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SHARE YOUR STORY

How have you helped others during this challenging time? Share your story for a chance to be featured.

SHARE YOUR STORY

SHARE YOUR STORY

How have you helped others during this challenging time? Share your story for a chance to be featured.

SHARE YOUR STORY

Together, we will get our momentum back.

HMS MEDIA LIFTS SPIRITS WHILE BENEFITING ACTORS

When Broadway shows go dark, fans may be disappointed – but the performers and crew are out of work. How can entertainers get back on stage during COVID-19, in a way that gives fans something to see?

HMS Media, located in Des Plaines, IL, creates broadcast, online and mobile content for Broadway shows, national tours and resident dance, theater and music companies in, around and outside of Chicago.

During the pandemic, the company’s services are needed more than ever. For example, they recently co-produced a rendition of the song “You’ve Got a Friend,” from Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, directed and edited by HMS co-founder Matt Hoffman.

The version featured performers singing together remotely – and it debuted on CBS News. This project benefited The Actors Fund, a non-profit that has transitioned to provide emergency COVID-19 relief for those in entertainment who are in need. “What many people don’t realize is that the arts are a major part of the American economy. We make up 4.3% of the GDP,” said Scott Silberstein, the other co-founder of HMS Media.

Putting together a piece like “You’ve Got a Friend” required lots of preparation, explained Silberstein. The performers had various quality recording devices in their homes, they each were singing alone to a backing track, and they were each at different distances from their microphone, resulting in different track volumes. Standardizing these aspects as much as possible beforehand helped immensely in stitching together the tracks during editing.

Pro-bono projects like these are possible in part because HMS Media received a Paycheck Protection Program loan through First Midwest Bank. “We’ve kept everyone on staff. At this time of need within the industry, we are able to take on advocacy projects because we have that funding.”

Among its other activities, HMS Media has worked on a benefit reunion of the NBC musical drama Smash, featuring a Bombshell in Concert streaming event on People TV, which also benefited The Actors Fund.

Currently, HMS Media is putting together the blues classic “Sweet Home Chicago,” which will feature many well-known Chicago-connected performers, including Keegan-Michael Key, Jessie Mueller and Kurt Elling. The piece will benefit the Arts for Illinois Relief Fund, a COVID-19 program championed by Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot.

“I can’t anticipate anything like normal theater performances before at least January,” said Silberstein. In the meantime, HMS Media is giving fans a way to see the stars they know, while helping those in entertainment who are in need.