Friday, September 12, 2008

JERRY SPRINGER ANNOUNCES HIS CANDIDACY FOR PRESIDENT…as a joke during the taping of America’s Got Talent.

The America’s Got Talent taping was pretty cool. I was disappointed that it was a results show, so I didn’t actually get to see the contestants perform. I did, however, get to see Natasha Bedingfield sing. Sshhh! It’s a secret; although it was taped yesterday, it’ll air and look live for an episode next week. She was amazing and her new song, “Angel,” will no doubt be a hit. Jerry Springer was funny and humble with very self deprecating humor. Casting employees specifically placed the audience members. Although I was separated into the “pretty people line” and sat right over David Hasselhoff’s shoulder, my mom said in the shots she saw the audience was dark.

Oh, and here’s my sleazy Perez Hilton style gossip – when the contestants walked onstage the prettiest girl from the Taubl family and Jonathan Burkin, a baton twirler from the Toledo area, were holding hands. Friendly support or budding Hollywood romance? I don’t know, but they both got the boot.

Conveniently, this NBC show is taped just a mile from my apartment on one of the CBS lots. (That happens all the time. Here’s another one – Ghost Whisperer films on the NBC Universal lot, but it’s owned by ABC and airs on CBS.) However, this morning I have to battle the traffic to get into Hollywood to the Paramount lot for a taping of The Doctors. I really hate doing this type of paid audience work, but I just remind myself that if I’m not auditioning or tramming, I may as well make some extra cash.

In other news… I had a horrible stomach thing this week that I’m pretty much recovered from. Now instead of a bloated stomach, it’s my brain that is swollen with frustration and difficult decisions.

Tonight I had a workshop at Universal, which was great. It was with a former actor, turned casting director, turned acting teacher. We did an exercise to help identify our type in order to help us know if we’re correctly representing ourselves and going for the right roles. I am. She also critiqued our headshots, which left me in a bad mood. I know my picture sucks. An agent at a similar workshop told me that a few weeks ago. Here’s the funny part – they both think it looks unprofessional because the background is obviously a backdrop. “It’s obviously taken in a studio,” she said. Hhmmm… someone with a studio and backdrop are unprofessional? They really seem to like outdoor shots with out-of-focus walls or greenery. So I showed her an outdoor shot on my phone taken by a different photographer (who shoots the BenGals). She still didn’t like it. “You look like the prettiest girl in a small town.” Yep…

It’s kind of like when Tyra tells girls on ...Top Model, “You’re pretty, but you don’t look like a model. I’m basically being told, you’re pretty, but your headshot isn’t representing you as a professional actor. It makes me feel like my submissions are a waste time until I get new shots. The silver lining is that I can use my crappy picture as a justification for not getting as many auditions as I’d like to be getting!

I do see and understand what they’re talking about, I just don’t think it’s as horrible as they make it out to be. It doesn’t matter what the background is, it’s a quality issue and the photographers “eye” for theatrical headshots. The only consistent fact about headshots is that they’re subjective! But when credible sources start agreeing that yours suck, it’s time to make some changes. It’s just SO frustrating because I have so many “professional” pictures of myself – none of which work in this town and this industry! What a waste! As a result, I find photo shoots hugely stressful – Which photographer to choose? What to wear? How to do my hair? The awful part is that there’s no guarantee; you pay whether you like the results or not.

Remember that stressful photo shoot that I missed with my crappy agent? They contacted me two weeks ago about rescheduling it. I’m tempted to do it because it would be good experience and free shots, but I feel badly taking advantage of them, since dropping them and getting a better agent is #1 on my to-do list!

*AAHHH – HEAD SPINNING*

I was already stressed today because I had a realization – Thanksgiving. I’d been trying to figure out my December holiday travel and had completely forgotten about Thanksgiving. I have a “free” round trip flight with Frontier for signing up for their credit card that I was planning on using in December. Due to blackout dates, I’d be home for the holidays for about two and a half weeks. I was already worried that was too much time out of LA, then I realized that if I do go home for Thanksgiving too, I’d only be back in LA for two weeks between the trips. That doesn’t seem worth the expense and hassle! On the other hand, I can’t fathom missing Thanksgiving; we celebrate at both my parents and grandparents homes. So do I take a long-ass holiday, using my free ticket to fly home for Thanksgiving and not come back to LA until January 2nd or 3rd?

That would make me feel like a slacker in terms of my career. Although, I’ve heard LA is pretty quiet during the month of December. Then again, I’d pay a whole months rent for a place I didn’t stay! On the other hand if I'm in Ohio the whole month of December I’d be there to celebrate my Mom’s birthday and 5 year anniversary with my guy. Although, I’d have a nervous breakdown if I missed another opportunity, like the PBS callback that I missed when I was home last month. However, if I sit in LA for those two weeks and don’t get an audition or a Universal shift, I’d be so pissed! But what if I book the flight, then our house sells and my man is staying with friends and I’d also have to stay with friends or my parents and annoyingly live out of a suitcase for a month. On the other hand… As you can see, I’m driving myself nuts!

I emailed my acting teacher about the work climate here in December. My beau said that if my coming home for a month gets the house sold quicker, he’s all for it!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey, when you come home for the holidays I would love to at least go out once for a latte' or something...LOL! ;) Also, can you post before a show is aired so we know when to watch? The one I wondered about is the new PH show. Has that aired? I wouldn't watch it otherwise. Thanks! ;)
n.e.w.

Anonymous said...

I still need to write about that one! No, I haven't even seen ads for it's premier, and I was in the finale...

I meet with my acting coach in the morning to talk about goals and future plans and such. I fear that since he didn't email back about my specific travel plans that he's going to tell me in person to not go home for T-day. He really makes you feel guilty about missing ANY opportunity. I know he just wants us to succeed, but it's frustrating and sometime borderline uncompassionate.

He's almost like a sports coach who wants their athlete to only eat, breath and sleep the sport. I get it... but in an industry that is so subjective, emotional and so random-right-place-right-time sometimes you just have to take it a little less seriously and do what's right for all aspects of your life.

Anyway...