Donna-Leigh White: Show-Stopper, Seat-Filler

Performing Arts & Entertainment in Canada, Autumn, 2001 by Judy Van Rhijn

THE LIGHTS ARE UP, THE CAMERAS ARE WHIRRING AND THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE ARE WATCHING EXPECTANTLY AS THE LATEST AWARDS NIGHT UNFOLDS. THE STAGE AND THE STARS claim the audience's attention, while off in the shadows, Donna-Leigh White is turning an event into a "happening". With a handful of wranglers, a few walkie-talkies and an army of seat-fillers, she ensures that wherever the camera turns the seats are full, the crowd is up.

For those who organize live performances that are filmed for television, there is enough to do without worrying that the house won't fill. That's why they increasingly turn to White and her audience co-ordination team. She enjoys the organized chaos that erupts whenever filming pauses for a commercial break. In the space of about thirty seconds, a few hundred volunteers in high heels and formal dress must move in and out of the shadows, traversing stairs and aisles, and be sitting and smiling when filming resumes.

White's friends laugh when she tells them what she does. After all, her growing Arts/Media Business started almost by accident. "I worked as a teacher for many years. I often put on the school shows as well as doing physical education and guidance counselling. Six years ago I left to start my own counselling and motivational speaking business in Guelph and Milton. One day I got a phone call from Joan Tosoni, then the director of the Junos. She needed someone who wasn't scared of organizing 350 screaming teenagers into a Mosh Pit." White stepped in and found it easy to do. "It's not that much different from a school show. Just bigger."

After successfully rehearsing and running the Mosh Pit, she moved on to her second assignment -- Canada Day. "How do you co-ordinate 120 thousand people? I didn't know." It turned out that she had to make all the 'home-made' banners and entice people to wave them. "I'd tell them they were guaranteed to be on television. They thought it was cool."

Next she got a call to the Genies, a much more glamorous event for which she needed seat-fillers. At first she called on family and friends, but as the numbers grew, she had to look further afield. "I tried the Modelling Agencies but they only wanted to do the Junos. Now I send fliers out to the universities and I take calls from anyone interested. The oldest seat-fillers I've had were a sixty-five-year-old couple. I managed to seat them together for about half the night, but I can't always do that. One guy told me he wanted to sit in the middle of the front row all night. I told him to buy a ticket."

Even though it's unpaid, most of the volunteers love it. White even has a waiting list. "They get to dress up, rub shoulders with the stars and see the show." She laughs as she recalls the handsome young man who took Wayne Gretsky's seat at one year's NHL Awards. "He was there for about forty minutes while Wayne got a special award. When he came back he kissed me on both cheeks. He said 'Janet is so lovely. I think she really dug me!"'

White has only been seriously embarrassed by her seat-fillers on one occasion when they crashed a Juno party after the event. Most people are happy to abide by the rules which include a strict dress code. "For formal events the guys must be in a black suit or tux, the women must be gowned. You can turn up in jeans if you want, but I won't be able to use you," White says. "You must move like elegant cats and slip into your seat unnoticed." She advises seat-fillers to speak to the guests only when they are spoken to and to resist the temptation to hand out business cards. "Once the event is over you can schmooze if you like, but be respectful at all times," she will caution.

The number and size of events keep growing as word about White spreads through the director's community. She has worked at the Junos, the Genies, NHL and Canadian Sports Awards and with the 'talent' at the Toronto Film Festival. She also finds audiences for taped television specials like "Jaun Arden's Fall Concert" and the upcoming Wingfield Farm series.

Cramped venues often put White's skills to the test. "When a Director asks me what I want, I say 'give me a space!'" she exclaims. "For the Junos I need about three hundred seat-fillers, and four hundred for semi-obstructed view seats. The Genies require about one hundred, and the NHL Awards two hundred. They all have to wait out of view of the cameras."

It's a lot of work for little pay. To organize an event properly takes at least a month of phone calls, e-mails and faxes and up to five days on set, working eighteen hours at a stretch. "I speak to all the seat-fillers individually on the phone. I use my intuition to weed out the mad bombers. Four or five times a year it gets really intense." On top of this she sometimes has to number the seats, create makeup and transport schedules, meet and greet the talent and provide stand-ins at rehearsals. Now she is moving into talent co-ordination which means back-stage work -- getting the nominees on to the stage on time, organizing queuing backstage and giving cues. "I have to be in two places at a time. I have about ten wranglers assisting me. I couldn't do it otherwise.