The new bias

Important stuff first...

My meeting with a potential acting coach went very well. I will be joining her for a class in August and going from there. It is an intensive track, which I like, with focused work for several hours at a time and required rehearsal time outside class with mates. I moved my headshot appointment back a week to better allow me to ponder ideas of "type" and make sure I have the wardrobe in place. That was a source of some concern as we left so much behind for the move. We did a little bargain shopping and found a nice suit and tie and a couple of shirts. One of those shirts can now claim the title of "Priciest Single Item of Clothing I've Ever Purchased", and I got it from a consignment place. So, just imagine... Well, it's a great shirt and, knowing me, I'll wear it for the next 10 years. That lessens the blow to my thrifty reputation.

Now, the tedious...

I encountered my first personal bit of anti-actor bias in the world of noncreativity. One of my temp agencies called with a month-long job that was just data entry/spreadsheet stuff. It sounded like minimum brain damage commensurate with the low pay. I said "ok", and they submitted me to the client. The next day, I got a phone call from someone at the agency I hadn't really spoken with before. They said the client was very interested in me but was afraid that I wouldn't work for the month because I am an actor. I chatted with the agency a bit saying that I wasn't really auditioning this month, and that if I said I would do the job, then I would do it. The agency seemed confident that I was a responsible person, and offered to arrange a meeting so the client could actually meet and talk to me. I didn't get the meeting, and I didn't get the job.

Consider, any company employing a temp knows that any temp, no matter what their pursuits, could call in at any time and say they don't want to be on this job and leave. That's the whole thing with a temp. It's temporary. For that matter, any full-time employee of theirs could come back from lunch, drop a resignation note on their desk and leave. How many of their full-time employees only want to work there for the rest of their lives? That's employment at will. So, what do they have to go on besides one of these people saying they'll do the job for a period of time and a resume that supports these assertions and capabilities? Nothing. So, what's the difference between me and these others? I'm an actor. You supply the logic because I cannot find it. Someone must've really hurt their feelings at some point.

I have a new prospect that I am following up on this afternoon. If it works out, I won't have to deal with calling the temps for work for a while. Nice.