Saturday, November 23, 2013
A good time
Tonight was the most fun I've had at dinner detective in months. We rotate cast members, so tonight we ended up with a stellar cast. All fun loving people who just joke with each other the whole time. We were basically laughing the whole way through. Inside jokes, new jokes, playful banter. I am the "innocent" one of the group, so they like to give me a hard time. Sheesh. My reactions!!! It was simply a night where I so enjoyed working with other great professionals. It was a solid show and I am reminded how grateful I am, how talented I am and how much I love my life. That may sound a little pompus as you read it, but I dont care! I am relishing in my happiness, since it has not always been this good and probably wont be forever. After all, that's simply how life is. Just wanted to let you know that every once in a while, this career can be roses, that's all.
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
A day in the life
Woke up super early to beat LA traffic and drive to a meeting with a nameless agency. To be honest, I didn't hear the most positive things of said agency from my friends. However, I am one of those people that just has to know for myself, so I went to have the conversation. I am at a point in my career where I'm so frustrated that I think. A bad agency is better than no agency at all. I can always fire them if they are terrible anyway. I will have a follow up meeting and we will see if that even pans out.
The agent said I was "cute", not drop dead gorgeous, but cute, I can play young and even do some characters like nerd, seductress, ect. But he will probably be sending me out for all the girl next door roles. And that's fine by me!!! If I can make a living at it, I will beat the girl next door horse until it is not only dead, but buried six feet under. I am trying to not be too proud and open my mind to opportunities presented to me.
Also, went to my improv practice group and it was REALLY rough today. I just felt like I got beat up.. We pushed through, but I was confused the whole time. The why. The why. The why. That is where the game lies, not the what.... the what is simply a pattern and is interchangeable. Find the why ASAP and make it overly emphasized. Always error on over-explaining I think is best at this point. Anyway, it was a learning experience. I really tried to follow. Some of my team mates are in a class above me and I think today was the first day it showed. We did more advanced things and I was stumbling to try and catch on. It stretched me though... in a good way. Not as fun as some other groups, but fun none the less.
Then I worked a shift at the restaurant to make that monies. It's easy and flexible, so I am digging it right now. I left the house at 8am and didn't get back until 1030 pm. Changing in my car and grabbing food on the go. Oh, got to catch up with a girlfriend from college on the phone while I was sitting in traffic. All in a day of the life of Me!
The agent said I was "cute", not drop dead gorgeous, but cute, I can play young and even do some characters like nerd, seductress, ect. But he will probably be sending me out for all the girl next door roles. And that's fine by me!!! If I can make a living at it, I will beat the girl next door horse until it is not only dead, but buried six feet under. I am trying to not be too proud and open my mind to opportunities presented to me.
Also, went to my improv practice group and it was REALLY rough today. I just felt like I got beat up.. We pushed through, but I was confused the whole time. The why. The why. The why. That is where the game lies, not the what.... the what is simply a pattern and is interchangeable. Find the why ASAP and make it overly emphasized. Always error on over-explaining I think is best at this point. Anyway, it was a learning experience. I really tried to follow. Some of my team mates are in a class above me and I think today was the first day it showed. We did more advanced things and I was stumbling to try and catch on. It stretched me though... in a good way. Not as fun as some other groups, but fun none the less.
Then I worked a shift at the restaurant to make that monies. It's easy and flexible, so I am digging it right now. I left the house at 8am and didn't get back until 1030 pm. Changing in my car and grabbing food on the go. Oh, got to catch up with a girlfriend from college on the phone while I was sitting in traffic. All in a day of the life of Me!
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
Go to the Audition, Even if you're late!!!
So, there I am, on the road driving to an audition. keep in mind that I left in PLENTY of time for there to be a zombie apocalypse on the way there and still arrive in time. However, it is LA and apparently, the traffic decided to extra- suck today. I'm never late to anything and especially and audition, so I FREAKED out. I'm sitting in traffic, the time is approaching, I was too dumb to write down a phone number to communicate and then the stooooopid TomTom confuses me, so I take a wrong turn and when I finally get there, I am in the wrong parking area... I got frazzled, then mad, then I got to that point where I was just over it and didn't care anymore. I'm about to turn around and go home. I'm done. I walked in thirty minutes late and I just thought, "well. If they want to see me, cool. If not, I know I did everything in my power to make it." Turns out, they didn't really even notice I was late because of all the other girls reading. PHEW! See? I was freaking out for no reason. I did profusely apologize anyway. I'm not sure if that helped or hurt, but I'm sure I'll find out.
When I got into the room, I commented on the director's movember mustache and after that we just talked like we were friends. He let me read to him and play off him, which was fun. I read the first time and the second time he told me just to do something "different." I asked him if he wanted to see something specific, but he chose to stay with different, so I did very different... though I personally think my first read probably made more sense with the script, but whatever. Then we talked about San Diego for five minutes since we're both from there and discussed scheduling, which I suppose is a good thing? Anyway, it was nice, but in a non-polite genuine sort of way... all these casting directors and directors can be so fake polite, it just pisses me off. I felt good about the read and I had prepared for it going over the script for a while, which helped. We will see, but mostly the moral of this little story is to show up, even if you're super late. Don't they say "showing up" is like 80% of the work? Or something like that...?
When I got into the room, I commented on the director's movember mustache and after that we just talked like we were friends. He let me read to him and play off him, which was fun. I read the first time and the second time he told me just to do something "different." I asked him if he wanted to see something specific, but he chose to stay with different, so I did very different... though I personally think my first read probably made more sense with the script, but whatever. Then we talked about San Diego for five minutes since we're both from there and discussed scheduling, which I suppose is a good thing? Anyway, it was nice, but in a non-polite genuine sort of way... all these casting directors and directors can be so fake polite, it just pisses me off. I felt good about the read and I had prepared for it going over the script for a while, which helped. We will see, but mostly the moral of this little story is to show up, even if you're super late. Don't they say "showing up" is like 80% of the work? Or something like that...?
Thursday, November 14, 2013
That moment you decide everything has got to change
So, went to my improv practice group yesterday and we practiced grounding everything. We did some very serious material and then added an element that was ridiculous. The element was present, but not the focus of the scene. For example, my partner and I were at the funeral of our best friend. I start to cry imagining the coffin. In my head, I think it's completely inappropriate to cry in an improv class, but it was an honest reaction... we continue the scene and part of the way through, my partner has these crazy loud farts (given by the back line) and we couldn't talk about them except to react to the smell in our body languages. I went from crying to almost breaking because it was so funny! I was dying. Anyway, we all have really great chemistry together and maybe we can start performing together eventually? We'll see.
After a coffee date with my friend, I went to audit Ryan R. Williams class. He is working in hollywood, is writing a book now, I think.. anyway, he is very intense typical LA man, but the good kind. He is passionate about what he does, but doesn't tolerate laziness or stupidity. I find that's how a lot of the people in Hollywood are now because no one has time to waste. I had a headache and I was trying so hard to focus and he gave a 2 hour class on scene work and preparation before we ever meet with a partner. We have to put in the work.. and it wasn't anything revolutionary, nothing I hadn't heard before, but I got convicted. For all these auditions as of late, I've just been memorizing, finding beats and "cementing" my work as he would call it. I have overlooked the value of reading the whole script and a good analysis, analyzing beats and marks and putting the time in to make a scene good. He had the auditors in groups to put up a scene and I was fortunately paired with this other girl from groundlings. She listened well, so we were able to put up a fun, simple scene with a beginning, middle, end and the class was laughing, they were on board. He said thank you for presenting something that was very "castable" and "safe." He said with preparation and work, we could do some deeper, richer work. He also mentioned I needed technical work with eye lines, which could be remedied quickly. and that's true. If anything, I need technical work to combine my acting into something that can be filmed and sold. Anyway, he gave his speech and it touched me. I am a professional from now on. I don't do half-way work and I'm not going to memorize lines for an audition the day before. I am going to respect myself and respect the script. I will be the best. Not number 2 or 3, but number 1. I am so over this wishy-washy. It;s time to be a better actress. It's time to book!
After a coffee date with my friend, I went to audit Ryan R. Williams class. He is working in hollywood, is writing a book now, I think.. anyway, he is very intense typical LA man, but the good kind. He is passionate about what he does, but doesn't tolerate laziness or stupidity. I find that's how a lot of the people in Hollywood are now because no one has time to waste. I had a headache and I was trying so hard to focus and he gave a 2 hour class on scene work and preparation before we ever meet with a partner. We have to put in the work.. and it wasn't anything revolutionary, nothing I hadn't heard before, but I got convicted. For all these auditions as of late, I've just been memorizing, finding beats and "cementing" my work as he would call it. I have overlooked the value of reading the whole script and a good analysis, analyzing beats and marks and putting the time in to make a scene good. He had the auditors in groups to put up a scene and I was fortunately paired with this other girl from groundlings. She listened well, so we were able to put up a fun, simple scene with a beginning, middle, end and the class was laughing, they were on board. He said thank you for presenting something that was very "castable" and "safe." He said with preparation and work, we could do some deeper, richer work. He also mentioned I needed technical work with eye lines, which could be remedied quickly. and that's true. If anything, I need technical work to combine my acting into something that can be filmed and sold. Anyway, he gave his speech and it touched me. I am a professional from now on. I don't do half-way work and I'm not going to memorize lines for an audition the day before. I am going to respect myself and respect the script. I will be the best. Not number 2 or 3, but number 1. I am so over this wishy-washy. It;s time to be a better actress. It's time to book!
Tuesday, November 12, 2013
Little Revelations
Lots happening! Hence, the breaks in writing to fill you in. I meet with the agency I talked about previously in a week and a half and I'm excited to see where it goes. Also a friend of a friend s giving me a tour of the warner bros. studio. I doubt anything will come of it, but hey... no judgement if I just happen to bring a headshot and resume. You've got to be hustling these days. I'll let you know what happens behind the studio walls.
I joined an improv practice group with a bunch of us from ucb. It is soooo fun! I love it! We just get to run scenes and practice what we want. It's actually enjoyable. This last one I learned a lot! Like, just naming the game asap... even if youre not sure. The sooner the game is out there, the sooner you can cut to the chase and play. I was always so gun-shy to name a game before I could figure out what it was... now, I can just name whatever sounds remotely like a game... it's kind of irrelevant as long as we now have a clear, defined and vocalized game. Also, I am focusing on trying to heighten emotionally instead of intellectually. It works the same way, just easier. And I'm learning the art of establishing a game, giving it a small break and coming back and beating it for a final laugh. Its an easy laugh to get, so I might as well learn how to do it.
Did a mock audition for a program I'm participating in. It's so funny because I forget how subtle the camera is and how much it can really catch. I still have to tone it down from my theatre habits of reaching the back row of an audience. The notes I got were to get rid of the unfocused movement, then he did a character direction. As always, it's a more focused an better read when you are playing on a partner. The first take my eyes were all over the place. It was embarrasing to watch. The second take was real and simple, yet more effective. I really am enough. Me as simple me has something to offer and I dont have to cover it with all this "character." I need to remember that in an audition. I have a tendency to be big. I am very big in normal real life, but I am subtle as well. I'm getting in touch with my subtle side haha. I have another mock audition this week, excited to apply my improvements!
By the time I got to my dinner theatre show, I had worked the past two day and slept little. I was so exhausted, so I kind of went through the motions and phoned it in... but hey, sometimes its faking it until you make it.
I joined an improv practice group with a bunch of us from ucb. It is soooo fun! I love it! We just get to run scenes and practice what we want. It's actually enjoyable. This last one I learned a lot! Like, just naming the game asap... even if youre not sure. The sooner the game is out there, the sooner you can cut to the chase and play. I was always so gun-shy to name a game before I could figure out what it was... now, I can just name whatever sounds remotely like a game... it's kind of irrelevant as long as we now have a clear, defined and vocalized game. Also, I am focusing on trying to heighten emotionally instead of intellectually. It works the same way, just easier. And I'm learning the art of establishing a game, giving it a small break and coming back and beating it for a final laugh. Its an easy laugh to get, so I might as well learn how to do it.
Did a mock audition for a program I'm participating in. It's so funny because I forget how subtle the camera is and how much it can really catch. I still have to tone it down from my theatre habits of reaching the back row of an audience. The notes I got were to get rid of the unfocused movement, then he did a character direction. As always, it's a more focused an better read when you are playing on a partner. The first take my eyes were all over the place. It was embarrasing to watch. The second take was real and simple, yet more effective. I really am enough. Me as simple me has something to offer and I dont have to cover it with all this "character." I need to remember that in an audition. I have a tendency to be big. I am very big in normal real life, but I am subtle as well. I'm getting in touch with my subtle side haha. I have another mock audition this week, excited to apply my improvements!
By the time I got to my dinner theatre show, I had worked the past two day and slept little. I was so exhausted, so I kind of went through the motions and phoned it in... but hey, sometimes its faking it until you make it.
Tuesday, November 5, 2013
Sometimes Miracles Happen
So..... I was contacted through my e mail, which I think was accessed through LA casting and an agency wants to bring me in for possible representation in film/tv and commercials!!!! They contacted me!!! What? Isn't that backwards...and don't worry dear reader, I looked them up on IMDB and I just have to say I am quite excited! An agent is an agent and it's better than where I'm at now. I am sooo ready to get in that audition space and book, book, book!!!!! I mean, there is a possibility that they might not go with me, but hey. It's a start and if nothing else it reminds me of the miscellaneous and miraculous things that can happen in this city when you least expect them to. I think I screamed out loud... a lot! And I said "wow" a lot....
Also, I haven't heard back from my callback or other auditions this week, which I think means a pretty solid no. I am still figuring these things out. But I don't even care!!!! I mean, I probably should, but I'm so grateful to be auditioning, it works out! That probbaly sounds sickeningly positive, but thats me...
Oh and the dinner theatre show this week went fantastically. I was the killer and you best believe I worked that room!!! I'm exhausted, but in the best way possible!!! Ah!!! The esssence of life is all around me.. or that's how it feels. FINALLY! This is such a tedious career haha, but I love it!
Also, I haven't heard back from my callback or other auditions this week, which I think means a pretty solid no. I am still figuring these things out. But I don't even care!!!! I mean, I probably should, but I'm so grateful to be auditioning, it works out! That probbaly sounds sickeningly positive, but thats me...
Oh and the dinner theatre show this week went fantastically. I was the killer and you best believe I worked that room!!! I'm exhausted, but in the best way possible!!! Ah!!! The esssence of life is all around me.. or that's how it feels. FINALLY! This is such a tedious career haha, but I love it!
Saturday, November 2, 2013
Callback for Short film
So, I went to the call back for a short film. It was a thesis project, so the directors took it very seriously, which is nice. There were probably about ten of us called back for two roles and they made sure that everyone read with everyone to assure they would get the combination that they wanted. To be honest, it was one of the funnest callbacks I've been to mainly because all of us girls got along really well and chatted it up in the lobby. Like seriously, we made friends and told life stories.... since we were there for three hours haha. I had sushi on my lunch break and that was probably one of the highlights for sure. anyway, I read a lot, had a blast, made new choices and just played with everyone. It was fun. We will see if I get cast or not... A good experience for sure. I actually do love auditioning!
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