The following is a transcript of an internet chat with Jennifer from February 25, 1999. It was held on realhollywood.com (site no longer active).
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HSHost2 says "Welcome to Hollywood Spotlight on realhollywood.com! My name is Peter, and I'll be your host for this evening. Joining me in the studio tonight is my producers Peter and our fabulous typist, Robin. If you would like to ask our guest a question this evening, it's very simple. Just type in /ask a space and then your question. If you're using "Excite's VP chat" you need only click the "something to say" icon at the bottom right corner of your screen. We are all very excited about our special guest this evening, from "Intimate Escapes," actress, Jennifer Convy. Welcome to Hollywood Spotlight, Jennifer!"
HSHost says "what has been your fav escape?"
jenniferconvy says "I would have to say out of 60 shows and 60 locations, there were so many. What I would do is narrow it down to like top 5 or six per country. I happen to be partial to France and Italy and I have to say Australia is a gas. Each experience is so specifically different. Everybody has their own version or idea of what a good vacation is. I would definitely go back to almost all places we went to and do it in leisurely fashion. Australia seeing the Great Barrier Reef. We went there first primarily because they're English speaking. It's just one of the great wonders and we spent a month there and traveled pretty much within New South Wales."
jenniferconvy says "We did cover lots of different terrains. We went from Blue Mountains down to a place called the Wilderness Lodge in the tropical rain forest. We went out into the reef which you have to travel out into the water. It's just spectacular. I laughed when I saw the water. It looks like somebody stuffed an aquarium with everything you can imagine. You can't believe it's real. What an exciting guy!! Now that's a rarity. The people were so nice. Where we were travelling there were so many Europeans and transplants there. We were hard pressed to find somebody actually from Australia. People are just great. It's the lifestyle and the climate there. It's actually a little bigger than America but there are fewer people. They have lots more sheep though!"
jenniferconvy says "I've heard stories of people having hundreds and thousands of acre ranches. They live really well. My other favorite place would probably be France. Particularly the south. Just the lifestyle of the Mediterranean. The only problem was that we couldn't time our shoot schedule according to all major events. Unfortunately we couldn't be in wine country during harvesting.
jenniferconvy says "My other show is design show. They both travel and they both cover design culture. It's been really great. I did both at the same time. The travelling was extravagant. You can travel and see so much. It doesn't have to be expensive. They're giving tickets to Paris now that are cheaper than flying from LA to NY. You can go see everything everyone else has seen. The other thing I recommend is a personal guide or sign up for a guide and a small group."
jenniferconvy says "It makes the town and city come alive. Most people have certain highlights they want to see but if you do a walking tour, architectural tour. It sort of makes it come alive with whole story. It is overwhelming and it is a lot to see. It doesn't have to be that way. Don't try to see everything all at once."
Sid asks "When did you get your start as a TV Host?"
jenniferconvy says "As a host, the first thing I did was co host a pilot with Casy Casom. It was TV version of radio show. I co hosted that with him and from that, everybody congratulated me and the show never aired. From that show, I would up doing movie time. Then I did Movie Time before it became Eve. In meantime, I started doing other pilots and shows. He sold it to Viacom and Viacom owns it. We had same agent at same time so I see her all the time. That is so funny. It's a small town out here even though it's all spread out. When it was movie time, they shot out of a closet. One time there was one room where there wasn't enough room for teleprompter guy to stand in room. It was beginning of cable and they just had repeat programming. It would air like 7 times in a 24 hour period."
jenniferconvy says "It was great crash course experience. They liked it. They liked flubs and all, it goes on. At time, there was no one else doing it and it was really fun. I don't think anyone starts out going gee, I want a host. I didn't go to broadcast school. I heard a great definition of luck is being ready when opportunity presents itself. I heard a great definition of patience, finding something else better to do in the meantime. I saw that in Dr.'s office on a plaque."
Sid asks "What is the best and worst thing about being a Host?"
jenniferconvy says "Laughing"
jenniferconvy says "I have to think about this. The best thing is that I really have had an extraordinary opportunity to meet really amazing people. And see the world in a really very unique way. What I love about what I do is that everyday is completely different. I don't work in a studio and it's pretty fabulous. So that's the best thing. Seeing the world and meeting people. The worst thing about being a host.... I would say the hard part of doing travel show is simply the travelling. It was incredibly isolating. It's very lonely. I found that to be really hard. I don't expect any sympathy but even our producers would rotate in on the road. It's too much to ask a person to totally isolate themselves. We're moving every 1st and third day."
jenniferconvy says "It's a lot and we see a lot. If it's Paris, we do Paris in 2 1/2 days. That was rough and fabulous all at the same time. The hard part about being a host is if you choose to host TV in the field it's kind of like doing news in a weird way. I really love it. You have to."
jenniferconvy says "Laughing."
jenniferconvy says "You can't send your twin."
guest2233 asks "what is the funniest or most embarrassing thing that's happened to you on the road?"
jenniferconvy says "Laughing. Oh no. There's so many. I don't know if I want to tell this one but I should. I shouldn't. There's some really funny and embarrassing ones. This one is clean. Just kidding, sort of. I got heat stroke in Australia because I'm on the water all day. It was their summer in January. It was 100 degrees and humid. I had been kayaking and snorkeling. We're shooting and I'm swimming. I keep swimming. I'm already green on the boat. I'm thinking maybe lunch didn't agree with me. All I can say is that you haven't lived until you've had heat stroke, stomach flu and snorkeled at same time. I would swim behind the boat and I made it to the beach. That was end of our shooting day for a couple of days. Luckily it was at end of trip. They said oh you're just dehydrated."
jenniferconvy says "It was a one season thing. It's very unusual for anyone to order 60 of these kind of travel shows. When Discovery bought Travel Network which happened at end of our run they decided that they have so many great shows that they're sort of revamping. They're on and they're on for a while until further notice. They talked about if there was a second season, they'd go to Asia and so on... We'd get a little more exotic from American point of view."
jenniferconvy says "I'm definitely doing two more seasons of the interior again. It's always good to be off the streets and in place. I'm just kidding. I've never been on streets."
HSHost says "and what are you doing with your free time?"
jenniferconvy says "Working on work and having fun. Getting reacquainted with my life. It's good to be home. I really missed LA. It really is and it's sort of fun because you can kind of reinvent schedule and routine. It's tremendous freedom. It breaks you out of your rut. You can get so easily in a rut and never break out of it. Not many people can. I'm able to and I don't know for how long but I don't think forever because I like home too much. I call it the--it's on HGTV and the show I do I've done since launching of network. First time home buyers, it was originally geared to generation x-ers. At time there were other design shows that catered to lifestyles of rich and famous. That is not our show."
jenniferconvy says "It was what to do if you've put all your money into first house or condo and you don't have much money left over. It's really decor. It's really fun. After we were on the air, they come to us now. We all have friends and people. We have great research. We do a lot of artists' home. There's such a need for it and the show is really popular. '90's has been all about home and home stores. It's been great. It sort of filled a niche in a big way. I love it. it's what I was doing anyway just because. "I didn't want to spend a lot of money. I think actually if budget is an issue, you actually get more creative. Every designer will all take shorts cuts because it's a better to do it and more creative. I think often you get more creative when you have money limitations. Most people do. Doesn't mean you have to wait until you have it to live a certain way."
HSHost says "do you go to the swap meets here in town?"
jenniferconvy says "I can't go anymore. I don't have anymore space. I have to move first. On show we cover them. We've done the Rose Bowl. My favorite thing to do while I'm on the road is flea markets."
jenniferconvy says "You have to go to swap meet with budget otherwise it's overwhelming. How fun. I know all about it because I've met every designer at every store in town. I love knowing that stuff. I can't believe I get paid to actually do this. The first couple of seasons I barely broke even."
Sid asks "Do people solicit to be on your shows?"
jenniferconvy says "They have. yeah now I have a good friend of mine who actually called to want to be on show. They ask why do you want to be on show? We send out scouts to take pictures. Absolutely we get solicited. We love it. We have lots of people come to us. Word of mouth is really great. If it meets criteria to be awesome then we go do it."
Sid asks "Do you want to produce? Direct? Write?"
jenniferconvy says "Yes. Is that the question. I was consulting producing the last two seasons of Awesome Interiors. I think ownership is key. So absolutely. I actually just did a play. I miss acting too. It's fun. I like all of it. Writing, I don't know. I haven't really formally written. I'd like to do a book on the shows. We'll see. I'd like to. I have all the research here and the photographs so we'll see."
Sid asks "what would be your ultimate project?"
jenniferconvy says "I'm pitching one so we'll see. The one that I'm pitching would be a really good one. It's so much fun to be able to do that. When you get your ultimate project off the ground maybe that will be my ultimate project too."
guest2233 asks "what is something you wish people would ask you that they never do?"
jenniferconvy says "I don't have an answer for that one. I never wish people would ask me a question. That's a terrible thing to say. I'm pretty private so I'm pretty happy if people don't ask me questions. Thank you. It really was. Thank you. Thank you very much."
HSHost2 says "Jennifer, thank you so much for joining us tonight. It was a pleasure to have you on the show! And, thanks to all you viewers out there for chatting with us at realhollywood.com. Please join us again tomorrow night at 7:00pm PST/10:00pm EST when our guest will be actress, Sarah Trigger. Good night, everyone!