Happy new year blogosphere! I hope you all had a lovely holiday season and are off to a productive start this year.

So much has happened since I last took time to write. For starters, I signed with a manager a few months ago. She's gotten me out on a couple major TV auditions for series regular roles, which is a new thing for me! Unfortunately after being with her for 3 months, she closed up shop and joined forces with a larger management company and had to leave me behind. No love loss though. I appreciate the auditions she got me and will move forward from there.

In much more important and life-changing news, Baby Daniel is here!! I'm a new mom again and yes I'm in love. :-)


He arrived the day after Christmas, almost a full 2 months before he was due, since my body decided to develop pre-eclampsia. :-( Thankfully both he and I were fine after his delivery but since he was 3 lbs, 14 oz he had to stay in the NICU to get his weight up before he was able to come home. Leaving the hospital without a baby was the most surreal experience I've ever had, but I am very thankful that he has no health problems and is now home and happy!







And his big brothers are my very big helpers! Looking at the 3 of them reminds me of how abundantly blessed I am and how much responsibility I've been given as their mother. Daniel's arrival has definitely shaken some things inside of me and changed my perspective on some areas that I never thought I'd budge on, but more on that in a later post.



On the acting/writing/producing front, I'm very excited for the possibilities this year holds! My main goals are to book a commercial, book a role on TV, get Muted into major film festivals and get Muted the feature in tip-top shape to make it attractive to production companies. Since the first 2 months of the new year are practically over, I've got a lot of work to do! I plan to share more of my journey with you this year since I miss blogging regularly. I will try to blog more consistently, though with a newborn I'm not making any promises. :-)

July 17th marked my 2 year anniversary here in LA. In some ways it feels like I've been here much longer and in other ways I still feel very green. In the last 24 months, here's what I've learned...

*Warning- I haven't written a blog post outside of my daily activity entries in awhile so this is a long one.*

Training
Man if you have the money, do this from the outset! I wish I could've afforded to be in the class that I'm in a long time ago because it's making such a difference. To be able to hone the skills that you have as well as learn new ones on a consistent basis is necessary. Every other professional stays sharp in their skills by doing whatever it is they do on a daily basis. Lawyers, Doctors, Athletes, Musicians, they all work/practice/perform as much as they can to be at the top of their game. Yet Actors, especially those of us just starting out, don't usually get that opportunity to be working for the majority of the year so when you're not working you NEED to be in class if you want to compete with the girl or guy who will be auditioning for the same role as you. Don't fall into the trap of thinking your talent is so great that you can't use some polishing. Please. If you're not working {whether on film, TV or stage}, get in class.

Day Jobs
Of course, if you have no money you can't afford to be in class or to pay for other necessary actor expenses so getting a day job is vital. While I tried my hand at serving, it wasn't for me. I really like people and I want it to stay that way. If, however, you can overlook the incompetence that ignorant, uneducated, drunk, or just plain rude people exhibit from time to time while in a restaurant or bar, then by all means get yourself a serving or bartending job and make it work for you. There's a reason this is the most popular actor gig- it's flexible! There's also catering, temp work, substitute teaching, extra work {though this should be done sparingly if you really want to keep your days free for auditions}, babysitting, tutoring, security guard positions and production work if you can get on the night shift.

I work as a Night Logger/Transcriber for a production company because I happen to type pretty fast and accurately. It started off as a very unstable, on and off gig transcribing one show and has lead to a consistent job transcribing all the shows they produce so that now I only have a few weeks off throughout the year. It's not my dream day job by any stretch of the imagination. It's somewhat tedious. It keeps me away from my family at night when I'd rather be tucking the boys in and spending time with Stephen but it's a means to an end. It helps pay for acting expenses. Hell with the cost of living out here, it helps pay for household expenses! It keeps my days free for auditions. It has weekends off so I can get some family time. I can make-up any days I need to miss for a shoot. And best of all, I have autonomy. No one's looking over my shoulder micro-managing me which I CAN'T STAND! Even my supervisor is an actor, so he gets it. You gotta use the skill set you have to find the job or jobs that will allow you to do what you need to do to make this work.

Auditions
I've certainly learned what is worth my time and what isn't. When I'm notified that I have an audition I read the sides or the whole script if available, to see if it's something that I want to INVEST my time in. If so, full speed ahead. If not, I thank the CD for the opportunity and respectfully decline. This isn't foolproof. Sometimes the sides aren't available until you get there and you realize you wouldn't want to do the part even if they paid you. But other times, the audition experience is exhilarating and it's why we come out here- to have an opportunity to play these roles. At my stage in the game I'm mostly auditioning for student films, short films and ultra low-budget indie films, not to mention commercials. Of course TV is where I wanna be but getting in those audition rooms without representation, while not impossible, is no small feat.

Representation
Speaking of rep, I'm still on the hunt for a good manager and theatrical agent. I knew this would take some time so I'm not concerned at this point but I do know how important and truly helpful having good representation can be. I mean let's face it, there are PLENTY of TV casting offices that I can mail or drop-off my headshot to tons of times and they're still gonna call in the girl who was submitted by her agent or manager. That's just the way it goes. Certainly there are exceptions to the rule but who wants to rely on those odds? Not me. If I wanna play in that sandbox, I gotta get some theatrical rep on my team.

Support
While I have a lot of colleagues that are talented/nice/sweet/whatever, my actual circle of friends has gotten smaller and tighter. People who I thought were friends turned out to be colleagues only and those who I thought I'd never have a deep connection with because of our differences have turned out to be some of the people I love the most {Tara & Lex for instance}. Having friends I can call back in Houston is wonderful {and I wouldn't trade them for the world} but you really do need a tribe out here to survive. You need people who understand the daily grind that you've chosen to put yourself through because they're doing the same. They understand the anxiety and self-doubt you feel from time to time yet they also get that there's nothing else in the world you'd rather do. Their support is invaluable, especially if you're not getting it at home.

Which leads me to the toughest one...

The homefront
My husband loves me. He loves my drive. He loves my ambition. He loves my steadfast determination to pursue something I want until I get it.

What he doesn't love is LA.

He doesn't love that his salary is the same or very close to what he'd make in the south, yet the cost of living is 2 to 3 times more. He doesn't love that $150,000 can buy us a nice house with space and a yard for our boys somewhere in TX while out here it can barely get you a decent condo. He doesn't love that he has to spend a fortune to fly out to visit his parents while he can just take a road trip if we lived closer. He doesn't love that I have very few Christian friends out here who can encourage me in my walk with Christ, while all my friends back in Houston believe that Jesus died on the cross for our sins and try to share his love with others. Most importantly, he doesn't love that he's been helping me pursue my dream for the last 2 years while neglecting his. In case you're wondering, he wants to be a Pastor.

All of these things I can understand, especially the last one. There's no way I could've come out here and do what I've done without him being by my side and I want nothing more than for him to feel the utter joy that I feel from pursuing what I love most. I just want him to feel it HERE. Because to ask me to leave LA, the one place I physically NEED to be if I'm going to pursue TV & film work when we just got here only 2 years ago... I can't do it. I just, can't.

So there's that.

A lot has happened in 2 years. Some good, some not so good but it's all a part of my "adventure" I guess. And I share it because I know some of you are going through the same things too so this blog is my way of saying you're not alone. Or maybe it's my way of reaching out and hoping that I'm not alone. Either way, hopefully I'll have more exciting stuff to share by Year 3.

Day 190: Listened to the second draft of the score for episode 4. We should be good to go!

Day 191: Resumed internship with the casting office of a primetime TV show.  Now that their summer hiatus is over and they're beginning to cast for episodic season in the fall, I'm coming back once a week to help out and learn as much as I can. Later, I met with Tara for a writing session.

Day 192: Class at SKS: Today we did on-camera work and it's very easy to see I still have a lot of practicing to do to get to the point where I can be truly still and laser focused while on camera.

Day 193: Emailed manager to reschedule meeting... later found out her relationship with the colleague who referred me has hit a rather sour note so she might not be returning my calls. After getting some of the details of their sour experience I won't be following up with her any further.

Day 194: Reserved the screenwriting book "Save the Cat" from the library so that I can get my hands on it once it becomes available. Read some of the articles in the archives at Go Into the Story.

Day 169: Mailed my headshot & resume to a manager on my target list who I've emailed before. Thanks to IMDb Pro I found out that one of my classmates from the audition bootcamp was represented by her so I asked her what her thoughts were on this manager. She said she's been with her for a number of years and loves her so I decided I might as well send a hardcopy submission. My classmate will let her know that I'm submitting so hopefully this will make it a bit easier to get a meeting.

Day 162: Monday Mailings

• Mailed 5 managers and 11 theatrical agents. {FYI- Postage for envelopes with your headshot & resume have gone up from $1.05 to $1.08, so be sure to add that extra 3 cents to each one if you're using stamps to mail from home.} 
• Mailed my info to ABC's Diversity Showcase
• Emailed 26 managers using mailchimp so I could see who actually opened it, how many times and which links they clicked.
• Emailed the Kaiser Educational Theatre Program my info. They offer a well paid day job where you act for students- not bad.

Forgive the abbreviated posts. My body has been experiencing murphy's law over the last week so I'm going to keep this short and sweet and then go back to getting some rest.

Day 155: Mitrice Documentary Meeting. Came up with some deadlines for what we need to have done in order to get a rough cut of a trailer by mid-July.

Day 156: Set up an account with Basecamp, a project management website that is a WONDERFUL tool producers can use to both organize and collaborate with key crew more efficiently.

Day 157: Studied Sides for the comedy scene I have to put up in class on Saturday. Not really feeling it because comedy isn't my strong point but I'm definitely looking forward to LEARNING because this is certainly an area where I can grow.

Day 158: Power Group. This monthly meeting alone makes the membership to TAN more than worth it. I got some great ideas for CD drop-offs that I plan to implement sometime over the summer. I also got a referral to a regional agent on my target list. Score!

Day 159: Emailed my website along with a quick blurb on who I'm training with and what I'm working on to a colleague of mine who offered to pass it along to his manager. He has a pretty good amount of co-star credits and has read for guest star roles as well so he's told me she's a good starter manager in his opinion. He  forwarded it to her and within a few hours he emailed me back to tell me she wanted me to give her a call. I did and I now have a meeting with her scheduled for next Friday.

Day 160: Audition Bootcamp Part 2 - Today we worked on a comedy scene and wow did I learn a lot of technical crap. Reversals, turns, builds, triplets, mirrors, patterns, we worked on ALL of that and though it was a bit mind-boggling at first, the ish works! Using these techniques made every single person have funny moments throughout the piece, including myself. It was incredibly freeing for me to discover that even if you're not inherently funny you can still kill a comedic audition with the right technique.

Day 161: Bought 100 envelopes from Office Depot for $9.99 since I was fresh out and want to do a mailing tomorrow.

Day 86: Used IMDb Pro to research managers. When I saw the names of friends & colleagues who were repped by the managers on my list I then emailed them for their insight. Some gave glowing recommendations, others warned me to stay away and find someone better. In the end I now have a list of 36 managers who I am interested in learning more about.

8 of them are my top choices since they not only have a client list that seems to be working but they also have a production arm which is very important to me since I want to do more producing in the future.

13 of them don't produce but are still legit managers {at least on paper} with a working client list that isn't too large.

Finally 15 of them have a larger client list than I'd prefer or they already have 1 person who is my type but are still managers I've taken an interest in. These are the ones who I will simply keep an eye on to see how things change over time. Though I am making 1 exception and will be submitting to one person in this category based on both a CD and a colleague's recommendation of her work ethic, attitude and reputation.

Obviously I was looking at multiple manager & actor IMDb Pro profiles in order to research thoroughly and apparently that's monitored because I got this email a few hours later...

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