X Factor Season 3: EPs Rob Wade and Andrew Llinares on Auditions, Format Changes, and the Search for the Next Star

They said it plainly: "We want that moment when you kind of tingle because you think you've found something special. It doesn't happen that oft…" — and Premier Guide Miami was in the room when it happened.

On February 26, 2013, FOX held a press conference call with The X Factor executive producers Rob Wade and Andrew Llinares ahead of the Season 3 audition tour. Open auditions were set to kick off March 6 at the Galen Center at USC in Los Angeles, followed by stops in Charleston, New Orleans, Long Island, and Denver. The call covered the audition process, the status of Season 2's top finalists, the still-undecided judging panel and host format, and what the producers were looking for in a third season. Premier Guide Miami's Daedrian McNeal was among the journalists on the call.

Below is an edited transcript of the conversation, including Premier Guide Miami's exchange with the producers.

Now that the show is moving into its third season, do you think The X Factor has reached its full potential with the audition process, or is there still room to grow?

Andrew 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.

How did you approach the audition process this season in terms of what worked and what didn't work the last two seasons?

Rob Wade: I think essentially our audition process has been incredibly successful. We've got amazing talent out of the show. We have phenomenal amounts of people coming for our open calls and we get a huge response to our online auditions as well. What we're looking for essentially is a jewel, an uncovered diamond. A lot of that is down to hard work and a little bit is down to luck. All we're trying to do is 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 go from being a very normal everyday person with a very normal everyday job and become a recording artist. We've been doing that very successfully and we want to continue doing that.

Can you give us any indication of where things are looking with the judges panel?

Wade: 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 is on the contestants. We start these auditions on Wednesday. You'll have to watch this space on the judges, I'm afraid.

What's the update on the top three from Season 2 — Tate Stevens, Fifth Harmony, and Emblem 3?

Wade: Starting with Tate, our winner — he had the music video during the Grammys. He's currently recording his first album, which is being released in April. We pushed it up from later in the year because we want our winner out early. Fifth Harmony signed with Epic — that's L.A. Reid's label. They're working on their first album. We don't have a release date yet but they're doing press, they're out and about, and they've got a lot to work on. As a brand-new group they're gelling together really well. It was interesting — 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 hit their stride. Emblem 3 signed with Columbia, their album is coming out in spring, and they've got tour dates this week in Southern California and the East Coast.

What are you looking for in Season 3? How are you defining the X Factor going into this season?

Wade: 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, who knew that someone as exciting as Fifth Harmony would emerge, or that a country singer would win the show? We're very open-minded about who enters this competition and it's what makes us very different from the other singing shows out there. Someone who's over 25 could win this, a country singer like Tate, a group like an Emblem 3 type, or a solo singer. We accept talent in all shapes and sizes. We're not out there looking for one thing. We're looking for everything and we're looking for the very best of everything.

What is your favorite part of the whole process?

Llinares: You want that moment when you kind of tingle because you think you've found something 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 a really magic feeling. Wade: 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. I really, personally, enjoy that.

Premier Guide Miami's Daedrian McNeal then asked the following questions:

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?

Llinares: I think we went with two hosts because we like the idea of doing something a little bit different from maybe some of the other shows. We like the idea of almost bringing that award ceremony feeling to the show. There's obviously a case for having one host or two hosts. Like we say, we're 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.

Do you have any surprises coming up — changes to the show that are going to be different?

Wade: Yes. We do. I think we're going to change some of the elements and the format. I wouldn't call them so much surprises — there are ways we're planning on improving the show. As soon as those are finalized we're going to be letting people know. We're focusing very much on the auditions and the contestants at the moment. Getting people to our open auditions in LA, Charleston, New Orleans, Long Island, and Denver — because if they don't turn up to those, the show would be poorer for it. We're getting this bit right now, making sure we're maximizing our talent search, and then everything else will fall into place.

How about the storytelling of the individual artists? Are you going to be doing more background on the different people that are trying out for the show?

Llinares: Our ambition with the storytelling is always to engage people as much as possible with all the contestants 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 experiencing the day they have at the auditions with us. 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, excitement, tears, all sorts of different things. It's our job to get those emotions over. If people can feel what the contestants are going through, then I think we've done a good job. That's certainly what we're aiming at.

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