Acting Job!

I got a job!!!

Extras job, through Central Casting. I've been calling both Jeff Olan (another extras casting group I'm signed up with - have I mentioned them?) and Central Casting in the last week to listen to the recordings for any jobs, there was one on Central Casting, I called the number, and got the job! Squee! It's in Van Nuys for a show called 'Awkward'... I've never heard of it before. I'm being a high school student. So I just spent the last hour looking for the appropriate clothes (most the sweaters in the house are black and white... exactly what they don't want), ironed a few shirts, de-furred everything, and hung them all in a room with no cats. At the moment. They were in there, so I'll probably have to de-fur again in the morning.

My call time is at 6:30 tomorrow morning, and fortunately I live only just over an hour away from Van Nuys. So I don't have to wake up too absurdly early.

:) So excited!

Central Casting Part 2

Hooray!~ This time, everything went fine.

I went on down again to Central Casting this afternoon, found the line for people with appointments (which I hadn't known about before), found a couple of people to chat with, and after about forty minutes they started checking people in (ten minutes after the appointment time). The room only held about a hundred people or so, and I know there were way more than that in line, so yay for appointments! (or getting there early. really really really early, especially as now they're not doing the appointments anymore)

After everyone was seated, one of the workers spent about an hour going over the paperwork (W-4, I-9, confidentially, special skills, etc) which I had already filled out. I did have to make a couple of minor corrections :D. Then, almost another hour was spent talking about how to get jobs - they've got a phone-in system - and a bit of 'about central casting'. I discovered just after that a major perk to having an appointment - I sat in the first row, and thus was one of the first to get photographed. Headshot completed, I was finally done.

I'm not sure how long it'll take for me to get into their system, but I'm assuming it'll be safe to start calling in tomorrow evening. With spring break next week (EEEEE!!!!!) I'll finally have that lull in my schedule that'll allow for extras work (or background work. It's called 'background' now instead of 'extra' as it used to be so everyone would feel more important. Really. Go on and check it out if you don't believe me).

There's 'acting trials' part... whatever :). And it's a success story!

On Time!

I'm tired, but managed to remember. This is, again, another 'day in the life of an aspiring actress' (not a bad title, but too long, really).

So - Monday. Business class, in which we turned in a list of people in the industry we'd like to know (or more specifically, we'd like them to know us), and then she brought in a second acting friend of hers. This woman mostly does stage work, which, while crazy fun, doesn't pay much. Like, between $200 and about $800. And that's being part of Actor's Equity. But the pay does go through the entire rehearsal and for every week of performance, and performances are about 8 a week.

Later on, Diego (a friend of mine who's an aspiring director) took pictures of me for some of his photographic homework. (Whee!) It was pretty fun, and I think he could actually be a pretty good director.

I've also picked up a regional accent CD, specifically Midwest. It's meant to sound 'farmy' and 'cowboy (or girl) -ly" without sounding Southern. Thus far, it seems like a softened version of the Southern accent but with some nasally tones in there. Those'll be hard for me - I still haven't caught on to doing that in my voice class, and apparently it really doesn't help that I'm dealing with allergies, even if it's only on a very minor scale.

I intend to put that (and as many other accents I can learn) on my resume, along with my recent addition of familiarity with guns. I have used them before, though never to shoot anything (there's a threat of rattlesnakes (and other vermin) where I live), so I got a refresher. I'll be putting on revolver (semiautomatic and double-action), rifle (20-20, semiautomatic), and shotgun (410, single shot). My resume looks rather farm girly, so this'll be a nice addition.

Acting 'oops'!

Trials of An Actress

I missed a day again! :P At least I caught it before it got too late, this time.

So - Wednesday. Kind of an 'oops' day anyway, but I'd made an appointment back in January to register with Central Casting, and so I went down there, all makeup, clothes, and hair done. Of course, I get there and discover I forgot my social security card (typical). They were nice enough to reset my appointment for next week. Considering they're stopping the appointment system they had (but still honoring the appointments that people set up before they ended them), it's great for me. So! I'll just have to be more put together, next week :D.

That's pretty much all that went on - I spent the morning running around getting ready, brushing my teeth, washing my hair, picking my clothes (shoes, shirt, and pants), and doing makeup. Then I was (again) exhausted when I got home (way I live my life, pretty much. I suspect that's why I keep trying to leave my computer in various classrooms).

Acting Days (Seriously, I need a better title)

Oops! I missed yesterday (it was an acting-related day). In my defense, I got home late, was exhausted, and left early.

I started off Monday with my Stagecraft homework. Stagecraft class is where I learn about - stagecraft. Making sets, props, floors, and backgrounds for the various plays at COC (They're doing Equus, The Heidi Chronicles, and New Works this semester). It's pretty fun - painting, cutting wood, drilling. I'm also learning about scenic drawings, a bit of architecture, which fascinates me. This homework (really the first of the semester) involves drawing the area outside the shop to scale on an 11 by 17 inch page. It's about 90 by 50 ft with a few doors and loading docks. Monday, I and another student measured it, so sometime before two Fridays from now, I'll do the drawing.

My second stop on Monday was my business class - that headshot I mentioned Sunday? I brought that into class, went through some sample breakdowns the teacher brought, and (everyone did this) in front of class, told them the breakdown, showed them the picture, and got feedback on whether they matched or not. Then, she brought in a guest speaker, one of her acting friends (whose name escapes me at the moment) to talk to us. He's been working for twenty-five years and makes a living on it, so it was neat. Some things I already knew - like how your headshots should look like you, and how you should move on after an audition without fussing about whether you got it or not.

Then, that night, it was rehearsal for New Works. They're still doing readings and second revisions of the plays, so nothing much is going on yet. I'm not sure exactly how many short plays there are - I'll let ya'll know when I know. (The play goes from April 28th to May 1st, btw. If you're interested.)

Okay! Now that I'm all caught up, here's today's news. Voice class is Tuesdays and Thursdays. It's not a singing class, it's just basic 'how-to' on using your voice. Very basic. I know some students are bored, but it's doing wonders for me. She spent the first month or so teaching us some stretching exercises to relax our bodies, not using our throat to make sound, and getting our voices into the front of our face (the 'mask', I think that's called). I can actually feel the vibrations there. Now she's working on moving our voice into our chest and nasal cavities. The chest isn't too hard; I'm starting to get that one. But the nasal's really hard for me. It's funny; I can memorize super-fast and I articulate pretty well, but I've spent the last twenty-plus years of my life breathing backwards and speaking from my throat.

After that, it was a quick lunch and then I was off to work (sounds like some sort of song) at Starcraft. I called a client of hers to make an appointment (evils! evils! phones are evil!~) and went through a couple of breakdowns. Breakdowns (I mentioned those earlier, and I don't think I've ever explained them. Oops!) are where a casting director has the type of job, what the name of the project is, what union or not it is, the different parts they're looking to cast, and what sort of people they're looking for. So, I click on the part, do a search (male or female and age range) on the clients to find matches. Once I find someone that I think would be a good match, I look through their pictures (they've got anywhere from six to fifteen) to find the right look that would best match the part. From there, after everyone's selected for all the parts, the owner checks my work (sometimes I get it down just right, but often she deselects actors or changes pictures) and then it gets sent off to the casting directors. Today, I only did a couple - almost nothing came in while I was there.

Wow, that was long (cause I missed a day :D)

Catch-up and News Ahead

I had my first photo shoot today!!

I know that probably doesn't make much sense, but I'll explain in a minute. First:

1. I totally meant to make a post before 2011 ended and a New Years post. I did manage to get a 'Happy New Years' on my twitter (3 days late, but hey, could be worse).

2. School-related news: didn't get that scholarship :(. However, as of Dec. 2011, I have (unofficially) completed my A.S. in Computer Science. I don't know of any emotes to express my feelings on this one properly, so you'll have to imagine a smiley face dancing across the page. Waving banners. With champagne. Something like that.

This semester, I'm completing my A.A. in Theatre and (since I did the paperwork last semester) will officially get my A.S. as well. For theatre, I'm taking Business of Acting, Voice, Stagecraft, and am the Stage Manager (SM, for future reference) of New Works. More on those later.

3. Work-wise: Still doing transcribing and crafting (thought not as much as I'd like to be - if you haven't checked out my links on the sidebar, please do so! and pass them on!) but I've also got an internship (unpaid, but awesome beyond belief anyway, as it's my first) at a talent agency. Starcraft. I'm also doing extra work (pardon, background work), but I only got to be on Private Practice as a college student once before school made me put that on hold. I'll go on about all those later, too.

Back to my first comment. In part, it's for my business class - we need to turn in a headshot, so I took one of my pink black-polka dotted shirts (bought for the express purpose of my acting career) did some makeup, and took several pictures - I think about 20, and I only liked one of them. Since I was going for the younger look, I kept the makeup to a minimum and my glasses on. Then, since it was snowing outside, I took the opportunity to dress in a black shirt (with very wide sleeves), added some makeup (for the older look) and went out and took a whole bunch of pictures, in different poses and facial expressions. Probably 50 total, but I only kept about 10. I did 2 sets - one while snowing and one not snowing. The backdrop was great - a mountain and meadow covered with snow, and the fir trees frosted with snow.

This time, I'm planning (operative word here) on using this as a way to focus on my acting work - title in progress (if you've got any ideas, let me know! Plus, comments'll motivate me). I'll also tell more about my non-acting life.

Vacancy Blog Scholarship

http://www.vacancy.com/north-carolina/charlotte-apartments/heatherwood/

When I first started looking for an apartment a few particular needs of mine stuck out. First: I have bad knees, so I need someplace where I'm either on the first floor or there's an elevator. Second: location. I'm a country mountain girl, so I don't like cities - therefore, I tired to be a little ways out. I don't mind driving - after all, where I currently live, every thing's at least an hour away ;). I've also discovered (by living there for four years) that I don't like empty plains, so I need somewhere that's got green trees and mountains at least nearby. I was also hoping for somewhere with a theater near it. Third: pets. I grew up surrounded by animals and it'd just be too weird to try living without a cat. Fourth: internet. This one's a bit obvious, as I can't imagine trying to do school or run my business (that pays for school) without it. Fifth: price. I don't have much money (sob; school costs too much!) so whatever I choose had to keep the costs down. Sixth: (a lesson I picked up from my bro's experiences) keep the lease time short. I wanted that option. I'm still sorting out what I want to do with my life, so I want to keep my options as open as possible. ( I wonder if I could've written 'so' anymore times? Bleg.)

With that done, and the state picked (North Carolina, and if you read that without a southern accent, shame. Go back and try it again) I just ran down the list and went through a couple of apartments before coming across this one. The price (naturally :D) was what initially caught my attention - $470 a month for one-bed, one-bath. (It's just me and my cat. And maybe a fish.) Since my answer to "where's that place?" has always been, "Planet Earth, I think," I went and looked it up on googlemaps.

My initial response was, "hmm, maybe?" Then I got a look at where the apartment was and I was all, "win!" It's a bit out of the main part of the city, surrounded by trees, and there's mountains nearby. So second need fulfilled.

I checked out the apartment , but couldn't find out if it was handicap friendly (like, with elevators and stuff). Since they've got several one-bed, one-bath apartments though, I figured there was a good chance of getting one on the first floor. So first... sorta fulfilled.

Third was pets, and lo and behold (I like that phrase; we should use it more) they allow pets. (My cat's well-behaved anyway. Any place should let her in ;<.)

And they have internet. I mean, what wouldn't nowadays? But it was still a consideration, so I mentally made another check mark. (alright, why does blogger want to capitalize 'internet'?)

Fifth was price. It's $470 a month for a 510 square-foot apartment, got a washer and dryer in the actual apartment (and even then, I know I'll still forget to do my laundry), bedroom, bathroom (can't really tell if it's got a tub in it - 'tears' if it doesn't :( - but I'll live), and a kitchen/living room/dining area. Good enough for me! (I didn't ask my cat, though. I don't think she'd be too big on moving... maybe I'll just keep it a surprise.)

Sixth - apparently, you can get down to a three-month lease on this? Or up to two years. SO with that, I can plan out my life as I need to.

SO there it is! And there's some other amenities - like a pool, exercise room, some apartments have a balcony, and some other random things that I don't consider necessary, but make living there nice.