updates

I received an edited short that will be submitted to festivals this week, it is always exciting to see what the editors did. They have so much power.

I auditioned for a union show of the secret garden and I was most excited to audition in a yorkshire accent, which is actually incredibly difficult. It was one of the first auditions I went to where accents were encouraged. I spent 5 days on youtube preparing the accent and making sure my monologue had all the right lilts. Amy Walker is an incredible help for learning new accents, I deeply admire her work.

I'm sure there couldn't have been a greater contrast in my enthusiasm for my monologue and their disappointment. To be fair I am a little old for the role of martha, however the "thank you" I received was far too polite. AGH! I hate polite "thank you"s! But the takeaway is I did a difficult accent and a grand acting job, I felt totally relaxed and confident in the room.

I am getting better at the technical side of submitting videos, since so many more auditions these days are video submissions that I tape myself. It's a whole new market I'm adjusting to and learning to stand out in. I sent one in tonight and I am quite proud of myself no matter what it yields.

Michael Testa Workshop

I thoroughly enjoyed Michael Testa's workshop. He gave us sides to quickly review and then we did scenes for the class and we had our peers critique us, which was actually quite helpful. It's interesting to see what other people see and I was encouraged by how much I disagreed with my classmates. I think that is a testament to how truly subjective casting can be. You have to have the right people in your corner.

I was proud of myself because I was able to quickly connect with a very deep piece, to the point of shaking, tearing and intense emotion, but my scene was flattened by my partner who played a mood instead of achieving an objective #suckyactingpartners. Sorry if thats too honest... I will admit that the back and forth between two actresses in another scene made both of them look better, which says something; even though I know in this town you have to act with a monotone reader on the other end and sell it.

Because of my background in theatre, I have been afraid to overact in many los angeles film auditions. The fact that everyone thinks my theatre education destroyed me for film has been made more than obvious to me. However, when I did my scene for Michael, he said I could go even further and make it even deeper. My big takeaway is that he said I am too much in my head. "Christina, you're a very technical actor. I see that you are smart and making the reading dynamic, but you are too much in your head and its sabotaging" he commented as he intently leaned in his chair and focused on me. I guess after a career in casting you can sometimes break down an actor in two minutes. I do have the fault of watching myself as I perform. Maybe I can lessen this if I can't make it go away. Overall, it was quite productive. I like Michael because he told other actors in the room to fight against their type cast when all I've heard for so long is to make sure your brand is specific to one role. I guess that was refreshing and inspiring to my inner artist. It was a fun afternoon.