Acting & Hosting Archives

LIVE ANNOUNCER for VIRTUAL CONFERENCE

One of the major industries affected by COVID is the live event industry. But thanks to technology…live events can still take place. And Atlanta North Studios has the technology to do just that! Which is why Todd Duncan, who hosts Sales Mastery, flew from California to Atlanta to take his conference virtual.

Innovation with Live VO

This is where I come in. Todd and the Sales Mastery team needed a live VO announcer to help tease upcoming sessions, shoutout brand sponsors, encourage participation and give other important details. The live VO announcements also gave a transition time between special guests and interviews.

They reached out for my avails. I honestly was a little shocked and wanted them to listen to my demos first to make sure they wanted my voice. I don’t have that attention-grabbing, announcer-type voice. Because this wasn’t going to be in a large crowded room but a screen in people’s homes/offices, it made more sense to have a voice that could connect rather than project.

Getting the Job Done

The most challenging part of the live announcing is that there can be no mistakes. In the words of Eminem, “You only get one shot.” But it went great. Selfishly, I learned so much from Todd Duncan, his guest speakers John Maxwell, James Clear, Joel Manby and other great leaders. Todd Duncan himself is so inspiring. I shared his story on my Encourage Minute podcast. There was also a plumber named Roger Wakefield whose success on YouTube has been incredible. Love the way he thought outside the box! If you want to hear Todd or Roger’s story on my podcast, click HERE. They’re episodes 40 and 41.

The team at Atlanta North Studios created this little booth just for me, so I felt very at home.

If you or your company are planning a virtual conference and need a live announcer, someone who can connect with the person on the other side of the screen and make it more personal, I’d love to help. Even if you’re not in Atlanta, I could do it from my booth.

Super thankful to Todd, his team and Atlanta North Studios for letting me part of such a cool event!

Being On-Set During COVID

Acting & Hosting, Travel, Voiceover

Things are starting to pick up with on-camera work and in August, I had my first audition and booking during COVID. Then in September, I was the live VO announcer for a virtual conference. Here’s what it was like being on-set during COVID…

My first experience was with the agency Ferebee and Momentive. Ferebee is in Greenville, South Carolina and to say I was excited just to get out of town was an understatement. I stayed in a hotel that felt like a ghost town. The sweet woman at the front desk said she was doing the job of several people because they were short staffed. I ended up sending her flowers afterwards because she was so wonderful and through our conversation knew that COVID had taken a toll on her spirit. Hope she ended up getting them.

On-Set Sanitation:

Since the Ferebee staff are working remotely, they set up a small set in their office. This allowed them to control the sanitation, people in and out and social distance. There were only 3 Ferebee people present, plus a makeup artist, Latia Curtis along with myself and another actor (Brian LaFontaine). Latia was awesome! Not only was she a great makeup artist but she took all the necessary precautions. She had a mask plus a face shield on and was on top of sanitizing every single thing she touched.

Changing “Normal”:

Brian and I were hosts for a Momentive informational video presentation. Normally, as is the case with many companies, they typically have a yearly company conference. Because of COVID, they’ve had to change to more virtual and digital means of communication.

Overall, it was a wonderful shoot and I felt very safe and SO grateful to just see people and get out of town. I did lose my sunglasses somewhere along the way, so I stopped by the gas station on the way home for a cheap pair. Didn’t think about the fact I had no scissors and couldn’t for the life of me get off the sunglass tag, so I rode the whole way back with a sunglass tag hanging over my nose. I apologized to the woman in the Starbucks drive-thru and she said, “I wish that was the weirdest thing I’ve seen today.”

Change Brings Innovation:

My second experience being “outside my booth and home” was for a Virtual Live VO announce job. It was such a cool experience to be a part of something so innovative. I’ll share more about that next month!

I do hope things begin to start feeling more “normal” soon but it’s also been so cool to see how (yes…I’m about to throw the dreaded word out…) companies have pivoted during this global pandemic. Despite the weird things that have happened this year and the hard stuff, I’m grateful to still be able to work and to see how people are so resilient and creative.

RADIO IMAGING DEMO

Acting & Hosting, Advertising, Voiceover

I was on air in radio for 8 years, plus additional weekend and fill-in work for 2 years after I went full-time into voiceover and acting. Never in a million years did I think I’d do radio imaging but I just wrapped up recording my radio imaging demo.

The Radio Voice

When I was in radio, you still had the booming, commanding voices doing radio imaging. That was NOT me. I actually kind of stumbled into a radio imaging job. A fellow VO friend said she knew someone that was looking for a female radio imaging voice talent and passed the audition to me. I ended up booking it.

Post Grad Goals

The even funnier part is that it’s for the radio group I first interviewed for after college. I even tried to get a job as a receptionist – anything to get my foot in the door but they never hired me.

That imaging job led me to being the imaging voice for the same radio company’s positive hip hop channel (LF Radio) and the voice for The JR Show on the Joy FM network.

My radio career spanned from J103 in Chattanooga, 104.7 The Fish and B98.5 in Atlanta. I was on air and did traffic throughout my time there. Oh…AND worked in marketing in Chattanooga. In radio, you wear a lot of different hats.

My whole goal out of college was to be a morning show host. When I left radio in 2012, I was crushed. I didn’t really want to leave radio but a lot of different things led to that decision. A part of me felt like a failure for not reaching my goal and I felt directionless. I started on the path of being a full-time voice talent and actor but that was (is) such an uncertain industry.

Best of Both Worlds

Fast forward to 2020 and I’m SO grateful for that change in direction. Not to mention, I’m still able to get a little taste of radio with radio imaging.

I worked with Eric Romanowski on coaching and prepping for the radio imaging demo. He’s wonderful! Very knowledgeable and I learned a lot.

Here’s the finished product…

I’m definitely not the commanding, booming female radio imaging voice but Eric helped me find my voice as the relatable, friendly, sexy, smooth, joyful, millennial, real, fun and sassy female radio imaging voice.

To hear more of the genres of voiceover I can do, CLICK HERE.

And what a great reminder that sometimes a redirection can bring you right back to your first love.

Heidi Rew

ONLY MOVIE

Acting & Hosting, Atlanta Voiceover Studio, Voiceover

Two years ago, I auditioned for a VO-only part in an indie film called Only.

Only stars Frieda Pinto and Leslie Odom Jr. It’s about a mysterious virus that just kills women. It’s more than a pandemic movie (I mean, we’re all basically LIVING that movie) but a love story which draws deep parallels about the intricacies of relationships and also asks the question – do you take no risks and feel imprisoned or do you risk it all to live freely, if just for a moment more?

Auditioning

At the time I auditioned, I didn’t really know much about it. In fact, right after I auditioned I decided to take a little hiatus from on-camera acting. With running Atlanta Voiceover Studio with my husband Mike Stoudt and maintaining my own VO career, my days were just slammed. It was hard to really be able to focus on doing well with my on-camera auditions.

The Callback and Booking

After making that decision, I received a callback for Only with director Takashi Doscher, producer Gabrielle Pickle, casting director Jordan Blair Brown and Craig Miller. After I auditioned for the VO part, Takashi asked me to read for an on-camera role of a news reporter as well. I did and they ended up booking me. But not for the role of a news reporter. This was for a brand new role of a talk show host (or Anchor #3 as it says on IMDB).

The Shoot

The shoot was really fun and Takashi was a great director. Everyone on the crew was lovely to work with and it made for an easy shoot. My part was shot in a sound studio (ironically the same sound studio we originally had Atlanta Voiceover Studio in) on a green screen.

The movie first made its rounds at film festivals. Then I heard rumors that it would be released in certain theaters at the beginning of 2020 but then COVID hit. In July, it ended up coming out on Netflix and for a couple weeks was in the top 10 movies.

The reviews have been pretty good too. Here’s one from Variety.

My part goes by fast, so don’t get up to get popcorn but I was so grateful to be part of this movie. Takashi was a wonderful writer and director and the rest of the team were a delight to work with.

If nothing else, watching the movie, you may get some great quarantine tips during COVID?

Heidi Rew

DITECH COMMERCIAL WITH KEVIN HARVICK

Acting & Hosting

This was such a fun commercial to be in! Everyone I met – from Ditech professionals to production members were great to work with! Kevin Harvick was the nicest and most down to earth guy, too.

It’s great to see the behind-the-scenes of companies and I can certainly vouch for Ditech and Hammerhead Entertainment. They are the real deal! Great people.

Here I am, playing a know-it-all…

Thanks so much for the opportunity Ditech, Hammerhead Entertainment, C&J Casting, and my agent Kathleen Schultz Associates!

<3 Heidi

HEIDI REW