Our Madison Avenue Studio
Full TV-studio environment, professional lighting, multi-camera setup. The most realistic simulation of a network interview. Best for high-stakes, single-executive prep.
Executive Media Training in New York City
Media Training in NYC
Train at our Madison Avenue studio before your next high-stakes interview, announcement, crisis response, or investor-facing appearance. Jess Todtfeld runs repeated on-camera reps, playback, and correction so mistakes happen here, not in public.
NYC studio: (646) 233-1424
- Madison Avenue studio
- Two blocks from Grand Central
- The most on-camera practice
Quick answer
Success in Media provides executive media training in New York City at its studio at 295 Madison Avenue, 12th Floor, near Grand Central. Jess Todtfeld, a former ABC, NBC and FOX producer, leads one-day intensives with customized interview scenarios, hostile-question practice and on-camera video review. On-site training at your office and virtual sessions are also available.
Updated
- Producing for NBC, ABC, and Fox
- 13 years
- Media segments produced
- 5,000+
- Executives and organizations coached
- 500+
13 Years Producing For
Why NYC Executives Choose Success in Media
New York City is where national narratives get made. Within a fifteen-minute radius of our Madison Avenue studio, producers at NBC in Rockefeller Center, ABC on the Upper West Side, Fox News on Sixth Avenue, and CNBC across the river in Englewood Cliffs are deciding, right now, which executives get camera time and which get cut. If your company is headquartered in NYC, or your spokesperson is flying in to do the media rounds, you need a trainer who understands this specific ecosystem, not a generic communications consultant working from a template.
Success in Media runs its NYC media training out of a professional, media-ready space at 295 Madison Avenue. It is a dressed-up conference room environment built for serious rehearsal. We run customized scenarios with cameras, lighting, playback, and an interviewer trained in the exact hostile-question patterns network producers hand to their anchors. By the time your spokesperson walks into the real interview, it is the fourth or fifth version they have done, not the first.
Three NYC-specific advantages set this program apart from anything else on the market:
Proximity to every major network.
NBC at 30 Rock, ABC at Lincoln Square, Fox News at 1211 Sixth Avenue, CNBC at Englewood Cliffs, Bloomberg at 731 Lexington, CBS at the CBS Broadcast Center. You can train in the morning and do a live hit in the afternoon.
A professional, media-ready environment for on-camera reps.
Most "media training" happens in a hotel conference room with a webcam. Ours uses a more polished setup with lighting, cameras, playback, and realistic rehearsal built around your actual scenario.
Jess's 13 years producing FOR these exact networks.
He is not a coach guessing at what producers want. He spent more than a decade deciding who got interviewed, what clips aired, and how executives came across under pressure, at NBC, ABC, and Fox, right here in New York.
Ready to train at our Madison Avenue studio? Tell us what's on the calendar.
Get a Quick QuoteThe Madison Avenue Studio
Our NYC training studio is located at 295 Madison Avenue, 12th Floor, New York, NY 10017, on the corner of 41st Street. It is one of the most accessible training locations in Manhattan:
- Two blocks from Grand Central Terminal: 4, 5, 6, 7, and S trains, plus Metro-North
- One block from Bryant Park: B, D, F, and M lines
- Walking distance to Park Avenue Fortune 500 headquarters: most of our finance and legal clients walk in from their offices
- Surrounded by midtown hotels for visiting executives flying in for one-day intensives
For Manhattan teams, this location makes serious rehearsal practical. Executives can step out of a Park Avenue office, run repeated interview reps with playback and correction, and get back to the rest of the day with sharper answers, cleaner message discipline, and fewer surprises.
What NYC Media Training Looks Like
A typical one-day intensive at our Madison Avenue studio runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and is built entirely around your executive's actual exposure: the interview they are about to do, the story that is breaking, the congressional testimony on the calendar, the product launch next quarter. No generic curriculum.
- Segment 1
Live Studio Simulations
Professional lighting, multiple cameras, and a trained interviewer sitting across from you. We build realistic versions of the kinds of interview conditions your executive is most likely to face.
- Segment 2
Hostile Interview Reps
Our interviewer is coached in the exact escalation patterns that NYC network journalists use: the gotcha pivot, the repeated question, the incorrect premise. Your executive practices the bridges and blocks until they are automatic.
- Segment 3
Message Development
Three core messages, reverse-engineered from what you actually need the audience to remember. Built for the NYC media landscape: the quote, the sound bite, the clip that ends up in the package.
- Segment 4
On-Camera Video Review
Every simulation is recorded. We play it back on a large monitor, frame by frame, coaching posture, pacing, eye contact, and bridge delivery. You leave with a full video library and a written playbook.
“Jess is a true media pro, having 'been there and done that' as a producer, a trainer, and a speaker himself. The most amazing part of seeing him in action was his ability to customize his program to exactly fit the unique needs of our company and the executives he was training. Bravo, Jess.”
Michael KingsleyVice President, Public Relations, State Street Investment Management
See it in action
New York media training
In under 2 minutes, see what a media training day at our Madison Avenue studio looks like, from camera work to the hostile-interview simulation.
Who We Train in NYC
Our NYC client roster spans Fortune 500 executives, founder-CEOs, heads of communications, and senior spokespeople. Three recent outcomes tell the story better than we can:
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Interactive Practice, Not a Lecture
Carmen Moreno from the Social Security Administration described the training exactly the way strong media prep should work: practical, hands-on, and built around real behavior change.
“While I was expecting a lecture, I was happy to see that his program was interactive. We enjoyed being able to have hands-on practice which made the material come alive.”
Carmen MorenoSocial Security Administration -
Control the Interview Without Sounding Evasive
Eve J. Rappoport described the on-camera work and answer system as the difference between worrying about the reporter's questions and getting her own messages across.
“The on-camera work gave me validation that I can do this. Strategies for preparing better to be more effective with the media were important. I like the concept of 'controlling' the reporter, not worrying about the questions but using your answer system to get my messages across.”
Eve J. RappoportCity of Glendale, California -
From Disorganized to Interview-Ready
Daniel Peirce described the strongest kind of media training outcome: practical coaching that helps a senior leader take control of the interview without looking rehearsed or defensive.
“After a robust, one-day training I went from being a disorganized and hard-to-watch talking head to an authoritative brand steward ready for the toughest interview. The value in Jess' approach was in his tough, real-time coaching and practical suggestions to manage the interview to ensure my message prevailed.”
Daniel Peirce
Same facts. A third of the words.
Jess teaches a method he calls the Sound Bite System: a quotable answer in 30 seconds or less. Here is one answer, edited the way a producer edits it.
Reporter“Your product was recalled last month. Why should anyone trust you now?”
Well, I think it’s important to understand that, you know, we take these things very seriously, and what I would say is that, at the end of the day, we found the problem ourselves, and, frankly, we fixed it in nine days, and going forward we are, sort of, committed to making sure that every customer hears it from us first.
We found the problem ourselves. We fixed it in nine days. Every customer hears it from us first.
Illustrative teaching example, not a client.
In a session you do this with your own answers, on camera, with Jess producing.
Get a quick quoteNYC Industries We Serve
New York is not one media market. It is a dozen overlapping ones, each with its own vocabulary, reporter pool, and story angles. Our NYC training is calibrated to your sector:
- Finance JPMorgan, major NYC banking houses, asset managers, IR teams preparing for earnings, and Park Avenue investment firms facing Bloomberg, CNBC, and Reuters.
- Media & Entertainment Network executives, studio heads, streaming platform leadership, and entertainment spokespeople whose careers are built in and on NYC media.
- Legal Partners at major Manhattan law firms, general counsels of NYC-headquartered corporations, and litigation spokespeople facing courthouse cameras.
- Tech NYC fintech, AI startups, SaaS founders preparing for product launches, and tech executives facing trade press and crossover business media.
- Nonprofit & Philanthropy UN-adjacent organizations, major cultural institutions, foundation leadership, and nonprofit CEOs facing the philanthropy press corps.
- Healthcare & Pharma NYC hospital system leadership, pharma HQs on the New Jersey/NYC corridor, and medical spokespeople preparing for regulatory and consumer press.
Want to see how this applies to your industry? Let's talk specifics.
Speak with JessVirtual or On-Site, Your Choice
NYC media training does not have to mean coming to our studio. We deliver the same methodology in three formats, and you pick whichever serves the engagement best:
At Your Manhattan Office
We come to your midtown or downtown conference room with portable media-training equipment. Best for teams, executive groups, and when travel time out of the building is the constraint.
Fully Virtual via Zoom
Same methodology, delivered for distributed leadership teams. Best for remote satellite interviews, podcast prep, and when participants span multiple cities.
All three formats use the same four-pillar method, the same hostile-interview reps, and the same video review protocol. The difference is setting, not substance.
Why Choose Jess for NYC Media Training
Credentials That Matter in This Market
- 13 years as a TV producer for NBC, ABC, and FOX, right here in NYC. He made the editorial decisions your spokesperson is about to be judged on.
- Guinness World Record holder: 112 interviews completed, 96 officially certified. He has sat in the chair your executive is about to sit in, more times than anyone else alive.
- Certified Speaking Professional (CSP), a designation held by fewer than 1% of speakers worldwide.
- Author of Media Secrets, a #1 international bestseller in four countries, now core reading for communications teams.
- 500+ executives trained, from Fortune 500 C-suites to founder-CEOs to senior government spokespeople.
“Jess is arguably the best media trainer in the country. He's intelligent, creative, engaging, thorough. All my clients that have worked with him love him!”
Bruce BobbinsExecutive Vice President, DKC
NYC Clients Include
NYC-Specific FAQ
The questions below cover the details executives and communications teams usually want answered before booking media training in Manhattan.
Where exactly is your NYC training held?
Our studio is at 295 Madison Avenue, 12th Floor, New York, NY 10017, between 40th and 41st Streets. The nearest subway is Grand Central (4, 5, 6, 7, and S trains), roughly a two-block walk. Bryant Park (B, D, F, M) and 42nd Street-Times Square are also within a short walk.
Do you travel to client offices in Manhattan?
Yes. We regularly deliver on-site training at client offices across midtown, the Financial District, Hudson Yards, and the Upper West Side. On-site sessions use the same methodology and video-feedback cycles as our Madison Avenue location, adapted to your conference room setup. We bring portable lighting, cameras, and a second interviewer when the scenario calls for it.
How far in advance do I need to book for NYC?
Standard lead time is 2 to 4 weeks, which gives us time to customize the curriculum, build a hostile-interview simulation around your actual exposure, and coordinate schedules across multiple participants. Many teams also book farther out when they want to reserve dates around product launches, earnings, roadshows, or annual communications planning. For urgent needs, we can often schedule within 48 to 72 hours. Request a quote and we will confirm availability the same business day.
Can you accommodate same-day urgent crisis training?
Yes. When a story is breaking and an executive has to face cameras within hours, we run emergency crisis media training on site at your office, at our Madison Avenue studio, or virtually. Call (646) 233-1424 and we will move fast. We have handled same-day prep for executives appearing on network evening news, cable business shows, and courthouse-step press conferences.
What if my executive is visiting NYC for just one day?
Our one-day intensive is built for exactly that scenario. Fly in, train from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at our Madison Avenue studio (two blocks from Grand Central), and leave with a full video library, message map, and interview-ready messaging. Many visiting executives pair training with a same-afternoon or next-morning live network hit just blocks away.
Do you work with NYC-based PR firms as a subcontractor?
Yes. We partner with NYC public relations agencies, IR firms, and communications consultancies that need a specialist trainer for client engagements. White-label and co-branded options are available. Jess is routinely subcontracted into agency engagements where a former network producer's credibility is part of the value proposition.
What's the difference between NYC media training and virtual?
NYC in-person training uses a professional, media-ready setup with cameras, lighting, playback, and an in-room interviewer, which helps closely simulate a real interview. Virtual training via Zoom is equally effective for remote satellite interviews, podcast appearances, and internal video communications, and is often the right choice for distributed leadership teams. The methodology is identical. The setting is what changes.
How much does 1-day NYC media training cost?
One-day executive media training in NYC is customized per engagement. Pricing depends on the number of participants, the depth of customization, whether sessions are delivered at our studio or on site, and whether the engagement includes hostile-interview simulation or crisis preparation. Request a quick quote for a firm number within one business day.
Train in NYC with a Former Network Producer
Jess Todtfeld spent 13 years as a TV producer for NBC, ABC, and FOX. He is a Guinness World Record holder (112 interviews completed, 96 officially certified; full story), carries the Certified Speaking Professional designation, and is the author of the bestselling book Media Secrets. His NYC studio is two blocks from Grand Central. Fortune 500 executives train here before they walk into the rooms that matter.
Not ready for a quote? Take the free resources first: Get the Media Secrets book 7 Media Interview Secrets