Television 00:11 "But it takes special hosts to do this, real special. The Zone, weekdays from four till six." Trevor Carter 00:19 Hello, everyone and welcome back to what's my name again, where I interview some of Toronto's most interesting aspiring creatives. I'm Trevor Carter If you ask young Canadians what they watched on television growing up, odds are they're gonna mention why TV. I know it was a huge part of my childhood in a place where Thousands of Canadian youth were introduced to classics like iCarly SpongeBob and Drake and Josh. Toronto metropolitan university student Kelsey Liem is no exception. She has early memories of afternoon spent watching her favorite cartoons as well as the show's former host Carlos Bustamante. Heading into her final year of the media production program. Kelsey was living a pretty normal student life until it all changed with one call. Kelsey 01:15 Watching YT TV when I was younger when I used to watch Carlos and everything I would like I would always think that would be cool to do one day but I never thought I would actually get to do it. So being in his shoes now is like so awesome. Hi, I'm Kelsey leam and I am the new host of y TVs the zone and big fun movies. Trevor Carter 01:35 How did you initially hear about this job opportunity? Kelsey 01:39 It was actually kind of random. I saw posting about it on my university's email or something like that. And it was very vague it was just like send an email of a headshot and resume to this person. I actually didn't get it at first. But then they were looking for a new host for big fun movies. And so I did some like some interviews and I did some on screen tests and I met with the other hosts and yeah, it was a long process, but I got called back like at the end of August. And yeah, I'm really thankful that they called me back. Trevor Carter 02:12 Since landing one of the most sought after positions in the kids television industry. Kelsey is daily routine looks a little bit different than it used to in the classroom. Kelsey 02:22 Usually I go in and I had hair and makeup. I put my stuff down in a chat with the hair and makeup lady for about like 40 minutes and we do whatever is needed that day. Usually it's something that's simple or it's something crazy like painting myself green. My second day working I think it was it was my second time filming and they were like we're painting you green because we're showing Shrek and I was like that is so silly. And my grandma she doesn't have like anything she doesn't have Wi Fi she doesn't have a phone. She doesn't just like a landline. That's it. And she didn't have any cable and my mom was telling her about my new job and she decided to buy a white TV for like $6 a month which is so silly of her and then she watched Shrek for the first time and she loved it. It's like one of her new favorite cartoons now. But it was actually a lot of fun. In the end. It was also a great moment for my friends to take pictures of me while I was looking like Shrek. Trevor Carter 03:13 One of those friends is Halla Jurwics, a fourth year criminology student at TMU. Kelsey and Halla met in the seventh grade and have been nearly inseparable since. So what's it like seeing your best friend become a local celebrity? Halla 03:27 It's been very fun, very cool. It's also been kind of interesting having like the behind the scenes just getting to hear her be like here's my scripts and I'll run lines with her and I'm like getting to read them and I'm like this is how that happened. I think why TV was like one of my only channels I had white TV and then Nickelodeon when they had like a free preview. So why TV was definitely like my childhood watch all of those shows before and after school. It's also just a very cool, like thing to see especially when her first episode came out like my friend came over and then we watched it and we were like, oh my goodness, that's my friend on TV right now. Trevor Carter 04:01 Kelsey initially wanted to be an actor, and even went to an arts high school studying drama for four years on top of her regular academic work. However, after a little while, Kelsey realized that the acting industry wasn't for her. She found the field to be stressful and extremely competitive. Feeling like she was always having to put her life on hold for just the chance that a role, but she knew her heart belonged in film and television and quickly made the adjustment to the production side of things. Kelsey 04:31 I discovered a love for children's programming. Last year, I took a class called children's programming. And I was like wait, I've worked with kids my whole life. And I also love acting and doing all things media. And so when this opportunity came along, I was like, this is a perfect segue for me and hopefully I'll be able to do things like producing and directing children's movies TV shows in the future. Trevor Carter 04:53 This year, much of Kelsey's time at school has been dedicated to working on her practicum producing her very own cartoon. Kelsey 05:00 Nuclear High is my thesis project. It is a kid's 2d animation show. It's about a high school that gets hit by a toxic waste explosion that makes all the kids gain superpowers. And it's really fun idea we're working on it right now. We're in the process hopefully going to be able to pitch it to other people in the future and we have a great advisor and I have a great team working on it with me. Trevor Carter 05:26 Aaron Dunn is the advisor for Kelseys's practicum project. He's also a seasoned vet in the kids programming industry. Working as a showrunner, writer and Story Editor. He played a role in getting children's shows like rocket monkeys on Teletoon and the cat in the heart knows a lot about that on CBC kids. These days he balances his work with instructing at Tmu and lending a hand to fourth year Media students on their practicum projects. Aron 05:53 In a sense, I'm sort of like the executive producer for the for the groups, you know all of their all of their sort of creative choices filter through me for ultimately marking and giving them you know, advice on how to get those projects made. From the first meeting I can I can just see there was a spark in her as I said she's she's gonna you veulent personalities super enthusiastic and it's very passionate about you know, kids contents and very passionate about her particular project. And when she told me that she had been hired as a host on YTV it just it did not surprise me in the slightest that she would get that kind of a role. At YTV because it just seems like totally her wheelhouse. There's so much that you can't teach like persistence, like resilience, because rejection is a big part of this business too. As wonderful as anyone's ideas are, you know, I've had dozens of ideas that I pitched over the years that have been rejected, and that's just part of the game. Having the confidence to know that okay, even if this idea didn't go anywhere, or this idea got rejected. I'll come up with more ideas and I'll never stop coming up with ideas. And I definitely get that I definitely get that sense about About Kelsey. Trevor Carter 07:13 Whether it's hosting or producing our own shows, Kelsey is creativity and work ethic have continued to bring her success. Using her new platform. She's determined to make sure that kids programming remains something for everyone to enjoy. Kelsey 07:27 Honestly, Canadian content is on the up in diversity. Everyone's making a really big effort into bringing more diverse people onto the screen not only in like shows, but in like small hosting positions like I do. And I'm really grateful that I get to be one of those people for kids when they watch their screen because I didn't get a lot of that when I was growing up. I didn't get to see like half Asian individuals that I could relate to and look at on the screen and one of my new co hosts she's also South Asian and so I think it's just really important that kids have that person to look up to on the screen and be like, that could be me too. It hasn't really hit me in the fact that like I am a role model to kids. But I take it seriously that I'm going to be welcomed into these families homes every night or every weekend or every weekday, and I'm creating memories with them. So I think it's a really cool and unique experience. So I'm very grateful for it. Trevor Carter 08:21 Thank you so much to everyone who tuned in to listen to this episode. And of course, thank you to our wonderful guests, Kelsey Liem for taking the time to talk with me today. Thank you so much, Trevor. This has been what's my name again? I'm Trevor Carter. Transcribed by https://otter.ai