Tag Archives: acting

Being Smart But Playing Dumb (or Adventures In Job Hunting)

Posted on June 16, 2014 | Comments Off

I’m still on the lookout for another day job to help pay the bills. Until the season starts at my box office job, I’m only going to get a few shifts a month (hopefully during the season it will be more like 2 or so a week).

I’m applying a lot through various websites and I’ve been letting people know that I’m still looking. Sometimes other people know of jobs that I can’t find out about elsewhere.

And that’s what has happened over the past few days. The aunt of a friend of mine was at a store and overheard a woman saying that she really needed to hire an assistant and fill some other job openings that she had. So my friend’s aunt sent me a message on Facebook telling me that I should email this woman (I’m not saying her name because I don’t want it to come up if someone searches for this person online). I felt weird emailing someone when I had no idea if they were looking for full-time or part-time employees or even what they were paying, so my friend’s aunt called me so I could talk to the woman on the phone.

For the first few seconds she was very nice. Then she asked me if I was looking for a job. I was very upfront with her and said that I was looking for a flexible day job because I was an actor. I said that I wanted to be honest with her in case she needed someone to work more stable hours.

That’s when the call went bad. She told me that I was putting my negativity on her and that I should never assume that a job wasn’t going to be flexible. I apologized and said that I just didn’t want to waste her time if I wasn’t what she needed, and since I had literally zero information about the job I didn’t know what she was looking for. I tried to get some more information out of her, but she said that she was very busy and wasn’t expected to be on a phone call about the job (which I understood) so she asked me to submit my resume to her. She then kept saying to me that I needed to understand that she wasn’t offering me a job at that moment but offering me a chance to apply for a job. That was weird. Of course she wasn’t offering me a job. I had no idea what the job was yet!

I submitted my resume to her and figured that maybe I wouldn’t hear back from her. I tried to look her up online (she said that she had done a lot of film and tv work and was creating her own tv show), but there was nothing online under her name. Not just nothing useful, nothing at all. I figured that maybe I had the name written down wrong or she used a different name publicly, so I let it go.

Then the next morning, she called me at 9am as I was about to run an errand. She asked me if I could talk and I told her that I had 20 minutes.

She was very upset with me for telling her I only had 20 minutes. She said that if Oprah had called me that I wouldn’t tell her that. I responded by saying that I would and I would hope that Oprah would respect me enough to not take up time that I didn’t have.

She said that I had a lot of education and experience but that I wasn’t a very smart person as far as street smarts go. She called me classless and without grace. She didn’t want me to talk for a while on the phone so I just listened. She never said anything about the job or what her show was about.

Finally, I had a chance to talk and explained how I tried to look her up online the night before so I could become more familiar with her work. She told me that her team was a very powerful group of people and that they removed her from being in online searches so she could re-brand herself. She didn’t want anyone to know that she used to be a successful actress.

That’s when I started to realize that this woman wasn’t being truthful with me. You can’t erase everything about you from the internet. If she was in a lot of film and TV work, you would be on IMDb and have reviews about your projects. You can’t delete everything.

I specifically asked her about IMDb. I asked her why she wasn’t on there. She said that her team was able to take her entire page down.

I’m sorry, but that’s not really possible. There was recently a lawsuit about someone trying to get their birth year taken off of IMDb and that woman lost her lawsuit because IMDb said that they are an information site and have a right to show truthful information about people. So for one person to claim that they had their entire IMDb page deleted to re-brand themselves seems pretty much impossible.

At that point in the phone call, I decided to start playing dumb like I didn’t know that what she was saying was pretty much false information. She told me that I just couldn’t understand because I’m not on her level.

She also told me that I should have my IMDb page deleted and that actors at my level should not have a page yet. My page was not created by me. I was in a show and the producers submitted my information. That’s how a lot of information gets on IMDb. This woman told me that showing the world the stepping stones of my acting career is not going to help me at all. It’s only going to show people that I’m not worthy of a big career.

I could go on and on about what this woman said to me, but honestly I realized in the end that she was pretty much saying lie after lie. Or maybe she honestly believes it but I know that it’s not correct information.

She asked me if I still wanted to interview with her and I said yes. Not because I want to work for her. But because I’m wondering if she’s running some sort of scam that more naive actors might fall for. I don’t know if she’s trying to get people to work unpaid or something, but something isn’t right about this. Even after the second phone call, which lasted about 45 minutes, I still don’t know what jobs she’s hiring for, how much they pay, what the hours would be like, or anything else.

I posted this story on my Facebook page on Saturday after the second phone call. I got a lot of responses from people. Some people want me to go to the interview to see what her deal is and to turn it down in person (I even have some friends who want to come with me and see what happens). I have other friends who said I should just drop this whole thing and not to waste my time with her.

If I do meet her, it’s going to be in a super public place like a coffee shop. I would never meet someone who I don’t know (and who technically doesn’t exist on the internet) somewhere where there aren’t other people around.

And now that I’m thinking about it, she might end up googling my name and finding this blog and this post (don’t worry, I did some research online and there’s no way she can sue me for libel because I didn’t use her name or any identifying details about her so there is no way I’m ruining her good name). And she might decide that she doesn’t want to talk to me again. And if you are reading this, I’m sorry if I wasted your time on the phone. I really was interested in a job at first, but I can’t work for someone who insults me on the phone several times and lies about things.

I actually have a very busy week this week and pretty much no time to go to an interview, so chances are I will never get to meet whoever this person really is and decline the job in person. I have a feeling when I tell her that I can’t meet her this week, she will say that I should be willing to cancel my plans to meet her. I’m not willing to not go to a paying job to meet her to turn down her job in person.

But I’m hoping that even without saying this woman’s name (or at least the name that she gave to me) or saying really any identifying details that this story will be a warning to others. I’m sure that she has spoken to other people about the jobs that she’s hiring for. She said that craigslist is not a good place to find people (which I don’t believe) so she won’t post the jobs on there. So I have no idea how she is finding people.

But if this story sounds familiar to you, this is my warning. There is no shame in asking someone questions. If you get shamed, there is something that they are hiding. When I had asked about IMDb and wanting to do some research about her, her response was that I would be so embarrassed that I ever questions who she is when I meet her. People who are really that famous or in that position don’t need to talk themselves up like that.

I’ve had so many horrible jobs and job interview situations in the past. I’m just glad that know I have this blog to document them on and hopefully give you all a good laugh. And if you want to read some more about what happened on the second phone call (I typed out some direct quotes), they are on my Facebook page.

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Posted in Tough Stuff, Work

Tagged acting, IMDb, interview, job, scam

Audition Fairy (or The Tale Of Two Auditions)

Posted on June 6, 2014 | Comments Off

Even though my auditions have seemed to hit a slump recently, this week I had 2 auditions! One was for a music video (which I know I didn’t book because it would have shot yesterday) and one for a short film (which I won’t know if I booked for at least another week or so).

In the room for both auditions, I felt great about the work I did. In fact, in the short film audition the casting director and her team were laughing so hard at my audition and said that I did exactly what they wanted. Even if I don’t book this job, I know that they will remember that I do good work in the room.

At the music video audition, they were bringing people back in groups of 5. I think that was because they were getting backed up and wanted to try to get through everyone as quickly as possible. After I signed in, I stood off to the side (it was very crowded in the waiting room plus I was so sore from my workout that I was scared that I would sit down and not be able to get back up). There was another woman standing right next to me so we started to chat.

If the audition requires a lot of lines, I’m usually not chatty in the waiting room. I spend that time working on my lines. But for this audition, we had to lip-sync to a song. I practiced the night before as well as in my car driving over so I felt comfortable not working on it while waiting. The woman I was talking with ended up being super cool. She and I chatted about random stuff and she told me how she only found out about the audition about an hour before (I on the other hand found out the afternoon before). I told her that if she wanted to look at my printout of the lyrics she could borrow them.

We waited about 30 minutes and then I was called into a group. The woman I was talking with ended up being in the same group as me. We all went into the audition room and I went first. We only had to lip-sync to the first verse and chorus and then my audition was over. I was dismissed but before I left I gave my new buddy my print out of the lyrics so she could practice before it was her turn (there were 3 people in our group ahead of her). And when I walked through the waiting room, I let other women know that they didn’t have to worry about the entire song, just the first verse and chorus.

Everyone thanked me and I headed back to my car. I felt like the audition fairy for helping out. I like to help out my fellow actors. I don’t feel like my chances are any worse if I help someone else out. Either they want me or they don’t want me.

After that audition I posted on social media that I felt good for being able to help people and some friends said that it will come back around to me soon since that’s how karma works.

At my second audition this week I ended up standing up again in the waiting room (for the same reasons again) and there was a woman standing next to me. She asked me if I was part of a particular actor group and I told her I wasn’t. Then she realized that she knew me through my friend Ace. More specifically, she saw the blog post that Ace had shared on Facebook and twitter.

We both laughed about how it was such a small world that we had a mutual friend. And we also thought it was funny that we hadn’t met before because she and I are very similar types.

This audition ran long. There must have been too many actors scheduled too close together plus the casting assistant was letting people who crashed the audition cut the wait and go in before people who had audition appointments and had been waiting. The wait ended up being a little over 45 minutes, but that’s ok. I had a new friend to talk with in the waiting area.

Her audition was before mine and when she was done, she walked over to me to give me a heads up about what happened in the room. When we signed in, we were all told that there were no sides for us to read. We didn’t have to worry about any lines. But in the room, she was handed a page of the script and had a few lines to read.

I’m so grateful that I was given a heads up about this! While I wished I had time to feel comfortable with the lines before going in the room, at least I walked into the room knowing that I was going to have to read the page and memorize the lines super quickly.

It turns out that my friends were right about karma coming back to me. On Tuesday I was the audition fairy for someone and on Thursday someone was the audition fairy for me.

This just reminds me that doing good things for other people is important. It doesn’t matter that technically I’m helping my competition because I know that if I’m who they want, it won’t matter what anyone else does in the room.

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Posted in Acting, Fun Stuff

Tagged acting, audition, film, script

Taking More Chances (or Maybe I’ll Get Picked This Time)

Posted on May 30, 2014 | Comments Off

I continue to take more and more chances with my acting career these days. I had previously sent in an audition for the NBC Diversity Showcase. I didn’t make it past the first round for that showcase, but it’s ok. I got some practice with self-taping an audition and while reviewing my takes for the one I wanted to send it, I definitely learned a lot about how I’m appearing on camera. I’ve been practicing more and more at home and I’m hoping to use sides that I can find online and do at least one self-taping audition at home a week. I won’t be able to send those self-taped auditioned in unless casting requests them, but practice is practice.

I’m also looking into learning some accents. My agents recently contacted me asking if I could do a Boston accent. I can’t, but I told them that I could try to learn one quickly if they wanted me to. Right now, I don’t have any accents that I feel like I could whip out at any moment. I’ve never been asked to do an accent in an audition before my agents texted me about the Boston accent, so it’s never seemed too important to me. But now that I know that I might have lost out on an audition because of it, I’m going to see if there are some online videos (or even podcasts) for me to start picking up some accents.

I also just submitted myself for another diversity showcase. This time it was for ABC (and there’s still time to submit for it as the due date isn’t until June 6th).

This time, all I had to do was submit my headshot and resume. That’s a lot easier than self-taping and makes this seem more like a regular audition (even though self-taping for auditions is becoming more common, it isn’t done too often for union jobs). Hopefully my headshot and resume will impress the people at ABC and I will be invited to audition!

Finally, I’m starting to get a bit more pushy about projects. I have a lot of friends who are producing webseries or films and I’m telling people when I think their project is interesting and would like to be a part of it. I can’t wait for a friend to ask me. There’s not always a part for me, but it never hurts to ask (as long as it’s done in a polite way).

Hopefully something will come of all these efforts soon!

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Posted in Acting, Fun Stuff

Tagged acting, audition, headshots

1 Year Of Awesomeness (or Congrats To Ms In The Biz)

Posted on May 23, 2014 | 1 comment

This past Monday, one of the blogs I freelance on, Ms In The Biz, celebrated its one year anniversary! Any blog making it one year is a huge deal and I’m so honored that I’ve been a part of it since day one (or even before day one since one of my posts went live before the site technically launched).

Helena, the creator of the blog, joined up with Film Break to have an amazing anniversary party. It was held at Vaucluse Lounge. Vaucluse had an incredible history. It used to be Charlie Chaplin’s house (the second floor is still owned by his estate). I had never been there before, but it’s close to some other bars on Sunset that I have been to so I was able to find some decently priced valet parking nearby.

The party was so much fun! My friend Robert arrived at the same time as me so we walked in together (and tried to mingle together as well). Our first stop was on the red carpet where I tried to have a cute pose.

Next, we walked around trying to see if we knew anyone else at the party. I saw Helenna and grabbed her for a quick photo at the step and repeat.

I also ran into some friends who I hadn’t seen in years! That’s one thing I love about events like this. It helps me reconnect with people who I haven’t seen in forever!

I had such a great time at the party. I normally get a little panicky at events like this. I don’t like crowds and I’m always worried that I won’t know someone else there, but fortunately this event was so perfectly set up (and the timing of me running into my friends could not have been planned better if we had tried) that I never had to worry or panic at all.

So here’s to 1 year of Ms In The Biz and I look forward to being a part of it for many more years to come!

1 Comment

Posted in Acting, Celebrations, Fun Stuff

Tagged acting, anniversary, blogging, event, party

Craziness Of Auditioning (or How I Spent A Day Getting Ready For A Minute)

Posted on April 25, 2014 | Comments Off

This week I had my first audition in a long time. I know my agents aren’t to blame. There just isn’t much out there right now. And not just for my type, lots of my friends are in slumps right now. Plus, it’s a weird time for auditioning for tv. The new pilots have already been cast and shot and most shows already airing on tv have wrapped up for the end of the season already.

But I lucked out into auditioning for a cable show that airs in the summer (so they are just starting to film their season). I can’t say much about the show I auditioned for (that’s super frowned upon), but I can say that I had a great time in the audition room!

The part was a co-star, which means that it wasn’t a big part of the episode. In fact, my audition only had about 10 words.

But that doesn’t mean I didn’t do my prep work! I found out about the audition the day before so I had plenty of time to do some research on the show. Normally for a show that hasn’t aired yet, there isn’t much you can research or find out about the tone of the show. But for this show, I lucked out because I had a small connection to it. I know someone related to the real-life person the show is based on. And she had been sharing information on Facebook about the new show.

So I went back through Facebook and found everything I could. I also made sure that even though there were only 10 words, I knew those words. When there aren’t a ton of words on the page it really stinks to not have them all memorized. I didn’t go over everything too much (it can sound stale and rehearsed sometimes), but I definitely spent time with my research and memorization.

The audition was at CBS Radford (where I was for 4th of July last year) and while I walked up the gate, I noticed a sign for Sarah Jones.

If you aren’t familiar with the Slates for Sarah movement, take some time to check it out. The short story is a young crew member died on set because of some careless (or lazy depending on how you look at it) choices in cast and crew safety. Nobody should have to die while working in a preventable accident. I’ve seen these signs at a couple of different studios around town and I’m glad they are there so people who don’t know what happened go to look it up and get educated.

I had some time to kill once I signed in at my audition, so I ran though my lines again and tried to relax. I try to think of each audition as not an audition, but the chance to perform and do what I love. If I happen to get the job, that’s a bonus.

I think the audition went well. It’s hard to tell with so few lines. I know that I did the best I could and I made an impression on this casting director. Plus, it was the first time I got to see this particular casting director so that’s awesome too! It’s another industry person who knows who I am and has seen a bit of what I can do.

If I get the job, of course I will share everything on here. But for now, I’m just super happy that I got to spend even a small part of my day doing something I love so much.

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Posted in Acting, Fun Stuff, Work

Tagged acting, audition, script, TV

Table Read (or Spending My Saturday Acting)

Posted on April 23, 2014 | Comments Off

First of all, thank you to everyone who texted, emailed, tweeted, FB messaged, and called me after Keri’s death. I’ve passed on all of your messages to the rest of my family. Writing that post ended up being very therapeutic for me, even though it was tough to write.

But now I want to get on to my regular, happier posts. I know that’s exactly what Keri would want me to do.

Last week, a friend of mine put it out on Facebook that he needed to get some actors together to have a table read for a pilot script that he wrote for a CBS competition.

If you aren’t familiar with the idea of table reads, it’s pretty simple. You have all the actors read their parts of a script while you are all sitting around a table. For a show that is on tv, this is when the writers hear if their lines make sense (or are funny) and the other departments such as costumes or props can make lists of what they will need for that week’s episode.

But for this script, we would each read a few parts so my friend could hear everything out loud and see if he liked how it was going.

We all met at his apartment in the valley and read the script to ourselves before we all got assigned our parts.

It was a sitcom style script and it was really really funny! I don’t want to give a lot away because this is still a work in progress, but I can totally see it as a CBS sitcom on the air.

I got to read a couple of different parts which was a lot of fun. And there was one scene where 2 of the characters I was reading had a conversation so I got to have a funny little moment where I talked with myself.

After the table read was over, we all went over little notes we had about the script. There were a few things that needed clarification and some typos that we noticed, but overall it was an amazing pilot episode.

I’m not sure when the CBS script competition is making their cuts, but I would be shocked if I heard that this didn’t make the next round. And my friend promised that if something comes of this script, he will try to find a way for all of us who helped at the table read to be a part of it.

Even if nothing else comes from this, it was a great opportunity for me. I got to spend a couple of hours acting. I got to read an awesome script and make some character choices. And I got to network with a bunch of new people and reconnect with my friend who I hadn’t seen in years.

Overall, this was an amazing Saturday.

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Posted in Acting, Fun Stuff

Tagged acting, competition, script

Being Typed (or A Fun Actor Activity)

Posted on April 21, 2014 | Comments Off

This past week, I was invited to a Type Party. If you aren’t familiar with a Type Party, it’s something for actors to do to understand what their type (or who they would realistically play) is for film/tv. I had been typed before when The Actors’ Network still had a location, but it had been a long time since I had done it. I had also been typed during a SAG Conservatory event, but since there were so many people at that event and I was one of the last people to go, many people didn’t fully fill out the sheets.

A friend of mine was hosting the party and we were all encouraged to come dressed as you normally would for an audition. So I came in a simple top and jeans, since that’s something I wear a lot for auditions.

I got there on time, but was actually the first one there. Guess not everyone stresses about being on time the same way as I do. Everyone else arrived about 5-10 minutes later. There were about 10 of us there (all women) and we chatted and gossiped a bit before we got started.

I actually didn’t know anybody there except my friend who organized it, but that’s almost better. That way, nobody typing me would be influenced by things they know about me in real life. Everyone’s opinion was just based on superficial things (which is what you want).

The things we wrote down for everyone were things like age range, ethnicity, what jobs you could see the person in, how educated you think they are, celebrity look-a-likes, and any physical or characteristic adjectives you think fit the person.

Most of the things I got were as expected. My age range was between 22-28 (although there was one person who put 32-40). I was given bubbly, enthusiastic, friendly, helpful, and cheerful as some of my adjectives. As far as physical adjectives, they were all what I expected (plus size, full-figured, short), but one person wrote tan and dirty blonde. Maybe the lighting made me look that way? Because I’m not tan at all and I don’t think my hair could be described as dirty blonde (brunette maybe).

Unfortunately, I had to leave early so I wasn’t able to type everyone else, but I’m going to do it for some of them on Facebook. But I did get to take home all of the sheets people wrote things about me on so I could think about new ways to pitch and market myself.

I’m so grateful that a friend of mine organized this. Not only was it a great actor activity that will be super helpful, but I got to meet a ton of new girls that I probably wouldn’t have met without the party!

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Posted in Acting, Fun Stuff

Tagged acting, party, The Actors' Network

Self-Taping At Home (or Auditioning In Yoga Pants)

Posted on April 3, 2014 | 5 comments

I’m continuing to try to find new ways to push my acting career to the next step. Auditions have been slow for me (and the other girls in my type) lately. My agent recently checked in with me and she said that there just isn’t much out there for me. I trust what she’s saying, and it’s a bit frustrating. I know that if I lost all the weight, I would be in more categories (but I’d also be going up against more people).

I am still working on the weight loss, but I’m trying to do things now too. I saw the casting notice for the NBC Diversity Showcase recently and decided to apply for it. Most, if not all, the major tv networks do these showcases to discover new talent. And more specifically more diverse talent. Even though I’m not a minority as far as my ethnicity, being a woman makes me a minority (being overweight does too).

The first step of the application process was very simple. There is a service called Breakdown Services which is one of the main online casting services. The actors version of it is called Actors Access. The audition notice was posted on Actors Access and to apply, you just had to submit your headshot and reel online. The day after I applied, I got an invitation to submit an audition video through Actors Access (I think everyone who applies gets this so I’m pretty sure that I haven’t made any cuts yet).

I was given the chose of a dozen different scenes and had to tape my audition to upload to the service. There are a lot of ways to self-tape (and many places that charge for it), but I figured that I could easily do this at home.

First, I found a friend to be a reader for the other character. My friend Robert was able to do it, and I was very happy about that because he’s a great actor and I trust him to make sure I do my best.

I used my digital camera (not my phone) for the audition and set it up on a tripod. Since I needed the camera to be at eye level and my tripod is only a mini one, we used a step ladder as well.

It was a pretty good system we got worked out for the camera. As far as where I sat, I sat in a chair in front of my entry closet and we hung a blanket up behind me so there was a basic blue background.

I’m sure we could have made it look a lot nicer, but when you are asked to self-tape, the casting directors aren’t looking for something that looks like it was shot in a casting office. A clear and in focus video with good sound quality is most important.

We did a couple of different takes until we both felt like I got a really good cut. Then I uploaded it to the Actors Access website and submitted my audition.

I won’t know for a while if I made the next cut. Self-tape auditions are not due until next week, and then they have to go through them.

But even if I don’t make it to the next round of auditions, at least I tried. And I had a nice afternoon of acting in front of the camera and working on my craft.

I really should do this more often because it was so much fun!

5 Comments

Posted in Acting, Fun Stuff

Tagged acting, audition

The New Gig (or Going From Vacation Mode To Work Mode)

Posted on March 31, 2014 | Comments Off

After taking such a crazy trip, I’m super lucky that I didn’t have to start at my new day job the next day. In fact, the day after getting back from the trip was spent recovering from it.

I had some pretty crazy jet lag (taking a 5 hour nap when I finally got home really didn’t help) and for the first time ever, my feet and ankles swelled up like crazy after being on the plane. Maybe it’s because the guy in the middle seat was a big basketball player and I spent the flight squished in my seat (I balanced one foot on top of the other on the side of the plane because that’s the only room I had). So my Monday was spent with my feet up so the swelling would go down (which it did in about a day).

Tuesday was my first day at the new day job. I’m working as a recruiting assistant for lawyers. Basically, my boss tells me about a job opening that we need to fill and I cold call lawyers to see if any of them meet the requirements and if they do, try to get them to go for an interview. Basically, I’m a headhunter (or at least an assistant headhunter).

My first day was pretty much spent learning about the business and going over legal terms and how law firms work. It’s a lot of totally new information for me to learn about, and I’m still working on feeling confident using legal terms.

All my legal knowledge that I’ve had before has come from film and tv (like watching “Legally Blonde” and “Drop Dead Diva”). Fortunately, it turns out that legal shows are a bit more accurate than medical shows, so my film/tv legal knowledge was actually pretty useful.

My second day was similar to the first except I got to listen in to some phone calls and hear what I’m supposed to do. The company that I’m working for is a husband and wife team (and now me, I guess) so I’m learning from the boss. At the end of my shift that day, I made a few calls on my own.

The third day was all phone calls at their home office. I got more comfortable on the phone and started to get some good information out of people. I’m shocked how easily people will tell you how much they make on a first phone call.

Finally, on Friday this past week, I got to work from home. This is what I was told I would be doing once I was trained, and my new boss decided that we should test it out and see how it goes. While I was nervous to not have the support of the boss sitting right next to me, it was also nice to not have the pressure of having the boss right next to me as well.

Since pretty much my entire shift is spent on the phone, I got my iPhone headphones out and tried to make as many phone calls as I could in my four hour shift.

I think it went really well. I checked in by phone with my boss after I was done, and he was very impressed with what I got done. I’m going to be working from home again this week. We aren’t sure when I will have to go in to work in their home office, but I know that if the search changes, I’ll have to go in to learn about the new search parameters.

I’ve worked from home a bit before, but for some reason this time it was different. I made an effort to make it seem as much like a workplace as possible. I did get dressed (no working in pjs for me) so that helped me feel less casual. Although I did skip shoes, doing my hair, or putting on makeup.

So far, I’m really happy with the progress I’ve made with the new job. I feel like it has the possibility to be a great day job, and my boss and his wife love the idea that I’m an actor.

It’s funny. For a while, even before I was laid off, I put it out in the universe that all I wanted was a job that worked from home, had very flexible hours, and had bosses that were excited that I was an actor not annoyed by it. While I did get exactly what I wanted, I probably should have specified that I wanted to only have to have 1 day job. I’m still going to also have to work part-time at my old workplace (working in the box office), but I think that between my 2 new jobs, I should be ok soon.

Comments Off on The New Gig (or Going From Vacation Mode To Work Mode)

Posted in Acting, Fun Stuff, Work

Tagged acting, job

My Day At WB (or Feeling Like I’ve Never Left)

Posted on March 13, 2014 | 2 comments

Yesterday, I did stand-in work for “Mike and Molly”. If you are unfamiliar with what stand-in work is, basically I stood in for one of the main actors while the crew set up some shots for promos that they will be shooting this week. I was there so the main actor didn’t have to be (I’m sure I’m cheaper too). I had been a stand-in once before for the same actor a couple of years ago, but that was a totally different experience.

Last time, we worked at a photography studio. While that was fun, this time is was even better. We worked on the WB lot (where the show is shot)! And as I’ve mentioned before, I used to be a tour guide at WB so I know the lot very well.

My day started off by getting through the lot security (it was actually very easy this time) and getting a ride over to the soundstage that we were working on. The soundstage was on the opposite end of the studio, so the ride was nice. Once I got there, I signed my contract for the day, found a chair to sit in, and read my book.

The lighting takes a while to get set up. We were there for about 2 hours before I had to do anything. But I just enjoyed sitting there and reading (and getting paid to do that).

The stage looked pretty plain. There’s nothing shooting in there right now, and all they had up was a blue screen (so they can replace the background of the picture with whatever they want).

After being on that stage for a bit, we ended up moving over to another stage because everything was already set up over there. We moved over to stage 24, which is the stage that “Mike and Molly” shoots on. It’s also known as The “Friends” Stage because that is the stage that “Friends” shot on for a majority of their run.

I tried to get a selfie with the sign outside the stage, but the sign is so big so both the sign and I got a bit cropped out of it.

A funny thing happened while we were walking over to the other stage. I saw a bunch of tour guides with their carts driving around the lot. Everyone on the cart was looking at me trying to figure out if I was famous enough to want to take pictures of. Of course, I took a photo of the cart trying to decide if they wanted to take a photo of me.

Inside stage 24, it was set up just as if they were taping the show that day. The other stand-in and I sat up in the audience area while we waited, and for the first time ever in the audience area, I had my phone on me and could take a photo of the view.

It’s not as pretty to look at when there are crew carts in front and when it isn’t lit properly, but it’s still fun.

Before we really did any stand-in work, we had to break for lunch. I walked over to the commissary and ordered a sandwich (the WB commissary is actually very good and not too horribly priced). After I was done eating, I noticed what I thought was the VIP Deluxe tour cart right by the tables. I know that my friend, Dean, is the one who almost always leads those tours, so I waited by the cart to see if Dean came by.

After waiting for a few minutes, out came Dean with his tour group! As soon as I saw him, I interrupted whatever he was telling his tour to tell his guests that they have the best tour guide ever (Dean was the one who trained me when I was a guide). Dean seemed super excited to see me too, and we got to chat for a second before he had to take his group to the next location on the lot.

I spent the rest of my lunch walking around the lot, checking out some of my favorite locations.

This first picture used to be the hospital for “ER”.

And next is Stars Hollow from “Gilmore Girls” (it’s also been a ton of other locations, but that’s what I always think of it as).

My lunch hour came to an end and I walked back to the soundstage. They were finally ready for us to do our stand-in work after lunch. Most of the time was in the living room set, which is right in front of the audience area. So I got to stare at the empty audience bleachers and tried to image what it would be like to have an audience in there and I’m performing.

Before I knew it, my day was done. It was a very easy day and it might not seem like I did a lot, but it helped the crew get almost all the prep work done so that on the shoot day they don’t have to waste the lead actors’ time.

I walked back through the studio one more time to get back to my car, and I headed home.

It was one of the best days I’ve had in a while. I got to meet a ton of really great people and I got to spend my day on one of my absolute favorite lots to be on (it doesn’t hurt that I know that lot so well so I can wander and not get lost).

Hopefully there will be more days like this in the future.

2 Comments

Posted in Acting, Fun Stuff, Work

Tagged acting, Burbank, studio, TV

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