Oprah? Lesley Hamer Has an Idea for a TV Show

By Desiree Parker Thursday, June 17, 2010

Local mom of three Lesley Hamer knows what she wants to be when she grows up: a talk show host. And Oprah Winfrey might help her achieve her goal.

Winfrey is starting up a new cable television network, called the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) , and she’s teamed up with reality television producer Mark Burnett to find some new talk-show talent. By submitting a short video online with an original idea for a talk show or by coming to one of the national casting calls, anyone in the country can get a chance to be an OWN star. Hamer, a 48-year-old who found out about the contest a few days ago, has decided this is the perfect way to realize her dream.

Before she became a homemaker 15 years ago, Hamer had a career in television. She hosted nationally syndicated P.M. Magazine, was a news reporter and guest host for TNN’s Crook and Chase, and hosted TNN’s American Skyline, along with some other freelance projects. She had her dream job.

But her greatest production, she says, is her three kids. Hamer wanted to see them through their formative years, and she has; her youngest is graduating high school this week. Now that she’s faced with an empty nest, Hamer realized she had the opportunity to start fresh and get back to her dream.

This line of thinking led to her idea for a talk show, which she’s calling “Your Act III.”

In a three-act play, the first act introduces characters, the second introduces conflict, and in the third act, the protagonist finds resolution. “'What’s my act three?’ I wondered,” says Hamer. “That’s a powerful mantra – who do you want to be in your act three?”

Women ages 40 and older, many of whom have put aside a dream or aspiration to raise a family or for financial reasons, often find themselves at the same point in life as Hamer, she says. “I don’t know any woman who didn’t have a dream in their 20s, and who got diverted.
“I feel strongly that when you’re in your 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, you have so much left to do in your life.”

Her idea for a show, which she outlines in the video she submitted for the competition, is to feature women 40 or older who are ready to try to go for their dream, whatever it may be.

Though the idea only came to her last week when she heard about the competition (which began in May and wraps up at the end of July), Hamer’s gotten a great response from people she’s told so far. “The cultural bias is that after you raise your kids, you have nothing left to do.” She wants to break that myth, and she thinks the idea will resonate with women everywhere.

The tricky part will be to jump in so late in the game and try to either win enough popular votes online for her video audition (the woman now in the lead has over 1.5 million votes) or wow producers at a casting call. There will be a finalist from the online voting and a finalist from the casting calls, and producers can also choose video submissions online that they liked for review, is Hamer’s understanding.

Hamer is hoping people will vote for her video online (you can vote as many times as you’d like for the same person), but she’s also going to fly to Atlanta next week for one of the final casting calls.

“I’m ready to fly to Atlanta and stand in line,” she says. Though the rules say folks shouldn’t stand in line overnight, Hamer will be cruising the parking lot the night before to see if there’s a line forming – and if there is, she’ll jump in it, she says. “Only the first 500 people will definitely be seen by a producer,” and Hamer plans on being one of them.

“It’s really exciting – I’m very thankful to have the opportunity to try something like this,” Hamer says. “It reminds me about what I love, and shows my kids I’m not just ‘Mom’.”

While being a full-time mother, Hamer also found some time to do a little bit of freelance work for Colonial Williamsburg’s production department, and she helped found Providence Classical School, where she was a board member for many years. Her husband is a futures commodities trader and owns Parcel Plus in Williamsburg.