IRELAND, HANNAH E.

[HANNAH ELISABETH IRELAND]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, background-image: url(http://i54.tinypic.com/2nqfdd2.jpg); border: solid 5px #d6d6d6; width: 250px; -webkit-border-radius: 50px 4px 50px 4px; -moz-border-radius: 50px 4px 50px 4px; line-height:85%; margin-top: 5px] HANNAH ELISABETH IRELAND, "IT STARTED AS A DREAM BUT WE MADE IT A REALITY" TWENTY-ONE | THE TRUTH AGENCY | TALENT SCOUT | BLAKE LIVELY "SO TELL ME, WHO ARE YOU AGAIN?" "okay, simple enough to get going with. maybe this interview won’t be as awkward as i thought it would be. anyway, my name’s hannah ireland, i’m twenty-one years old, and i’m a talent scout for the truth agency based out of los angeles." "RIGHT RIGHT, SORRY. SO TELL ME A LITTLE ABOUT YOURSELF." "there’s not a whole lot to tell, i suppose. i always feel awkward talking about myself, you know? i feel like i’m going to come off as self-centered if i talk too much, and arrogant if i don’t talk enough. i need to stop rambling. i tend to do that sometimes. i really do talk too much when i only mean to say a few things. i get a bit carried away with myself, but i’m working on it. apparently, that tends to annoy people a little bit, or so i’ve been told. i’m a nice person though, i swear! i try my best not to give you a reason to dislike me; i love meeting new people and since first impressions are basically everything, i try to show off my best side at all times. i mean, sometimes that sort of falls through, but i’d say i’m mostly consistent. for the most part. at least, i hope so. if you don’t like me, that’s okay, i don’t mind. i’ll probably still like you even if you hate my guts, honestly. i’m just not a very hateful person. people can annoy me, but i can’t remember a single time in my life that i genuinely, hardcore hated somebody. i just think it’s a huge waste of time. would you rather spend your life being angry with other people and about situations you have no control over, or be happy? okay, you might be able to call me a bit of an optimist. i don’t even have to try, i’m overall a happy person. i don’t see the point in not being one, if that makes sense. life’s what you make it! so on top of that, i tend to go for something if i want it. i’m not obnoxious about it, but if i want something, odds are you’ll be able to tell. i’m not one to beat around the bush, either. i’ll be very up-front with you about things, everything is so much simpler that way. i don’t lie, either. at least, not unless i really, really have to. sometimes telling the truth is worse than a well-meaning lie, so it all depends on the situation. i use pretty good judgment in those, and in most, cases. i’m probably making myself sound so boring. i’m not a plain little goody-two-shoes, i swear to you. i’m not this huge party animal either, though. i’m … i don’t know … average. i’ll drink if i go to parties, but other than that i’m not quite partial to the act. um, i dunno what else to say. if you need a laugh or somebody to (at least attempt to) raise your spirits, i’m your girl." "INTERESTING! WHERE WAS IT THAT YOU SAID YOU COME FROM?" "i’m a los angeles native, born and raised. i’ve lived in the suburbs my whole life with my mom, dad, and little sister, but now i’ve finally got my own place in the city. it would be way too hard working for truth and doing all this damn commuting. well, nah, i take that back. my entire job revolves around commuting. i usually just handle local talent, but sometimes i go all over the country looking for bands. i didn’t always want to be a talent scout, though. actually, i never did. this job is something that just … happened. when i was really small, i wanted to be things like a princess, a mermaid, or a ballerina. when i got a bit older i wanted to be an actress, which morphed into singer. when i realized that i have absolutely no capability to hold a tune, i switched to playing instruments. i figured being a background musician for a famous singer, or part of a band, was as close as i got. then i sort of honed in on that. i tried a ton of instruments and made my parents spend shitloads of money on private lessons for each of these in turn. i failed spectacularly at piano, was dreadful at violin, could barely play a guitar, and didn’t even bother with any sort of flute or percussion. i tried learning the guitar the longest out of everything, thus was the most disappointed when i couldn’t learn it for the life of me. i was upset for a really long time and didn’t care about very much. i got over it after a while and my mom convinced me that it’d be ‘cool’ to become a doctor. that was probably the most short-lived of all my ambitions. i went to ucla for a while, about a year, with an undeclared major, until i decided that college life really wasn’t the thing for me. i dropped out and my parents were really pissed with me, so i ended up moving in with my aunt, who was more than happy to have me. i had a couple bullshit jobs just to make some money until i figured out what to do with myself. i stumbled upon the truth agency in two thousand and nine, shortly after i turned nineteen. after failing at virtually every instrument i’d tried, i had never considered getting into the background scene of music, the actual industry. i started seriously considering it and managed to swing an internship (being nineteen, i hadn’t been hoping for much else, figuring most people in the business were way older). i worked there for a little over a year before i was offered an actual job as a talent scout. while i work with rising talent, i also deal with the band managers of currently signed artists. we manage a lot of stuff that would probably sound incredibly boring to anybody not in the business, so i won’t bother explaining it to you, but trust me, this is my absolute dream job and i’m lucky to have stumbled across it." "WOW. SO WHAT IS A DAY IN THE LIFE OF YOU LIKE?" "that’s a good question, actually. my job is pretty all over the place, so i don’t have a ‘typical day.’ honestly, i spend most days doing my own thing. sometimes i’ll come in to the agency to spend some time in a regular office atmosphere, but my job generally takes place as an ‘on the scene’ kind of thing. being a talent scout, i have to get out into the city and catch wind of local bands, which probably seems really easy, but it’s not. there are so many kids these days that form bands just for the hell of it, so it’s really hard to find a group that actually wants to do something with its future. once you locate a band that’s serious about being discovered, you have to get demos from them, go see them at shows, see if they have a good stage presence, good music, all that jazz. then you have to consider the current market demographic and whether or not their music would sell in a big-business atmosphere. and god forbid you’re in the middle of scouting a band and they give out your name to other bands, then you’ve got adolescent hopefuls crawling all over you and basically preventing you from efficiently doing your job. it’s a nightmare sometimes, but for the most part it’s so much fun. i get to see concerts and work with budding musicians for a living. i think a lot of people forget that talent scouts sometimes have the power to make or break a kid’s dreams, and though it’s rewarding when you find a great new talent to show the world, it sucks having to turn anybody down." "NICE. LAST QUESTION... WHY ARE YOU WHERE YOU ARE RIGHT NOW AND WHAT DOES THE FUTURE LOOK LIKE FOR YOU?" "i guess the reason i’m here is because i love music, plain and simple. when i was some of these kids’ ages, i wanted more than anything to have natural-born talent, to be able to master an instrument within a few mere months or have a gorgeous singing voice, but as it turns out, i have none of that. i can’t hold a note for my life, nor can i play a single note on any musical instrument. i was heartbroken when i realized i wouldn’t be able to do anything with music in my future, but then i stumbled across this job. have you ever had something so perfect in your life that it feels like it was virtually made for you? or maybe you were made for it. either way, you get the idea. that’s how this job feels for me. i don’t have the talent, so my job is to locate the people that do and make their dreams come true. that’s why i’m here. i don’t know what the future holds, but i’ve never been one to look very far ahead. honestly, i’d be happy staying right where i am and never leaving, but i suppose i can’t do this forever. i have no idea what i want to do with myself. maybe someday i could be an actual record label executive or something. that would be really amazing, now that i think on it. there’s something i could aspire towards. but again, for now i’m satisfied living in the present, and you should be, too." "ANYTHING ELSE YOU'D LIKE TO ADD?" "just that if you want something, if you’re willing to work for it then chances are it’ll be yours. oh, and thanks for your time! i really appreciate it. " hey there, the name's monica. i live in the eastern time zone and this is my first character.