Leigha Horton :: Greenroom
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Just when you thought I was getting a little too quiet…again…

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Cellular South – “I Want”
Recorded and Produced by Babble-On
Market: Mississippi, Southwest Tennessee, Coastal Alabama, and the Florida Panhandle to Destin – so, basically, the old confederacy – or the Dixie Cup of Shame, if you will.
Line: “I want to find my friends online.”

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Landscape Structures, Inc. – “Global ReLeaf Video”
Recorded and Produced by Babble-On
Market: Industrial and Internet – so, uh, I guess the market is worldwide.
Line: All of them. I Am Narrator. Rawr!

I had me a blast over at Babble-On for these two gigs (one Wednesday right after the other – score!). Although my allergies were getting the best of me for the Cell South read, so I’m not thrilled with my contribution to that one; pollen is my kryptonite. Damn you, pollen! Dammmmnnnnnn youuuuuuu!

In summary:
Spend more time in the studio? Check.
Foster diabolical plan for world airwave domination? Checkity-check.
Make more friends and contacts while doing so? CHECK, baby. CHECK.

Just when you thought I was getting a little too quiet…

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Centex Homes – “Breakup”
Recorded and Produced by Audio Ruckus
Market: Minneapolis
I play the ummm, erm, “snotty” daughter. Biiiiiig stretch, right mom? It was pretty easy to channel that character, as the attitude was clearly mine from roughly 1992 through 1999.

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Kansas Lottery– “Keno Radio: Questions”
Recorded and Produced by a confounding digital relationship between Minneapolis’ Babble-On and Kansas City’s (yes, MO) Evolution Audio.
Market: Kansas
I am the ditz: “My boyfriend went to Topeka and played Keno…should I be concerned?”

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LifeTime Fitness – “In My Lifetime”
(1 of 2 – my favorite of the two – it positively smolders)
Recorded and Produced by Audio Ruckus
Market: Minneapolis, Dallas
I am the dreamer: “In my lifetime, I will listen to my heart.”

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LifeTime Fitness – “In My Lifetime”
(2 of 2 – more practical, straightforward)
Recorded and Produced by Audio Ruckus
Market: Minneapolis, Dallas
I am the doer: “In my lifetime, I will listen to my heart.”

Quiet? HA! See what I did just there? I unleashed a fury of sound because I CANNOT BE SILENCED. BWAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Kidding. In all honesty I just wanted to share because voice-over work makes me feel all shiny. SHINY!

Monday? Yes, Monday. Monday I did a radio spot for Life Time Fitness at Audio Ruckus. God, I love being union; it was the best paid nine words I’ve ever spoken (yessiree, whittlin’ down that AFTRA initiation fee-beasty little by little).

I got there early and killed time discussing books with Engineer Jim. Engineer Jim might possibly be the most conversational-in-a-good-way engineer I’ve ever met. Good times, Jim, good times. Then Mason from Life Time arrived and was instantly bombarded and subsequently baffled by an Ayn Rand reference – turns out it’s hard to explain Rand’s work without sounding like an Objectivist oneself (ack! NO!), so I clumsily added that I’m on the far opposite end of the political spectrum but that her works are still fascinating reads. Um, awkward. I blame Engineer Jim for bringing it up in the first place. Blame, Engineer Jim, blame. Despite it all, Mason was cool. It boded well for the session.

And what a great session it was! I supposedly nailed the spot in the first take (One-take Wonder, thankyouverymuch), but we did a handful more just for good measure. Not sure what take they actually ended up using – I suspect the guys were just trying to pump my ego.

Now, the story would normally have ended there, but I later received a call from my agent indicating the need to re-record the spots because Engineer Jim botched the recording. Son of a… Kidding, Engineer Jim, kidding. We needed to re-record the spots because the client wanted to offer an entirely different mood to the CEO – it sounded like a clash in the eternal marketing battle of vision vs. sales. But, I love me some studio, so that was just fine by me.

I’ll be sure to post the spot at some point in the near future – until then, listen for it in Minneapolis and Dallas – it starts with a heartbeat and then I say, “In my lifetime, I will listen to my heart,” then the announcer comes in with all the Life Timey details.

Can I say how much I love the studio atmosphere? Yes, I can. I love the studio atmosphere. It feels like home.

p.s. – if it appears that I’m harassing Engineer Jim in the post, it’s because I am. He likes it.

You’re reading the ramblings of an AFTRA newbie and I have a shiny little pin to prove it. I signed all the paperwork January 7 and wrote them a horrendously fat check to cover a mere ¼ of my initiation fee. I think I urped a little when I handed it over. And I know I about had a coronary when I was handed the payment schedule for the next three months.

I find it ironic for unions to require actors, on actors’ wages, to pay a crapload of money that they don’t have in an obscenely short amount of time so that they can make union wages. It brings to mind a scene in Quicksilver wherein Paul Rodriguez explains collateral to Kevin Bacon, ultimately breaking it down to “you need money to make money” (sidenote – My uncle is credited in Quicksilver as “Options Trader,” and I’m certain I’ve been in a home video here or there with my uncle, thereby solidifying my place as a mere two degrees of separation from Kevin Bacon – WIN!).

Back to my point – I will grant that I’ve gotten some good voice-over jobs lately – it’s just that they’re one-off radio spots and one-off radio spots aren’t all that lucrative if they’re only coming around once a month. I tried to impress this point upon the union’s Assistant Executive Director. His response? A story about a guy who landed a Miller Lite spot aired during Monday Night Football for the season, and how he made a load of cash and how the union initiation fee was a pittance to him. My response? “That’s great for the guy, I guess – maybe he’ll want to pay my initiation fee, too, while he’s at it – do you know his address?”

Enough kvetching… did I mention that I’m actually THRILLED to finally be Union? It’s true! I am.