Category Archives: Acting

A Mix Of The Old And New Normal (or Waiting To See What Future Union Meetings Will Be Like)

Posted on February 21, 2023 | Comments Off on A Mix Of The Old And New Normal (or Waiting To See What Future Union Meetings Will Be Like)

Ever since things shut down, all the union meetings and events I’ve participated in have been virtual. I have been in virtual committee meetings and attended a virtual convention. There was no question for a long time that was the way we needed to do things in order to keep people safe. And for union committee meetings, I actually liked the virtual format because I never could attend in person, and being on the phone while most people are in the same room isn’t the best option. So having everyone on Zoom made it more of an equal playing field for all and I have felt much more connected to the meetings and not just feel like I’m listening in my own little world. Of course, I miss going to the local board meetings as an observer while everything has been virtual, but I knew that those meetings would likely return to being at the union headquarters again and I would be able to go in the future.

And recently, things have been starting to open up again. The union headquarters opened and there are some new guidelines for going to things there in person. It was pretty simple for me to do because it was registering through an app to include my vaccination information. There haven’t been any things in person yet for me to attend, but I’m excited to see what will be coming back and what I can be a part of again.

For some reason, when the announcement of the headquarters opening up came out, I didn’t think much about the committee meetings since I’d never attended them in person. But when I was in a recent committee meeting, someone asked the chair when we would be going back to meeting in person so we didn’t always have to be on Zoom.

That idea seemed to get a mixed reaction from others in the committee. Some of us have been happy with these virtual meetings. Not only does it allow those of us who have to work at the same time to attend, but people who don’t live close by also don’t have to worry about a commute to and from the meeting. The chair talked about how they were happy not spending over an hour each way to get to the meeting so they were fine keeping things on Zoom for now. I believe there will be a poll going out soon so everyone can have a say in what we would like to see, but I think that Zoom will always be an option because how many of us don’t have the time or ability to get to the headquarters for meetings and everyone seems to agree that Zoom is much better than just being on the phone.

It’s interesting how I really am excited to have some things back in person but I want to keep other things the way they’ve been the past few years. I still don’t go out in big crowds that often, but I also crave being social because I was isolated for so long. I don’t think everything will ever go back to how they were before, but things slowly have been going back and it’s been a mix of the old and new normal for a while. And I’m sure that as time goes on, more things will be back to the old way. But at the same time, I think we will never really be back to the old way things were and some things will always be either the new normal or a hybrid.

As long as I can continue to be involved with the union, I’m ok with things changing back to how they are or staying the way they’ve been. I think now more than ever, people recognize how some people want to be able to participate but don’t have the same ability to be in person as everyone else. So hopefully there will continue to be some accommodations or better options for everyone.

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Default ThumbnailMissing Some Union Meetings (or Even Virtual Meetings Don’t Guarantee I Can Go) Default ThumbnailGetting More Union Meetings In (or I’m Grateful These Are Done On Zoom) Default ThumbnailMore Virtual Union Meetings (or Hopefully We Will Be Back To In-Person Meetings Soon) Default ThumbnailMaking Sure I Make It To Union Meetings (or Sometimes I Can’t Help My Schedule) Default ThumbnailMore Virtual Union Meetings (or It’s Funny I Wrote About This Not Long Ago) Default ThumbnailLots Of Virtual Meetings (or Virtual Union Meetings)

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Starting To Plan Some Next Steps (or Researching Classes and Looking At My Schedule)

Posted on January 27, 2023 | Comments Off on Starting To Plan Some Next Steps (or Researching Classes and Looking At My Schedule)

I really want to get back into my acting career this year. I’ve been way too passive about things lately and I know I need to stop doing that. I was using the pandemic as an excuse at first, but I know now that isn’t really the reality of the situation anymore. Things aren’t completely back to how they were before, but they are almost there and I need to get back to pursuing my acting career that I did before as well.

Because it’s been a while since I’ve really been working hard at my career, I do have to restart a few things and make sure that I have the best situation as possible for various things. I’m going to look for a new agent, which will require making sure I’ve got a nice new headshot and demo reel to use when I submit myself to agencies. I also know that having new headshots will help when I’m submitted for work. Most jobs will come through my agent (whether it’s the one I have now or a new one if I change agents), so I won’t be submitting myself as much as I did before. But I still plan on continuing to submit myself for work because that’s one of the few things I can control about this career.

The photographer that I used most recently for headshots is no longer in LA. Another photographer I’ve used before is still here, so I may see her again. But I’ve been looking into new photographers in case I find someone new that I’d like to work with who I feel could get some great shots. I know getting my materials updated is important, but I also think that planning is the easier part for me. I just have to decide when I want to do the photos and book them. But there are other things that I’m trying to get ready for and that’s taking more effort.

I haven’t been in a formal acting class in a while. I miss being in class, but before I had my current job it was harder for me to find a class that worked with my budget. There were a few affordable classes I tried to get into, but they usually had a lot of interest and I wasn’t picked to be in the class when I auditioned for it. And I wasn’t really sure what type of class I wanted to be in since I’ve done a bunch in the past and I have liked the different focuses and couldn’t pick either a favorite or one that I felt I really needed to focus on more.

Now that I have the ability to spend money on classes again, I’ve been trying to do some more serious and specific research. I’ve been asking my friends who are enjoying their classes where they are studying so I can look into those teachers a bit more. Some of them aren’t a good fit for me or have a focus on something I’m not interested in (some classes, for example, focus on both directing and acting and I don’t have an interest in directing). But I’ve started to build a short list of some classes that do seem to be good fits for me, at least when considering the focus and the price. There are a few that aren’t super close to where I live, so it would be harder to get to them.

And then I have to consider my schedule. A lot of classes are during the day, and I can’t do those unless they were a 1-hour class on Zoom and I could do that on my lunch break. But classes typically are longer than that, so daytime classes wouldn’t work. And I’m not always free every evening so there are only so many nights a week that I could potentially go to a class.

Finding the perfect class or classes for me is going to take time when I consider all the different factors. I’m not in a rush to get into a class, but I do want to get a plan going sooner rather than later since I know how easily time can just slip by. I hope that it won’t take too long for me to find the perfect match with all the different things I have to work with and around. And maybe with all this research, I’ll have a good list of classes to consider in the future once I’m ready for a different class option.

Even though I won’t see results from this research right away, I’m glad I got started on it already since this will all take time. And hopefully, by the end of the year, I will feel like I have accomplished so much more with my acting career than I have in the past few years.

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My 2023 Goals (or Some New Goals and Some Repeats)

Posted on January 3, 2023 | Comments Off on My 2023 Goals (or Some New Goals and Some Repeats)

As I have done each year for the last several years, I have set some goals for myself for 2023. I look at goals and resolutions as different things. Goals seem to have more of a concrete idea of what you want to get to versus resolutions that feel more abstract. I still have some goals that don’t have an exact thing to get to, but I still feel like there are better ways to track my results with goals than I do with resolutions. This might just be wording and the idea that resolutions typically are broken, but for me, I think whatever works is good. And for 2023, I have set 4 goals for myself.

The first goal is something I’ve done quite a bit. I want to make sure I do 200 Orangetheory workouts this year. This goal is the one that I feel is almost a guarantee I will be successful unless something crazy happens in my life. And if something does happen in my life that will prevent me from working out for a few weeks, then I’ll probably reevaluate this goal and make sure it’s still something I can get to. 200 workouts means I go 4 times a week for almost all the weeks of the year. I don’t have to go 4 times every week and I could have a few weeks of just going 3 times. But my plan is to go 4 times a week unless something comes up that make that impossible. But that’s why I have a bit of flexibility with having some weeks where I could go 3 times and still make it to my goal. Even though I look at this goal as something that should be accomplished with very little extra effort, I do like to have accountability.

My second goal for the year is to work on getting more sleep every night. I have been getting very little sleep for a while and I know it’s affecting me. I get up pretty early to be able to work out before work, but I haven’t really adjusted what time I go to bed with the earlier wake-up. There have been far too many nights where I get only about 4 hours of sleep, and that’s not something to be proud of. Since I can’t really adjust what time I get up, I need to work on going to bed earlier. That involves a few different things such as actually getting into bed earlier, not reading as late as I have, and not staying up late to catch up on a tv show or something. Nothing that I do late at night couldn’t wait until the next day, so I have to be better about not feeling a need to complete something at night.

My third goal is something similar to what I set for 2022. I want to keep setting up my condo. There aren’t too many things I have to do to get things set up the way I want to, but all of those things involve money. I want to get the furniture I want for my office since that will help move almost everything still in a box out of a box. I also am looking into redoing my closet since it’s not the best use of space for me. For my closet, I’m hoping this could possibly be something I do on my own to save money, but there are a few things that need to be considered first. But my parents and I are going to look into some options soon so hopefully I can have an idea of what that cost will be and when it can be done. I would love to say that by the end of this year, I won’t have anything left in a box, but I’m not sure if that will happen. But it’s something I’m going to work toward and see how close I can get.

And my last goal for the year is something I have talked about several times and just haven’t done it. I want to rebuild my acting life. I still have been pursuing acting and have been submitting myself for projects. And if I get an audition, I do everything I need to do to have the best audition possible. But I know that things aren’t going as great as they could be. Things still aren’t exactly where they were before the pandemic, but they are much closer so I should be at least closer to what they were like before. But I’m just not there. This will involve a few different things such as trying to get back into class or finding a group to work on scripts together, getting new headshots, and maybe looking into if a different agent could be a better fit for me. None of these things will guarantee that I will get more auditions or book work, but I want to do whatever I can that is in my control to feel like I’m not just playing around at being an actor but an active participant in that career. I know for the last few years I have had my focus on other things, but I’m ready to get back to what I love and hopefully see some results from my work.

I debated about doing some other goals this year and there are other things I might set as monthly challenges or just a smaller monthly goal so I can accomplish more this year, but I think for my big year-long goals, these 4 are really things I need and want to focus on and will help me to have a successful year.

And I hope in 12 months when I’m recapping how 2023 went, I will have a lot of success to share with you all!

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Posted in Acting, Fitness, Fun Stuff, Health

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Another Virtual Union Meeting (Hearing What’s Happening With The LA Local)

Posted on December 7, 2022 | Comments Off on Another Virtual Union Meeting (Hearing What’s Happening With The LA Local)

I think union meetings will continue to be virtual meetings for a while, but I’m glad that they are starting to pick up a bit more recently. I know there are still a lot of union meetings that won’t be done virtually where everyone can attend the way that they could attend in person, but I also know that the union is trying hard to make it possible for as many people as possible to participate in different events.

A big union meeting I used to attend in person was the LA Local Membership meeting. I loved this meeting because it was almost like going to the National Convention. You would see so many members that you usually didn’t get to see. And it always felt like a bit of a reunion or party because everyone was excited to see each other. I also loved the expo that they had at the meeting because I always seemed to learn about a new program or part of the union that I didn’t know before.

As much as I wished they could have made this meeting an in-person event, I understand why they can’t. Especially right now with the cases on the rise again, it’s just not smart to have a big event. And there are advantages to having a virtual event compared to something in-person. I like being able to be a bit more comfortable while listening to a long event. I could walk around, get a snack, and do other things than just sitting while being a part of the meeting. Also, during the Q&A section, it was much easier to raise a hand through Zoom than to stand in line for a microphone.

I don’t know how much I’m allowed to share about what was discussed in the meeting, but I know I can talk about some general terms. It was run and hosted by the LA Local leadership and the main person who was running the meeting was the LA Local President. Different officers and staff members took turns sharing their updates about what has been going on with different aspects of the union or the industry. For example, there was discussion about different committees that are having events coming up or how certain things are returning to in-person events. I’m hoping that the local board meetings return to either in-person again or they have the ability to be an observer in a virtual meeting because I miss the opportunity to do that. But there are other things coming up that I might try to sign up for since I feel like I haven’t had a chance to do much over the past few years.

During the Q&A, I was lucky to be one of the earlier members who could ask a question since the virtual line for it got pretty long. My question was about something that was brought up during the meeting and I wanted some clarification about it (I know I am being vague, but that’s how it has to be until things are officially announced). But a lot of other members brought up questions regarding keeping sets safe. That’s been a huge concern since the beginning of the pandemic. For a lot of people on set, they can keep a mask on while working or try to be spread out a bit more. But for actors, unless the show has a storyline where the characters are wearing masks, we have to be without a mask on set. There were different sides to the argument about how we’ve been doing with keeping actors safe brought up in the Q&A. I know some people feel like we need to do more and some people feel like we have been doing too much. But also, a lot of the guidelines that have been created aren’t just with our union but with other unions that are on set as well. We can’t make major changes on our own, but I know that the agreement with the various unions is going to be discussed and figured out again soon, so we should have some updates on what the plan is.

The meeting was only supposed to be about 3 hours long, but it went a bit longer than 4 hours to allow for all the members who wanted to ask a question to do so. I know that having a meeting run long can be frustrating, but I was just glad that everyone had their chance since that’s not something that always gets to happen with in-person events when we might have to be out of a room by a certain time. And I’m glad I stayed through the entire meeting so I could hear what my fellow members wanted to bring up. I know that it will be election season again soon before we know it and this will help me to know what concerns are the priority for members.

Because things aren’t fully back yet, I’m not sure what my next union meeting will be. It might be another communications committee meeting or maybe there will be a way for me to be an observer at a local board meeting. But I just know that I’m really trying my best to stay involved when I can and I’m glad I had the opportunity to be a part of the LA Local Membership meeting again.

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Back To My Normal Right Away (or One Last Committee Meeting For This Year)

Posted on November 18, 2022 | Comments Off on Back To My Normal Right Away (or One Last Committee Meeting For This Year)

After getting back from my trip on Sunday evening, I didn’t have much time before I got back to my regular schedule. I got home much later than expected and only had enough time to unpack a bit before I went to bed and had my early morning workout the next morning. It would have been nice to have a day to reset, but it’s also not bad to immediately get back to what I normally do. And this past Monday, that also included my local communication meeting for SAG-AFTRA.

The communication meetings have been happening regularly about once a month, and I have really appreciated having these meetings since I still am not able to be an observer at the local board meetings. I’m hoping that in-person board meetings happen again soon so I can go, but until that point, I just have the committee meetings that I’m a part of. I don’t know if any other committees are meeting as regularly as we are, but based on my past experience I would guess that they aren’t. But it’s possible that things have changed since all meetings are virtual now and it might be easier to organize and set up.

Almost all of the communications committee meetings have similar agendas. We go over any past agenda items to get updates as needed, we go over the articles that are being worked on and the status of those, and then there is a chance for us to suggest new articles and story ideas. I’ve suggested a few articles in the past, but none of them have been included in our newsletters yet. But I know that the staff has been working on one that I’ve suggested so it hopefully will be included in the near future.

I haven’t been the most active committee member, but I wanted to be better for this meeting. So before my trip, I decided to do a little research and see if I could find a good archive of past articles to get some inspiration. I wasn’t able to find the type of archive I was looking for, so that was something I did bring up in this meeting. It turns out, I was looking in the correct spot, but it’s just not organized the way that I thought it would be. So at least now I know where to look when I have a chance to review past articles. It just might take me a bit longer to get through them and see what inspiration I have for follow-up articles or ideas that haven’t been covered yet.

I think a lot of people were in a holiday mindset already because there weren’t a lot of new articles brought up in the meeting. But that also could be because there are so many that are currently in the works, and everyone is focused on those. And at the end of each meeting, we set the date and time for the next one. As I mentioned, typically they are every month. But with the holidays and a few other national meetings happening, our next meeting is being pushed until after the new year when there is a bit more time and availability with everyone. I don’t mind having a longer break. I know my schedule is probably going to be a bit weird for December with the holidays. And this will give me extra time to review the past articles so I can hopefully have more to present at the next meeting.

There are a few other union meetings that will be coming up between now and the next committee meeting. I’m hoping I will be able to attend them, but there are a few that currently conflict with other things in my schedule. I’m seeing what I can do to make sure I can attend as many as I can, but I know I can’t go to everything. But at least I’m trying and I know that I will have another committee meeting in the new year to keep me feeling connected to my union.

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New Things To Think About With My Acting Career (or I Need To Plan Things More)

Posted on October 19, 2022 | Comments Off on New Things To Think About With My Acting Career (or I Need To Plan Things More)

I’ve written several times about how I want to get back into acting more. Things really came to a standstill for me the past few years, but I also used that time to get things a bit more settled in my life. I’m in a better place financially, which is important since so many things with acting cost money. And I think having a little bit of a break did help me really think about what I want to do and how I want to accomplish it.

I still want to get back into taking an acting class and have been looking into some options near me. I haven’t found one that fits in with my schedule or that I like yet, but I’m making an effort to find something because I know it would be good for me. I also miss the camaraderie you have being in a regular class. But because I have limited time after work and classes can be expensive, I don’t want to join one just to be in a class. I want to make sure I’m in a class that fits my needs as well as a class where I fit in with the others in the group. There have been a few people who have talked about starting up our own casual scene study class, and if one of those happens it might be a good match for me since they tend to be less expensive and very supportive. But since I don’t know if or when those might happen, I’m still looking into more traditional classes as well. And hopefully, I’ll find something that works for me soon.

I also know that I might need to start looking for a new agent. This is a longer thing I need to think about, but I’m not sure if my current situation is the best one for me or if I’m the best client for them. I know that with the pandemic, things have been weird. So I want to start conversations with my agent again before making any decisions because it’s not easy to find a new agent. And just like how I feel about classes, I don’t want to make any rash decisions. This is something that might take a lot of time to figure out, and I’m not in any rush.

But whether or not I want to look for a new agent, one thing I know I need to do is get new headshots. And I’ve been saying this for a while and I haven’t done it yet. I’ve talked to a few friends who are photographers to figure out who I’d like to take photos with, but now I’m realizing I might need to plan this out better too. There’s no guarantee the new medication will help me lose weight, but if I’m lucky it will make a difference for me. And if I lose weight, I will need to keep getting new headshots because my look will be changing. Headshots are not cheap (or cheap headshots are not usually good), so this is another thing that really has to be thought about. If I do new headshots now and then need new ones in a month or two, that can be expensive. Maybe I need to keep the ones I have for now until my appearance is different enough and then finally do the new ones. And maybe I can make a plan with a photographer friend to have sessions with fewer looks if I will be doing them more frequently. For example, if they normally offer a 4-look session, maybe I could split it into 2 sessions and pay a little bit more than half each time. I haven’t asked anyone yet because I want to have a better plan in mind before asking.

All of these things are things I feel I need in order to get my acting career off again. I know that I could still get auditions and book work with the headshots I have now and through my current agent. But I also know that having outdated headshots aren’t helping me much. Plus, I have used those headshots for a while now so a refresh would be nice and something different for casting directors to see when I’m submitted for roles.

I’m not going to let not doing these things stop me from continuing to pursue acting, but I also know that I’m probably not going to have a lot of success without them either. So I need to make a plan, even if it’s a 1 or 2 year plan, and get back into things with a purpose. I have been putting this off enough, and I can at least take the first few steps toward making these changes and then get into them more when the timing is right.

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Continuing With Regular Union Service (or Starting To Think Of More Ideas)

Posted on October 6, 2022 | Comments Off on Continuing With Regular Union Service (or Starting To Think Of More Ideas)

I had another LA Local Communications meeting for SAG-AFTRA this week. I know I always say how grateful I am that this committee has regular meetings because I haven’t been able to be a part of a lot of other union things that I am used to doing. So having these happening every month or so has been nice and something that I can look forward to so I can continue to feel connected with my union.

Our last meeting was more of a presentation regarding the union archives. I really enjoyed that meeting and learning about something I really had no idea about with the union before. I hope that in the future, the committee has more presentations like that because I know there are so many things I don’t know about. But this meeting was more of a regular meeting and had agenda items that we typically have.

Most of the committee meetings go over the most recent newsletters and what articles were included in them. And there are always updates on things we went over before and the status of different projects and requests. And after that, we go over the different articles that are in process of being completed. I haven’t written anything yet, but I have suggested several articles and one is being worked on by the staff. I’m ok with not writing the ones I suggested because they do involve things that the staff has better access to so they will have an easier time completing them.

I feel like one of my main responsibilities on this committee is helping to think of newsletter articles and ideas since that is one of the big things we are in charge of. And even though I have suggested a few in the past, many of them were not right for what we are supposed to do (for example, they would be better for the national newsletter and not the local one). But for the past few meetings, I haven’t had any new article ideas to suggest. I know that’s ok and we have a lot of articles in the works right now, but I also want to feel like I’m involved with this committee and an active participant. And the biggest thing I can do would be to have more ideas.

I was thinking about the articles in the works during the meetings and trying to see what might be missing or if something would spark an idea in my head. Unfortunately, during the meeting, I didn’t have any new ideas that I could suggest. I was pretty quiet for this meeting, which is common for me since I also am working at the same time as in Zoom. But I do wish I had something I could really contribute to the group.

When the meeting was done, we set our next meeting date. It’s about a month away, so that gives me a lot of time to keep thinking of article ideas. I’m hoping that something will hit me so I can present ideas at the November meeting. I know I can’t force inspiration or anything, but I can make a more conscious effort to look at what I see in the acting world and what might be helpful for other members to be aware of.

Maybe that will work, or maybe it will take being in the next meeting and hearing someone else’s ideas for me to feel inspired. But I really am setting a goal to try harder with being an active committee member outside of attending the meetings and hopefully when I am in the meeting next month, I will have more to contribute than I have before.

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Getting Some More Union Education (or Having A Lesson During A Committee Meeting)

Posted on September 2, 2022 | Comments Off on Getting Some More Union Education (or Having A Lesson During A Committee Meeting)

I’ve been lucky enough to be a part of a few different committees with SAG-AFTRA. Some of the committees have been national ones and others have been local to LA. And each committee has its own way of organizing meetings. Depending on the focus of the committee, sometimes the meetings are all about news specific to that committee. For example, the National Conservatory Committee usually discussed things regarding the SAG-AFTRA Conservatory with each local and what the national committee could do to support them. And the LA Local Organizing Committee was mainly about sharing industry news and events that we should know more about and could benefit all members to learn about.

The only committee that I’m in right now that has been able to have meetings has been the LA Local Communications Committee. I’m grateful that we’ve had regular meetings because there are a lot of things we want to get done within the committee. I haven’t written any articles yet for the local membership, but I have submitted ideas for several and one is being worked on by a union staff member so it can be published (some articles are written by members, but others require staff to help us and the one I suggested needs staff to work on it). And since we are busy planning articles and other forms of communication that we want to get out to the LA Local, our meetings are typically just focused on that and we don’t have a ton of additional education.

But for the meeting that we had this past week, that changed. We still spent quite a bit of our meeting planning articles and other items, but we also got to have some time to learn about the union archives and what that entailed. I know what an archivist does for museums, but I wasn’t aware of exactly what they would be storing for the union. Before our meeting, we had a chance to submit questions that would be asked during the presentation. And since I didn’t know much about what they would do, my questions were pretty basic and simple. But I figured if I was unaware there probably would be at least one other person who was clueless too. So I put down all my simple questions and hoped that they would be able to be answered.

Only a portion of our meeting was dedicated to discussing the union archive, but I think the staff that was a part of it did a great job with their presentation and going over several of the questions that we had submitted. I learned that a lot of the items that have been kept have been about the creation of the union or artifacts from the first few years of the union, such as old membership cards. And I don’t know why I wouldn’t have thought of this, but they do keep information related to past elections and contract votes. It’s smart to keep all of that since there have been so many votes regarding contracts and ratifications that are important to remember. And if someone has a question about the changes in a contract, this would provide a resource to be able to see what historically has been in contracts and what was just something that was assumed to be in there.

I do wish we had more time for the archive presentation and to learn more about how we can share more information with other members and maybe some opportunities for people to understand more about it, but I am grateful that we had some time for education about the union. With everything being virtual and board meetings not open to all members like before, I feel like I haven’t had as many chances to learn about union things. I have missed that and even though observing board meetings isn’t really a time to learn, I always had notes after being there of things I wanted to look up and learn more about. So this committee meeting having the presentation brought back a little bit of that feeling and really helped to make me feel more connected to the union again.

And besides getting to feel more connected to the union, any committee meeting or event I’m able to be a part of really just reminds me of what I’m really pushing for in my life. Sometimes it’s easy to just be sucked into the day-to-day with my day job, especially since I haven’t had many auditions lately. It can feel like I’m not really pursuing my career and just working my jobs. But this gave me some time to be a part of what I have striving for and hope to have as my main focus in life one day.

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I Should Start Focusing On Acting Again (or It’s Been A Crazy Few Years)

Posted on July 29, 2022 | Comments Off on I Should Start Focusing On Acting Again (or It’s Been A Crazy Few Years)

Recently, a friend asked me if I planned to pursue acting again. I wasn’t offended by the question, but to me, I never really stopped pursuing it. But I also know I haven’t been doing the same things I used to do. And because it seems like time moves faster each year, I haven’t really focused on acting as much as I probably should have for the past 2 1/2 years. And I know that there have been a few reasons why.

When the pandemic hit, everything shut down. Nobody knew when there would be acting work or what was going to happen. And at the same time, the agent that I have been with for the entire time I have had an agent sold the agency to someone new. They were going to take over the agency and keep the same client list, but of course, things got crazy since nothing was happening. I know we were supposed to meet with the new agent and get things underway, but that was all postponed. And I really wasn’t worried about making that happen since I had so much else on my mind.

For so much of 2020, I was focused on figuring out my work situation. I had reduced hours and then lost my job like so many other people. And when I was out of work, my main focus was to get a new job. And once I did get a new job, my focus was getting through my training and to be working so I didn’t have to worry about how I was going to pay my bills. At that time, there still weren’t vaccinations available for everyone, so I also knew that if I had any in-person auditions or booked work, it would be a risk for me. I was still doing some self-tape auditions, but I really didn’t have that much going on. But I wasn’t worried since it seemed like everyone else was in the same boat as me and nobody was auditioning or working the same way they used to.

I don’t have a great excuse for why I wasn’t focused on acting again right after I got vaccinated, but I did look into getting some new headshots and possibly looking at talking to other agents. That didn’t happen, and then last summer was when I found out that my landlord was selling and I got into searching for a condo. And from the time that I started that search until just recently, the condo was the big focus of my life. Finding a new place, planning the renovation, and moving took up a lot more mental energy than I expected. And at the same time, I was dealing with some work changes that also took more focus than I expected. I wasn’t expecting to take this much time without a big focus on acting, but that’s how things happened and I can’t really go back and change anything.

And I know I’ve said this before, but I really do want to get back to being more serious about my career. I know I need new headshots, so I want to figure out a good time to get those done (and save up the money for them). I know that it would be good to get back into class, but I haven’t found one that I’m interested in just yet. And I have to work around my work schedule and so many classes would be during work time for me. I am still doing my self-submissions every day and trying to be productive as much as possible, but I know it’s not enough. So I also need to decide if I want to stay with my agent or consider trying to find a new one. Finding an agent isn’t easy, and it can be even harder now that things still aren’t fully back to normal. But it might be smart to look into options so I can make some good decisions about what I want my next steps to look like.

I know that it might not look like I’ve been pursuing acting for the past few years, but that’s not really how I’ve seen it. I know that it does look different and I haven’t done everything that I could, but I always do keep it in mind. But I need to do more than just keep it in mind and really get back on track and push forward. I know I need to do that or else before I know it another few years will pass me by.

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Making Sure I Make It To Union Meetings (or Sometimes I Can’t Help My Schedule)

Posted on July 27, 2022 | Comments Off on Making Sure I Make It To Union Meetings (or Sometimes I Can’t Help My Schedule)

With my box office job, I didn’t really worry too much about when I might need to be on a phone call or Zoom for a union meeting. Of course, I wished I could go to those in person, but at least that job was easy enough to make sure I could be on the phone to attend. And since the pandemic, all the meetings are virtual so I’m not missing out on anything. But I’m only doing that job a few hours a day now since it’s no longer my main job.

And for my current main day job, I have a lot of different meetings and calls I need to be on. Most days, I have at least one meeting. And they do work around different appointments and conflicts that I have, but it’s not always perfect. Especially when a lot of team members need to be on one call. And that’s what happened the last time I was supposed to be attending the LA Local Communications committee meeting. It was during an all-team meeting and I knew that I had to be on my work meeting. There just wasn’t a way around that. And while I hated missing a union meeting, I knew there would be notes after that I could review.

So I was glad that when the next committee meeting was announced and it was not during a time that I had to be at a work meeting. It was right after one of my work meetings, but there wasn’t any overlap so that was pretty lucky. And while I did still have to continue working while I was in the meeting, I did try to pay as much attention as I could so I didn’t miss too much about what was going on.

A lot of the meeting was going over things that happened at the last meeting, so I was catching up. I wasn’t working on any particular projects or tasks since I missed that meeting, so I didn’t have any news or updates to share. But it was good to hear what other people have been working on and to get ideas for things that I might want to present to the committee in the future. We also went over preparations for our next meeting where there will be a union staff member available to answer questions. So we are supposed to come up with questions we think other members would like to know. I have some time to think about this, so I want to make sure I think of some good ones.

I know that I was quiet during this last meeting because I missed the last one and wanted to hear what had been happening, but I do tend to be very quiet during all the committee meetings I’ve been a part of. I think part of this is due to not feeling confident about the information I might think I know or the questions I would ask. I do try to stay educated as much as I can about various union issues, but I know there is so much that I don’t know about. I know that everyone has to start somewhere and I shouldn’t be embarrassed if something I say is wrong, but it’s easier to know that than it is to act that way. And maybe my time on committees now will be more about educating myself and understanding things and hopefully I will be invited on committees again and I can take more action. While this isn’t the first time I’m on a committee, it still feels different this time. And being on a local committee is different from a national committee, so I think that’s something else I’m working through.

I want to try to be a bit more vocal and participate more when we have our next committee meeting, but I know that might not happen. All I can do is to continue to learn, do my research, and be as prepared as I can for each meeting. And hope that the next meeting won’t conflict with a work meeting.

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