Submissions, Screenings and Imdb :)

Hope everyone is recovering nicely from Thanksgiving feasts, or just the weekend if you don’t live in the States. I spent the past few days in Lake George, which was one step closer to experiencing a real American Thanksgiving, but I would like to one day spend it in a home, cooking and watching football with friends and family, not eating with my parents in a Denny’s. Even so, we had an amazing time, but this post is mostly about all the really cool things that happened last Wednesday after I finished the post.

First of all, once I was done blogging, I rewatched all of the takes Suzanna shot for the audition. Most of them were dismissed based on little things like a delay before a line, cringing funnily, or looking away and stuff. I brought my top 10 or so to my mom, so we could go over them and decide which one was best. Luckily, we both chose the same one, which we rewatched again just to make sure it didn’t have some flaw we missed. Submitting it was relatively easy, but I did have to combine two videos and change the format, which led to me discovering that my dad has this video editing program that makes the task of making myself a demo reel so much less daunting!

I have already mentioned that the role is a long shot, but I am still really excited, even if nothing happens, because I tried, I am putting myself out there, and every no is theoretically bringing me closer to a yes. The deadline for submissions is this week, and I don’t know if they will email me to let me know either way, but I do know the shooting dates for the project, and will be able to see who gets cast, whether they are an established actor or just starting out…If the role goes to someone famous, I will assume I never had a shot, and if it goes to someone totally new, who simply sent in a submission, then my faith will be renewed, that these online submissions for big casting calls do work, and you just need to stand out above the rest 😉

As I also mentioned in my post, I had a short film screening to go to Wednesday night. I have always been upfront about the fact that I am a shy and introverted person, so even though I am trying to be more outgoing and whatnot, my first instinct when faced with going out to Montreal for something that starts at 8 pm without really knowing anyone there is to stay home. I spent the day making all kinds of excuses about the weather and tried to convince myself it was perfectly reasonable for me not to go. Unfortunately, it seemed to me at the time, I knew that the excuses were just that, excuses, and that I really should go mingle with my peers, so I decided to look up some of the companies whose films would be shown. I typed Glockbuster Films into imdb, not really expecting to find much, since they hadn’t been there last time I checked, but their name came up. I clicked to see what credits they had, and found one for “M is for Mien” the short that I was in. The anticipation was building as I scrolled through the cast and discovered….THAT I HAVE AN IMDB PAGE!

I don’t know about you, but as an aspiring actress who knows way more than she should about actors and prominent people in the entertainment industry, imdb is a site I use multiple times every single day. In my mind, having an imdb page and becoming a member of a union are probably the most important steps towards becoming a legitimate actress. I am planning on it being the first of many, but as soon as I saw this, even with people agreeing that the weather was bad and I shouldn’t go, I knew that I had to, because even if it weren’t for all the reasons I had before, I owed them and the short, and will be forever grateful for it giving me my first credit on imdb. I had hoped this would happen in 2014, when the Dark Shack would be released, but Christmas came early, and now I have to get imdb pro so I can get some pictures and my resume on the site, then I will share it with all of you!

As for the screening, I was reminded of my lack of networking skills, but I still had some small victories of my own. While I would have liked to sit in a corner and read a book on my phone while pretending to be emailing or something, I instead put my coat down and went to talk to the director of the short, and got introduced to someone new. I also had an insightful and lengthy conversation with the lead actor from the short, although he was the one who approached me. We have the same feelings on auditions and cold reads, and discussed classes and my blog, which he said he likes, and commended me on all my obsessive planning and the work I put in to make this dream happen. It means so much to be that people read this blog, that they like it and care about my journey. And I love being able to share knowledge or ask questions about the business, since everyone’s experiences are different. Just talking to him made the night worth it.

The shorts were interesting, to say the least, and when ours came on I scrambled to get that pic for this post, but once I put my phone down, the hugeness of the moment hit me. I was currently sitting in a room with a bunch of people, 99% of them strangers, staring up at a screen that was showing a short that I was in. I saw myself on a big screen. I was kind of mindblown, and so excited for what the rest of my life has in store 🙂

All in all, it was a very good, and productive day. I started making my goals for 2014, re-evaluated what I have left for this year, and made an attempt at networking, which will be a lot better next time. I left after our short, which I realize was a stupid move, because there weren’t that many left to see, and the short would have been the perfect ice breaker to talk to all of the people around me that I was failing to interact with. Also, I need to stop being afraid of just going up to a person and striking up a conversation, even if I have nothing to say.

To top the day off, I got home to a message from a friend, suggesting I send my materials to a woman casting her next short film. It was so touching that he thought of me, so I thanked him, emailed her, and have another self-tape to do, in addition to the callback that I mentioned weeks ago, which I heard back from this weekend.

Sometimes everything kind of falls into place, and you get to look at the world with a renewed optimism and a firm belief that it will all work out in the end 😉

“I live by ‘Go big or go home’. That’s with everything. It’s like either commit and go for it or don’t do it at all. I apply that to everything. I apply that to relationships, I apply that to like sports, I apply that to everything. That’s what I live by. That’s how I like it.”

-Paul Walker