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PRETTY AND SMART AND NICE? OH GO ON.
Last month, San Francisco agency Pereira & O’Dell asked Rehab to produce a broadcast spot and an online web short for its client the University of Phoenix. The subject of the spot was Kate Voegele, an ascending young singer-songwriter signed to Interscope Records.
Why Ms. Voegele? Well, for one thing, she’s a University of Phoenix student who’s getting her Bachelors in Psychology online. She’s doing this while she’s touring to support her latest album, which debuted at #10 on the Billboard chart. And in between her appearances as a principal character on the CW series One Tree Hill.
So, to recap, Kate’s an actress on a prime-time television show, a singer-songwriter with a devoted and ever-expanding fan base, and a college student. And she’s beautiful. And she’s 22.
Now personally, I find this all quite extraordinary. When I was 22 I was ‘freelance’ (i.e., intermittently employed). When not working (which was often) I watched cartoons and drank beer and hung out in bars. So profiling someone as ambitious, determined, and accomplished as Kate was, shall we say, a tad bit intimidating.
Over the course of a week we traveled with Kate on tour and shot her day-to-day experiences, whether writing a paper for class in a series of nondescript hotel rooms, or performing for sold-out crowds in Texas and California, or autographing posters for crowds of her fans. Despite living on a tour bus with 11 guys and traveling hundreds of miles every day, Kate somehow managed to be sweet and accommodating and altogether lovely throughout the entire process. Having someone trail you with cameras all day long can get tiresome quickly, but Kate never stopped being cheerful.
Frankly, it was weird. I’ve shot celebrities before and encountered my share of diva moments. It comes with the territory. You expect it and are prepared to coddle massive egos and get what you need in the process. But with Kate there were no diva moments. Not one. She was just sweet, funny, articulate, and smart.
In fact, working with Kate has inspired me to try to stop being such an asshole all the time.
Ha. Like that’ll happen.
Posted by Sean Leman, Director |
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