Category Archives: Acting

Catch Up Time (or A Blog With Lots Of Random News)

Posted on November 22, 2013 | Comments Off

Time for a little bit of catching up on life.

First of all, a little bit of news about my dog, Dante. My parents took him to the dog oncologist yesterday. It wasn’t necessarily bad news, but it wasn’t good news either. Basically, right now we are waiting for his leg to heal from his surgery before we do anything else. He’s also getting a new pain medicine to hopefully help him sleep more at night (right now he’s been waking up a lot at night and waking up my parents too). And to help him eat a bit more, he’s also getting a steroid.

I’m starting to feel a bit more normal in my routine after my crazy weekend, but I know that with next week being Thanksgiving and having several days off of work, my brain will be more confused about what day it is next week. But I’m trying to get back into everything that seems to be normal to me. Somehow, I’ve been forgetting to check my daily affirmations in the morning, so I’ve started doing that again. And I do feel a difference in my attitude and how I feel when I do them.

And this weekend is the Beverly Hills Shorts Festival, the film festival that I am running! Tonight is the opening night party and tomorrow will be all the screenings. If you are in the LA area and want to come to the festival, we are selling tickets at the door. I’d love to have some blog readers there to see the amazing films that we have chosen for the festival this year! While I’m a bit nervous about running the festival alone for the first time, I’m still super excited about my new title. And when I got a box of supplies from one of the other co-directors, I couldn’t help but be super excited when I saw my badge.

I promise to recap my experience running the film festival next week! Hopefully everything goes smoothly!

That’s my recap of life for now. I hope that you all had a great week before Thanksgiving week! And hopefully I’ll see a couple of you at the film festival this weekend!

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Posted in Acting, Family, Fun Stuff, Tough Stuff

Tagged Beverly Hills, cancer, dog, film festival, recap

False Start (or My Real Last Day of Unemployment)

Posted on October 22, 2013 | Comments Off

So I was supposed to start back at work yesterday. I was all set to go back until Friday evening.

I was working the show shift at work and once the show started, I checked my phone. There was a text message from my agent letting me know that I had an audition for a recurring role on a tv show on Monday. The audition time was at 3pm, kind of in the middle of my shift at work. So I let my boss know that I would try to come in, but since the audition was in the valley and I work in Santa Monica it could be tough with traffic.

My audition went great. It’s hard to tell when you only have a few lines to say, but the people in the room smiled after my read and genuinely seemed to enjoy it. I was done and ready to deal with all the crazy traffic to get back to Santa Monica when my boss called.

I guess nobody else was able to work yesterday either. 2 of my co-workers had to work at another job, one had a doctor’s appointment, and the other showed up but he had to go home sick. So my boss let me know not to come in since he was leaving. And our first official day back was moved to today.

It was a relief not to have to rush back to the other side of town. I was able to take my time driving and run a few errands that I forgot to do over the weekend. I spent last night catching up on my reading and getting to bed at a decent hour so I would be nice and rested for work.

It was a nice surprise to have an extra day off. Even though I was prepared to go back to work, having the audition really made yesterday a more stressful day than I would have liked.

So now I’m off to work today. Of course, I could have another last-minute audition come in or something that prevents me from working the entire shift, but that’s how my life is.

I expect the unexpected.

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Posted in Acting, Fun Stuff, Work

Tagged acting, audition, job, unemployment

“Let’s Make A Deal” Round Two (or Maybe Game Shows Don’t Love Me Anymore)

Posted on October 14, 2013 | 1 comment

Friday was attempt #2 to get on “Let’s Make A Deal”. This time, my friend Jose was able to come with me, so I had a much better time!

We had tickets to the earlier taping (they do 2 episodes a day), so we had to be at the studios by 9am. It was freezing out (or at least freezing for LA), so I was grateful to be inside quickly!

This time, I dressed as a pig in a blanket (wearing a pig nose and ears and wrapping myself in a blanket) and Jose was a cowboy. We took a quick photo together before we had to turn in our phones to the production assistants.

I wasn’t wearing the pig nose in the picture because the pig accessories that I bought were for kids and the nose was small and hurt. Once the taping was over and I took the nose off, my nose was super red and looked scratched up.

Anyway, I thought since I had been at the taping before and didn’t get called up that maybe this time I would. No love for me! Neither Jose nor I was called to make a deal with Wayne Brady. There was a lady who sat in front of us that won a deal that included diamond jewelry, a trip, and cash! She was extremely lucky!

Even though we didn’t get called up, Jose and I had a lot of fun. I hadn’t seen him since my 30th birthday party so we had some catching up to do. And they play really great music during the breaks in the taping so we were dancing and singing along.

I was a little disappointed not to get called up. I thought I was sure to since I was a return audience member. “Let’s Make A Deal” is the first game show I’ve gone to where I could be a potential contestant. Every other show I was either going as just an audience member with no chance of playing the game (like at “Wheel of Fortune” or “Family Feud”) or I had auditioned for the game show and was selected ahead of time to be a contestant.

Being at this type of game show is kind of like acting and auditioning. You have the chance to get a shot, but there’s no guarantee. I can still go back to “Let’s Make A Deal” another time to try again, but I’m not sure if or when I’d do that. I’m starting back at work in a week, and this last week I’m a little crazy trying to get more things done (plus I have to work another show shift at work on Friday).

Maybe one day in the future I’ll write another post about “Let’s Make A Deal” and it will be a happier story. But for now, I’m glad that I had the free time to go on a fun show and have a great morning with an awesome friend!

1 Comment

Posted in Acting, Fun Stuff

Tagged costumes, TV

Audition Friends (or The Kindness Of My Competition)

Posted on September 24, 2013 | 2 comments

I had my commercial audition yesterday. It was pretty basic (I said my name and had to walk across the room). With these types of auditions it’s tough to know if you did a good job or not, but I left the audition happy which is the most I could hope for.

Before going to my audition and doing the last-minute shopping for the outfit I needed, I called my friend, Shey. Shey and I have been auditioning against each other for years. We became good friends when she and I both booked a music video. We are a pretty similar type so we jokingly call each other our evil twin. We still go in for a lot of the same parts, but I love having a friend in the waiting room.

I had called Shey first of all to see if she was also going to this audition (she wasn’t). I also wanted to see if she had any of the clothing or accessories this particular audition was asking for. She didn’t, but said that if she did she would have let me borrow any of it.

I love that someone who is technically my competition wants to see me succeed! And it goes both ways. I remember one audition where Shey’s agents had left the room number off of the directions they gave her. She texted me and of course I texted her right back to give her the information.

I figure that if a part is right for me, I’m going to get it even if I help my fellow actors.

So at yesterday’s audition, I was locking up my car when an actress wearing a very similar outfit to mine came up to me and asked me if I was going to the audition. I said yes, and she gave me the scoop on what to expect in the room.

That was so nice of her (and I hate that I forgot her name!)!

And while I was in the waiting room, one of the other actors had forgotten sunglasses (one of the accessories that the audition had asked for). I had a spare pair in my purse so I let her borrow one of mine.

I have to say that all the kindness in the audition really made my day. I don’t always meet such nice and kind people at auditions. I wish I did because I don’t see any reason to be catty or mean.

I sincerely hope that all of the people who were nice to me are the ones that I will see if I get a callback. I know that people say “it’s show business not show friends”, but I still think that kindness matters above all.

2 Comments

Posted in Acting, Fun Stuff

Tagged acting, audition, competition

First Weekend Of Freedom (or Looking Back Before Moving Forward)

Posted on September 23, 2013 | 2 comments

I’ve officially had my first days of unemployment, and I really am keeping busy!

On Friday, as soon as my work shift was done, I raced home to file for unemployment online. The sooner I get it in, the sooner it can be accepted (and I can stress a little less about paying my bills).

After that, I headed over to my friend Kate’s house for dinner. She’s dating a guy who lives in Colorado and had a couple of people over to have dinner and meet him. It was a fun group of people and we stayed pretty late chatting about lots of random things.

On Saturday, I helped out my friend Jennifer with some computer stuff for a couple of hours. Then I headed to Hollywood and the Directors Guild of America for a SAG-AFTRA Film Society screening. The film that was showing that evening was “Rush”. It was a pretty good movie. I have no interest in race cars so the beginning was a bit slow for me, but I really enjoyed the second half.

That evening, I relaxed at home catching up on my DVR (it’s fall tv season after all!). I was up pretty late and at 12:44am, I got a text message from my agents that I had an audition for Monday! Yay! I love that I’m starting unemployment with an audition! I also love the fact that my agents work so incredibly hard for their actors even if it’s late or a weekend!

Sunday was another busy day. I started out going to the LMU Alumni BBQ. I’ve been going to this for the past few years and it’s always been fun. I don’t really have any friends from college that live in the LA area anymore, so I was solo for the event. But it didn’t stop me from having fun!

It was a perfect day! With your admission you get food and drink tickets. I got a hot dog and a frozen margarita with a couple of my tickets. After eating, I decided to do a little walk around LMU.

This is my freshman dorm, Doheny. This was officially my first home when I moved to LA. When I lived there, it was all girls. Now it’s co-ed. My room was the last room on the left on the second floor, so I had an amazing view of the fountain from my room.

I also stopped by Foley, the theater arts building. Most of the theater classes I took were in this building, so it was like a second home to me.

I also stopped by the bookstore and got a hat that I wanted (no photo yet).

I left the BBQ a bit on the early side because I had to do a last-minute shopping trip for an outfit for my audition. The audition specifically requested a pink dress, and that’s something I don’t own. Fortunately, I was able to find something for about $20. It’s not something I’d wear normally, but it will be a good audition outfit for the future.

And finally on Sunday, I watched and live-tweeted the Emmys. There were several surprise winners which was nice to see. Overall, I didn’t love this particular awards show. There is such an expectation with Neil Patrick Harris hosting and I don’t think this lived up to any of the times he hosted the Tonys.

For a weekend, I sure got a lot of stuff done! And I have a lot of stuff planned for this week as well!

2 Comments

Posted in Acting, Food, Fun Stuff, Shopping, Work

Tagged audition, BBQ, Emmys, Loyola Marymount, shopping, unemployment

Unemployed Again (or Trying To Not Make It Feel Like Summer Break)

Posted on September 20, 2013 | Comments Off

It’s only been a week since I got back from my trip, but I’m now unemployed again for about 4 weeks (the return date is a little up in the air but it should be around October 21st).

This is my second time of unemployment with this job, but I’m going to try to treat it differently than I did the first time. Last time, we ended because the campaign that we were working on had ended. This time, we are taking a mid-campaign break.

Last time, it felt like summer break in school. It was the end of the year and I knew I would be coming back for the next year. This time, I’m hoping to not make it feel that way.

While I will be doing some fun things over my unemployment like going home to see my parents (and dog) and seeing my friends, I want to use this time to reevaluate some things in my life.

I’ve mentioned that the schedule of my current job is tough on me. I miss out on a lot of opportunities that I want to take advantage of. My job is my job, but it’s not my career. I spend so many hours outside my job trying to work on my career (imagine someone working as a lawyer but trying to go to medical school at the same time). I want to find a job that fits in better with my life, but I don’t know if one exists out there. I might have to create my own job, and that can take time to get established.

While I will be job hunting during my month off, I want to start the process of creating my own job. I highly doubt that I could get enough work going for me in a month to not have to return to my old job, but at least it would be a start. And if I happen to find a better job, I can work there while trying to establish my own job.

I know that a bunch of other actors create their own jobs and work for themselves, but it’s a scary thing. At least right now, I know that I will have money coming in and can pay my bills. If I only worked for myself, there are no more guarantees.

But if I don’t start working on my own job now, it’s just going to take me that much longer to get it to a point where I can support myself. I’m going to spend part of this weekend writing up a business plan and trying to take the first few steps on it. I have no idea what the timeline will be for me, but I know that if I have to go back to my old job in a month, I will feel better about it if I have already started my plan.

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Posted in Acting, Fun Stuff, Tough Stuff, Work

Tagged acting, job, unemployment

Holding Out For Perfection (or Maybe I’m Too Picky)

Posted on August 7, 2013 | Comments Off

While the title of this post might sound like it’s a continuation of my online dating adventures, it’s not (I actually cancelled my account because of some creepy guys on there).

This is about my day job. I’ve been there for over a year now, and I definitely have a love-hate relationship with it.

I love that I’m working for a theater company so I’m close to other creative people. I love that my boss is very cool about me taking time off for auditions. And I love that I’m making relatively decent money now.

But I hate the schedule. I hate working 6 days a week (I have to work Saturday morning after my birthday party). I hate working until 8:30pm 3 nights a week (I’ve missed a ton of events I’ve wanted to go to because of that). And I hate that so much of my pay is based on commissions so I never know how much I’m going to make on each paycheck (it makes budgeting very difficult).

A friend of mine from my old job has come to me a couple of times with some jobs that could use me. The job would be working credit card disputes (I did this for about a year at my old job and was very successful and had a high win rate). The first job was in Orange County and was a standard 9-5 job. I knew this wouldn’t work out because the commute could easily be 1-2 hours each way. And it wouldn’t have the flexibility I need for auditions or booked jobs. The second job is in the valley (still a commute but better). I don’t know a ton of details on it yet since I only heard about it yesterday.

But I have to ask myself if I really want to go back into another job like that. I’ve been looking for something that I could do from home (some credit card dispute jobs do that), so I could have the flexibility I need. I’ve worked from home in the past before and did well at it (except when I did transcription work because the pay was too low for how much work I did).

But am I being too picky by only wanting to find something that works from home? I’m not horribly miserable at my current job, so I’m not rushing out to find something. And in the back of my head, I still think that I might land that series regular acting job which will eliminate the need for a day job.

I really don’t know what to do. I don’t want to turn down a good opportunity, but I don’t even know if the new job or my old job would be considered the good opportunity.

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Posted in Acting, Saving, Tough Stuff, Work

Tagged acting, job

Daily Affirmations (or A Free App Recommendation)

Posted on August 6, 2013 | 1 comment

I’ve been doing affirmations for years. However it hasn’t been something I do regularly even though I’ve seen positive results with them.

I started doing affirmations before auditions in 2007. I took a weekend intensive class with Renita, who is a casting director. She gave us all a CD of declarations to listen to before any major acting moment (audition, callback, heading to set for a big job). I put the declarations on my iPhone and have listened to them every time I’m driving to an actor related meeting or job. I normally listen to it one time, saying all the declarations out loud, and then I change it up and listen to positive music to keep me in a good mindset.

I’ve found that I’m less nervous and more secure in my acting choices since doing this. Even if I’m not booking every job, I’m making a better impression in each office now, so hopefully they’ll bring me back for more auditions.

Well, the other day I was looking for some new apps to put on my iPhone, and I came across the Daily Affirmations app. It was free, so I downloaded it without thinking twice.

And I’m so glad that I did! Each day, you have a new affirmation to look at. What you do with it is your choice. You can say them out loud, write them down somewhere, or just read them for a minute (like I do).

And I really enjoy the affirmations that have been coming up for me so far.

I highly recommend checking this app out (it’s free so why not?).

I don’t know if I’ll do something more involved with these affirmations like I do with my actor declarations, but I can always do that later. For now, I’m enjoying taking a moment each day to read something that really is positive to help me get off to a great start for the day.

1 Comment

Posted in Acting, Fun Stuff

Tagged declarations, iPhone, positivity

Back To Basics (or How A Win At My Day Job Can Help My Acting Career)

Posted on August 1, 2013 | Comments Off

Yesterday at my day job, we had a little awards ceremony. I think calling it an awards ceremony was a bit of a stretch, but my boss decorated our break room and brought in Chinese food for us for lunch. And, as any awards ceremony would have, there were prizes.

From the time we came back to work in April until the end of the fiscal year in the beginning of July, there were a couple of contests going on. They were most number of memberships, most amount raised by memberships, most number of tickets sold, and most amount raised in ticket sales. We had similar contests last year, but I didn’t win any of them.

This year, the winners would get a Visa gift card and free tickets for shows coming up in our season. I wanted the free tickets because my dad is going to come back for another show this year and I wanted to treat him. And Visa gift cards are always nice for anything (like my Disneyland pass).

After the lunch portion, my boss first gave iTunes gift cards for those who didn’t win (at least everyone got something). Then, he awarded the person who got second place in memberships a gift card and 4 pairs of tickets to shows of their choice.

Then he announced that I actually won all four contests. I honestly wasn’t expecting that at all! I knew I had a chance at one, but who knew I’d get all four! So I got a very nice gift card and 8 pairs of tickets to shows in our upcoming season!

There’s a lot that I could use that gift card for. I wish I could use it to put toward my credit card, but you can’t do that (I checked). So what I’ve decided to do is to use it for some improv classes.

I’ve talked about how getting back into acting classes was one of my goals for this year. I need to get some more prestigious classes on my acting resume. Casting directors don’t really care unless you have improv training from one of the big schools. So I’ve decided that I want to go to UCB.

The gift card I got will pay for over half of my tuition for level 1. And it’s looking like I might be unemployed again in the fall, so I could take their intensive class and get the first level done in 2 weeks instead of 8. Then I could decide if I want to move on and then take those classes on the regular once a week schedule when I’m back at work.

I’m starting to get excited about this. The classes for the fall aren’t online yet, so I’ll keep checking until it is. But I think that I really am making the right move right now. While I’d love to use this gift card for next year’s Disneyland pass, maybe by taking this new improv class I can book an acting job that will pay for one.

I love when things fall into place for me like this!

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Posted in Acting, Celebrations, Fun Stuff, Work

Tagged acting, contest, improv, job

More Mentoring (or This Is Exactly What I Needed)

Posted on July 25, 2013 | Comments Off

Yesterday was the second meeting of my Women In Film Mentoring Circle. The meeting was held again at UTA (which has the most gorgeous building in Beverly Hills).

For this meeting, only about half of my fellow mentees could attend, so there was a lot of personal attention. And our mentors arranged for a special guest to be there who is an agent as well as a manager.

While it’s great to be around like-minded people who aren’t looking at you like they are trying to figure out what they could gain, there’s just so much about this meeting that was exactly what I needed at this point in time.

I’m still pretty pissed about the car accident. Right before going to the meeting, I had my phone interview with the adjuster from the other driver’s insurance company. I felt like I had to defend myself a lot, but fortunately the adjuster seemed to almost side with me more than with her own customer. It just put me in a downer mood.

But the first thing that we did in our meeting today was to go over what we’ve accomplished since our last meeting. And even though I feel like I’m gotten nothing done, when forced to figure out what to share, I’ve realized that I’m made some great steps (including getting some clips from the scenes I shot up on my online casting profiles).

Also, it’s nice to hear that I’m not the only one struggling. Lots of people don’t like to share when they are having a tough time. Everything is sunshine and rainbows with them. It’s similar to how some actors like to hide the fact that they have a day job and want people to think that all they do is acting. I don’t understand why others hide these things. It’s so isolating and knowing that you aren’t the only one frustrated really helps make it seem more bearable.

I got some great advice from the mentors, guest, and my fellow mentees at the meeting. The other mentees and I are really trying to help each other out however we can. One offered to help me edit a demo reel when I’ve got more clips together. Another is going to help me with some stuff on here. It’s nice to have that sort of support. The only other place I’ve felt that was at The Actors’ Network, and since TAN is online only now, some of that is gone.

So after leaving the meeting, I really felt like I had some great steps to take to help my career. I have a plan for right now, and I know exactly where I can ask for help if I need it. And hopefully at the next meeting, I won’t struggle to find accomplishments to share but instead will struggle to edit down all of the accomplishments that have come my way.

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Posted in Acting, Fun Stuff

Tagged accomplishment, acting, mentoring, Women in Film

Category Archives: Acting

Catch Up Time (or A Blog With Lots Of Random News)

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False Start (or My Real Last Day of Unemployment)

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“Let’s Make A Deal” Round Two (or Maybe Game Shows Don’t Love Me Anymore)

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Audition Friends (or The Kindness Of My Competition)

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First Weekend Of Freedom (or Looking Back Before Moving Forward)

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Unemployed Again (or Trying To Not Make It Feel Like Summer Break)

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Holding Out For Perfection (or Maybe I’m Too Picky)

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Daily Affirmations (or A Free App Recommendation)

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Back To Basics (or How A Win At My Day Job Can Help My Acting Career)

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More Mentoring (or This Is Exactly What I Needed)

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