The Demo & Ms. Long
By Kristine Porter
The work of students in Northampton Community College’s radio and television program has launched the television career of a 1985 general education grad. Laura Long will be appearing as a product spokesperson on QVC.
“I never thought that in my forties I would be doing something like this,” Long said.
Her friend, Dr. Nicola Gutgold, a speech communications professor at Pennsylvania State University, Lehigh Valley campus had worked for QVC many years ago, and told her to indulge her curiosity and try for a job there.
Long has done voice-overs for 20 years and is an independent distributor of jewelry for Premier Designs Inc. Several years ago she was a finalist for a QVC-type show in the Poconos. The Pocono program folded after a couple shows, but Long’s interest never did.
“With my background in sales for so many years, and the fact that I like to talk,” Long said, “I thought it was a perfect fit for me.”
Without a demo tape and headshots, Long’s chances of getting through the door were slim. But, undeterred, she went to Sears, had pictures taken, and prayed about the demo tape. Where to go? How to afford it? The idea to call NCC popped into her head.
Laura remembered NCC’s radio and television program, so she called communications professor Mario Acerra. Maybe his students could earn a grade on the project, and she could get a demo tape.
Acerra told her that working with people in the community on television and radio projects is a hallmark of the program.
“We have many instances of students working on projects for ‘clients,’ whether they are internal projects for the College or external,” Acerra said. “Other external projects include television shows done in collaboration with middle schools in the Bethlehem Area School District and the Lehigh Valley School for the Performing Arts.”
Long spoke to Acerra’s television production class about her idea and a couple of
students volunteered to take it on.
In production, students are divided into two groups, with each group in the television studio once a week. Everyone is assigned a job – cameras, lights, audio, technical director, director.
“I was impressed with the quality of the students’ work,” Long said. “Very professionally done. The students had to work together as a team.”
In the end, Long received not one, but two versions to use in her job search. “It not only benefited them,” she said, “but it helped me critique myself.”
She was surprised by the details directors of her demo tapes, Lisa Koza and Sean Johnstone, put into the productions. Instead of a typical telephone number, they used 1-800-HIRE-ME and combined the first initials and birthdates of her two children, Ryan and Amy, to make product codes. At the finish, credits scrolled listing all of the students’ names, just like a professionally produced demo.
“The show was a very close approximation of the type seen on QVC,” Acerra said. “In fact, one of my former students and a current executive at QVC saw the demo tapes and commented that they looked exactly like what you might see on the show.”
This connection to the company didn’t land her a job immediately though. Long went to several auditions at QVC to peddle her demo tape.
And she refused to give in to rejections. “I try to teach my children that you might get the door closed, but that might not be the final door,” she said.
Persistence won out. On her fourth audition the manufacturing representative of a product to be sold on the show liked what they saw. Soon after, she began training and polishing her presentation skills.
Soon, she will take on the role of expert for a line of bedding products, and will join QVC’s hosts to tell the buying public all about it.
