Here comes October… :)

Time seems to be going by so quickly this year. It is already October, which means lots of Pumpkin Spice Lattes, and probably the last sunny days of the season. I did pretty good on my September list, so I’ll put a new one for October at the bottom of this post 😉

-Read 5 plays CHECK 🙂

I now know the stories of Lady Windermere’s Fan, Five Women Wearing the Same Dress, The Glass Menagerie, The Children’s Hour and Steel Magnolia’s. Not to mention all of the books I have been reading as well. I get tweets from a guy called ‘Advice for Writers’ who is often saying that if you want to write, you need to read everything. Some people also say that actors should watch as many movies, tv shows and plays as they can. I do know a lot of actors who don’t watch tv at all, but since reading, writing, watching tv and acting are some of my favorite things to do, I will take that advice, and read everything I can get my hands on 🙂

-Call UDA and find out if I am still a member CHECK 🙂

I had sort of been led to believe that I was a UDA (union des artistes) member as a child, but it turns out I was just a stagiaire, the equivalent of an ACTRA apprentice, only you need 30 credits to become a full UDA member, compared to 3 for ACTRA. I only had something like 6 UDA credits, which unfortunately expire. The woman on the phone re-opened my account, and told me I am a permissionaire, which I believe means I am just like every other actor with absolutely no UDA credits, but once I get some, my file is already open, and I already have my member number. I think the best part of this discovery was my modeling file, that my parents had kept in a box in our basement. It is really interesting to see all of my documents and pictures from way back when 🙂

-Learn a monologue

I had a lot of medical scenarios and scenes for class that I had to learn, so the monologue was slightly neglected, but I don’t currently have more than a couple of lines to learn, so I will transfer this to my October list and will get it done within the week!

-Write 20 pages of my book CHECK 🙂

I slightly cheated with this one, as I wrote 20 pages, but divided among a few different stories. My parents recently pointed out, for the millionth time, that I won’t finish anything like this, so I am going to take their advice, work on one thing, and go by page count. The story I am currently going to concentrate on has 50 pages, so my goal will be to have 100 pages by the end of October.

-Set up my website

My workbook website is looking pretty good, I just need to figure out how to transfer it to my domain name, which I know is possible, I am just technically challenged. I also want to find a way to link it to my blog, so I will try to figure this out over the next month.

-Do an Agent Sendout CHECK 🙂

After my blog last week, I sent out my resume and headshot to a selection of agents from the ACTRA approved list. I had a discussion with an agent who decided they weren’t taking on any more actors, but haven’t received any other replies. I talked to  Carolyne about her mailing that she did this week, so I might send out a few more soon, and am considering doing an old-fashioned snail mail sendout, to see if that helps.

I am remaining optimistic about the agents, but at the same time, I am not focusing on it, I am keeping busy. We had a different teacher at Stunt Stage on Friday, a guy with hundreds of credits for stunts on imdb. He actually coordinates stunts, and was so much fun to learn from. To be completely honest, I have been terrified of stunt class. I made excuses in my head for why I should not go, but pushed myself to do it anyways. Afterall, isn’t courage being afraid but doing it anyway? And Eleanor Roosevelt said “Do One Thing every day that scares you”, so my Fridays are covered. Only it wasn’t so terrifying. I am improving, since I no longer make the same mistakes they corrected me for last week, and I am starting to feel safe there, even when jumping/falling off high-ish surfaces. There is hope for me yet 🙂

On Saturday we took our last boat ride of the summer, bringing it back to be stored for the winter. I hardly went on it this summer, which is sad, because I love spending the day just sitting on the boat with my family, eating and drinking and soaking up the sun. At least we have a family trip in January to look forward to 🙂

On Sunday we did the Walk for Heart. My mom and I have been doing it every year with a few other women, but this time my dad and other people came too, so it was some fun exercise for a good cause 🙂

Monday I drove to Ottawa again for some more background work. I really like the cast and a lot of the crew on this set, and every time I go, I meet another really cool extra that I hang out with all day, and then can’t find on facebook. Hopefully I will run into them again somehow!

After hanging up with the woman from Smyth Casting* who gave me my call time on Sunday night, I had received a call from Casting Quarters* about an audition for a commercial. I told her I probably wouldn’t be able to make it, since I had already said I would be on set in Ottawa, but I took the information down and was hoping we could have finished early, but we didn’t. I would have loved to be able to go, but I am going to regard the call as a mini victory, and hope that when they call again, because they will, I will be available and nail the audition 🙂

Yesterday and today I was a Standardized Patient, and I get to go again Friday. I have been thinking of myself as the new girl, with little experience, but today I was singled out as someone who could answer questions because she has done it before. I was surprised, but it was interesting to be an authority figure.

Last night’s class with Suzanna was the audition one. I realize I have been saying this every week, but I don’t feel like I did good at all. I will be watching the scenes this week and seeing if it is my intimidation at being in the advanced class, or if I truly am having a horribly off month. 

As for October, this is what I hope to accomplish:

-Learn the monologue

-Set up my website

-100 pages in book

-Go on an Audition

-Read 5 plays

 

 

“Acting is the greatest answer to my loneliness that I have found.”

-Claire Danes

* Not sure if I have elaborated on these before, but Smyth Casting is a sort of Casting Agency based in Ottawa. It sends out breakdowns for background work, as well as for auditions, to its members. There is a small fee to apply, but they have sent me to set 3 times already, so I believe it is worth it. They are also really nice, in my experience.

Casting Quarters is a Casting Agency in Montreal. They do background and stand-ins, as well as actual roles. It is free to make an online profile on their site, and they will call or email you when you fit the requirements. It is run by Johanne Titley, who posts a  lot of breakdowns on casting workbook as well (you often need an agent to submit for those).

I believe I have mentioned it before, but Casting Workbook is a site every actor in Montreal or Ontario who doesn’t have an agent should definitely sign up for. There are a few things for Vancouver and LA as well, but Toronto, Ontario and Montreal are the most frequent. Most of the roles need to be submitted for by an agent, but there are some that you can submit yourself for, especially when they are looking for something specific, or a stand in.