My Five Minutes of Fame
Selfie at the SWFX casting call
I had never been inside a T.V. studio before Monday. The “wings,” as they are called, reminded me very much of being backstage from my theater days. A black, soundproof curtain separated those of us waiting to go on from the lights and cameras. (Apparently not soundproof enough…later as our team celebrated in the green room, a staff member came out and asked us to quiet down!)
Let’s back up. Since last December when I first started working for a local designer, I’ve been researching media outlets to a) identify the correct points of contact, and b) get us some kind of coverage – be it T.V. or radio or printed media. If you’ve ever been in sales, you know what I’m talking about! It doesn’t just happen overnight. So when, last Thursday, Good Morning Washington confirmed a spot for the following Monday, I nearly fell on the floor.
By now I was on to a different project with a – slightly – different cast of players. Not too different though, because the fashion community in D.C. is tightly knit, and it is highly advisable to play nice in the sandbox. By now I’ve developed my own network of models, photographers, designers, and so on; connecting talented people together is truly what brings me joy! Which is why I was thrilled to be approached by Amanda Renae with her inspired idea to create a swimwear show in D.C. To my knowledge, nothing like this has been done before in the DMV, so of course I wanted to play a part. Finding us a spot on the local news channel exceeded my own expectations of myself!
With only a few days to prepare, we had to hustle! We needed to find an MUA (Make-Up Artist), designers willing to donate their looks for the spot, models to showcase said looks, etc. Having never been on T.V. before, I didn’t know what to expect. Would we get our hair and makeup done by their people? (no) Was there a place backstage for us to gather and get ready? (yes) It wasn’t until the day before, at our model casting call, that we confirmed our three models who would be joining us and had the outfit delivered from the designer in person. Whew!
So far, so good. The show sent us tips on parking and instructions on how to access the building. I pulled up out front in my robin’s-egg-blue Mini Cooper (which I love especially in moments like this; it’s so much easier to find parking in a tiny car!). It was then that I saw the text from Amanda – her car had broken down and she was not going to make it! My emotions at that point ranged from panic (what were we going to do?) to confidence (I can do this!) to pity (poor Amanda, how sad for her that she’s missing out!). As it turned out, the hardest part was calming down our other team members, who flit about like a hive of bees who’d lost their Queen. We had three models, a videographer, photographer, and an MUA, most of whom had also never been in a studio before. So now, besides the typical jitters, we had the added anxiety of wondering whether Amanda would or would not make it. However, we pulled together as a true team does! We knew the show had to go on – literally – and that we wanted to make Amanda proud. At this point, there was still an outside chance that she would make it, so we waited with bated breath.
We had about 10 minutes before airtime when the Executive Producer, Terrie, made the call…. Amanda was still too far away, and Sheryl would have to take her place. She and I had already been “miked,” so with our we all followed Terrie down the hall to the “wings.” Z started his push-ups, M practiced her poses, I chatted with the other group that was waiting to go on after us. Sheryl got a call from Amanda that she had just parked, as the production assistant waived us onto the stage. Our MUA was sent to go “collect” Amanda, as we all marched into the lights and stood together inside a circle of tape on the hardwood floor. Literally seconds before the cameras came on, Amanda burst through the soundproof curtains and joined our party in the nick of time!!!
We all waived at the camera, as the announcer shared that our group would be up next after the commercial break. Terrie and the P.A. frantically took the mike from Sheryl and gave it to Amanda, who then joined me to another section of the studio with a couch and a coffee table. Our host, Brittany (“call me Brit,” she said kindly) introduced herself. Within seconds, the cameras rolled again.
I was a lot less nervous than I thought I’d be! After the chaos of the morning, to finally be sitting on that couch, I felt completely “in the zone.” I figured out how I wanted to sit – I have trouble sometimes moving my hands around too much, so I crossed my legs and carefully placed my hands on my knee. That seemed to work. I also was unsure of exactly where to look, especially as I’m not a fan of my profile, with my large “Roman” nose….so every time I turned to look at Brit or Amanda, I felt rather self-conscious. Periodically I would sneak a peek at myself in the camera facing straight and smiling. I share all this as if our interview lasted a long time, but it moved so quickly it was practically over as soon as it had begun! Brit obviously knew how to keep the pace moving.
“Now what?” “Is that it?” “Are we done?” After our camera crew got some pics of us on the stage with the anchor, we were shooed offstage by the production staff. Back in the green room, we celebrated! Not with food or champagne, but with laughter. We made good use of the “selfie station,” a wall covered in the GMW logo, in front of which someone had thoughtfully placed some professional grade lighting. We took turns recording “interviews” with our camera crew, taking boomerang shots, and just generally goofing around. For me, I felt so many different emotions – elation, pride, relief, joy, and exhaustion. (The following day I ended up sleeping the entire morning!) As much fun as I was having with my new friends, I was ready to go back to my Mini Cooper.
