How Leanne Ford Bounced Back from Rejection to Find HGTV Fame
Leanne Ford's totally comfortable hearing the word "no." And finding a way around it. The creative-director-turned-interior-designer is now one of HGTV's biggest stars, thanks to the home renovation show she stars in with her brother, Steve, Restored By the Fords; but her road to landing that pilot didn't happen overnight. And it wasn't without its bumps along the way—something that Leanne's very level-headed about.
"All of this is a risk—any time you put yourself out there in any form, you need to be ready for it to backfire, or for people to chime in," she tells House Beautiful. "Living a full and creative life is always risky."
That mentality became her guiding force, helping her to be at peace with the not one, not two, but three times it took before her HGTV show went from a fun idea to reality.
In fact, if things had worked out the first time, you might know Leanne's name—but not Joanna Gaines's. As Leanne shares in her memoir, Work in Progress (out Oct. 29), she had just finished three interior design projects, blogging about her experiences, when HGTV reached out the first time. "Specifically, they were scouting for a cute couple who liked to fix up homes together for a brand-new show," she wrote.
Leanne's first husband, to whom she was married at the time, wasn't interested in TV, and as conversations progressed, the network and Leanne decided to part ways. HGTV eventually found their couple—Chip and Joanna Gaines—developing what would become Fixer Upper. Though Ford's then-husband wasn't interested in starring in a show, the designer was undeterred, throwing out that she and her brother, Steve, often collaborated on projects. Rather than harp on the fact that it didn't work out, Leanne focused on honing her craft.
One year later, HGTV reached out again, this time asking to film a sizzle reel, a 3- to 5-minute video that'd give producers a sense of who Leanne and Steve are and what the show would be like. She invited them to film them as they renovated her farmhouse in Pittsburgh. It was mid-winter, and she was wearing a giant fur coat, and oversized sunglasses, a look she describes as a cross between "Diane Keaton and 97-year-old fashion icon Iris Apfel." Apparently, her look was a little too hip for HGTV at the time, and they rejected her, literally citing that she was "too cool" (which has to be the best rejection ever, right?).
Still, she made an impression on people, and a year later, a producer for High Noon—the production company behind Fixer Upper, actually—asking them to film another sizzle. This time, they asked Leanne to ditch the fur coat. She did, but she stayed true to herself in every other way—including when producers asked her to consider designing more colorful homes—and it paid off: HGTV greenlit a pilot. By now, Leanne and Steve had worked on tons of projects, refining their skills. Even then, they weren't totally prepared for the reality of filming a show.
"It was so intense," Leanne says over the phone on a conference call with Steve and me. "We were in shock, but we powered through it. It was the hardest project we've ever done. Would you agree, Steve?"
"It was a hard project, for sure, but it's harder to do multiple projects at the same time," he explains, after some thought. "I never thought [the show] was going to make it, honestly. I thought, 'we'll shoot this pilot, and that will be the end of it.' I didn't want to get my hopes up."
But the pilot was a hit, getting ordered for a full season, then another, and earning Steve and Leanne roles on other HGTV shows, like A Very Brady Renovation. Every step of the way, their guiding force has been simple: Trust in yourself, and even if a project doesn't work out, know that you'll find another way.
"The path to success is wonky and crooked," Leanne says. "Don't be afraid to fail; that's how you live a creative life."
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