Ugh, I'm trying to find an old post I thought I wrote but can't find it - I looked through this blog and my old blog and it's not there. I have a feeling I never finished it so I never posted it.
Today I submitted on a project that I'm pretty sure is being put together by someone who I swore I would never attempt to work with again. The funny thing is, I've never actually worked with this person - they've come pretty damn close to promising me the opportunity to work with them, but it's never panned out. This is what I thought I wrote the post about, but now can't find it. Basically a few years ago I supported an endeavor this person did. A lot. Time wise and money wise. I mean, it wasn't like I wasn't getting anything out if it, but still, I contributed to the success. Then that eventually fizzled out and this person started a new endeavor that has done really well and included several ongoing projects. I was NEVER involved with any of these. Okay, to be totally fair, this person means well. They do. They've done some great things. And yes, I understand that they have the right to pick whoever they want to work with. But on more than one occasion I was not given what I was told I would get, and in fact, was somewhat lied to. The first time this happened I was supposed to be involved with the project and even signed the freakin' paperwork and was somehow left out. And it was not like the project never happened - it did, just without me. And I had even helped a little bit with giving this person some advice on the logistics of putting this project together! The second time was a small series of projects, and I was told I couldn't be used this time, but would be the next time. Then the person who was supposed to working with me on the project was told it wasn't happening. Then several weeks or months later I see a casting notice about it! Jeez! That was kind of the last straw - no more. I found out about other stuff this person was doing and didn't bother to try to get involved. I let it go. Wasn't angry or anything, just realized it was one of those trees I shouldn't be barking up. (I've actually learned a lot about this lately and just last week learned a great way to deal with situations like this) Let it go...
Until today when I saw something that I think this person is involved with and submitted. Ugh. Oh, here's the thing I forgot to mention. This person has some great connections. And it's not like they're doing these projects on their own. They have support from a legitimate source and legitimate people with great connections. Basically almost anything this person does is guaranteed to be seen by a lot of people. It's great exposure. That's hard to ignore.
So yeah, I submitted on it. It's an easy little project that seems like it won't take up a lot of time. And it's exposure. And it's something I could easily tell people - hey, I did this, check it out! So here I go, waiting to see if I get called in for this...waiting for this person to throw me a tiny bone...
I'm a sucker.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Movin' On
Well, the day after I wrote my last post about acting class my situation changed. For ONCE something seems to be working out in my favor.
The "conflict" I have on Tuesday nights is that I'm supposed to be doing a play starting in September. I say supposed to because I've learned not to count on ANYTHING until I'm actually on stage, or on set, or wherever. It's more of a series of monologues than a full-scale play, and I think it's one of those rotating cast-type deals so at the audition the director said they could put me in the show starting in September. I even went to see the show last week. It's decent. For the most part the acting was good and the material is good. At times I was like "okay, I'm just watching one monologue after another" maybe it needed to be tied together a bit more? But overall the show also seemed like a lot of fun and I like the monologue I'll be doing.
So, like I mentioned in my other post, that means taking a break, or moving on from my current acting class. I don't have a problem with that...as long as this play is definitely going to happen. I don't want to leave class and then have the reason I'm leaving class not go through. What to do? What to do?
Well, last week I found out there's not going to be another session of class. So now it doesn't matter if the show doesn't happen...I'm not going to have class on the same night anymore so there's no conflict! Whew, one less decision I have to make.
But I do hope this show happens! For some reason I really want to do this show! I like the monologue I'll be doing - it's one of the more comedic ones. And it will be something I can promote when I do postcard mailings. I can say, hey, I'm in this show! I've also been looking for a reason to e-mail an industry contact I know so this is a great excuse! I also happened to meet another cast member and they told me that the director switches up the casts and the monologues, so that's cool. This is one of those uncoventional type shows I love doing!
I also had a talk with one of my teachers about my class options because the class I'm in right now isn't continuing. They recommended another class. It's a class I've been considering taking, but may need to take a break and wait a session - for scheduling and financial reasons. The other option I was given was to go back to my old class on a week-by-week drop in basis. Hmm, that's a possibility. A way to keep from being rusty. But then the more I thought about it the more I don't know if that's what I really want to do. The class I'm in right now is more advanced than my old class. Something about it seems like a step backwards. I also got really spoiled because this class was a smaller class...and 1/2 the class rarely showed up so it was a VERY small class.
So, I think I'm taking a break from class. Scary! A few of us talked about it after class. Are we really ready to leave? Move on? Take a break? Actually, I have my voice over classes and found out about a two day intensive workshop I want to take, so it's not like I'm completely out of class. Maybe I break will be good. It's just weird - I've been there so long it's going to feel strange not being in class there. But something just feels right about it - the timing is right. And I do plan to go take that other class the next time it's offered.
Or I could always go back to my old acting class...not ruling that out entirely yet! At least I know there will be cake there!
The "conflict" I have on Tuesday nights is that I'm supposed to be doing a play starting in September. I say supposed to because I've learned not to count on ANYTHING until I'm actually on stage, or on set, or wherever. It's more of a series of monologues than a full-scale play, and I think it's one of those rotating cast-type deals so at the audition the director said they could put me in the show starting in September. I even went to see the show last week. It's decent. For the most part the acting was good and the material is good. At times I was like "okay, I'm just watching one monologue after another" maybe it needed to be tied together a bit more? But overall the show also seemed like a lot of fun and I like the monologue I'll be doing.
So, like I mentioned in my other post, that means taking a break, or moving on from my current acting class. I don't have a problem with that...as long as this play is definitely going to happen. I don't want to leave class and then have the reason I'm leaving class not go through. What to do? What to do?
Well, last week I found out there's not going to be another session of class. So now it doesn't matter if the show doesn't happen...I'm not going to have class on the same night anymore so there's no conflict! Whew, one less decision I have to make.
But I do hope this show happens! For some reason I really want to do this show! I like the monologue I'll be doing - it's one of the more comedic ones. And it will be something I can promote when I do postcard mailings. I can say, hey, I'm in this show! I've also been looking for a reason to e-mail an industry contact I know so this is a great excuse! I also happened to meet another cast member and they told me that the director switches up the casts and the monologues, so that's cool. This is one of those uncoventional type shows I love doing!
I also had a talk with one of my teachers about my class options because the class I'm in right now isn't continuing. They recommended another class. It's a class I've been considering taking, but may need to take a break and wait a session - for scheduling and financial reasons. The other option I was given was to go back to my old class on a week-by-week drop in basis. Hmm, that's a possibility. A way to keep from being rusty. But then the more I thought about it the more I don't know if that's what I really want to do. The class I'm in right now is more advanced than my old class. Something about it seems like a step backwards. I also got really spoiled because this class was a smaller class...and 1/2 the class rarely showed up so it was a VERY small class.
So, I think I'm taking a break from class. Scary! A few of us talked about it after class. Are we really ready to leave? Move on? Take a break? Actually, I have my voice over classes and found out about a two day intensive workshop I want to take, so it's not like I'm completely out of class. Maybe I break will be good. It's just weird - I've been there so long it's going to feel strange not being in class there. But something just feels right about it - the timing is right. And I do plan to go take that other class the next time it's offered.
Or I could always go back to my old acting class...not ruling that out entirely yet! At least I know there will be cake there!
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Same old, same old
I've been considering going back to study with my old acting coach, at least temporarilly. Due to some recent events and scheduling conflicts I am most likely going to be either taking a break or moving on from where I'm studying now. It's not a bad thing. If things go as planned, starting in September I'm not going to be available the night of the week that my current class is on. Yeah, I could see about taking a different type of class there, and was seriously considering it, but then was told something that made me reconsider. Nothing bad, in fact it wasn't even about the class, it was more about me and how I'm going to get cast and this class might not be worth my time and money...well, it would, I know I'd get something out of it but it might not be where I should be putting my time and money right now. But I digress. I also could really use a financial break from it right now too. I can always go back. Or maybe it's time to move on...I've been there awhile.
Because I'm TERRIFIED not to be in some type of class, (I'm not counting my voice over classes because to me that's a whole separate thing and I'm not even sure if I'm going to continue with that), and I haven't done any research on new classes, and I got an e-mail that a new session of class is starting, I considered going back. On one hand, I know what I'm getting into. But on the other hand...I know what I'm getting into.
It's a good class, the people are talented (although some of them I think this is more of a hobby for them) and we work 3-4 times per class. And the class is dirt cheap. But...sometimes there's a "casual" vibe to the class that every so often gets a little too casual. Like this is social hours instead of class. Don't get me wrong, I really like the people in the class, and I admit, I've contributed to it, but caught myself and stopped (much to someone in the class' disappointment, lol).
The final straw came about a year ago. After a long absence I went back to the class for a few sessions because I felt like there was some stuff I needed to work on and could work it out in that class. For the final class we had gotten paired up the week before to work on a scene outside of class. I had a scene I really really wanted to do, and thought this one person in the class would be a good fit for the other character. I emailed him the scene and we were planning on getting together outside of class but it didn't work out so we decided to meet early before class and work on it then. I get to class early. Other people are outside working on their scenes too. My scene partner is nowhere to be found. I wait. And wait. And wait. Never shows up. Class starts. He's still not there. The teacher says they haven't called to say their not coming. About 15 minutes or so into the class, or maybe even later, my scene partner shows up. It was one of those weeks where someone decided to bring food or cake. My scene partner had agreed to bring something, drinks maybe, or maybe silverware. They had to go to three different stores to find what they were looking for. They say they were determined to find it and were not showing up without it!
Are you freakin' kidding me???!!! They were more concerned about finding whatever it was they were trying to find than working on the scene???!!!! And you couldn't even CALL me to tell me you're running late? I guess I could've called them, not sure why I didn't. We did get time to work on them in class but I felt like the scene had a lot of potential it never lived up to.
That was a year ago and that was my last class. That wasn't the whole reason I left - I had a sceduling conflict so I was unavailable the night of class, and I was also taking class elsewhere.
But when I got the e-mail about this session starting, I considered it but couldn't decide. There's a really big CD workshop I want to go to that's on the same night of the second week of class, and then I found out I have a scheduling conflict the first week of class so that decided it. I sent an e-mail back saying I was hoping I could've done this session but can't. I get an e-mail back saying that's okay...and that there are several birthdays in class around this time so someone is bringing cakes.
Some things never change...lol.
Because I'm TERRIFIED not to be in some type of class, (I'm not counting my voice over classes because to me that's a whole separate thing and I'm not even sure if I'm going to continue with that), and I haven't done any research on new classes, and I got an e-mail that a new session of class is starting, I considered going back. On one hand, I know what I'm getting into. But on the other hand...I know what I'm getting into.
It's a good class, the people are talented (although some of them I think this is more of a hobby for them) and we work 3-4 times per class. And the class is dirt cheap. But...sometimes there's a "casual" vibe to the class that every so often gets a little too casual. Like this is social hours instead of class. Don't get me wrong, I really like the people in the class, and I admit, I've contributed to it, but caught myself and stopped (much to someone in the class' disappointment, lol).
The final straw came about a year ago. After a long absence I went back to the class for a few sessions because I felt like there was some stuff I needed to work on and could work it out in that class. For the final class we had gotten paired up the week before to work on a scene outside of class. I had a scene I really really wanted to do, and thought this one person in the class would be a good fit for the other character. I emailed him the scene and we were planning on getting together outside of class but it didn't work out so we decided to meet early before class and work on it then. I get to class early. Other people are outside working on their scenes too. My scene partner is nowhere to be found. I wait. And wait. And wait. Never shows up. Class starts. He's still not there. The teacher says they haven't called to say their not coming. About 15 minutes or so into the class, or maybe even later, my scene partner shows up. It was one of those weeks where someone decided to bring food or cake. My scene partner had agreed to bring something, drinks maybe, or maybe silverware. They had to go to three different stores to find what they were looking for. They say they were determined to find it and were not showing up without it!
Are you freakin' kidding me???!!! They were more concerned about finding whatever it was they were trying to find than working on the scene???!!!! And you couldn't even CALL me to tell me you're running late? I guess I could've called them, not sure why I didn't. We did get time to work on them in class but I felt like the scene had a lot of potential it never lived up to.
That was a year ago and that was my last class. That wasn't the whole reason I left - I had a sceduling conflict so I was unavailable the night of class, and I was also taking class elsewhere.
But when I got the e-mail about this session starting, I considered it but couldn't decide. There's a really big CD workshop I want to go to that's on the same night of the second week of class, and then I found out I have a scheduling conflict the first week of class so that decided it. I sent an e-mail back saying I was hoping I could've done this session but can't. I get an e-mail back saying that's okay...and that there are several birthdays in class around this time so someone is bringing cakes.
Some things never change...lol.
Saturday, August 1, 2009
This-n-that
I know it's been forever since I updated this thing. So many times I started writing posts about things I wanted to post about but never finished. I'll try to give the abbreviated versions of stuff.
My advanced class. Never got around to writing about this and I'm now seven classes into the second round. First round started off, uh, rather slowly? I went in expecting to start off with hard-core scenes, etc. but no...the first three or four classes were basic acting exercises. Huh, what? Now, I do have to say I DID get a lot out of this class...it just wasn't as advanced as me and some other people expected. I didn't want to sign up for a second round and have to start over from scratch but then found out we were doing different things so decided to take another round. This round was a lot more advanced - harder scenes, homework to prepare outside of class, etc. Now this round is coming to an end but don't think I'm going to do another round for various reasons - mostly because starting in September I may have something else going on the same night of class.
Voice over classes. I started them and have now had 3 sessions. Wow. Much harder, and MUCH more work than I expected. Also not going quite as smoothly as I hoped. Oh well. I'm not going to write much more about this because I do want to start writing separate posts for my VO stuff. This I promise I will do!
Auditions. Had four in July - just not for projects I'm not sure I want to get involved with. One was for a film version of a play. I think it was a full-length film, not a short. I found out about this the same day of the audition, couldn't make the time, sent a message to re-schedule for later in the day, never heard back, decided to go later in the day anyway. Had a somewhat upsetting experience before the audition, manged to keep it together to go to the audition, got the sides, it was a short monologue, did it best I could, no re-direction or anything, then was asked if I've seen the play version. I've heard of it but have never seen it. They give me a free pass to see the show that weekend. Ugh, was this a ploy to get people to the show? Was not up for going that weekend. IF it SEEMED like I was going to be actually CAST in this film, at least know I have a call back, I would go. But last time something like this happened I went to the callback, went to the show, talked with everyone, etc, and NEVER heard back, grrrr. (That actually turned out to be a blessing in disguise because 2 months later I got cast in a play I had been WANTING to do for a long time and wouldn't have been able to do it if I got cast in the other show).
Another audition was for some sort of interactive dinner-theater show type thing. I had gotten a message through Actors Access that I had submitted on something else but they wanted to bring me in for this. Okay...don't know if I want to get wrapped up in play rehearsals right now, but I'll go to the audition, and it's nearby in the Valley. The message said to come to the audition ready to improvise. Okay, easy enough, nothing to prepare so it's not like I'm spending hours preparing for an audition for something I'm not sure I even want to do. I get there. I see someone I know...who I think is a little odd...someone who claims they have TONS of auditions every month. Okay, good to know it's for smaller stuff and not paying, union gigs. One of the dudes auditioning us talks to us a little bit before we go in. I overhear him asking another person if they have a monologue. What! Okay, don't panic. I have a monologue I can pull out when I'm in a pinch like this. It's a decent monologue, and I like it, but don't know if it's completely right for me - the character is, but it's really written for someone about 15 years older than me. I've tried to make it more age-appropriate but something about it just doesn't feel right. But it'll do. I start running it in my head. Okay, I'm good. But I do wish they had MENTIONED this in the e-mail so I could've PREPARED a bit more! Ugh. But when the dude asks me if I have a monologue I can confidently say yes. Whew. Feels good to be prepared! When it's my turn to go in to audition dude #2 chats with me for awhile, then I do the monologue and he tells me to stick around to improv a scene with someone. I'm paired up with another girl and I think it goes well. Not perfect - I think I didn't follow a few improv rules and got stuck on one thing, but they said we listened well. Afterwards we were saying how that was an odd audition and wish we had been warned about the monologue. Oh, the other thing was two actors there did NOT have headshots with them. That's bad. Someone even said something to one of them. I understand it happens - I forgot to bring my headshot once, oop! how embarrasing! - but TWO people in a small group didn't have them. I'm glad I'm prepared!
I also went to audition to possibly be a part of one of those 48 hour film project things. It was in the South Bay the day before 4th of July weekend. Ugh, 2 hours to get there! They asked for something prepared too, and neglected to tell me I needed to prepare anything. They also had sides and I opted for the sides. Maybe I should've done a monologue. Didn't get cast in whatever they decided to do. Maybe it was because I pointed out that it was the day before the long weekend and asked a bunch of questions. These were young comic-book geek type dudes and, sorry, but I had questions. LEGITIMATE questions that NEED to be asked before getting involved with something. Is this their first film? What are they shooting on? What are they editing on, etc. I tried to keep it light and conversational like I was just curious but in reality was fishing for info. Hmm, they seemed to have it together but they were young. Also didn't know if I would mesh with them well - have a feeling they would want to make some weird-sci-fi-fantasy type film that doesn't interest me.
The fourth audition was for a play. It's actually a series of monologues - man, I love those abstract monologue shows, lol. It went GREAT. I'm not saying anything else right now because I *think* I got cast in it and don't want to jinx it because everything else seems to be falling apart right now.
I also finished my French class. It was more fun and got easier as the weeks went by. I signed up for level 2 but it got cancelled due to low enrollment. Oh well, I can take it in the fall, or at another community college.
Other than that I've been trying to get out more, do more. Went to a few networking things, hopefully will do some CD workshops this month. Had a few CDs come to my class. The usual.
But I think it's time for a change.
My advanced class. Never got around to writing about this and I'm now seven classes into the second round. First round started off, uh, rather slowly? I went in expecting to start off with hard-core scenes, etc. but no...the first three or four classes were basic acting exercises. Huh, what? Now, I do have to say I DID get a lot out of this class...it just wasn't as advanced as me and some other people expected. I didn't want to sign up for a second round and have to start over from scratch but then found out we were doing different things so decided to take another round. This round was a lot more advanced - harder scenes, homework to prepare outside of class, etc. Now this round is coming to an end but don't think I'm going to do another round for various reasons - mostly because starting in September I may have something else going on the same night of class.
Voice over classes. I started them and have now had 3 sessions. Wow. Much harder, and MUCH more work than I expected. Also not going quite as smoothly as I hoped. Oh well. I'm not going to write much more about this because I do want to start writing separate posts for my VO stuff. This I promise I will do!
Auditions. Had four in July - just not for projects I'm not sure I want to get involved with. One was for a film version of a play. I think it was a full-length film, not a short. I found out about this the same day of the audition, couldn't make the time, sent a message to re-schedule for later in the day, never heard back, decided to go later in the day anyway. Had a somewhat upsetting experience before the audition, manged to keep it together to go to the audition, got the sides, it was a short monologue, did it best I could, no re-direction or anything, then was asked if I've seen the play version. I've heard of it but have never seen it. They give me a free pass to see the show that weekend. Ugh, was this a ploy to get people to the show? Was not up for going that weekend. IF it SEEMED like I was going to be actually CAST in this film, at least know I have a call back, I would go. But last time something like this happened I went to the callback, went to the show, talked with everyone, etc, and NEVER heard back, grrrr. (That actually turned out to be a blessing in disguise because 2 months later I got cast in a play I had been WANTING to do for a long time and wouldn't have been able to do it if I got cast in the other show).
Another audition was for some sort of interactive dinner-theater show type thing. I had gotten a message through Actors Access that I had submitted on something else but they wanted to bring me in for this. Okay...don't know if I want to get wrapped up in play rehearsals right now, but I'll go to the audition, and it's nearby in the Valley. The message said to come to the audition ready to improvise. Okay, easy enough, nothing to prepare so it's not like I'm spending hours preparing for an audition for something I'm not sure I even want to do. I get there. I see someone I know...who I think is a little odd...someone who claims they have TONS of auditions every month. Okay, good to know it's for smaller stuff and not paying, union gigs. One of the dudes auditioning us talks to us a little bit before we go in. I overhear him asking another person if they have a monologue. What! Okay, don't panic. I have a monologue I can pull out when I'm in a pinch like this. It's a decent monologue, and I like it, but don't know if it's completely right for me - the character is, but it's really written for someone about 15 years older than me. I've tried to make it more age-appropriate but something about it just doesn't feel right. But it'll do. I start running it in my head. Okay, I'm good. But I do wish they had MENTIONED this in the e-mail so I could've PREPARED a bit more! Ugh. But when the dude asks me if I have a monologue I can confidently say yes. Whew. Feels good to be prepared! When it's my turn to go in to audition dude #2 chats with me for awhile, then I do the monologue and he tells me to stick around to improv a scene with someone. I'm paired up with another girl and I think it goes well. Not perfect - I think I didn't follow a few improv rules and got stuck on one thing, but they said we listened well. Afterwards we were saying how that was an odd audition and wish we had been warned about the monologue. Oh, the other thing was two actors there did NOT have headshots with them. That's bad. Someone even said something to one of them. I understand it happens - I forgot to bring my headshot once, oop! how embarrasing! - but TWO people in a small group didn't have them. I'm glad I'm prepared!
I also went to audition to possibly be a part of one of those 48 hour film project things. It was in the South Bay the day before 4th of July weekend. Ugh, 2 hours to get there! They asked for something prepared too, and neglected to tell me I needed to prepare anything. They also had sides and I opted for the sides. Maybe I should've done a monologue. Didn't get cast in whatever they decided to do. Maybe it was because I pointed out that it was the day before the long weekend and asked a bunch of questions. These were young comic-book geek type dudes and, sorry, but I had questions. LEGITIMATE questions that NEED to be asked before getting involved with something. Is this their first film? What are they shooting on? What are they editing on, etc. I tried to keep it light and conversational like I was just curious but in reality was fishing for info. Hmm, they seemed to have it together but they were young. Also didn't know if I would mesh with them well - have a feeling they would want to make some weird-sci-fi-fantasy type film that doesn't interest me.
The fourth audition was for a play. It's actually a series of monologues - man, I love those abstract monologue shows, lol. It went GREAT. I'm not saying anything else right now because I *think* I got cast in it and don't want to jinx it because everything else seems to be falling apart right now.
I also finished my French class. It was more fun and got easier as the weeks went by. I signed up for level 2 but it got cancelled due to low enrollment. Oh well, I can take it in the fall, or at another community college.
Other than that I've been trying to get out more, do more. Went to a few networking things, hopefully will do some CD workshops this month. Had a few CDs come to my class. The usual.
But I think it's time for a change.
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