Category Archives: Acting

I Got A New Day Job, Sort Of (or Maybe I Won’t Be Unemployed For Long)

Posted on February 12, 2014 | Comments Off

I’ve been busy applying for new jobs and getting a bunch of interviews. So far, I’ve gone to 2 interviews and I have 2 more this week. I’m really happy that my efforts in applying for jobs are paying off with interviews, and I’m being careful to only apply for jobs that I know will be flexible or that I’m confident will let me go for auditions.

I’m trying to find full time work, but I know that part time work is more likely to be flexible. Of the 2 interviews I’ve had so far, one was for part time only (no more than 29 hours a week) and the other was as many hours a week as I’d like (up to 40).

The as many hours a week as I’d like job pays a bit more, but I haven’t heard back from them yet. They mentioned that they had a bunch of people to interviews and I don’t know if there is more than one position open (it’s doing customer service work).

The other job is doing recruitment for film screenings. I had the interview for it yesterday, and they offered me a position on the spot. It’s not a lot of money hourly, but there’s potential to make more for doing a good job. I’m a little wary about the job because I know that there’s probably no way to have that as my only day job, but when they offered me the job, I said yes.

So I’m going to start a 30 day trial with them next week. After my 30 days, I will meet with the supervisor and we will discuss if we are both happy with the job match. I like knowing that if it isn’t the right job for me it will be easy to say “no thank you” and still be able to leave on good terms.

I still have 2 more interviews this week, one for full-time job and one for another part-time one. I’ll see what else comes up for me and maybe I can find 2 jobs that will work well if I do both of them.

I’m just happy that job hunting this time is going better for me than it has in the past. I was worried that I wouldn’t get an interview for forever, but by having 4 in my first few weeks of unemployment gives me hope that I can still be a bit choosy and find something that will work out perfectly for me and my acting career.

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Posted in Acting, Fun Stuff, Work

Tagged acting, interview, job, unemployment

Another Cut On “2 Broke Girls” (or I’m Glad I Went To The Taping)

Posted on January 22, 2014 | Comments Off

Remember when I went to see my friend Ace film his episode of “2 Broke Girls”? That was a great evening. Ace was awesome in the show. He was so funny and I really thought that the scene he was in added a lot to the plot.

But as I’ve mentioned before, scenes get cut after taping sometimes. And when the episode aired on Monday night, Ace was pretty much cut out. You could still see him in the background in the scene he was in. But all of his lines (and his character’s name being mentioned in another scene) were gone.

I was sad for my friend, but he had such a positive attitude about how he had such a great experience with it all. His positivity was infectious and now I’m no longer sad that he was cut out but instead happy that I got to go to the taping and see a great friend act in a great part. And I’m hoping that when the DVD of the season comes out that his scene is included in the deleted scenes.

The timing of this was funny. There’s been a story about actors being cut out of shows going around Facebook and various websites. There was a storyline on “The Big Bang Theory” with one of the main characters acting in a tv show and then their part getting cut (sorry if I’m not describing the plot correctly, but I haven’t seen that episode). The creator of the show, Chuck Lorre, always writes funny little vanity cards to show at the end of all the episodes of his shows. And for this particular episode, this was the vanity card.

In case you don’t want to click on the link, the card talks about how in this episode where one character gets cut from a tv show, an actor who booked a co-star role on the show was cut even though she was funny. Her being cut had nothing to do with how hard she worked or how great she was, it was all due to timing.

I’m pretty sure that’s what happened with my friend Ace’s part. He was funny. I know that because I was there and heard all the laughs that he got. I know that he’s a hard worker and he put everything he had into that part. But I also know that they tape more than they can air on tv. Every show has to get some cuts to fit into the time slot and allow for commercials.

This is a reality of the job. You work so hard to get the job and sometimes, you never see your work. It’s happened to me before and I know it will happen to me again.

But even with not knowing if you will ever get to see your hard work air on tv, the movie screen, or your computer screen; it is still the most amazing job in the world. And I will continue to share when I book things (or when my friends do) because I know one day the hard work will be shown to the world and it will all be worth it.

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Posted in Acting, Fun Stuff, Tough Stuff

Tagged 2 Broke Girls, acting, TV, work

Should I Stay Or Should I Go? (or More Day Job Issues)

Posted on December 23, 2013 | 1 comment

Ever since it got really bad with the co-worker who doesn’t like me at my day job, I’ve been looking for a new job. I’ve been applying for things pretty much on a daily basis, I’ve had a few interviews, and even a job offer (but that job had lied about how much they pay so I didn’t take it).

There’s one job that I’ve been in the running for a while. I’ve done some phone interviews, a writing test, and finally an in-person interview this past week. I should find out if I get the job this week.

But something has happened at my current day job that is making me think twice about leaving.

Last week on Thursday, the co-worker who doesn’t like me said something nasty to me. She didn’t realize it, but our boss was standing right behind her. He asked her what she said, and she chose not to repeat it. He asked her to leave work that day and she hasn’t been back.

This was the first time in a long time that my boss has heard the things this co-worker says to me (and the first time he heard it after he warned her that that was unacceptable). Even though he has believed me when I said that this was going on, it’s one thing to hear about it and another to actually witness it.

After the co-worker had left for the day, there was a different energy in the room. I actually was starting to enjoy my job again. It’s hard to judge how I felt that day because in the middle of the shift was when I found out about Dante passing away and I spent the last 4 hours of my shift trying to work and not cry (my boss said I could leave for the day but I needed to make money).

If this co-worker isn’t at work anymore, I might actually start to enjoy my job again. I do like working for a theater (they understand that I have auditions and that I need to leave sometimes randomly for them). I also like the other people who I work with.

I’m going to wait and see if I get the other job offer. But at least I know for now that if I do decide to stay at my current job, things might be getting better for me.

1 Comment

Posted in Acting, Fun Stuff, Tough Stuff, Work

Tagged interview, job, theater

“2 Broke Girls” Again (or Seeing A Friend Be Awesome!)

Posted on December 19, 2013 | Comments Off

Last week, my friend Ace posted on Facebook that he booked an episode of “2 Broke Girls”! I was super excited for him! I love when my friends are on tv, but I love it even more when it’s a show that I already watch and love!

Then, a day or two later, he posted that he could have guests come to watch the taping. Of course, I said yes! I had a great time at the taping in February, and this one could only be better because I knew someone in the show!

I got an email telling me that I would be a VIP guest for the taping. There were some instructions that were similar to the last time, but some that were different.

I had to be at Warner Brothers by 3pm on Tuesday, but I got there extra early (I always give myself extra time for traffic). There was a special line for VIP guests so I stood off to the side and waited for security to check me in (since I didn’t have a regular ticket, they had my name on a guest list).

While in the VIP line, I ended up meeting another one of Ace’s friends, Belen. She and I chatted a bit while we walked through the studio to the soundstage that the show tapes on. Inside the soundstage, we checked in with another security guard who led us to one of the studio pages with the VIP list.

Last time, the seats were not assigned ahead of time. They just put us where they needed to fill in the space. This time, I had a chair with my name on it! Sadly, I don’t have a picture of that because there were no cameras or cell phones allowed inside (yes, even for VIP guests). The whole row that I was sitting in were Ace’s friends (and his fiancée). We were all pretty darn excited to see Ace in the show.

There was the same comedian who kept us entertained between takes. This taping took longer than last time, but they did more re-writes this time as well. We all were anxious to see Ace, and finally, it was his scene! I don’t want to give away any plot points (also, I don’t think WB would like me to blog about exactly what happened), but Ace had a very funny scene and his character interacted with the main characters. They even mentioned his character again in another scene (all of us in the group agreed that the show should make Ace’s character a recurring character!).

Toward the end of the taping, Ace let us know that we could go down to the stage after the show was done to say hello to him. So after the curtain call (where we all screamed and cheered when Ace took his bow), we went down the stairs to the stage.

We stayed off to the side because we didn’t want to get in the way of the crew trying to take down the set. But we got to say hi to Ace and tell him how amazing he did in the show!

And since Ace was allowed to keep his phone, he got a crew member to take a picture of the group.

Before we knew it, Ace had to go backstage to get out of his costume and the group had to head home (I also had an early shift the next day and didn’t want to be out too late).

This was such an amazing evening. I love getting to see my friends do so well and be successful (I hope they feel the same thing for me when I book parts).

This episode should be one of the next episodes of “2 Broke Girls” to air (they are on hiatus until January). If I know ahead of time that Ace’s episode will be on, I’ll let you all know so you can watch it and see how great he was!

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Posted in Acting, Celebrations, Fun Stuff

Tagged 2 Broke Girls, acting, friends, taping, television

A Quick Day On Set (or Pretending To Be Warm When It’s Freezing Out)

Posted on December 11, 2013 | Comments Off

Yesterday I was filming a commercial. I can’t say what it’s for, but I can tell you that I was in the background and you probably won’t see me in the final cut. But it was still an awesome day (any day on set is pretty much guaranteed to be an awesome day).

It was a very early start for me. I had to be on set at 7am and the location was just over an hour away from my house. So I left around 5:30am (and woke up at 5am). The drive was fine. There was no traffic at that time and I had a bunch of podcasts that I wanted to catch up on. The only problem was the high winds so my car felt like it was shaking a lot.

When I got to set, it was freezing. Literally.

Fortunately, I brought some of my winter clothes with me to keep me warm. I have a down puffy coat that is still a bit to small to zip up, but I wore that with a scarf and gloves and stayed pretty warm.

The commercial is supposed to be set in the summer, so my wardrobe was a short sleeved shirt. I brought my coat out with me to wear between takes, but when the camera was rolling I had to hide the coat and tough it out in my t-shirt.

It was hard to not shiver when I wasn’t wearing my coat. I was really cold. It never got that much warmer during the day (when I left the temperature was only up to 32). But I tried to think warm thoughts and focus on having fun.

The day was really short. We were all done by 1pm. So I got back in my car and started the drive back home. Again, there was very little traffic so I made it home pretty quickly.

As soon as I got home, I took a nap. I needed it! And I ended up sleeping for a couple of hours (so my attempt to make it for the second half of my shift at work didn’t happen).

It was an easy and quick day, and I had a great time working in front of the camera. I loved that I got to finish out 2013 by working on set on another great project. Hopefully 2014 will bring me more opportunities like this!

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Posted in Acting, Fun Stuff

Tagged acting, cold, commercials, fun, work

3 Movies In 4 Days (or I’m Grateful For Free Screenings)

Posted on December 3, 2013 | Comments Off

Since I had a couple of days off for Thanksgiving from work, I wanted to make sure that I kept my days busy. And since there are a lot of movies coming out that I want to see, I watched my email for screening notifications from SAG Foundation and the SAG-AFTRA Film Society.

And I lucked out! I found a screening and Q&A for “American Hustle” on Saturday and a screening of “The Wolf Of Wall Street” on Sunday. So my weekend was pretty planned out before going to San Diego for Thanksgiving

On Thanksgiving in the past, some of us go to a movie after dinner. It doesn’t happen every year, but it’s always fun when it does (the first time we did it we went to see “Jackass The Movie” after dinner, which was a pretty weird choice). This year, my cousin Stephie and her husband Clay wanted to go see “Hunger Games: Catching Fire”. Even though I had already seen it, I was more than happy to go again!

The best part about watching with my cousin and her husband was that neither of them have read the Hunger Games books. They didn’t know the plot of the movie or what to expect. I, on the other hand, re-read the book in preparation for the movie. So whenever something crazy happened on screening, it was fun to see my cousin’s reaction. We’ve already made tentative plans to see the next 2 movies together after Thanksgiving the years that those movies come out (the last book is being turned into 2 movies).

The screening for “American Hustle” was ok. I didn’t really enjoy the movie (the plot wasn’t very interesting for me). And the Q&A was cool because Bradley Cooper was sitting about 20 feet away from me! But the Q&A seemed a bit short.

But I loved the screening for “The Wolf Of Wall Street”. The movie was almost 3 hours long, but it flew by! The movie was very exciting and the fact that it’s based on a true story made it even better. I’m going to get the book it was based on soon so I can read it. I highly recommend seeing this movie.

I know I’m incredibly lucky that I have the opportunity to see free screenings through my union. I wouldn’t see nearly as many movies if I had to pay for each one (when I saw “Hunger Games: Catching Fire” in IMAX it was almost $20!). And with the SAG Award nominations coming out soon, I know there will be more screenings as well as screeners being sent to me for me to view before voting.

Overall, it’s a pretty good movie season right now and hopefully you all can go out and enjoy a couple of them!

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Posted in Acting, Fun Stuff

Tagged movies, screening

Happy Thanksgiving (or My Top 10 Things That I Am Thankful For)

Posted on November 28, 2013 | Comments Off

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I’m spending today with my mom’s side of the family in San Diego this year. I’ll be doing a recap of my Thanksgiving (and my Grandma’s birthday dinner) soon. But I wanted to take today to share some things that I am thankful for. I’ve been noticing people posting one thing they are thankful for every day on Facebook. I haven’t been doing that this year, but I’ve decided to do a top 10 list of things that I am thankful for this year.

1. I am thankful that I have a family that loves me and supports me.

2. I am thankful that even though my mom is going through chemo right now, she is doing amazing and I am every reason to believe that at the end of her treatments that she will be cancer-free.

3. I am thankful that even though I might not love my day job, it pays my bills and allows me to do what I love.

4. I am thankful that I have acting in my life, something that I am so passionate about and couldn’t imagine not doing.

5. I am thankful that I have amazing agents who submit me for great parts and believe that I am going to book something big in the near future.

6. I am thankful for the traveling that I got to do this year (and that my parents could pay for it because I would never be able to afford Maui on my own right now).

7. I am thankful that I am healthy enough to do the 5Ks that I’ve done so far (I’ve got one more in a week).

8. I am thankful that I found a workout that I love and that there are instructors there who truly care about me and want me to get in the best physical shape that I can be.

9. I am thankful that I have amazing friends who support me in what I do and are there to cheer me up when I need it.

10. I am thankful for this blog. It has been like therapy for me. I get out things that sometimes are too hard to say out loud. And I feel like by sharing these things, I have been able to get closer to my friends and family and not feel like I am hiding a part of myself.

So those are the top 10 things I am thankful for. I’m definitely thankful for more than that, but I didn’t want to overwhelm you all! I hope that you get to spend today with people who you love and you have a chance to reflect on the things that you are thankful for this year (feel free to share some in the comments if you’d like to!).

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Posted in Acting, Celebrations, Family, Fitness, Fun Stuff

Tagged 5K, family, list, SoulCycle, spin class, thankful, Thanksgiving

You Never Know Who You’ll Run Into (or Seeing A Familiar Face 6 Years Later)

Posted on November 27, 2013 | Comments Off

I have one more story to share from the film festival. But this one requires a bit of back story.

In 2007, I worked on a Fox tv show called “Unhitched” for one episode. It was technically background work (meaning no lines), but I was going to be featured so you could see my face and I wasn’t just someone in a big crowd. The scene was at a party and a kid who can’t swim gets knocked into a pool by one of the main characters. A very attractive woman wearing a white dress jumps into the pool to save the kid. As she comes out of the pool, her dress is see-through so a lot of the men are looking at her. The man playing my husband in the show is taking a home movie of her walking out of the pool and I walk into the frame about to eat a piece of pizza. My husband asks if I really need to eat that, and I take a giant bite. Fun fact from that shoot: we had to do it so many times that I went through 3 large pizzas (I got to spit it out so I didn’t really eat it).

Anyway, it was a one day shoot, I had a lot of fun, and I made some decent money (they screwed up my call time so I ended up getting a lot of overtime that day).

A few months after shooting that, my parents started to get a couple of calls about a commercial about a tv show I was in. My parents asked me about it, and I figured it must be from “Unhitched”. I didn’t see the commercial for a while, but when I did, it was during a commercial break from “American Idol” (so I know a bunch of people saw it). I had it saved on my DVR so I could remember that moment.

A few months later, I was working the Beverly Hills Shorts Festival when this man approached me and asked me if I was on “Unhitched”. I explained that I did a background role on one episode but yes, I was in that commercial. Well, turns out the man who came up to me was the man who cut the commercials for the show! He was the one responsible for putting me in that commercial! I thanked him so much for the exposure he gave to me, and he promised to send me a DVD of the commercial so I could keep it (here’s the link for it on YouTube).

I’ve always been so grateful to this guy for putting me into the commercial for the show (and sending me a copy of it).

Flash forward to this past weekend. When I was putting together all the materials for the film festival, there was one name that stuck out to me. I couldn’t remember how I knew it, but I figured that I would find out when I saw the person. Turns out, it was the same guy from 6 years ago who cut me into the commercial! He couldn’t believe that we ran into each other again (and it had been years since he worked for Fox making those commercials). He watched the commercial again on YouTube and showed it off to all of his friends. And we kept laughing how cool it was to run into each other again.

This all proves to me again how small the entertainment industry is. And how important it is to be nice to everyone you meet. This guy, who used to make commercials, is now in a position to hire me for a project (and of course I gave him my business card so he wouldn’t forget me). I also was so glad to run into him so I could express my gratitude to him again for putting me in that commercial and giving me that type of exposure. It is so rare to get so much attention from a background role.

Running into people you’ve worked with or met years ago is one of the reasons I love this industry. When you really get into it, everyone knows everyone and you don’t feel so alone.

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Posted in Acting, Celebrations, Fun Stuff

Tagged commercials, film festival

Beverly Hills Shorts Festival (or Remembering To Breathe After Being So Stressed)

Posted on November 26, 2013 | 6 comments

Saturday was the actual screenings for the film festival. In the past, we’ve had screenings the entire weekend, but since this was my first time running the festival, the other co-directors agreed that we should cut it back to one day (I’m very grateful that they made that decision).

The screenings were at 3, 5, and 7 with an awards ceremony at 9. But I wanted to get to Busby’s super early so I could make sure that everything was in order. When I arrived, the ballroom was all set up for the screenings.

It was only bright in there because the curtains were still open. While the screenings were going on it was nice and dark.

I also tested the DVDs we were using. The biggest fear that I had was that there would be some sort of technical issue during a screenings. It’s happened before and I’m sure it’s happened again. But I’ve never been the person who had to fix it (or who had to listen to an angry filmmaker yelling).

I tried to stay calm while waiting for the volunteers to show up for the first shift. I killed time by making phone calls and playing a couple of rounds of Candy Crush.

And before I knew it, the festival was starting. Since I couldn’t be in 2 places at once, I stayed outside at the check in table while the films were going. But I always had a volunteer inside in charge of making sure there were no technical issues. I also had a volunteer run the Q&A after the screening.

While I didn’t get to see any of the films during the festival, I’ve been told by the volunteers and filmmakers that there were no technical issues during the entire thing. I had no angry filmmakers and nobody demanded a refund of their ticket (yes, that’s happened in the past as well).

I got to host the awards ceremony for the first time (I’m normally just hanging out watching it). It was so much fun getting to pass out awards (not all the winners were present, but those who were were so enthusiastic that they won).

And then it was done.

I’m still in shock that I managed to do it. I’ve been nervous for so long about this and honestly, I think it went smoother this year than any other year (that could be due to the fact that we ran all the screenings off of DVDs and only had one day of screenings). There are a couple of things that I’m hoping to improve on for next year, but I’ll have an entire year to prep for that festival.

I also wanted to just say on here how grateful I am to all my volunteers this year. I know that the festival would have been a disaster without them. Not only were they rockstars in doing their jobs, they also helped to calm me down.

Now I get to relax at Thanksgiving with most of my family.

BTW, if you are a filmmaker and want to submit your film for next year, let me know!

6 Comments

Posted in Acting, Celebrations, Fun Stuff, Work

Tagged Beverly Hills, film festival, screening, success

Opening Night Party (or Getting To Be A Party Hostess)

Posted on November 25, 2013 | Comments Off

Friday evening was the opening night for the Beverly Hills Shorts Festival. The party didn’t officially start until 8pm, so I worked my usual half shift that morning and made a last minute run to Staples for some supplies (I seemed to need a lot of office supplies this past weekend).

I got to Busby’s East (where the party and the screenings were held) super early so I could set up and make sure everything was in its place before any of the filmmakers got there. I was also crazy nervous because not only was this the first year I got to help run the festival, I was doing it without the other 2 co-directors who are usually there every year (they leave in New Orleans and couldn’t make the drive this year).

My awesome volunteers showed up 7:30 and they got to work on some of the last minute tasks that needed to be done for the festival (getting filmmakers checked in, cutting tickets, and collecting materials from the filmmakers).

I was feeling a bit panicky before the party started, but by 8:30, we had a nice crowd there and everyone was having a great time. In the past, I always worked the checkin table, but this year, since I was in charge, I had to make sure to walk around the entire time introducing myself to the filmmakers and their guests. All the filmmakers were so incredibly kind to me and they all seemed so excited to be screening their films (and to be screening in a room that had a private bar).

Everything really did run smoothly through the entire evening. The only minor issue we had was with other bar patrons trying to come into our room that was reserved for our group. There was a sign at the entryway of the room saying it was closed for a private party, but people kept coming in and asking if we really needed the room (I wanted the room to stay just for us so the filmmakers knew that all the people in the room were fellow filmmakers). I just kept asking those crashers to please wait until 10:30 when we no longer had the room reserved.

Before I knew it, it was 10pm and time for us to clean up. We had everything ready to go back into my car in a matter of minutes, so the volunteers and I decided to take advantage of the photo booth in the room we were using.

It was only $4 for the photos and it printed out 2 and gave us the option to email it as well (I emailed it to myself and then forwarded it on to the volunteers).

I was so relieved that the evening went well and everyone had fun. I was still very stressed out about the screenings the next day, but I knew that this event had gone as well as I could have hoped!

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Posted in Acting, Celebrations, Fun Stuff, Work

Tagged bar, Beverly Hills, film festival, party

Category Archives: Acting

I Got A New Day Job, Sort Of (or Maybe I Won’t Be Unemployed For Long)

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Another Cut On “2 Broke Girls” (or I’m Glad I Went To The Taping)

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Should I Stay Or Should I Go? (or More Day Job Issues)

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“2 Broke Girls” Again (or Seeing A Friend Be Awesome!)

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A Quick Day On Set (or Pretending To Be Warm When It’s Freezing Out)

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3 Movies In 4 Days (or I’m Grateful For Free Screenings)

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You Never Know Who You’ll Run Into (or Seeing A Familiar Face 6 Years Later)

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Beverly Hills Shorts Festival (or Remembering To Breathe After Being So Stressed)

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Opening Night Party (or Getting To Be A Party Hostess)

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