I’m a Writer!!!

Perhaps the title is misleading, because I have spent so much time telling you about all of the writing I have been doing, with the Nano challenges, and I have actually been writing stories ever since I learnt how to write. But this time I actually got credited as a writer. Co-writer to be specific, on a short where I came up with my own interview questions. The entire experience has been amazing so far, from the day we filmed, this credit, the short being accepted at a festival, and me getting to work on another project with the creator…I was really lucky to end up on their team 🙂

In other news, Tuesday night’s acting class was referred to by some as The Amanda Show, because I had 3 of the 4 scenes that were being done, and ended up being the reader for one of the two audition scenes. I was definitely a busy bee 🙂

My first scene was as Rose for In Her Shoes. Suzanna usually has me playing the younger sibling who needs to be sheltered and taken care of, so it was nice to play the big sister, since that is what I am in real life. It was a really interesting scene, since we are telling a story to another person, finishing each other’s sentences, and recounting a traumatic event from our childhood. My note was to see the horrible fight and not just talk about it, which I really think I got. I really enjoyed doing the scene, and love the way it turned out!

Next was Barb, Erica’s mother in Being Erica. I think I could have gone further and raised my stakes, but it was also a whole lot better from when we did it as a cold read on the first class of the month. I didn’t have to remember the weird science fiction circumstances of Erica being sent back in time to see her mother as a teenager, I just had to imagine what it would be like as a pregnant teen in the 60s, when it was definitely not socially acceptable. I got a lot of the things I was trying for, but still think I could have gone a lot deeper.

Finally, I played Thelma in a scene from Thelma and Louise that I had done before, which is why Suzanna asked me to do it, but I had actually been Louise last time, so it was still an interesting challenge. The first few takes I was mostly focusing on how scared and lost I would be, but for the last take, Suzanna suggested that I snap back at her, and sort of stand up for myself and get angry, which made it my favorite of our 3 takes 🙂

On an unrelated note, after discussing my lack of auditioning for the parts I get, I decided to check out my booking rate for 2015. It is really odd, because I have way less auditions than last year, but I have booked more. As I mentioned in my last post, it turns out that most of the things I am filming don’t come from auditions, they come from previously working with someone. This year, I have been on 2 auditions and sent in 5 self tapes. I will also count an audition from last year, because we are filming it this fall. That makes 8 auditions. Compare that to 9 things I have booked this year (plus one I got before being recast). This would give me an awesome booking rate, except there are only 2 of those auditions that led to roles. I feel like there will be a drastic shift once I join ACTRA and am no longer working with the same people, but for now, I really enjoy getting to work with people who have worked with me before and decided it was something they wanted to do again 😉

“Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.”

-Maya Angelou