Activity uptick

I mailed off some headshots last week in my pursuit for commercial representation. Having done a decent amount of commercial work before leaving Atlanta including one major national spot and several more targeted spots available nationwide, I'm hopeful that I will retain a quality agent soon. Starting tomorrow, I will be helping out at the management company I mentioned in the last post for two half days each week over the next several weeks. Additionally, I will be doing some work in a casting office next Friday, which could lead to a similar engagement there (though only once per week). Both opportunities afford me some experience with the side of the business many actors do not understand fully. I hope that the work gives me additional insight and turns out to be engaging.

Of course, immediately after I commit to those schedules, the temp agencies start calling. I took these positions on Wednesday and got two temp-job offers on Friday. You get nothing for weeks and then bam! Well, I turned them down despite the need for income. A commitment is a commitment, and I'm here to focus on MY business. Now part of that does involve staying alive financially, so I picked up another job with an event staffing company. I worked my first event Friday night, and although it's relatively thankless work, it felt good to be working.

Holy Hot

It has been H-O-T here, but the weather broke a little yesterday. My in-laws were our first official visitors over the last couple of weeks. We had a good time and did a number of things that we hadn't done since we've been here. The Getty Center is very impressive. We only spent a few hours there, but you could take much more time to see everything. My wife and her parents went on a whale watching cruise Friday, but I was unable to attend because of a last second commercial audition. It was a quick meeting that I landed myself. I took a little extra time beforehand to drop off some headshots elsewhere. Tomorrow, I have a meeting with a management company where I may intern for a while to see how that side of the business works. I previously attended a discussion held by one of the managers there and she seemed like a cool, ethical, real person. I like those kinds of people. So, we'll see. I'm looking forward to learning even more about the business.

I start with my new acting coach a week from tomorrow. That's tremendously exciting. One of the reasons I came out here was to get access to the higher quality training environment and the experienced coaches LA has to offer. Of course, you have to weed through the hundreds of poseurs, but I think I may have found a gem. As I've mentioned, I have attended several discussions involving agents and managers, and this coach has been mentioned by all of them. She seems to have a reputation for comedy specifically, which is fan-freaking-tastic for me. Since I haven't mentioned it already, allow me to encourage those of you who live in LA and read this little journal to check out The Actors Network. It's located in Studio City-ish off Moorpark, and it's a great place to get info on the biz from people who are in it and share ideas and insights with other people who are pursuing this career. So, look into it. If you go to an orientation session, tell them I sent you.

Debrief

Last night's Mayfly was great fun. I'll admit to having a few nerves running before the show, but they faded quickly. The assembled players were all top notch, the band brought the funk, and the audience was fantastic. The show itself was a disturbing trip through various nightmarish scenarios with monsters in the bedroom, evil-weird centaur devils, a dad in prison, etc. It was a great breath of fresh air to perform after taking quite a break. I felt energized, and can't wait to get further into performance/training mode.

I passed the necessary certification tests for my new day job. Since the company is relatively new, the business is still building. However, I hope to get enough work in the near future to alleviate some of the financial burden of moving, classes, headshots and all the other start-up expenses. The training was not bad at all, and the people are nice. Those are all good signs.

Break from the break

After not performing for a while now, I will be playing in this week's incarnation of Mayfly at Hothouse STC. I've been watching a ton of shows and definitely have the itch to play. The show is Saturday, July 16 at 10pm off Lankershim in NoHo. It's only $5, so you've got no excuse...unless you won't be in LA Saturday night at 10pm. BYOB. Loads of fun.

Got the headshot proof sheet back, having gone with full color instead of black and white for the first time. I picked the top 40 and had them printed as 4x6's at Costco for 17 cents each. That's an inexpensive way to narrow the shots down even more. My photographer gave me a great session however, and now I'm left with a ton of options. With some help from my wife and her parents, I narrowed it down to about 7. Each one has a characteristic that makes it a candidate for specifically targeted submissions. Too bad it's so expensive to get them reproduced; otherwise, I would just get all of them. The photographer is Kelsey Edwards, and I recommend her. If you go, tell her I referred you.