A Time for Firsts
I believe I mentionned that Carolyne and I decided this would be our year, and things are looking good 🙂
Last Thursday after I finished work, Carolyne and I met up for some menchies and talking about our careers. However, we had a movie to get to, so we definitely need to meet again as soon as somebody stops booking so much work 😉 The movie we went to see was X Men Days of Future Past. Most Montrealers, especially those in the acting industry, know that the movie was filmed here last summer. I was lucky enough to get to spend a bunch of days on set, just absorbing everything. Getting to see what it is like on a huge production like that was amazing. You only see me for half a second, and everyone I went to see it with missed me, but the experience of being on set was incredible and I loved it. It was my first time seeing myself in an actual blockbuster movie, although hopefully it will be far from the last 🙂
The next morning, I had an audition at an actual casting agency. I have been auditioning, but not so much for casting agents, or at casting agencies. It was a cold read, like my last somewhat failed audition, but I didn’t dwell on that, I remembered everything I learnt in LA from Margie and Tony. I was calmly waiting to be called in while the casting associate called people to cancel their auditions, saying some project didn’t get its funding. I felt so bad for them, not realizing that once I got into the room, that was the first thing the Director told me. The project I was auditioning for was the one that was being cancelled. The Director basically told me that the project was most likely dead, but since I was here, he would audition me. My first thought was that this was a total waste of time and they should have just told me to go home. But then I remembered what so many casting directors and Backstage articles had told me. The point isn’t to win the role, it is to win the room. So, I put the knowledge that this project would never happen aside, and just took advantage of the opportunity to act. I did the cold read really well if I do say so myself, then did an improv exercise, which they seemed to really enjoy. Overall, if you disregard the parking ticket I had when I got out, I would call the audition a success. The project will most likely never be made, and most of the other auditions were cancelled, but I think I would have gotten the part. Regardless of the role though, I definitely made a good impression on everyone in the room that day 🙂
On Saturday some plans fell through, so my mom and I spent the afternoon at the spa. This is what it looked like when you drive up, but luckily, it was not just a barn, and I actually had quite the incredible, relaxing time with some excellent company. We definitely deserved it after all of our hard work, and the MS Walk we did on Sunday before going to my grandparents’ for the first swim of the season 🙂
Last Monday, I finally made it to the Booze and Schmooze event. Carolyne had an early call time and couldn’t make it, but I decided to do something that scares me and went by myself. I put enough money in the parking meter for an hour, and figured I could make up an excuse to leave once the hour was up. As soon as I got there, I signed in, put the little name tag on, and saw that everyone else was already in little groups. I was psyching myself up to go and either join one or pounce on someone who was alone when I spotted someone I knew 🙂 I know the point of these things is to meet new people, but I was taking baby steps. We went to a table and he told me about the projects he had planned for this summer, we talked about my scripts I have been writing…And new people did come and join us, but since I wasn’t alone, I wasn’t so nervous, and could actually talk to them. When I finally checked my phone for the time, I was a minute over what I had paid for in parking, but my friend was giving his elevator pitch. (What you would say to someone like Steven Spielberg if you happened to ride an elevator with them. You have 30 seconds to make your case and pique their interest) I had the choice to either interrupt him to say goodbye, run off without a word to anybody, or pay for some more time with the app on my phone. I considered all 3, but the answer was pretty obvious, so I paid for some more time, and ended up staying almost 3 hours. I did get to meet some new people and handed out a few business cards, but I mostly cultivated existing relationships, which I think is equally important. I am on the list of two very promising filmmakers for all of their future projects thanks to an audition I gave last year, and another is still telling people about my scream from Lonely Ninja. Plus, bonus points because when I go next month, even if no one comes with me, I will know or will have seen a bunch of the people this time 🙂
On Tuesday I had my lines down, the outfit chosen, found the best angle to film from and was ready for my first ever skype audition. When the person was offline at our designated time of 7, I decided to take advantage of it and really get into the proper mindset of loss, to inhabit the character and ground myself. Ten minutes later, I decided I would give them until 7:30, then figure they forgot about it. At 7:30, I decided to give them an extra 5 minutes before coming to the conclusion that the audition was not going to happen. I emailed them to reschedule but didn’t change or anything until 8:30 when I figured it truly wasn’t happening. He eventually wrote back and apologized for having forgotten, which I can definitely understand, it happens. But at the same time, this sort of thing has been happening to me a lot lately. I have been debating the pros and cons of becoming ACTRA background, since I didn’t want to give up the possibility of all of these non-union projects, since I have had such awesome opportunities on them. But lately, I have been left without a calltime, waited hours for people to show up to a shoot, had a project be cancelled, gotten stood up on skype. I am either having terrible luck, or it is the universe telling me that it is time to go union, even if it means missing out.
That being said, on Friday I did a self-tape with both of my parents, a family affair, which earned me a callback less than an hour after I sent it in. So, for the time being, I will keep auditioning and go to the callbacks, for the experience and because I do love acting and being on set, even if it isn’t perfect. But there are some very interesting developments happening in the next few weeks and there will be some big changes 🙂
To finish off, just wanted to say that last night, my beautiful cousin was amazing in her dance show, making me wish I were as graceful as her <3
"Try to be a rainbow in someone's cloud."
-Maya Angelou
Also, if you happen to be a fan of punk music, there is a moving being filmed this summer, with a big announcement coming tomorrow. Check it out 🙂
https://www.facebook.com/PUNKNOIR
