Shooting Muted was the highlight of my career up to this point!
More like a chair read since there was no table. :-)
We started off with a table read a few days before the shoot and just hearing the words I've written and toiled over for so long come to life almost brought tears to my eyes. *I said almost. I sucked it up!
Chandra Wilson (aka Dr. Bailey from Grey's Anatomy - YES AS A HUGE GA FAN I FREAKED OUT) played my mother and Malcolm-Jamal Warner played my father. Getting Malcolm on board was an unexpected treat that was the icing on the cake. :-)
Tara Tomicevic (Sascha) and Daniele Watts (Crystal)
Jorge-Luis Pallo (Det. Moreno) & Ross McCall (Det. Fitzhugh)
All of the actors were fantastic and getting to act alongside Chandra, especially in some of the heavier scenes, was such a gift. It was like taking a master class right there on set so I tried to soak in every moment.
Checking constant emails when not shooting
Having to produce and act at the same time was not without its challenges. There were some small fires to put out and some emotional scenes that the baby was NOT happy about (seriously my stomach was rumbling for about 2 hours afterward) but thankfully we weren't shut down, our equipment didn't malfunction, no one was injured and the baby is still healthy so all in all I'd say it was a pretty successful shoot.
Baby bump!
Our crew was AWESOME!!!! Talented, smart, hard working with positive attitudes all the while. I'd hire the majority of them again in a heartbeat and hope to work with them on other projects in the near future. And Rachel Goldberg, our fearless leader, made everything feel easy. As an actor you hope to work with a director who will give you the freedom to make your own choices while still executing their vision and she did exactly that. She may not be well known now but I guarantee she will be pretty soon. She's absolutely a filmmaker to keep your eye on.
I'm happy and relieved that the shoot is over and that we can start to have fun in post but a part of me didn't want it to end. :-( I so wish I could do this (act on a professional set) every week like a "real" career. One day. One day soon.
Day 239: Wrote a procedural - CSI, Criminal Minds, Law & Order type scene for Yvonne and I and I love it. Now we have to find a place for us to shoot and someone willing to shoot & edit it for a free lunch or a low cost.
Day 240: Casting Internship, sent an eblast of DWP updates to hundreds of real wedding planners as well as family/friends/colleagues and mailed the From The Heart proposal.
Day 241: Wine with Greg & Lex which ended up being a 4 hour conversation. Between the wine and the time, I had to completely give up on going into work but it was so worth it!
Day 242: Documentary meeting. There have been lots of rumors regarding the possible settlement in the Mitrice Richardson case. Though any settlement will probably hinder some of our film efforts, it was nice to learn what is fact and what is fiction from her mother.
Day 243: Rewrites- edited 2 scenes in episode 7 of DWP.
Day 244: Worked on episode 8 of DWP. Added one scene and rewrote an outline for the remaining scenes of this episode.
Day 245: Watched another interesting documentary: Hot Coffee. Remember that multi-million dollar lawsuit some lady won against McDonald's after she spilled coffee on herself? Yeah, this film is about that. It's all about tort reform and it was very enlightening.
Day 181: Watched two documentaries in ESPN's 30 for 30 series.
One was the story of Len Bias, the young basketball player who died one night after trying cocaine while celebrating being drafted into the NBA. Such a tragic story that holds so many lessons for today's youth, really for all of us, the main one being that you don't always get a second chance when you make a bad decision. On a side note, I remember my grandma warning me about him when I was younger and she's soooo not into basketball- that's how much of an impact his story had when he died.
The other documentary, The Two Escobars, was absolutely fascinating! As someone who has always been drawn to the incredible rise and inevitable fall of mobsters, this film held my complete attention from beginning to end. It tells the tale of both Pablo Escobar, the richest gangster ever and Andres Escobar, the compassionate soccer player, both from Columbia and how their lives intertwined. I love the fact that it showed both sides of Pablo, the humanitarian who helped the impoverished people of Columbia, as well as the inhumane crime boss who's responsible for thousands of deaths. I'm not a soccer fan so I'd never heard of Andres but I won't ever forget his story now that I've seen this film. If you have cable you can check it out on On Demand for free right now, otherwise it may be on Netflix.
"Don't hate the actor, hate the scene." - Stephen's words to me as I grumbled loudly when he tried to watch Honey starring Jessica Alba. I've yet to watch the entire film and doubt I ever will.
Day 140: Saw Gypsy performed by members of West Coast Ensemble Theatre. I wasn't familiar with this musical before, though I did know Bette Midler was in the movie, so the story was completely new to me. I went with Stephen and we both had a nice time. The entire cast did a great job but the standout to me was Stephanie Wall who plays Louise.
Day 141: Watched Blue Valentine- a heartbreakingly beautiful movie about the beginning and end of a relationship.
Day 142: Had our first production meeting with the main crew for the documentary. 4 hours later we had to call it a night after a successful brainstorming session. We'll probably hold these once a month.
Day 127: Watched The King's Speech. I still prefer The Social Network to it but it is definitely a beautiful story and the performances are rich and well worth watching.
Day 126: Watched a must-see documentary called Waiting For Superman. It's a peek into our broken public school system and into a teachers union that seems to be doing far more harm to our children than good. As a parent and as a former teacher of one year {I coudn't do it ya'll!}, it was pretty deplorable to see how many of our kids are being given a subpar education while their ineffective teachers are protected from the threat of losing their jobs.
Now don't get me wrong, I understand that teaching is one of the most difficult careers you can have. Both of my grandmothers were teachers, many of my close friends in TX are teachers and let's be real, when you have no parental support it's incredibly difficult to really get through to certain students. So I'm not naive in thinking that better teachers are the only solution but I certainly think it's a big part of it. I know the teachers who impacted me the most were the ones who truly cared about whether or not I was learning, growing, grasping the concepts they were trying to convey and hopefully enjoying the process. I don't want to give the film away but I will say that I love Michelle Rhee's stance towards the end of the film. Whether you have children of your own or not, this is still a film I'd highly recommend you take the time to rent {we got it for $1 at the Redbox} as the future of our nation rests in the hands of our chidren- most of whom are receiving public education.
Here's the trailer... Email subscribers can view it here.
Day 104: Stapled & glued resumes to 35 headshots. Doesn't sound like much fun and it wasn't but it's necessary if I don't want to have to keep doing it one by one every time I get an audition or want to do a mailing. Since I watched the movie Lottery Ticket while doing it, it wasn't so bad.
Day 105: Today I didn't do anything acting related but what I did do was feed the homeless at the New Image Shelter near downtown. Man it's amazing how spending just a few hours out of your day at a place like this can remind you of all the blessings you really have. Lately I've been extremely frustrated since I haven't found the right car that's within our small budget and it's caused me to be pissy at times. But going to this shelter today makes you forget about all of that and forces you to be grateful for all of the MANY things that we take advantage of each day. I have clean water, food to eat, a comfortable bed to sleep in, a roof over my head and transportation in the form of my husband's car to get to where I need to go. This was exactly where I needed to be today to get my mind right.
Day 98: Watched a screener for the documentary "Forgiveness: A Time to Love and A Time to Hate" which will be airing on PBS April 17th & 24th. I found it to be very engaging and as a Christian who believes in forgiveness in all circumstances {as Christ forgives us}, it definitely made me wonder how I'd be able to forgive people who've committed atrocious acts of evil such as some of the ones depicted in the film. That kind of forgiveness, I believe, can only come with God's help. Well worth watching if you get a chance.
Day 99: Contacted potential sponsors for the DWP screening + fundraiser. I have interest from a few vendors but I need to find a location first before they will commit to participating. I also added my reel to my Actors Access page.
Day 100: Met with the director of the documentary to kind of get to know him better and find out why he's so interested in telling this story. We discussed the direction we want to take this in and I think our vastly differing backgrounds will provide a well-rounded perspective as we shape this film. We've decided to meet every Tuesday from now on.
Day 94: Met with the family of the young woman I want to do a documentary about. This meeting went very well and we almost made it through without any tears. Turns out they are already working on a documentary that is in it's infancy stage and if they decide to move forward with me then I will be collaborating with the team they already have in place. I'll be meeting with them again later this week.
Day 95: Mailed my headshot & resume along with a cover letter to 7 managers.
Day 96: Signed with Mavrick Artists Agency! I officially have commercial and print representation now. Another goal I get to cross off my list. :-) Afterwards, I had my second documentary meeting today. What was supposed to be a 1 hour meeting turned into 4 hours in the blink of an eye. Though I still need to sign paperwork to make it official, I've been verbally invited to join the production of this film. Words cannot even begin to express how thankful/excited/fired-up I am to be a part of this!!!
Day 97: Watched the documentary You Saved Me about black marriage and its' benefits. It provided a great launching pad for discussion with the ladies that I watched it with but unfortunately it felt like it was one-dimensional and lacked varying perspectives.
Day 93: Mailed my headshot to the casting directors of the following TV shows...
Law & Order: Los Angeles
Grey's Anatomy
Drop Dead Diva*
Pretty Little Liars
True Blood
House of Payne*
Single Ladies*
Vampire Diaries*
The Young & The Restless
And the following films...
Good Deeds
Untitled Tupac Shakur Project*
American Reunion: American Pie 4*
Soul Ties
* indicates it shoots in Atlanta
Later in the day I went to the CBS Radford studio to support my friends screening. Lex {whom I often discuss on this blog} was the cinematographer of a very cute short film called Brownie Points. Jenn Page directed it and Sheila Daley starred. Another film that screened was a beautifully touching short called A Note to Etienne that Allison Vanore produced. Congrats all around guys! Very well done.
We arrived on set {Biola University Library} at 8am for a 3 hour rehearsal. I'd already met my co-star Kelicia Meadows since we were put up in a hotel room together the night before and was looking forward to meeting the other two actors in the film. Our Director, Mel Turner, introduced us to Lane Hillman who played the lead role of Ben and it was then we were told the other supporting actor wouldn't be available until it was time to shoot later that day. No worries, he had a stand-in to take his place so rehearsals began without a hitch.
Around 11am we broke for lunch and were treated to Claim Jumper {OMG~their portions are huge!} and then went back to the hotel to get some rest before the shoot. Much too soon it was time to wake up from my glorious nap and get this show on the road. I became the designated driver to set and although I had driven there that morning, I somehow missed my turn and took us outta the way for about 15 minutes which meant we were late thanks to me. Sorry!
{Volunteers & Crew}
Once we arrived, the crew began setting up all of the cameras, lights & mics while we changed into wardrobe and got our faces put on.
{Right after "Hair & Makeup"}
Then came time for soundcheck, a few still shots and we were ready to roll. But before we shot anything we opened with a word of prayer, itis a Christian film after all. :-)
We didn't actually begin shooting until around 7:30pm and from there it was non-stop. When we weren't actually in a scene, we were rehearsing our scenes to come. It was a looooong night but we were comfortable, well-fed, and {for the most part} working with other professionals. *There was a slight issue with the other unnamed actor breaking character time & time again. While it was funny at first, the laughter quickly turned to irritation and he realized he needed to focus so he asked me to run lines with him privately until he got his distractions outta his system. By the end of the night he did what he had to do, along with the rest of us, in order for the director to get a good shot.
Around 5:15am it was a wrap so we exchanged contact info with each other and headed back to the hotel to get some sleep before checkout. The director was even nice enough to give all his actors a $75 Visa Giftcard, an unexpected treat which has been completely used up to fill up my gas tank, thanks Mel!
All in all, The Dating Dilemma was a great shoot and I hope to get a chance to work with most of them again.
Last night's callback was a SUCCESS- I booked the part! I will be playing the role of Shay, a high school firecracker who doesn't trust boys in any way, shape or form. I'm not gonna name names but I think I have the perfect muse to draw inspiration from. :-)
"The Dating Dilemma" is a Christian film that explores dating with a purpose {that purpose being to find a spouse} and encourages teens/young adults to remain in platonic relationships until they're ready for marriage. We even received a form from the director saying this film is being made to glorify God so there is to be no alcohol, drugs or profanity on set. Suffice it to say, I'm sure I'll have a great time.
I'm sooooo excited as this will be my first film credit {yeah!} and will be submitted to film festivals upon completion. And for those of you asking about the pay {mainly speaking to my family here}, the rate is Copy, Credit, Meals. What that means is...
Copy: I'll get a copy of the finished product once it's been edited. And if it doesn't get completely edited for some reason then I'll get a copy of the footage of the scenes I'm in. I plan to have the producer sign this Copy Provided Agreement to make sure this happens as this is the main reason for doing non-paid gigs. I gotta get a copy in order to use it in my reel in order to get a good agent in order to get good auditions in order to get paid roles. Got it?
Credit: I'll get to add a film credit to my resume {my very first!} which will appear on IMDB. Again, this is another thing that will appeal to agents since my resume is full of nothing but theatre.
Meals: Also known as Craft Services, hopefully they'll have some healthy options there because I'm a sucker for sweets and I'm trying really hard to make better food choices. Not easy, let me tell ya!
We're shooting over the weekend in Orange County so we check into the hotel tomorrow which means I need to get off of here cause I got a script to study. {Woo-hoo!}
As a friend of mine just put it: "It has officially begun!"
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