fan, just like me. I liked him as a person and I liked the fact that he had no desire to leave his
present job—unless he could work for me. I could
imagine doing shows about sports each night since that was what I spent my days talking about. In fact, sports is my number
one avocation. So much so, that if the
Washington Post
had a headline that read
Larry King’s Secret Sex Life Revealed
, I’d turn to the sports page first.

But a meeting with Wendy changed my mind. At first it seemed impossible. Think about it. Jewish Sports Guy from Brooklyn meets
WASP White House Producer from the Midwest. But I was amazed at her large array of letters of recommendation from past presidents,
highly regarded newsmen, and other influential people. She had the contacts, that was for sure. Then it was the way she looked
me in the eye and said, “I
really
want this job.” I would learn about her loyalty later (that can only be proven with time), but I figured anyone who was that
aggressive and offered me even more impressive recommendations if I wanted them fit the role of my executive producer. And
we have worked together amazingly well ever since.

This doesn’t mean we always agree. Quite the opposite. I often disagree with where Wendy wants to take the show, and we have
some spirited discussions. But it wouldn’t be healthy if we felt the same way about everything. As the host, I may want to
talk about sports, but my executive producer is not a sports nut. She’s thinking about the audience and what they want, something
I never do because I don’t have to.

This may seem strange, but I
never
go on the air thinking, “Will they like this or not like this? Are they enjoying this?” That would make me second-guess my
questions. I see my job as being a conduit from the guests to the audience, asking the right questions, bringing out what
the guests have to say and what they’re thinking about. Then the audience makes up its own mind.

But the executive producer is
all
about the audience. While I prefer to talk about Manny Rodriguez, Wendy knows what will draw the highest ratings. This causes
us to be at tangents. But the lesson you learn from Wendy is when to give and when not to. She knows when to win and when
to lose, and she is impeccable in her loyalty at the same time.

When I heard that Wendy was writing a book, I immediately thought it was a great idea. I know she has something valuable to
say, she has a great background, she’s been through the ups and downs of the news business for the past thirty years, and
she has watched television change right in front of her eyes. In fact, she has been and continues to be an integral part of
that change. Nobody knows better than Wendy that there is no way to predict the news business, and no one can tell you what
the media will look like in as little as five years from now.

In the end, it takes resilience and flexibility to be a great executive producer, traits of any good general and traits that
I see in Wendy all the time. We are close friends, something that can work against us at times, because it feels like I’m
at odds with a wife instead of a coworker. But really, I have never doubted my wisdom in hiring Wendy Walker as my executive
producer, a woman whose loyalty and actions rise high above her job description.

So get ready to go back to school. It won’t be as tough as it was when you were a kid, and you won’t be graded. But you better
listen well, ’cause you’ve got one hell of a teacher! And I love her with all my heart.

M
y name is Wendy Walker. Although you don’t know me and probably don’t recognize my name, you
will
recognize the events, tragedies, and celebrations in this book, since we all lived them. I am just one of the people doing
my job behind the scenes and I’m a lot like you—except that I couldn’t go to my college reunion because I had to produce the
TV coverage for a US-Soviet summit. And I couldn’t pick out the bridesmaids’ dresses for my wedding because I was too busy
covering the Bush-Clinton presidential campaign.

Throughout the years, I have had the privilege of working for Ethel Kennedy, ABC News, CNN, and Larry King. Beginning in 1983,
I was CNN White House producer for a decade, and I have been senior executive producer of
Larry King Live
for the past seventeen years. As I have worked both in the White House and producing this amazing show for Larry King for
such a long time, I have loved meeting world leaders, great authors, presidents and kings, extraordinarily influential people
who have changed the course of the world as we know it. In fact, over the past thirty years, as I have told my stories, which
constantly intrigued my listeners, many people have urged me to write a book. “Who else gets to meet these
people?” they reminded me. “You have stories. You need to share them.”

When I thought about it, I realized that as great as my stories are, I have something even more valuable to offer—the lessons
I’ve learned, often the hard way, along the trajectory of my very challenging and active career. In an effort to share these
priceless hard-earned life lessons, I decided to follow my friends’ urgings. So I did it. Here I am, this is my book, and
I have to say that I am way out of my comfort zone. But I’m doing it anyway.

I’m just not used to being in front of the camera or being the center of attention. I feel best in the background, behind
the scenes, but with this book, that’s changing. It has been a great learning experience for me, and reliving my lifelong
adventures as an adult, rather than a kid, has been illuminating and a whole lot of fun.

In the pages of this book, you will find unique stories about lessons learned along the way, as I try to highlight the humor
and some practical ways to lead a good, exciting, healthy life. There are stories involving many luminaries, such as Mikhail
Gorbachev, Marlon Brando, and Yasser Arafat. Not to mention Larry King, an icon, one of the most famous and talented broadcast
interviewers in the world.

When I began my work, I was a kid. Now I’m not a kid anymore, but with each day and each show I produce for Larry, I’m still
learning a great deal about life and about myself. I feel excited about the years to come and about finding new ways to understand
how connected we all are. In the end, I can see that the energy we give out in this life is exactly the energy we get back.

M
y alarm clock woke me at 5:30 a.m., as usual. It was still dark outside as I reluctantly pulled back the covers, got up, and
headed for the bathroom to wash my face and get ready for a new day. The digital readout on my clock told me it was Thursday,
June 25, 2009, and I felt like I had a jump on the day.

The night before, when I went to bed, my staff and I had booked what I thought was a diverse and interesting
Larry King Live
show for tonight. I knew from experience over many years that if breaking news occurred anywhere in the world, we could and
would shift our plans in an instant. That’s always the case in the news business. But I was hoping for an easy day as I headed
into my home office off my bedroom to check my e-mails. They were arriving fast and furious since it was a little after 8:30
a.m. on the East Coast. I scanned my incoming box quickly and checked last night’s ratings.

I love living on the West Coast, and in the blush of a promising summer sunrise, I scanned the wires and various reports from
my East Coast staff to confirm the morning headlines.
Then I went back to my e-mails. My production staff of forty across the country were streaming information to me from everywhere
and would continue to do so—to the tune of at least two thousand e-mails daily. I know how impossible that sounds, but it’s
true. Imagine taking a half-hour walk or driving a kid to school in the early morning and having more than two hundred new
e-mails waiting when you get back home. That’s how it is with me, as I scan thousands of e-mails every day, eliminating what
I don’t need and making sure I respond to what is necessary and hopefully not deleting something important.

While I started answering the messages, my staff kicked in. They do myriad jobs that are all important; it’s the old it takes
a village concept. Since ten of the forty producers are bookers, when we decide in which direction the show will go that night
they make the calls and do the intense work of booking the guests. When we were in the midst of reporting the deadly earthquake
in Haiti in February 2010, for example, we had to decide who we wanted to interview concerning a massive world tragedy. Everybody
got on board with ideas and suggestions, and we came up with names.

Among our staff, one producer is assigned strictly to knowing all the books that come out and which authors might be right
for the current show. Two producers are in charge of the fifteen-minute water cooler stories, such as local tragedies that
include people who are not normally in the news, which is how the Scott Peterson case began. Another producer handles celebrities
and their agents and publicists. There are political bookers who work with Washington and the White House, and all of them
have their A list: people we would have on at any time, such as Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt or a sitting president.