I Have A Place To Stay! I Have A Place To Stay!

This is what I was singing Monday afternoon when my first choice for a place to stay in Los Angeles confirmed my booking. It is such a relief to know I won’t be homeless once I get there. Plus, it is walking distance from my class, which means I won’t have to get a car, at least not for December.

Monday morning, I caved and signed up for casting workbook, since everyone I know who is on it seems to be getting a lot more auditions than I do. I still haven’t entirely figured it all out yet, but this weekend I plan on watching the tutorial. One thing they have that is really cool, is that every actor who doesn’t have an agent is put into a special category or something so that agents could potentially peruse their resumes and contact them. I’m not holding my breath, and am putting more faith in the sendout I plan on doing before leaving the country, but it definitely can’t hurt. Neither can the personal website you get when you sign up. I’ll have to check it out this weekend.

I will also be watching the Backstage tutorial. I don’t think they really have auditions in Montreal in Backstage, but it seems to be a really good tool, especially for when I get to California. They already send me daily emails that I find really interesting, so the online and print subscriptions must be like that, only better!

I have been spending a lot of time this week researching headshot photographers. I was right in thinking you should bring headshots with you to actorfest, as there as casting directors who will review them and tell you if they are good, or what to do to make them better. There are also drop boxes where you can put your headshot and resume for the casting directors to consider you for future roles, and casting calls…Actorfest seems to be a really jam-packed day where headshots and resumes are mandatory in large quantities. Since the ISP with Margie Haber ends on December 14th and Actorfest is on the 15th, that means I will have to get my headshots before ISP starts, hence the research. I have a two day window in which to get them done, a weekend that falls right after my parents leave, meaning I will have spent the entire week before enjoying LA’s fine cuisine, including In-N-Out Burger and the likes. Luckily our hotel has a fitness center and a pool 🙂

I think I have figured out which photographer I want to go with, but I will still be doing a little more research. Just for fun, I also looked up the guy who did my headshots last time, and found…

It’s me!

Monday night at improv, the rest of my class decided we would be meeting on Sunday as well, to put all of our learning into practice. Sunday is Thanksgiving at my grandmother’s and I would normally rather stay home, but I really enjoy improv and all my classmates, so I will be there. Especially since I can’t make it to the Halloween party one of the girls invited me to. I would have loved to be able to go, but I am at the camping convention, which is sad, but the convention will be a party as well.

I am now in the Wednesday class with Suzanna, so I didn’t know any of the people there, but they seem really nice, and I’m sure by the end of the month I will be reluctant to change back to Thursdays (if I can).  My scene is with a guy named Eric. It is from Cheers, between Sam and Diane. They really want to be with each other, but neither is willing to admit it. It’s really fun, and I can’t wait to do it off book.

I forgot to mention that last week, in addition to doing my audition scene in class, I was also the reader for another scene, which was really fun. I am thinking of maybe getting an internship when I go back to LA in January, and it might be fun to be a reader, if that’s possible.  I also watched the DVD of my audition scene, and think I did really good in the second one, after I figured out where I was supposed to be looking and stuff. I still find it looks like I am acting though, not really living it, which I will work on.

Another thing that I find really awesome about this week is that I have been reading a blog, http://www.starsintheeyesblog.com/ which is amazing, about an actress who is trying to get a Visa to act in LA, just like I will. I really enjoy it and recently decided to comment on one of her posts. It asks for your name, email address and website, so I put my blog, just for fun. Now, ever since I did that, I have been getting views from Spain, Norway and Ukraine, in addition to Canada and the States. So, if you are here because of Shanice’s incredible blog, welcome! If you just stumbled onto it or are one of my actual friends, I appreciate your viewship as well!

I still have a list of things to do this week, but now I can also add finding myself a photographer, and learning my lines for my scene At The Studio.

Also, I forgot to mention, the pictures from my scene (the one from last week’s post, and the one under this) were taken by Luisa Muhr.