S1E03 - Life as a booking agent

On this episode, we talk to Heather Fallen, Founder of Stage 28 Talent and Casting. She’s made a name for herself in the entertainment industry working as a model, a tour manager, and as an agent booking actors to work alongside stars like Ashley Judd. We discuss communication, mentors, and having a backup plan.

Transcript

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SPEAKER_01 0:00

Coming up on points of failure.

SPEAKER_02 0:02

We would have flat screens in our in our booth. And there was about 14 girls, and we wore Versace outfits and played laser tag.

SPEAKER_00 0:11

Very bougie laser tag.

SPEAKER_01 0:22

Who is Heather? What does she do? Just tell us all about you.

SPEAKER_02 0:25

Hi, I'm Heather Falland. I own Stage 28, Talent and Casting, based out of Arkansas, going on 17 years of owning a talent agency. So I represent models, actors, promotional models, and book locally, regionally, and nationally.

SPEAKER_01 0:43

And how did you get started in that? Because I know when we met about 17 years ago, that's kind of how we met with that realm there in Fayetteville with the downtown partners. So what got you started? How did you come across talent management?

SPEAKER_02 0:54

Okay, so I went to Fayetteville High School there in Arkansas. And when I was in high school, I actually started modeling in um doing showroom modeling in Dallas at the World Trade Center in the Dallas Apparel Market. And at that time, it was about 1992. So I was a junior in high school. And so I worked in a showroom. There was a swimwear line called Ocean Pacific and Mossimo. It was the same showroom. And so every three, four months, they would have all of their suppliers come to their showroom and see the swimwear that was going to be out for the next season. So I started out being a showroom model. And it was a complete blast. Of course, that's a great summer job to have when you're in high school for sure. You get to go to the big city. So I started out with big dreams. In my 20s, I even had more inspiration, decided to go out to Los Angeles. And Paul Walker from Fast and the Furious, he was my roommate for a while, and he'd actually just filmed his first Fast and the Furious. Um, his first one. It hadn't gone to distribution yet. And I got he was he was actually until the movie, there's a lot of process in show business. You have to film, you have to do distribution, and and you wait for a long time before you see a finished product. And so he actually slept on the couch with his dog where where I was living in Pasadena, California. And I was intrigued by the business aspect. I'm petite. I was never gonna be like a model. I'm 5'4. So I got really inspired by the business aspect side of it, being an agent and really just helping people with their dreams and giving them a path to follow their dreams. That's what I was interested in.

SPEAKER_01 2:55

But you have done more than just those uh modeling gigs, right? Because you've done on the production side for movies and things like that. Have you actually been in any movies? Like acted?

SPEAKER_02 3:04

I was in several um independent films. They filmed in Little Rock, Arkansas when I was starting out. So I was living in Little Rock, Arkansas, and actually it was, I believe it was Sling Blade. Sling Blade with Billy Bob Thornton was filming there, and I was young. I was young. I went to an all-girls college in Missouri and then moved to Little Rock, Arkansas. I was probably 20. And I ended up on the set of that, of Sling Blade, I believe it was downtown. And I just was that was my first time on a movie set. And I thought, wow, production. I love being behind the scenes, not necessarily in front of the camera. I love everything that goes on behind the scenes, and that's when my love for casting came about. So my my favorite love is casting.

SPEAKER_01 3:58

And you've got several folks from Northwest Arkansas in some. Have they been in major productions or mostly independent?

SPEAKER_02 4:05

So, okay, so I've had my business for 17 years. And my first full year business of stage 28 talent and casting, uh, Ashley Judd was filming a movie. It was actually called Come Early Morning. It was a Joey Lauren Adams film who's an actress in Los Angeles, but she she's from Arkansas. Went to the University of Arkansas, and this Come Early Morning movie was about her life story or just part of it. And so production was moving really fast. I'm not even sure my business had been open for three months. So I'm still working on my talent pool based out of Fayetteville, Arkansas. I'm still trying to get everything lined up. And then we get a call from their production that they they need to cast a certain role that was playing her boyfriend in a couple of scenes. And I thought, wow, we I can't, I can't lose this opportunity. We're not even up and running yet. We, I mean, we we but I've got to do this. So I just get on the phone, I start, I do an open call, I do anything I can, and then I get people in in the off in my office to put their audition tapes in. I send it over to their casting director and Jason Davis from Arkansas, he got cast. And so that was actually his first movie. And so he was thrilled and he he he did a wonderful job. He was on a couple of the movie posters, and um then he he got bit by the acting bug. And so yeah, so we started off really, really fast out of the gate. I was thinking, as most people think, when you open a business, you know, you might not see any revenue for three to five years. I mean, you might not make any significant revenue. So I was prepared for that, but I'm a hard worker. And we did come early morning. And then, because we did great for that client, then there was a local director, um, James Cotton. He'd been to film school in London and lives in Los Angeles from Arkansas. He then was filming two of his independent films that were SAG, screen actor skilled, and so we got to cast those movies for him. So right out of the gate, we got three pretty good gigs. And once you do a good job, once you really work hard and give people what they need on a deadline, then more doors open. And that's what happened. We did a good job for if we didn't, if we wouldn't have come through with the need that they had for the first movie, we wouldn't have gotten the second and the third. And then, so that was all in the first year of business. By the end of that year, the Arkansas Business Journal actually uh called up, called me, and wanted they actually gave us me 40 under 40 for Arkansas. So it was all really exciting and moving really fast and a ton of fun, and then you know, then you have high expectations because everything's going great. Then there's the middle of the 17 years that weren't so great based on a lot of different things. Clients needs, I would say about four years into that, the market crashed. You know, the housing market crashed. Most of our clients are advertising agencies or marketing companies. And 2008 happens, and literally my marketing clients are friends of mine, and we're all calling each other saying, Are you getting any phone calls for any work? Like, are you booking any campaigns? There was a big time for a couple years that the whole industry, the whole market had changed. So that was that was a rough time, and we were able to sustain through that crash, thankfully. I think what I've learned a lot is you have to go with the market change, you have to be available for your clients. I don't always get back to my friends and family. I'm probably the worst at that. As you know, I'm like, I'm really bad at that. But um, anytime a client emails me, whether it's through stage 28 website, my stage28talent.com, new clients can contact us, which is nice. That's information at stage 28, or a lot of them text now or call or email me. But literally all of my clients, and even new clients that I haven't even met yet, the one thing they always say, and I have I have it all because I never delete anything. That's another thing. I never delete anything. You need to be able to go back and reference whatever. And I swear the thing that they always say the most is thank you so much for getting right back to me. I don't think that there's a time that any that a client has had to call even twice. There that's the thing that sets me apart, I think.

SPEAKER_01 9:07

For sure, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 9:08

Yeah, that really sets me apart is being available. Two key things. I had two really good business mentors. They were friends of mine, and that was really key from the beginning was getting, I was 30 years old when I started my business. So, you know, I was pretty young, still learning some stuff. And communication for me wasn't that great. So one of my mentors was Male, a good friend of mine, um, Frank McGee out of Little Rock, Arkansas. He owned, he's no longer with us, but he owned Legacy Capital Group, which was a broker. He did a massive amount of insurance for companies, employee benefits, and then there was an other side of his business as well. Extremely successful. And he would give me criticism, constructive criticism. Okay. Um, I didn't always like it. And then a lot of it back then was okay, you're not answering your phone. Or you didn't get back to me. And so I really just I really listened to him and I do it till this day. One of my clients happens to be based out of Arkansas, world's largest retailer. Well, I think I'm busy, they're real busy, they don't have time to chase people down, and we've done a really good job with them, I feel like, and so we're still working with them now. My other mentor, I had two. One was a male and one was a female, um, Kelly. She she's very savvy, business oriented. I met her in Arkansas, and that's about what the time I met you, Steve. Whenever she and several others were founding members of the Arkansas Music Pavilion, the first outdoor amphitheater in Northwest Arkansas. Their vendors moved to the area and they have a huge dream and they love loved music. They decided that our area needed an outdoor theater. So that's whenever I met Kelly and she was living in Nashville, and I live currently in Nashville. And Kelly, I still meet with her. We will meet for a lunch, and she we just go through how to prioritize stuff. She's just been awesome. So I would say I didn't have a mentor. I think that's key. They can just bounce ideas off that you have no idea. And they're they've been in business longer than you, and it's always great to have someone just think outside the box. Everybody brings something else to the table.

SPEAKER_01 11:38

Sure. So you think that then someone, a potential failure, then I suppose in business would be not having a mentor. So I'm hearing that you say that's pretty critical, you feel like, and to be successful in business is to have a mentor.

SPEAKER_02 11:50

Have a mentor and prioritize. I haven't really learned balance yet. I would say that's a failure right now. I haven't really learned balance yet, but I have seen the changes of the industry as well as I'm sure every business. Cause when we when I started stage 28, it was around 2005, and there wasn't social media, and we didn't advertise. So we didn't spend money on advertising. We didn't have money to spend on advertising. We were just starting up, and I was 30 years old. So what we just did is we really pride ourselves in a good reputation, working hard, and then the rest was word of mouth. That's all we had. Word of mouth, do a great job, and that's your marketing. And that's the way it was because there was no social media. So now there's social media, and we have a social media and web design person to I had to learn to delegate and stick to what I was good at. Stick to I'm better at customer relations than trying to figure out all the other stuff.

SPEAKER_01 12:53

I think that's probably something that I've seen a lot in folks is that sort of it's my baby, and I need to do everything so I know it's all done right. And that, like you said, not being able to delegate and hand this off to someone. I'm not a web designer, I need a web designer. I could do it, but it's better to have somebody who does that and focus on what I can do.

SPEAKER_02 13:10

Right. I have some friends right now working on their own personal websites, asking me what hosting site to use, etc. And I'm like, you just should delegate that. Find it, get an intern. We've had great interns, we've had wonderful interns. They usually stay with us until they graduate college. I contacted the University of Arkansas. Our clients are usually marketing or advertising. So that's usually where I get my interns. We do a paid internship, they have a certain amount of hours they have to put in for their degree, but you know, we like to take care of our people for taking care of us. And they have most of all of them have stayed with us until they graduated. And a lot of them have moved on to work for our marketing or advertising client. One's in New York. She's doing uh marketing for and social media for Ferrari. Um, Mary Lauren, she moved out to LA and she was doing some stuff in casting. And so I was really, really lucky with the interns that I got. Find a relationship with a local college and get an intern on board because they need to learn from you as well.

SPEAKER_01 14:15

So I can imagine in my own mind what would be the most challenging to start a talent management agency for actors and models and such in Northwest Arkansas without social media. What do you think your biggest challenges were out? You know, because you said you didn't do a lot of advertising, it's all word of mouth. So, what was what was your biggest struggle really trying to find talent to manage, to find those actors and models to fill those roles?

SPEAKER_02 14:40

So that wasn't hard at all. That that part that part was not hard at all because Northwest Arkansas, it's a small town, but it's a big community. And once you prove yourself and just do a good job, you're not gonna make everybody happy all the time. There's not, you're not gonna make everybody happy. But when I started out, the word of mouth was so good, I guess, so large that we had, I was representing, I think on our talent roster that time, we had around 300. We do age four to age 65. Let's say that time we had around 300 on our buster. So now we have I've learned, okay, it's so important. It's quality. I know you've heard it a million times. Quality, not quantity. There's a lot of truth to that. So through the years, and especially through COVID and after the market crash, I decided to scale back. You know, let's let's do quality, not quantity. I want to have a short amount of people that get a lot of work. And rather than having this huge roster and only 25% of them are getting work, you know, I want to be focused and be boutique. So now we've really cut back and we're not a modeling school or an acting school. We're strictly a booking agency. So for us, why would we have 300 people where we only make commission off what they're getting getting booked in?

SPEAKER_01 16:01

So do you think that um I remember going back to 05 when we met and working with you on some of those things, especially on James, uh, one of his movies? That hard work, I think a lot of people aren't aware of, just what goes into, you know, shooting one scene and how many hours you spend in front of or behind the camera, whatever. So do you think that's something that might be something that pushes a lot of people away that even the talent that wants to get into it is like, oh, this is too much. This isn't what I thought it was gonna be, turning into Tom Cruise and making my millions. Hey there, podcast listener. Have you always wanted to start your own podcast? Have you been listening to this one and thinking to yourself, man, if he can do it, I can do it. Well, you're not wrong. And thanks to Anchor, you too can have your own podcast. It's super easy to do. So easy, in fact, I've been doing it, but I probably couldn't do it without Anchor. All you have to do is record your episodes, upload them to Anchor's website, and they'll do all the heavy lifting for you, including distribution, groovy stats to see if you're awesome or if you suck, and even finding sponsorships, like this one, that I'm doing. So if it's your lifelong goal to have your own podcast or even just a useless pipe dream, Anchor can help you with that. Just go to www.anchor.fm to get started. That's www.anchor.fm. Anchor. All your podcasting needs in one place.

SPEAKER_02 17:20

I think that's a great thing to add there. Was it Sugar Creek that you worked on or Winter Woods?

SPEAKER_01 17:25

I feel like it was Winterwoods.

SPEAKER_02 17:27

Okay, yeah. So that's a really good point, actually, because people think, well, you gotta be in the right place at the right time. Yeah, a lot of it's luck. If you're an actor looking for a part, you know, you gotta know somebody or the right place at the right time. But then it's not always the case. But what they don't realize is that when you're going to film those, both of those movies, Sugar Creek and Winter Woods, were filmed in very brutally cold weather, if you remember.

SPEAKER_00 17:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:55

We brought actors in from Dan Cruz was in from Florida, and we had Dayton Knoll in from Los Angeles. We brought actors in from all over, and then we cast some local actors as well. The guy's from Florida, which was funny, he comes in, he's a professional actor, he's great, but it was cold. We had to get a horse wrangler to teach him to ride a horse.

SPEAKER_00 18:16

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_02 18:17

And his character, yeah, his character, he had to be barefoot the entire it took about 30 days to film a move, that movie. And he's barefoot in from Florida in Arkansas, freezing to death for 30 days. You know, it's hard work. You have to have a passion for it. It's small, small scene. It takes hours. You know, most movies or most film sets, it's an 18-hour day. That's normal. That's hard work. I mean, it's not glamorous. You're not sitting, getting your hair and makeup done in the trailer all day, you know, eating bonbons. And production works hard too.

SPEAKER_01 18:53

Yeah, I recall being there. I think I showed up at 6 a.m. the one day and didn't leave until 2 or 3 a.m. the next day. And I think we only managed to get two scenes shots.

SPEAKER_02 19:01

Oh, that's about right. Yeah, it's definitely takes dedication. Once you work really hard and if you have a passion for it and you create a name for yourself, people are gonna hire you back and back and back because not very many people are gonna work that hard. But there's a lot of payoff too. I mean, it's so fun, it becomes a community and it's a family. I moved to Nashville, Tennessee a couple of years ago, and I took a contract with Tanya Tucker. So even though I have stage 28, I kind of do some stuff on the side too that I enjoy doing. I didn't know anything about music, and I didn't know anything about representing music. And I wasn't sure that like I wasn't that's not what I was looking for. I just want to know all sides of being an agent. You know, they have they have their PR team, they have their agents, they have managers, they have a huge, huge uh circle to make everything happen. So I took a contract, moved here, lived on the bus with Tanya and the dogs. I was on the tour probably almost two years, and it's a whole different, it is hard work too, because you're literally this is different because you're you're sleeping on a bus in a bunk. A lot of times that we were up in Canada a lot. I would have to hit GPS on my phone at about five in the morning when we're pulling into a venue just to see what town we're in. To pull up the call sheet to see what we needed to do for wardrobe and just start working. I mean, it's the it's the grind, but something about whether it's print, a national commercial, a movie set, or a huge concert at a huge venue. There's something about the energy you get when the lights come on that just make you, it's the adrenaline you get. If you don't get that, then you're in the wrong business. Yeah, I would say those are a lot of the key things for me that I've had to learn. I've had to downscale, really refocus on like smaller group of talent. Find my niche. Music, I love being a part of the of the behind the scene work. Absolutely loved it. There's so many different people involved that I just needed to stick to what I knew best. I know actors, I know models, and I know this side of the industry. And I'd already been doing that for 15 years. So I just decided I'm gonna stick to what I know. And now, now I'm older. Now I'm older, some of my marketing clients that call to book models like last week. We had some talent on a QVC issue, but um, some of my clients these days, now actually not all of them. I don't say I have the best advice ever, but some of them do ask me for advice because I'm older now. But um, it is just, I don't know, you have to have a pat find your passion and find your niche and learn to change with the changes. COVID. COVID was rough on every business, especially the small businesses like us, and that I didn't know if we were gonna survive COVID because we're just a small modeling agency. Yes, our clients. Or national worldwide retailers. But when the apparel's not coming in from all over the places because everything's backtracked because of shipping, you know, our models aren't getting work. So what did we have to do? We we put our heads together, my clients and I, we had some Zooms and we really we had to make work go on. We had things we had to do. We have deadlines, you know, stuff has to go to print, stuff has clothing apparel has to get made. Um commercials have to get made still. So what we did was we started virtual fit sessions with our fit models that try-on apparel, and we arranged it so that the shipping could come to the models' homes. We started production out of their houses. We did virtual fit sessions. We have one model, Lindsay, she's still doing virtual fits. We'll actually wrap that up in about three weeks and get back to normal business. But we had to go with the flow and put our brains together and think of, you know, how are we gonna make this work for stage 28? How are we gonna, you know, models depend, they're built weekly. They gotta make model money, they gotta pay their bills. So that's what we came up with. And I think it's just being able to change and never giving up. Be creative. I have production clients, film clients that film a lot of local commercials, and they had to get creative. They had to think of other sources of revenue that could bring it in while we were all at this crazy time of a halt, and they did it.

SPEAKER_01 23:26

So when you started stage 28 back in 05, gosh, that feels like so long ago. You know, that's a risk, obviously. You know, like you said, starting a business like that in a small area, that's not a uh it's not something that people would think, oh yeah, this is gonna be turnkey, you're gonna dive right in. That's a big risk. So how did you how do you feel like you mitigated that? What do you think that you how'd you prepare for a risk like that? Jumping into a business where I mean, you know, no money for three to five years.

SPEAKER_02 23:52

So the reason why I thought I was living in in Little Rock, Arkansas, moved back from Los Angeles, and the reason why I thought that would work is because there was one other agency at that time, but they were not based in northwest Arkansas. Okay, well, if you're from Northwest Arkansas, you know who's up there, the game players. So I thought, there's not an agency up there, and these are where these home offices, major corporations internationally all over the world, and they're based out of northwest Arkansas, and there's no print talent actors, there's no one up there, no-brainer. That's where I'm going. So I went back home and that's where I'm originally from and rented a little office actually, next to some guys that had just started a little business too. We had both had these tiny, tiny offices, and um, they're doing really well. They're slim chickens now. Wow, yeah, they were, they were, I love those guys. So they were next to me and we worked a lot, they worked a lot, and it was just um that's what most people say, wait, you own a modeling agency in Arkansas, and I'm like, Well, you have no idea. Like, there's so much um opportunity in Arkansas, and that's the place to that's the place. So that wait, that's what we did, and here we are. I'm living in Nashville now and it's growing, but honestly, Arkansas is so busy right now. Well, it was really busy right before COVID, but we're still busy that you know I want to open a branch office in Nashville because I really feel that Nashville is kind of like the new Los Angeles. There's so many, there's so much music video shoots non-stop. There's so many other corporations that have just moved here. So I will stay in Nashville, I will go back and forth. It's been a lot of fun, and I've seen all the changes and the changes with my clients and stuff, and we just we just hung on. You have to believe and not give up, prioritize, keep your mentors, and keep your nose to the grind.

SPEAKER_01 25:56

So you mentioned that you during the uh the market crash in 2000, the early 2000s, 2008. One, so kind of a two two-part thing. How how do you feel like that impacted your business? And in what way do you feel like, I mean, do you feel like you failed to prepare for that? That why that's why it impacted you so much?

SPEAKER_02 26:14

I would say, okay, that was 2008. 2008, um, we were working with one of the the retailers there in Northwest Arkansas, and they had moved, they had moved their at that time, they had moved a lot of their print work. They moved it to New York for a test. They were gonna test out some stuff. They eventually, three or four years later, ended up moving it back to northwest Arkansas. But as they moved that, and that was like one of our sources of income, biggest ones, but they got there and they found out, well, model rates, that's another thing, model rates in larger markets such as Dallas, New York, or Los Angeles, they're gonna be triple to what they are in Arkansas. So they ended up moving that back. But 2008, we had some promotional modeling going on from people to have conventions. We would do some models that work at the booths and handout stuff. I think it's always just having an option of different revenues. If we're not filming a movie, I've, you know, we got to book models. If we're not doing print, we've got to have another backup, such as promotional models when there's conventions. Just always having a different avenue and ideas, I think, has been key.

SPEAKER_01 27:29

So looking back over your illustrious career, what do you think it'd be your biggest failure? Like, what's your biggest one?

SPEAKER_02 27:35

For sure, when my talent roster, look, when your talent roster or your clientele is like, my business is a little bit different, but when you have thir 300 people or so on your talent roster and everybody's trying to call you, everybody's trying to, you know, why didn't I get a job today? Or, you know, everybody's trying to call you. Then before you know it, your day's over. Ah, that's why it's so important to do quality, not quantity. Also just trying to learn some balance. And I always try to shop the market, find out what people are doing in other states that have the same business as you. You know, what are their current rates? You know, after COVID, did they raise their prices, their rates, or do they drop them? You know, what are they doing, the means to help their clients and how are they getting by? So currently, right now that we made it through COVID, that's what we're kind of focusing on. Maybe adjust making some rate adjustments to see where we need to be to make sure we are competitive.

SPEAKER_01 28:39

So your biggest thing that you think then with your business would be taking on client after client after client and just having just way too big a roster to manage.

SPEAKER_02 28:46

Yeah, just scale it back and good communication, but you need to keep it like down to, you know, a circle of like a you know, a good amount of people. It's just as it's like your circle of influence, like you're saying, like with mentors, you know. I would say set up a meeting once every two weeks or once a month. Go have a lunch meeting. That is so important. It's so inspiring. When I get with my mentors, it's almost like when you feel so drained and you're just through everything, like COVID and everything, you're just drained trying to figure out everything. And then you go sit with your mentor and you spend like just an hour with them with your notebook. I take a notebook with me everywhere I go. I take a notebook to the gym. I take a notebook if I a notebook's in my car everywhere I go because I might have an idea and I write it down, and I just always have a notebook. When I leave those, you know, a lunch with a mentor, I leave so like rejuvenated and inspired because it's just positive energy and they've just been wonderful. It's interesting to have a guy mentor, like an older guy mentor as well as a female, because they have different ideas.

SPEAKER_01 29:58

Oh, absolutely. No doubt.

SPEAKER_02 29:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:00

I I guess I mean it kind of sounds like almost from the get-go, at least from high school, you pretty much knew what you wanted to do. Do you feel like that was uh the case that you were pretty well focused on that, or do you feel like you kind of meandered anywhere?

SPEAKER_02 30:11

I have my real estate license. I did that when I was 22. I was raised by a single mother that worked really hard and she owned a business and she now sells real estate. I always learned through my parents' friends or my girlfriend's parents that to always have something to back up on. And so what I did was I always knew I was intrigued by acting, modeling, and managing these people, helping them with their dreams is really putting a smile on people's faces, really, really what puts a smile on my face. But if that's not gonna work out, what's my plan B? I got my personal training license and worked for John Paul in in Little Rock at his corporate gym. And I had the military account, so I personally trained the military when I was 22, I guess. And then I went on when I was 23 and got my real estate license for the state of Arkansas. And I always just wanted to have make sure I had a backup plan because I learned it from older elderly people that didn't have a backup plan in place, and they told they taught me that at a very young age. You know, you can have your dream, but you also need to have plan A, B, and C.

SPEAKER_00 31:19

Makes sense.

SPEAKER_02 31:20

And so I still have my personal tracing training license and I still have my real estate license. But yeah, my passion is stage 28 talent and casting.

SPEAKER_01 31:31

Very cool. Well, you have moved around quite a bit too. So you've uh you lived in Little Rock, you lived in LA for a while, right? And then now Nashville, anywhere else?

SPEAKER_02 31:39

Yeah, I've lived in Sarasota, Florida, I've lived in Ireland.

SPEAKER_01 31:42

Nice.

SPEAKER_02 31:43

But I also loved this job that I do for stage 28 because I can do it from anywhere. So it's just being available for your clients when they call you. If I need to go to Arkansas and do an open casting call, do a model call, I can. And I get to see family and friends, but I also wanted a job because I have a passion for travel and seeing different places, experiencing different things, and I wanted to be able to do something that you know kept me happy as well as making other people happy.

SPEAKER_01 32:15

What had you live in in Ireland? What took you there?

SPEAKER_02 32:17

My sister and I went there for uh we've been there about four or five months. We were in County Wicklow, which is about 30 minutes outside of Dublin. I think she was looking for Brad Pitt. We learned how to fly fish, and you know the movie where he's fly fishing.

SPEAKER_00 32:38

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_02 32:39

But no, we lived there. It was a great time. It was crazy. It didn't get when we were there, it didn't get dark till 10 o'clock at night. The sun was out.

SPEAKER_01 32:47

Oh wow. I didn't know that it was like that over there.

SPEAKER_02 32:49

Yeah, it was a lot of fun. That was great. And then, well, I mean, I left a big chapter out. I don't know how I left this out, but so after after that high school, whenever started working doing swimwear for the uh Dallas apparel market, my sister, who's seven years older than me, lived in Dallas, and actually traveled with her and some of her friends were models, and there was about 14 of us girls. And I started at a very young age. We modeled for a company called Qzar, and it was based out of Ireland.

SPEAKER_00 33:21

Oh okay.

SPEAKER_02 33:22

Cuezar is a laser tag game back whenever Laser Tag, it was probably their first one ever. If you'd ever see like those kids' egg centers where you could go in and play black light bowling or play Laser Tag. Cuz Ar was a whole concept of franchises all over the world. So we, me and 14 girls for about seven years, traveled all over the world. I think I had two full passports by the time I was 24. And so we were the models. They would spend about a million dollars at a convention just on their booth. Their booth would be about five stories. Before flat screens were even a thing, we would have flat screens in our in our booth. And there was about 14 girls, and we wore Versace outfits and played laser tag.

SPEAKER_00 34:12

Very bougie laser tag.

SPEAKER_02 34:14

So yeah, that was what we did. And we actually hosted the Olympics in Atlanta, and I forgot what year that was in Atlanta. But I just loved travel, seeing the world, and I loved the business. I would hear these girls, they lived in larger markets, and I was I was the baby um on all the trips, but I would list they were models, and so I would hear them on their phone, you know. We might be in Miami, we might be in Australia, wherever, and they will be on their phone with their agents, you know, talking about a print job or whatever. And I just so intrigued by it. And I'm a little petite, so I I could never be like that. So I'm like, how can how can I get a piece? How can I get involved? Like, how can I do this and not be be behind the scenes? And so all these factors really just inspired me, but it hasn't been easy. It's not easy. It's a roller coaster, you know, like 2008. And you know, sometimes you're just like sometimes you just, you know, it's a lot, it's a lot to handle having your own business. People don't realize that it's not, you know, my friends sometimes want to go do something, you know, and I'm like they they work, you know, it's not eight to five. You don't walk, I don't get to walk out of a revolving door.

SPEAKER_00 35:23

Right.

SPEAKER_02 35:24

But there's so many perks, and I'm so thankful there's so many perks, you just have to keep your nose to the grind and move move with the changes and your passion.

SPEAKER_01 35:32

Well, um, any uh any parting thoughts? Anything you want to leave it with?

SPEAKER_02 35:37

Um, no, thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_01 35:40

Absolutely appreciate you being on.

SPEAKER_02 35:42

I'm excited to see you. It's it's been a while.

SPEAKER_01 35:45

I mean, very long time.

SPEAKER_02 35:47

You've seen the hard work, you've seen what it was at the the amp, you've done production on the films, so you know, and but it's so much fun, you know. You it's like a family, and most of the time, all really good people that are all there for the same reason to just work hard and and just to be a part of something that's really cool.

SPEAKER_01 36:07

Yeah, I remember that's uh let's see, I think we met because I got involved with the film festival, the short film fest in in Fable that year, 2005. That's what I I cut my teeth on that, had reached out to me and said, Hey, listen, um, we need a director. Do you want to do this? And I was like, Oh, yeah, sure. Because I had no idea what that meant. So I learned a lot that year.

SPEAKER_02 36:29

You're inspiring too. Look at the all the positive stuff that you've been doing. I mean, I'm happy that you called me. Good to see you.

SPEAKER_01 36:37

Absolutely, you too. I I very much appreciate your time. It's been a good conversation.

SPEAKER_02 36:40

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 36:41

All right. Well, you take care, Heather.

SPEAKER_02 36:42

Okay, ciao.