Thursday, March 22, 2007

I AM AN ACTRESS

I am pleased to report that actingwise, this has been my busiest week ever. And it's only Thursday morning...

Monday night: worked as an extra on Michael Keaton's directorial debut film, The Merry Gentleman, until 2AM.
Tuesday:
1) Got cast in a one act play with 8 performances in April. The artistic director of a new theater company had seen my recent audition for a theater festival.
2) Had an audition for a corporate video.
Wednesday night: Cold readings of scenes from plays in progress for a playwright group.
Thursday: national commercial audition coming up this afternoon.
Friday night: Asked to be in a "table read" for a new play. It's just what it sounds like, actors read the play in front of a small audience so the playwright can see how his work comes across.
Sunday: getting new headshots taken.

Could it be that all of the ground work I've done is finally paying off???

Monday, March 12, 2007

Easy come, Easy go

Friday one of the talent agencies I'm registered with called about an audition for this morning. She e-mailed the copy, location and wardrobe requirements. I was good to go.
Two hours later, she called back and said the client now only wanted to see men.

These are things I cannot control. What I can control somewhat is how many outgoing audition efforts I make.

I'm registered with several services, some free, some fee, that e-mail with opportunities. I scope out online resources. From March 4-10, I submitted for 11 voiceover auditions--most of which recquired a custom recording, 3 auditions I learned about online, sent pictures to a new production company, went on 2 in person auditions (one for a movie and one for a theatre festival, both no pay), contacted a new writing website with video content about being a freelancer. How many per week is enough? Until I get a part?

As of this writing, no callbacks, no parts. Nothing.

I'm also:
--in contact with a photographer to get another new set of headshots because I'm not that happy with the ones I had taken in January.
--talking with a Web designer about creating a voiceover website.
--awaiting the finished products from yesterday's recording session: the updated/re-edited version of my commercial demo and my new character demo.

After all that is done, I'll send my new materials to my current agents and to other agencies I'm interested in.

Then there's extra work. Though I've been an extra in more than 50 movies and thought I had my fill of the long days for little pay, I haven't done any since last summer. And there are several interesting projects coming to town. So recently I updated my information with 2 extras casting directors. One first opened registration with people he'd already worked with, so maybe he'll submit us first to the director.

One can hope.

Monday, March 05, 2007

Two Husbands in Two Hours

Last week I got an industrial video for a major insurance company. The character was a wife enjoying her empty nest lifestyle. No script, but improv based on her profile.

I look very young for my age. When I met my "husband," he took one look at me and said he was too old. I agreed. He had white hair and just looked older. When we went on camera in a part of the production company's offices, conversation flowed. He made up a story about our first meeting, I made up a story about what we wanted to do when he retired. I think we did a great job of portraying a married couple, tho we'd just met.

As we completed different angles, another man entered the room. I assumed he was the next character to be filmed. Turns out he was my new husband, a slightly younger version with salt and pepper hair. At least I'd gotten to chat with Husband #1 for a few minutes before shooting, but Husband #2 sat in the chair next to me, we said 'hello' and off we went. We did the same thing. Husband #2 might have looked more age appropriate for me, but Husband #1 was smoother on camera.

Doubt I'll get to see the finished product to see which husband made the cut...