Busy Days and Nights
It feels like I haven’t blogged in forever! And yes, I have been busy, but not only on the acting front. I recently started working for my old employers to help out a new acquisition, which means I currently have less time for artistic endeavours, but it also makes it a lot easier to take classes and advance my career from a financial standpoint. It is temporary, so I should be regaling you with acting news and set tales soon 😉
Although this new job has been keeping me occupied, I did get some fun acting or life events in there. For starters, Rikki and I are officially graduates of Dale Carnegie, with 100% attendance records, as requested by our grandfather. He and my aunt came to our graduation class, as they also graduated from the course years ago. While we were driving home, I got my first taste of having an agent, in the sense that I got feedback from an audition. At first I was a bit sad because I wasn’t expecting a phone call to tell me I didn’t get a part, since I usually just get an email or nothing, but then I realized how awesome it was that he took the time to call me to say he loved my audition, but they were going with someone else. My favorite part of the phone call was probably when he offered feedback, I said I would love some, and he basically told me I did great and it was a really tough decision and there is nothing I could have done differently or better. Slightly paraphrasing there, but it was definitely a confidence boost, and is now my golden standard for being informed that you didn’t get a part!
On the 30th of April, I went to the TV McGill screening of their shorts, which included Nostalgia, that I worked on back in February. Ania and I don’t exactly look our best in it, but it is all for the characters 🙂
I started the new job May 1st, so my days were mostly spent there, but my nights were mine 🙂 I got to see The Other Woman with my aunt who was in town for a few days from Saskatchewan <3, and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 with my brother and his girlfriend. No spoilers, but it was action packed and emotional and you should go see it.
On Friday, I went to the Launch Party for Serpent’s Lullaby, a Patricia Chica movie, with an excellent cast. One of the comments were that it could be turned into a feature, and I definitely agree. It isn’t that the short was missing anything, but it was so well done, and brought to life so beautifully that we wanted to know more about Medusa’s past, and her lover and…I would have watched it for much longer. Congratulations to all involved 🙂
On a personal note, I went to the launch party by my lonesome. I had seen on facebook that there were people I knew who were also going, in addition to the two castmembers I knew, but I figured they would be busy and you can’t really rely on facebook to tell you who will actually attend an event. I got dolled up and arrived what I thought was on time but turned out to be really early, and sat at a table. My goal was to look relaxed and happy, as if I had a bunch of friends on their way, as opposed to letting people see I was feeling totally alone in a corner (the corner was actually right in the middle of the room, on full display). I wasn’t discouraged though, I was optimistic. I smiled at people, and got up and said hi to people, even if I had only met or worked with them once or twice. My positive attitude instead of hiding behind my phone paid off, because I found out the girl beside me who I had assumed was waiting for her boyfriend, was actually flying solo, like me. We struck up a conversation and I was having a great time. I even took the initiative to go after someone and invite them to my table. By the end of the night, I had a new friend at the table beside me, three people at my 2 person table, and some lovely encounters with the stars and director of the short. Overall, I would deem the evening a success 🙂
On Sunday I filmed a tiny snippet for the short I had a meeting for a few weeks ago. How Robert Almost Changed His Life was an interesting and eye-opening experience. I already knew some people on set and had fun with it, but I also learnt some things about me. Which is a very common side effect of acting. I’ll let you know how the revelation plays out in my future acting adventures 😉
Other than an audition this morning and an awesome day with my parents today, that is pretty much it for now. The audition was for a really interesting psychological thriller, and the audition was a cold read, so I didn’t stress out about it. Everything was going great until I started the first line like I knew the whole thing by heart, but I didn’t, which was okay, only I went at it like I did and had to restart. This killed my mojo and other than a part that was supposed to be a voice over, I don’t really think I was up to par with my usual standards. Pehaps I am just self-critical, but I think this time I am just being realistic. Time will tell.
“If I hadn’t been told I was garbage, I wouldn’t have learned how to show people I’m talented. And if everyone had always laughed at my jokes, I wouldn’t have figured out how to be so funny. If they hadn’t told me I was ugly, I never would have searched for my beauty. And if they hadn’t tried to break me down, I wouldn’t know that I’m unbreakable.”
-Gabourey Sidibe
