Tag Archives: The Actors’ Network

Being Typed (or A Fun Actor Activity)

Posted on April 21, 2014 | Comments Off on Being Typed (or A Fun Actor Activity)

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

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My Love Letter To The Actors’ Network (or Sorry Kevin, I Couldn’t Keep It Under 500 Words)

Posted on June 20, 2013 | Comments Off on My Love Letter To The Actors’ Network (or Sorry Kevin, I Couldn’t Keep It Under 500 Words)

Today, The Actors’ Network will be closing their studio doors. TAN (as we members like to call it) has been around since 1991, and I’ve been a member since 2006. Kevin E. West, president and founder of TAN, asked the members to share a favorite story of something that happened at TAN to put on their blog. It was requested that our posts not be more than 500 words. I wanted to share some things, but couldn’t keep it under the word limit, so I’m putting it all out here.

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I first heard about TAN in 2004. I was at Loyola Marymount University in my first semester of my senior year (I finished early so this was during the spring semester). I took a theater class called Performance Training 4 (I believe it now is called Career Development). This class was taught by a manager and his goal for the class was to prepare us for the real world of acting. So he took us all around town so we could meet casting directors, agents, managers, photographers, and actor organizations. TAN was one of the places that we went to, and I remember being very impressed by it from the first moment. However, after I graduated, I tried to have a “real” job. It wasn’t until I was laid off in 2006 that I decided to pursue my dream for real. And one of the first places I went to was TAN. I became a member in October 2006.

One of the first things I attended at TAN ended up changing my life. This is a long story, so sorry in advance.

It was in November or December of 2006. An editor from Backstage West was doing a focus group at TAN. Initially, I wasn’t going to go, but Kevin sent out an email asking for more people to attend. Since I wasn’t busy that day, I went. While in the focus group, a few of us suggested that they follow around actors that are trying to make it so they can share their stories with everyone else. While we loved reading about actors who are successful, they weren’t relatable. And the editors decided to follow me and four other actors around for a year and write monthly updates on what we had accomplished.

Backstage January Cover

That’s me in the blue on the front of the cover looking super short (and much thinner). I wasn’t paid for the articles I wrote, however I did get a free subscription to the magazine. And in August of 2007, I saw an ad for Halloween Horror Nights auditions in one of those Backstage Wests. I went to the audition, booked it, and had an amazing time. I met some truly amazing people including one guy named Todd. He mentioned he had a great agent and that I should submit myself for representation. I did, and got a meeting. I brought my articles from the past year to that meeting, and based on those (and a great referral from my friend Todd), that agent decided to represent me. And I’m still with that agent (and super happy with her and the team that she has created).

I know it’s a long path, but if I never joined TAN, I wouldn’t have been in that focus group, I wouldn’t have been featured in Backstage West, I wouldn’t have seen the ad for Halloween Horror Nights, never would have met Todd, and I doubt that I would have met my agent or would have been offered representation. This is all due to TAN.

I’ve also met so many amazing people at TAN. Some of my best friends are people who I’ve met in various lectures there. I’ve also met some amazing casting directors there. And I know for a fact that there is one casting director who cast me because of seeing me at TAN and at least two casting directors who have brought me in for auditions because of TAN.

I’ve learned amazing things at TAN as well. My tricks for watching everything on TV or organizing my contacts and calendar come from things that I learned from Kevin.

And over the past 7 years, there have been times where I questioned if I was doing the right thing. I felt like I was right in my heart, but sometimes my head liked to disagree. And all I had to do was go to TAN and hear some great motivation from Kevin or one of the amazing guests and I felt like I could take on the world.

Outside of TAN, I have to say that Kevin has been a wonderful supporter of me. He made a quick appearance in the twitter documentary that I produced. He also was a guest on Inside Acting Podcast (I’m the production coordinator for the podcast). He has always cheered for me for my victories. And yesterday, when I went to say goodbye to the studio, he told me how much he enjoyed that I did 5Ks. I had no idea that he knew, but again, I love the support.

I’m sad that something that has been such an amazing part of my life is closing. It won’t be gone forever as the membership is now going to be 100% online with webinars, but I will miss going to the studio, seeing my friends, and leaving with amazing information.

So, thank you Kevin for creating such an incredible place. I’m so happy for you that you are going to be able to focus more on your acting career. After running TAN for 22 years, you deserve it! I hope you know how much TAN has meant to me. I know that I haven’t attended events lately as much as I would have liked (hazards of having an evening thrival job), but I still use information that I got from you from 2006. I know that I would not be the actress that I am today without TAN. It has taught me, motivated me, and made me a businesswoman instead of only an artist. I will forever be grateful for everything that you have done for me.

And I’m putting in the request again, Kevin, that we need to have the Holiday party still (or some other annual TAN gathering). That way, I’ll know that I will at least get to see you once a year.

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Posted in Acting, Celebrations, Fun Stuff, Tough Stuff

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Getting Mentored (or Wanting to Have Positivity Around Me)

Posted on November 29, 2012 | 1 comment

I joined Women in Film last year during one of their membership drives. Honestly, when I joined, I wasn’t sure what I wanted out of the membership. At the time, I was at an old job where I only worked Monday-Wednesday, so I had time to attend a couple of events. But what sparked my interest the most was their mentoring program.

The mentoring program then was a one on one program where everyone got matched up with someone in the industry. They might not have been in the same part of the industry as you, but that’s a good thing in my mind. A bunch of my friends and I all applied for the program in January. And then we waited.

Out of the 6 friends that I know who applied, only 1 got a mentor. The rest of us didn’t hear anything.

Well, it turns out, way more people applied this year than expected, so they changed up the program for the future. Now, we are going to be in mentoring circles with 9 or 10 mentees and 1 mentor.

Personally, I’m super excited about the change. I think that it will be amazing.

Since there were so many of us who applied in January who didn’t get matched, Women in Film hosted a get together for us this week. It was a little party to say thank you for being patient and an opportunity to mingle with other mentees and some of the mentors.

This event was exactly what I needed. There are far too many negative people in this industry. People try to put you down or make you feel less so that they feel more. There are so many scams out there that seem legitimate. But this event was all positive people who just want to help look out for one another and make sure that we all can succeed together.

There are very few industry places where I feel this much positivity. Being a member of The Actors’ Network is like this too (if you aren’t a member of that organization yet and want to check it out, there are 2 free orientations left this year). I feel like I need to be a more active participant with this positive groups to outweigh all the negativity out there. It’s tough with the job right now. I need to find a way to balance working so late 3 nights a week and trying to attend events. But whenever I do make it, I feel like I’m recharging my batteries and I’m ready to go out and battle whatever I encounter out there.

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