Category Archives: Acting

LA Actors Tweetup (or My LA Family)

On Monday, after hearing about what happened in Boston, a lot of people I know wanted to spend time with their family. None of my family is very local (I couldn’t drive down to San Diego after working an 8 hour day and then needing to work the next day), so spending time with them wasn’t an option.

Fortunately, that night was the LA Actors Tweetup. I think I’ve mentioned the tweetup before, but it pretty much is just a fun group that gets together every month or so. Yes, most of us are actors and are on twitter, but everyone is welcome.

The tweetups starting back in 2010, and it was at a very weird point in my life. It was right after my friendship with my college best friend ended, and I kind of lost all my friends and social life when that happened. So I went to the tweetups very open to meeting new people and making new friends, and I’m so glad that I did! Some of my best friends now are people I’ve met through the tweetups!

So Monday, after my shift at work was over, I headed out to Busby’s East, where pretty much all the tweetups happen. I had a really great time  that nights, and it was exactly what I needed after reading everything that was going on in Boston.

I got to see Gedaly, who I’m pretty sure I met through the tweetups (sometimes it’s hard to remember!), who gave me some great advice about this blog and my actor website.

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He’s actually checking out the blog in this picture.

I also got a chance to catch up with Ben, who is one of the creators of the tweetup event.

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I stayed as late as I could, but I had to get home so I could get up early enough the next day do get everything I done that I needed to do before my work shift started (I already miss unemployment!). But Ben promised to wear my name tag to promote my twitter account after I left.

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This was exactly what I needed to do on Monday night. Good friends, good conversation, and a lot of fun.

And if any of you are in the LA area and want to come to the next tweetup, check out the website. The tweetups are about every 6 weeks and the next one will be on June 3rd. I hope to see some readers there then!

Ms. in The Biz (or I’m Cheating On This Blog With Another Blog)

Since I started writing this blog, I’ve discovered a love for writing that I did not know that I had before. I almost always look forward to writing my posts on here (although I do get the occasional writer’s block). And I’ve decided to expand my blogging reach.

A few weeks ago, I saw that a friend of mine, Helenna, was starting a new online magazine written by women in the entertainment industry.

Of course I wanted to be a part of it!

So I’m excited to announce that I am going to be a contributing blogger for Ms. In The Biz! I will be writing about my adventures in LA as an actress and my day-to-day life trying to live my dream.

The blog will be launching soon (you can sign up on the website to get an email when it’s up), but this past weekend we had the LA contributor get together and Cinco in Westchester.

It was a really great little party. We all got one drink for free.

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I’ll give you one hint about what I got to drink.

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I had such a nice time connecting with old friends and meeting a bunch of new ones. I was so busy chatting that I only got a few pictures with friends.

The lovely Lizza, who is also in the same WIF mentoring circle as me (and loves the same books that I do!).

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The awesome Carolina, who I chat with a bunch online, but we realized that night that it had been exactly one year to the day since the last time we saw each other in person (time totally flies by).

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And the founder of Ms. In The Biz, Helenna!

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I hope that at least some of you readers will sign up to check out the new blog. I’ll still be blogging on here every day like usual, but I’ll probably go into a bit more detail about what my life is like as an actress on Ms. In The Biz.

Lights, Camera, Action (or Being A DIY Actress)

This past weekend, my friend Rayshell and I shot a scene that we created ourselves. We did this because we both wanted some footage for our demo reels.

Now, here’s some explanation for non-industry people. When you have a demo reel (which is a clip or series of clips of video of you acting), and you get submitted for a role (either by your agents or on your own), you have a slight advantage. All actors submitted who have a demo reel get to the top of the list. So it is seriously in your favor to have some video clip up there.

All my video footage has either been bad quality or from when I was skinner, so I needed to fix that.

I asked my friend Bryan, who was the director of the documentary I did, if he’d be willing to help Rayshell and I film our scene. We knew we needed good quality work, and Bryan would totally be able to do that.

So this past Saturday, Bryan and Rayshell came over to my house where we decided to shoot, and we got everything set up in my living room.

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We ended up doing two scenes and the whole thing took about 90 minutes.

The first scene was with both Rayshell and I. We were discussing the ups and downs of online dating (it may or may not be all true stories). Since neither Rayshell nor I are the best writers, we ended up deciding to improv the scene. It might make it a bit harder to edit, but I think it was more realistic and funny that way.

Here’s a screenshot of that scene.

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The second scene was just me being interviewed to camera about online dating. I figured that I could use the interview as the beginning and end of my clip and a short scene with me and Rayshell in the middle.

And another screenshot, of course.

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I’ve watched the footage, and it looks beautiful. I need to sit down and do all the editing so far, but I know that this footage is totally useable and will really look great.

I’m glad I didn’t wait around for footage from projects I already did (that might not look as good) or wait around to be cast in something that would give me footage. I stopped sitting on my butt and took charge.

And if you are an actor and are putting together your demo reel, do your research. Make sure you are putting it together correctly and to highlight you in the best light. I highly recommend reading this blog post from casting director Marci Liroff.

Mentoring Circle (or Women Who Support Each Other)

Yesterday I had my first meeting with my Women in Film mentoring circle. This circle consists of two mentors (my mentors are a tv producer and film agent) and 8 mentees.

We met at UTA which is one of the big agencies in town. It was a pretty intimidating building.

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Makes me so grateful that my agents are in a location that is very welcoming and makes me feel like part of the team.

Our group had a lunch in one of the conference rooms, and for this first meeting, we just did introductions. Most of the women in my group are actors, but most of those actors also do something else (like how I produced the documentary). We do also have a writer and director in the group and I’m excited to get to learn from them.

One of the greatest things about this group is how nice and supportive everyone is. I try to be supportive with all my fellow actors out there. When a woman who is my direct competition (I joke that she is my evil twin) needed to know where the audition we both had was going to be, I gave her the info without hesitation. I know some people wouldn’t do that because it increases their chances to book the role, but I know that if I’m meant to book it, I’ll book it.

I’m so used to having to watch out for these ultra-competitve actors (and many of them are rude and try to knock you off your game in the waiting room). It was truly a breath of fresh air knowing that I wouldn’t have to encounter that in this room.

We will be meeting again in about 2 months (the program is designed to have 6 meetings in a year). I’m hoping to connect with some of my fellow mentees on Facebook or twitter because I’d love to be around supportive people more than every other month.

I think in any industry that is competitive, it is such an asset to find people who just want to make sure that everyone gets ahead and nobody gets left behind. I’m so lucky that I was put into a group like this where that is happening.

Learning A Lesson From Myself (or The Outcome Of The Music Video)

Remember how last month I shot a music video and couldn’t wait to share it with all of you?

And remember how last week I wrote how there are no guarantees that the work you do on set will ever be seen?

Anyone want to guess how this story ends?

Yup. I was cut out of the music video. Well, all the actors who shot all the various scenes were cut out. The singer tweeted out at the end of last week that the music video was finally being released. And the tweet right after that mentioned how after thinking about it, they decided to keep the video simple and representative of the song.

So I knew before I watched the video that chances were that I wasn’t going to be in it. That didn’t stop me from being a little pissed and saying some choice words (I was alone when I watched it). And I’m not mad that I’m not going to be seen all over the internet or anything. I’m mad because I’m really proud of the work I did, and I was looking forward to my family and close friends being able to see it.

I need to get over this very minor setback and keep moving forward. It doesn’t matter that the work isn’t seen, I still booked this job. That is the end goal in this career path. And the people I worked with including the casting director, producers, director, and all the rest of the crew know that I booked this job. I was worthy of this part over all the other people who auditioned for it. And I will be worthy for the next one that comes up.

I need to focus on the good work I did on set and not the result. I did what was needed in a timely manner (very important when you are the last set up of the day and the producers don’t want the crew in overtime), and I was polite and (I hope) easy to work with. These are qualities that make me bookable for another job in the future.

I still think it stinks and find it incredibly ironic that I just wrote about a similar situation last week. But like I said then, this is the reality of this job.

No Guarantees (or A Lesson From “2 Broke Girls”)

The episode of “2 Broke Girls” that aired this Monday was the episode that my mom, my aunt, and I saw being filmed at the taping we went to. And it reminded me of a truth in the entertainment industry: even if you book the job, you never know if your work will ever be seen.

There are always little cuts made to a TV show after they are done taping. Some things need to be cut for time, some things need to be cut due to Standards and Practices, and some things are cut out because they just don’t work in the storyline any more. I’ve always known this reality. TV shows don’t try to hide it. In fact, you can normally see deleted scenes on the DVD extras of a TV show or movie.

But for this particular episode of “2 Broke Girls”, 2 guest star actors had their parts completely cut out. They were both extremely funny, and one of them had an eating gag, which I can related to due to my experience with pizza on the set of this show (yup, that’s me at the end).

But there must have been some reason that that scene had to be cut out of the final product. After watching the episode, I’m not sure what they could have cut in other scenes to include it.

But I can only imagine how sad it was for those actors to see the episode and find out that they were not in it. I’m sure they told their friends and family to watch it. And I know that if it was me, my friends and family would all be watching to see me (they’ve done that sometimes when I’ve done background).

But this is the way that things are in this industry. There are no certainties for anything. You are never guaranteed the audition, the callback, the job, making the cut. I’m still nervous that I might get cut out of the music video that I shot recently. Until that video is released, I’m going to be worried about it.

But those actors who were cut out of the episode were still able to spend a week doing what they loved (and they still got paid in case you were worried about that). And I’m sure after the initial disappointment they were still happy that they got to be chosen to be a part of the show and work a dream job for that week.

I guess part of having no guarantees on anything is making sure that you are grateful for every step that you are given. Be grateful for all the auditions and callbacks even if you didn’t get the job. There are a ton of people who would love to have been given “just” an audition.

I know that I still need to work on being grateful for all the steps that I get to take,  and this was a good reminder for me to stay in a gracious mindset.

The Fear of Missing Out (or The Power of No)

For a long time, if someone invited me to something or asked me to help them out, I’d say yes pretty much any time.

You need someone to take you to the airport? Of course.

You’re birthday party is coming up and need a designated driver? Not a problem.

You want me in your student film? Totally!

If there was a party or event on a night that I wasn’t out-of-town, I was there. Part of the reason was because after my friendship with my college best friend ended, I realized that I was lacking a bit in Los Angeles friends. So I went outside of my comfort zone to try to meet new people.

And I’m super grateful I did that, because I have an amazing group of friends now, most of whom I met at various parties and events.

I don’t know if it’s an actor thing that I’m always saying yes to things. You never know who might be at that event that could be the person who changes your career or knows of the perfect part for you. It does happen. I met my agents because of a co-worker I met when I did Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios in 2007. If I didn’t do HHN, I doubt I would have my agents (who I absolutely love!).

But lately I’ve been trying to take back some power and say no to opportunities that don’t exactly fit me or my schedule. For example, this past Monday was the LA Actor Tweetup. I love going to the tweetups, and I’ve pretty much never missed one.

However, this Monday I was working until 8:30 and on work nights I try to be in bed by 11:30. By the time I would have gotten to the tweetup, I would have only spent about 30 minutes there before I would have gone home so I could eat a late dinner.

Could I have done that? Sure. But I really didn’t feel like going in to say hello just to have to say goodbye a few minutes later. So I went straight home from work, had my late dinner, and was in bed when I was hoping to be.

As far as acting jobs go, I’ve pretty much said sure to all that have been offered to me. My agents are aware of things I’m not really willing to do (nudity and shave my head are the two main ones), so I’m not auditioning for things that I would necessarily have a problem with. The only acting job I have turned down was for a webseries that I self-submitted on. At the audition, I put my agents’ contact information down instead of my own, and when the director called to book me, he was very furious that he had to go through my agents. When I finally talked to him, he said the only way he would still book me is if I didn’t tell my agents I was working on this and to give him my personal phone number and address.

Obviously a ton of red flags went up with that, so I turned down the job (I think my agents called him back and said that I suddenly had to join the union so I was unable to book non-union any more).

I’m trying not to think about who I might have met at the tweeup this week and what I missed out on. There is plenty of other events in the future that I know I’ll go to. And it did kind of feel good to say no to something when I really didn’t feel like going.

Hollywood Superbowl (or Where I Was For The Oscars)

Oscar Sunday is pretty much a holiday here in LA. And as a holiday, you want to spend it with those you love at some sort of gathering.

Probably for the past 10 years, I’ve always spent it at a party at my friend Marie‘s house. And her parties are always awesome!

First of all, it’s a costume party. You are supposed to come dressed as a character from a movie in the past year.

I’ve had some great costumes in the past.

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I’ve been Edna from “The Incredibles”. No capes!!

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I’ve been a drunk bridesmaid from “Wedding Crashers”.

I’ve also had some not-so-great costumes. One year, I just wore jeans and a top, and on one pockets I had a bunch of pictures of international destinations and on the other pocket I had a bunch of different sorority letters (I was the “Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants”).

This year, I didn’t have a fabulous costume, but it wasn’t horrible either.

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I was a citizen of The Capitol from “The Hunger Games”. And yes, that is my wig from The Color Run.

Marie (and her husband Chris) really do a great job throwing this party. They have a red carpet.

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And two different screening areas. One is in the living room around the tv and in that room, it is considered the chatty room. The other is in the garage where they project the show on a wall. In the garage, that’s where the serious watchers watch (and that includes me).

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Overall, I think the show was pretty good. I didn’t love Seth MacFarlane as a host, but I was expecting it to be much worse. The opening was way too long (if that was cut down it might have ended almost on time).

I didn’t do too great with guessing the winners. I got 16 right, but I guessed a few of the major categories incorrectly (I picked Tommy Lee Jones for supporting actor and Steven Spielberg as director). I thought all the speeches were pretty amazing, especially Ben Affleck. I loved the end of his speech.

He said, “It doesn’t matter how you get knocked down in life; that’s going to happen. All that matters is you’ve got to get up”. That advice is great for an acting career, and even better for life in general.

After the show ended (just over 3 1/2 hours later), I headed home where I got my stuff together to prepare for my last week of work for a while.

Thanks again to the hosts, Marie and Chris, for throwing another awesome party!

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And in case you are wondering, Marie is dressed as Lincoln, Vampire Hunter and Chris is Fix-It Felix.

Oscar Prep (or A Hollywood Adventure)

This past Friday, I was done with work at 1pm, so my friend Kate and I decided to take a bit of an adventure and go to Hollywood and Highland to see all the prep work being done for the Oscars.

There were a ton of streets closed in the area, so we tried taking the Expo Line (light rail) to the Red Line (subway) to get there.

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On the map, we went from one end of the light blue line to connect to the red line and got off at the Hollywood/Highland stop.

The light rail wasn’t bad. I had taken it once before with my dad. But I had never taken the subway in LA before. It wasn’t bad, but it was really crowded. On the ride out, Kate and I both ended up standing (it was like a core workout when the subway stopped and started). But it took 50 minutes to get from my place to Hollywood, which isn’t too bad.

Once we got off the subway, we checked out the prep going on on Hollywood Blvd.

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It was pretty crazy. And while we were walking down the street, we ran into my friend Daniel (who works for a show that tapes right where the Oscar prep was going on), and he told us to go into the lobby of the Dolby Theater. You were able to walk on the red carpet (while it was cover by plastic).

So we headed straight over there, and I have to admit, it was pretty awesome!

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(the last picture shows the red carpet under the layers of plastic)

Kate and I were people watching for a while. There were a couple of categories of people. Those who were regular tourists, those who wanted to see where the Oscars were happening, those who were working for the event and were just trying to get stuff done, those who just wanted to shop at the Hollywood and Highland center, and then the oddballs (included 3 Spidermen and a woman dressed as an astronaut with a white wig).

After checking things out for a bit, we headed back down to the subway (the station was pretty cool looking), and headed home.

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Seeing everything in person really made me even more excited to watch the show this year! And being in that environment had such an exciting energy that it made me smile for a couple of days.

Tomorrow’s post will be my recap of the award show (and showing off my costume from my friend’s party!).

A Burbank Day (or Spending Some Time At Warner Bros.)

Yesterday, my adventure with my mom and aunt mainly took place in Burbank.

We started out by going from their hotel near Brentwood and we took the “scenic route” to go past Griffith Park to go to Burbank (if you aren’t familiar with LA, this is a very roundabout way to go).

We just walked around and looked at the view from the Observatory, but I could see the hiking trail that I conquered last year. The views were pretty nice, but I was so distracted I forgot to take any pictures!

Next we headed over to Burbank to walk around the WB lot. I worked at WB as a tour guide back in 2005, and a friend of mine got us walk on passes so we could explore and do some DVD shopping. After a little issue with getting our passes, we finally made it on the lot.

We walked around the backlot area where all the facades are and enjoyed the gorgeous day that we were having.

We took a couple of pictures.

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And then we left the lot to head to The Smokehouse for linner (which is lunch/dinner).

The Smokehouse is a restaurant that my mom went to a lot growing up. She hadn’t been there in forever, but feels like the inside still looks the same.

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We all ordered the prime rib sandwich (seemed to be their specialty), and I enjoyed everything except the bread (I had a taste of their famous garlic bread instead).

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And then it was time to head back over to WB because the 3 of us had tickets to a taping of one of our favorite shows!

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I love “2 Broke Girls”! It’s one of the shows that I dream of being on one day!

We got great seats in the audience, right in the second row and between the apartment and diner sets.

I’ve been to a couple of tapings before so I knew what to expect, but neither my mom nor aunt had been to one (at least as adults).

We were there for about 5 hours. It was a lot of fun getting to watch everyone work. And the director for this particular episode was Fred Savage (of “Wonder Years” fame)! As much as I loved watching, I couldn’t help feel like that was not a place that I belonged. I should have been on stage.

I think my mom and aunt had a pretty fun time at the taping, and now they understand what I do even more now. And my mom won a t-shirt!

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This taping might have given me a little kick in the butt to work even harder as moving my acting career forward!

After 12 hours away from home, I got home yesterday exhausted. But we still have 1 more day adventure to go today!