Why Now?
If you’re like me, you can’t take your eyes off of the daily news updates. The pundits’ analysis of the state of the state is at once shocking and yet at the same time revealing what we sort of thought was happening. Last night I fell asleep watching Masha Gessen being interviewed by Chris Hayes. She was fascinating, discussing why this whistle blower is so different than past whistle blowers, because he, unlike others in whistle blowing moments, is reveling the details of something we sort of knew about. She had addressed this in her article in the New Yorker: “Most big whistle-blowing stories involve a revelation: fraud where it may not have been so much as suspected; systematic waste unseen by the public and unnoticed by overseers; abuse of power that we couldn’t have even imagined. The story of abuse of power contained in the whistle-blower complaint released by the acting director of National Intelligence, last week, however, was known in general terms. In fact, it had been covered by the media.” So it is in this context that we are in an election year with minor elections upon us.
At this moment, as a professional voice over actor, how could I not have a political demo? We are in an election year. There will be spots for elections, for organizations, for choices we are all facing. And with the news surrounding us constantly, I want to be a part of the moment of change and lend my voice to these campaigns. The demo was necessary to booking the political spots.
My Background
In voice over, we are often asked why we are different than others in our field. As a kid, I always loved American History. This inspired me to major in Political Science in college. Circling back to voiceover, I am VERY different than other talents because I have not one but TWO degrees from Columbia University, and my undergraduate AB degree from Barnard College was in Political Science. In fact, I graduated with departmental distinction and one the senior prize for the best senior essay (senior thesis) in my field. It was on microcredit loans for women in Bangladesh, and this was in the years before Mohammed Yunis won the Nobel Peace Prize, so at the time it was a hot new topic. A man named Richard Pious was my undergraduate advisor, and he is an expert on the American Presidency. When you are in school and you study whether a president is good, average, or excellent, he is on the committee that rates them. Other famous alumnae from Columbia who share my degree and background include President Obama, Madeline Albright, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay. I am quite proud to be in such good company.
I stayed at Columbia and pursued a Masters of Arts in History. I was in a terminal MA program at Teachers’ College. My passion for academia served me well and I loved my years at the university.
Why does this matter? I am a gal who understands the issues. All of them. For me, this is not simply an acting job. This is my passion. I will not only be able to develop the script as a professional in the field, I understand the script in the context of the current situation and in the context of the big picture. I get the issues.
Why Adrenaline Studios to Produce my Demo?
I love the team at Adrenaline! As a full time working professional, I have an opportunity to travel a bit for my work. In the past, I have been in Las Vegas and gotten to record work that I booked while staying in Vegas at Adrenaline. I was very impressed with the studios at Adrenaline and I really liked working with Brandon Perry. I have some other industry friends who recently did demos with Adrenaline including Jodi Krangle and Liz de Nesnera. They turned out great! I was so impressed not just with Jodi and Liz’s performance on their respective demos, but also with the production quality! I thought the scripts were great and loved the audio. I also wanted the experience of working with a studio that is known for producing so many political spots, and adrenaline does.
My Goals
My goal is too book a lot of blue spots and be a part of the wave of change that I pray sweeps our nation. My goal is to also work with new clients. I love meeting new people, and this will combine my passion for politics and my work in voiceover. I am excited to meet the needs for political spots in the coming year, whether they are warm and positive, hard sell, negative, and anything in between, I look forward to an opportunity to bring the scripts to life and make a difference!
