ReelReview - A new Web-Thingy...

Defining your career goals is the first step toward achieving your career goals.

I realized a few months back that I wasn't going to be happy as just a writer, if I wasn't acting too.

View from a Brooklyn film studio! I <3 NY!

When I first moved to NYC, I was afraid to say it out loud, because I thought it would sound a little too ridiculous.  After all, I'd just spent the previous two years completing a BFA in Creative Writing for Entertainment so that I could sit happily behind the scenes pounding out pages for other actors to bring to life.

But the closer I got to that reality, the more I realized that everything I ever endeavored to do in the film industry stemmed from my desire to be an actress.  And when I turned my back on that part of myself, I lost all passion and drive for all the other parts of filmmaking that I thought I loved.  So I started to streamline my vision for me.  Here in the city, I'm an actress who also writes.  Sure - I get roped into other things from time to time, but I'm now much clearer on how I define myself and what I do.  Ironically, it's gotten me much further much faster than the tail chasing I did down in Florida, where I tried to be everything for everyone except myself.

As much as I've wanted to be part of a web-series since I got here (and even before,) I drew a hard line in the sand for myself saying that I didn't want to go it alone.  I didn't want to be a one-stop shop - a Robert Rodriguez - a WalMart Super Store of film production.  I would do things as part of a team or I just wouldn't do them. 

I'm certainly not throwing shade at anyone ambitious enough to be a one-man-band with a camera.  I respect those people immensely.  I just know it's more fun for me to be with the band than a solo artist.

So my heart disintegrated when one of my creative partners bailed on me half-way through developing a new project.  I didn't want to give up, but I wasn't going to turn myself into a martyr over it either.  Although I believed my partner would return, or I'd find a new partner who shares my passion for that project, I wasn't sure where to go next. 

In the meantime, I took a look at another friend's sketches.  They were good.  We started talking about how easy it would be to film one.  And then we weren't just talking anymore - we were actually work-shopping the script.  Then we shot a few test runs.  Then we just freakin' did it!

Why all this prelude for a silly little YouTube comedy sketch that's less than three minutes long?  Because it's more than just a silly comedy sketch.  It's a step on the road to fulfillment that started months ago when I started to get real with myself and define what I wanted.  This was another person's (Kathrine Scott's) vision.  And she trusted me as an actress to be a part of it. And I'm honored.  And she let me workshop the script with her.  And it was fun! And everything is sooooo much easier when it's fun...

That said - Enjoy!

A Little V-Day LOOOOOVE! (Music Video)

Hey All!

I know lots of peeps who let today get them angry, depressed and bitter.  Well - the only dark thoughts I try to have on V-day are of CHOCOLATE!!!

It's been a while since I've celebated... OOPS!  (pardon my Freudian slip!) CELEBRATED Valentines Day with one particular special someone, but I have so many special people in my life, that I thought I'd make a special treat for ALL of you!

Here's me KILLING IT on my Uke, playing a romantic little blast from the past! So whether you already have a Valentine or not - I hope you'll still be MINE <3!!!

Don't Quit Your Day Job - Or Do... Eventually!

I got tagged in the following Facebook Post by a friend today:

RATS!!! I just got called for BCG work on “SHOW NAME” tomorrow, but I'm already booked with an interview and training for a new job. I know BCG work isn't a huge deal, but it IS a step closer to doing what I want to do. Industry peeps, how and when is it appropriate to bow out of other work last minute to pursue the dream? I don't want to burn any bridges. Help!

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So of course, I asked if I could use this question in a new blog post, (she agreed – obviously!) since this is a quandary many artists face.

It doesn’t matter which side of the camera/curtain you work on, which city you live in or which of the arts your pursuing.  This is a serious question that deserves more than just a comment on her Facebook page – so let’s talk DAY JOBS…

1)   It’s pretty impossible to pursue a career in the arts if you are completely homeless.  You are expected to show up clean to STUNNING at jobs, interviews and auditions – especially in the performing arts.  But you have to at least smell good and your clothes should never look like you slept in them – at least not until you wrap!  This means that you need a home…

2)   Homes require MONEY.  The recent economic crash led lots of people to ‘down scale’ their lives.  My friends have eliminated financial redundancies like landlines, cable TV and in some cases even Internet because so many wireless plans offer portable hotspots through smart phones.  But you can only scale back so far before it limits your ability to be hired!

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3)   Work in the arts – even CREW jobs like Sound Design, Production Assistants and Lighting gigs ebb and flow.  Many of these jobs are short term at best and frequently hire educated professionals on a day-to-day basis.  If you live in a good market and you hustle hard, you could average 3 – 4 working days per week – maybe…

4)   Jobs in the arts – especially if they are entry level – tend to pay right around minimum wage – just for longer hours than you’d work at your typical Micky D’s…  The work times also vary widely and shift from day to day making it pretty impossible to try to work multiple jobs in the same 24-hour span.

So what does all this mean?

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One of my writing teachers told us the best thing we could do would be to marry someone rich who would be okay with supporting us.  Chris Hardwick – I’m still waiting for you to call me!  (Our children would the cutest little blue-eyed geeks you could imagine…sigh)

In the interim, however, many of us find it necessary to take “day jobs,” which run the gambit from waiting tables, to nanny-ing to cleaning houses to becoming a professional fluffer… (and if you don’t know what that is PLEASE don’t look it up!)

Three of my friends recently made that leap of faith by leaving shift jobs in favor of freelancing in order to make their schedules more flexible for their art. 

I’m not telling the girl who asked me this question to walk away from a brand new paying job that she’s obviously gone to some trouble to apply for.  But if you don’t show up for those first few days/weeks of training, you might end up terminated before you’re able to cash that first paycheck.

So you have to make a choice.  Here’s what I advise:

1)   NEVER Lie – It’s a terrible habit to develop. It reflects poorly on your work ethic and you never

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know when one boss might know another.  The world is much smaller than you think.  “But-but… I’m an ACTOR!” you say.  “I make people believe fantasy for a living.  It’s what I do!”  For a paying audience? Yes. For people depending on you be somewhere and do something? NO.  In the words of Eric Cartman, “Not cool…”

2)   Let Your Shift Boss Know Your Story – Everyone knows somebody with a dream. And most of us have dreams of our own at one point or another.  You might be surprised by how supportive a supervisor can be.  Work hard at your shift job. Show them how lucky they are to have you.  Build relationships with your coworkers, and discuss with your boss the best possible ways you can “play hooky” without leaving the company in the lurch.  Maybe you’ll find out Tuesdays are really slow, so it’s no biggie if you call in on a Monday night to ditch out.

3)   If Your Boss is NOT Supportive, FIND ANOTHER JOB – I’m serious. Life is too short to spend it pleasing anyone other than YOU.  You’ll find something else that’s more flexible with people who are more supportive.  Just keep looking.

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4)   Keep Pursuing Your Art Every Available Moment – Here’s what happens when you don’t: your cool job with nice people, a supportive boss and/or your supportive spouse eventually become prison wardens keeping you from your dreams.  You’ll blow a fuse, say or do something terrible that you’ll never be able to take back, and burn all those proverbial bridges you are currently worried about.  What’s worse?  By the time that happens – you won’t even CARE!  Because you’ll have had it.  So you work Tuesday – Saturday?  Make sure you’re booking gigs every Sunday and Monday.  Sleep when you’re rich and famous!

5)   Don’t Get Too Comfortable – Your day job pays $800/week?  Awesome. Live on $500.  Or $400.  Don’t go on cruises.  Don’t go to fancy shows and pricey bars. Don’t get hooked on upscale clothes, shoes or cosmetics.  Because when you start spending every dollar you make every week – and it’s super easy to do – you get trapped in the lifestyle of that paycheck.  So now you “CAN’T” leave your day job unless, you know, you get offered a leading role on Law and Order SVU – which will never happen, because you can’t miss a day of work to audition, workshop or get set experience because if you do, you won’t be able to afford that set of custom gels every other week at that cute salon that brings you ‘complimentary’ mimosas…

6)   Save Money and Make an Exit Strategy – Remind yourself DAILY that your day job is only temporary.  Continue to set goals daily and weekly as an artist. Remind yourself that you ‘don’t belong’ in the office, or with your coworkers.  If you become ‘one of them,’ you truly run the risk of losing yourself in the process. Stash some cash in savings or at least pay off any debts/loans you have. That way, when you take your leap, you’ll be able to live off of less money from day one.

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7)   Do the Math – All opportunities are not created equal.  If you’ve already played a Brooklyn Hipster Pedestrian three times in a month, maybe it’s okay to tell Casting that you’re already booked for the day they want to use you. (NOT a lie if you’re booked to work at your actual JOB!) That way, next week when you’re offered a featured spot at SAG scale because you can ride a unicycle, you don’t feel guilty taking THAT day off, and your boss will be happy to give it to you. (PS – Whenever refusing a casting, ALWAYS SAY you’re already BOOKED on another job.  And then, of course say, thank you!)

8)   Set Specific Goals and Stick to Them (Within Reason) – Nothing pushes you harder than putting goals in writing and reviewing them daily.  I put sticky notes on my mirror.  That way, when I’m checking out that fine ass in my ‘first change,’ I’m also reminding myself that I’m working toward a SAG speaking role by the end of February.  If I don’t land it until March 3^rd, I’m not going to flog myself or give up on my dreams.  But make a plan.  How long before you want to be following your career goals full time?  Six months? Eighteen?  Get out a calendar, a pen and some PAPER.  (I’m serious about the pen and PAPER.  It really makes a difference.) Do a little math.  Need to pay off a student loan?  Can you at least pay off enough to refi at a lower payment in ten months?  Well, write down the steps and dates to accomplish them by.  And most importantly, decide when this job’s expiration date is.  Don’t say – “when something better comes along.”  You’ll spend your life waiting instead of LIVING.

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So no, it’s probably not worth blowing off your training for your new job just to work background on a network TV show tomorrow – unless of course, you’ve decided while reading this to just throw caution to the wind entirely and ditch the day job altogether!  But if you think this shift job can be a port in a financial storm for a bit, then by all means, hunker down – but don’t loose sight of the bigger picture.

And remember – everything CAN happen for a reason!  Maybe by saying no, thank you to “NAME OF SHOW,” tonight, when you’re free in a few weeks, you’ll get a chance at working it again in a more featured capacity that you’d have missed out on if you worked it tomorrow!  Stranger things have happened – like “blizzards” for example! Hope this helps!

For a Reason…

They say, “Everything happens for a reason…” 

Hell – forget them – I say it.  Because it tends to be true.   

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Chillax, my reason-and-logic friends.  There may be no significant science to back this up, but I’m sure some survey somewhere found that people who believe this mantra tend to cope better with stress and bounce back from set backs faster.  Mind over matter.  And even if science can’t explain it (yet,) it doesn’t mean it doesn’t apply.

Take last week for example.  I was languishing in a sort of holding pattern due to TWO offers that were too good to refuse combined with fickle weather patterns and inconsistent communication (the latter of which is just the nature of the beast in this line of work.)

I developed a system.  If I hadn’t heard from casting by 6pm on any given night, I’d start a mad scramble to book work for the next day – but the next day ONLY – ensuring I’d still be available for whenever the two shows needed me.

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Word to the wise: this is NOT the optimum method for securing work from day to day.  Usually you want to hit the listings hard and early in the day to increase your chances of getting called.  But once you agree to core work, you’re walking a delicate tightrope between keeping your schedule open and still working enough days to pay your bills… which reminds me – T-Mobile – if you’re reading this, I’ll get that to you in just a couple more days…

The good news – I scored a fitting and day of work on the second series that invited me to do core work.  But then they rescheduled the second day of shooting they’d asked me to keep available, so I was on the prowl again for work on Friday.

via http://gifyoutube.com/gif/Kz2pzw (Not ACTUAL footage :) )

Luckily, as those of you who follow my Facebook page know, I got a super fun spot on a night shoot riding a bicycle (through some slush!) because of my excessively Western European roots ;)

But something more came from that night.  Since my bike came from the same side of camera as a little Smart Car that ‘crossed frame’ a little bit after me, I holed up inside said Smart Car between takes.

Turns out the driver of that car is working on putting together a SAG New Media Project, that will enable all the main non-union actors to become eligible for SAG (Union) Membership… but she just needed a writer.  Oh where, oh where was she possibly going to find a writer for her SAG New Media Web Short…???

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We had a ‘meeting’ last night down in what’s left of the East Village (another rant for another Blog…) and I must say, things are looking quite good!  I had set a goal to be SAG eligible by the middle of this month, and it’s suddenly looking very, very good indeed! 

My life has actually been a succession of miracles.  One disaster typically gives way to an opportunity that never would have come if something else hadn’t gone to $hit first.  The point is, if the non-storm two weeks ago hadn’t happened and my fitting hadn’t been postponed, I wouldn’t have been able to work core on the second show and I wouldn’t have been riding a bike in the middle of the night on Friday, so I wouldn’t have met the cool woman who needs me to write her project! 

Life is good – even when it’s been a pain in my a$$.   I just need to keep remembering that!

Keep Me Hanging On...

Ah – the life of a working actress…

So – I’ve been in NYC since 9/20/14 and truthfully things are going great.

Photo Credit: ME Bitches!!! ;)

 Thanks to a couple fellow former Floridians, I’ve lucked into a really great Glee-esque living situation, and I started booking work right away through one of the biggest Extra’s Casting companies in the country!

The checks aren’t huge (yet) but they ARE coming, and I’ve been having a blast working on some fun TV shows and films in the process.  I even managed to book a role in a Crime Reenactment series AND I was offered core work on another series!

For the uninitiated, Core is one of those Holy Grail deals in the world of background work.

Via Giphy.com - reddit.com

You get picked to become a recurring extra.  For example – one friend worked all last season as an inmate on Orange is the New Black.  It makes sense to see the same faces in a prison setting from week to week.  So sometimes a casting company schedules a wardrobe (costume) fitting for you early in the season, sends you a pile of potential shooting dates to keep open, and become an It boy or girl as far as extras go :D

Fame and fortune?  Not quite… But regular work for a full season of shooting is a HUGE plus in a business where you’re literally applying for work DAILY.  Typically, you go into a month with no way of knowing how many days of work you’ll actually book.  So being invited to work several days a month for the same show is an epic WIN.

But enough about The Biz - back to me!  (What? Just channeling my inner pilot ;D )

So I get contacted for Core work – and I’m like, "SCORE!" but then as the proverb goes: Shit - it happens…  In this case, “shit” was snow.  Last Monday and Tuesday pretty much every production in the city shut down in anticipation of Snow-Mageddon 2015, which turned into – "Huh… so that’s a blizzard???"

happychristmasyafilthyanimals.tumblr.com Via Giphy.com

 Still, I got an email Monday morning telling me that due to weather, my fitting would need to be rescheduled for a later date.

No worries.  I snagged a nice Korean lunch in midtown with a friend, took up residence at a local coffee shop and caught up on some serious Facebooking. 

Oh yeah – and I began checking my email every hour on the hour for my rescheduled time.  It didn’t come…

By Wednesday, I found out I’d booked my audition from the prior week and they wanted to shoot me on Friday and Saturday.  So I reached out to the “core work” casting agency to let them know I was still available for a follow-up fitting on Thursday or Sunday.  They hit me back and told me there wouldn’t be any more fittings that week – but they’d let me know about me rescheduled date.

This I find out Thursday morning.  It’s a little late for me to book work that day.  Fine – this is the city that never sleeps and I have Wi-Fi and Netflix.  I can keep myself entertained...

Friday and Saturday I shoot the crime reenactment.  It was totally fun, low stress and a good time!  The director was a really great guy and we powered through so fast that I was released just after lunch the first day and just before lunch on the second. 

Still checking my email like a jealous girlfriend.  Still no rescheduled date.

Now… I get another email from another casting company I’d worked for just before Christmas.  They used me on an HBO pilot in an office scene.  Turns out, they’ll be going back to that same office now that the series is picked up.  Would I like to come back to work?  Hell yes!

So I had a fitting for THAT series yesterday.

Still no word back from the original series I booked.  The shitty part is, I can see all the other roles they’re looking to fill in all the emails that I get from the online casting service I use.  It’s like a guy saying, “Babe, I totally want to go out with you, as soon as I get the chance.”  So you wait for his schedule to clear up.  Meanwhile you keep seeing photos of him on Facebook with other women and you’re like, “What the hell???  Your schedule was free enough to get HER out of her clothes!”  (Okay – now I’m just mixing my metaphor with the fact that I’m literally waiting for the production company to get me out of my clothes…. And INTO theirs!) 

www.tumblr.com Via Giphy.com

And today I wait some more.  I wait for either of the jobs I’m already booked on to contact me and give me something – anything to do – other than wait…

Just because your boyfriend hasn’t called you for a few days isn’t a reason to jump on OKCupid and line up another date – is it???

I should just go play my Ukulele in the subway for spare change…

Funny – isn’t it – that things are actually going great and I still managed to let myself get stressed?  I’ve been picked for TWO series this season, but I don’t want to not be available when they need me, so I’m all chicken-shit about booking new work while I’m waiting for them to call.

So instead of blowing up their phones or emails, I’m rationally whining about it to you in a blog!  Thank you for your understanding and support :)

19 Ways Being a Working Actor is Like Being in a Bad Relationship

1)   You literally spend days waiting for a call, and you always pick up IMMEDIATELY!

 

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2)   You are constantly judged primarily on your looks – and you’re somehow okay with that…

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3)   You’re willing and eager to let them make you over any way they like.

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4)   You’re happy to become someone totally different for them for as long as they keep calling you back.

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5)   You build your entire schedule around them.

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6)   You know when they stop calling that they’ve got someone else, but you’re happy to go back as soon as they call you again.

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7)   They forget or never learn you’re name – but you don't mind…

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8)   They expect you to come out at ridiculous hours of the day or night and you always go to them – no questions asked.

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9)   They can be very secretive and give you a ‘Fake Name’ (aka – a Working title) and you respect their privacy.

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10)  You’ll subject yourself to extreme temperatures, rain, snow, heat exhaustion, sleep deprivation and sometimes starvation just to spend the day ‘together.'

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11)  They say, “Jump,” and you LITERALLY ask, “How high?”

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12)  You’re probably giving a lot more than you’re getting out of it.

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13)  You spend most of your money trying to make them happy… (clothes, beauty products, workshops)

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14)  When you’re sick or out of town, they completely forget you exist.

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15)  You could end up bruised or scarred - physically and/or emotionally…

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16)  You’re always questioning your self-worth…

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17)  When you’re with them, they control everything you do – what you wear, where you go, when you eat…

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18)  Your friends and family all think you’re CRAZY to keep going back…

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19)  But at the end of the day you don’t care what anyone else thinks – because this is LOVE!!!

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