It has been five years, but the question still pops up.
“Hey, this is really weird, but were you ever on ‘MADE’?”
Turns out, the answer is yes. In 2008, then-high school senior Diana Kiester was selected for the show after MTV held an open casting call at Roseburg High School. Now, as a fifth-year senior at the University of Oregon pursuing a double major, Kiester still believes the experience was completely worth it.
“The theme of my show was ‘dream date’ because — senior, never been kissed, never gone on a date before, not really good around boys and so the main thing I wanted to get out of it was self-confidence and being able to be more assertive,” Kiester said. “I guess, a self discovery sort of thing, and that show definitely helped out a lot with that.”
For those who have seen the show or are interested in trying for a chance to pursue one of their dreams, “MADE” will be holding its second open casting call at the UO this Friday. Casting interviews will be held in the Career Center from 12 to 4 p.m.
“Last year, we had a nice sized turn out of between 40-50 students,” said Ryan McRae, associate producer of “MADE.” “We never know how many students to expect but are always happy when heartfelt and passionate students come out.”
In McRae’s eyes, passion and energy are also two things that help an audition stand out, but he also encourages those auditioning to relax and have fun.
“Don’t be afraid to be yourself on it (the audition tape) because the point of it is self-improvement,” Kiester said.
It’s fair to say that Kiester’s senior prom was on the level of a fairytale straight from the land of Taylor Swift music videos. However, Kiester says that very little of what happened to her was scripted.
“It actually wasn’t that staged. My episode, the only thing I was ever really told that they asked me to do was, ‘Hi, I’m Diana. You just saw me get MADE.’ That was it,” said Kiester.
Although she’s still nerdy (and happily so), Kiester says the experience was less about reworking her personality and more about being in tune with her surroundings.
“If you get chosen, no matter how many challenges, you (need) to meet every single one of them because it’s certainly interesting on the show, but they designed these challenges to be to your benefit as well,” Kiester said. “It was not so much changing as to becoming more understanding of my environment and about different impressions with people,” Kiester said.
As someone who acknowledges that she was overly obsessed with anime in high school, Kiester definitely still identifies as a geek, but says the show helped her broaden her interests to include things aside from anime and manga without leaving them behind.
“I actually did all the illustrations for an indie game and I still definitely draw quite a bit, but I treat that more as a hobby, as a side type of thing,” said Kiester.
The business and Japanese double major hopes to someday gain the freedom to incorporate her art into her career but is currently focusing on honing her business skills. She is also working to secure a job in Japan in the comics, video game or pop culture industry.
Kiester also keeps in touch with her two coaches, camera people and Trae who was (spoiler) Kiester’s prom date. As for the boy who (another spoiler) turned Kiester down? Kiester laughs.
“I haven’t heard from him since and good riddance.”