Basic math

Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out.

- Robert Collier

An important thought to remember as I go to my workout class, do more research on representation, work on writing assignments, add a scene to my reel, burn DVDs of my new reel, read the trades, go to class and on and on and on.  All of these little steps of preparation that I've been doing in some form for years.  These steps all add up.

300

This is my 300th post.

It feels like there should be more and it feels like that's a lot.

And as I'm sitting here, wondering what to write, since the day is wide open with only writing on the agenda...I get an email from my agent.  Commercial audition today at 2:00.

The day suddenly has plans.

And that is why I love LA.

There is always the possibility of opportunity.

Sticky Tar

Ever tried.  Ever failed.  No matter.  Try again.  Fail again.  Fail better.

Rejection is really purposeful redirection.  

My good friend K. sends me inspirational quotes in texts and emails from time to time.  K. recently became a dad to two beautiful twin baby girls and he has, understandably, been focused elsewhere.  So it's been awhile since some quotational encouragement has floated my way on the ethers of a text.  So when I got the above two quotes from K. yesterday, with no other explanation or context, I had to smile.  K. doesn't know this - and not many people do - but I've been feeling pretty discouraged lately.  I've fallen into bad habits and started looking at the success of others and questioning where I'm at in my career.  Wishing I was further along, wondering if it's time to cut my losses and move on.  Forgetting that someone else's success has nothing to do with mine.  That we are all on our own journeys and that I'm continuing to work toward my success and when it comes, I hope people are happy and not resentful.  And I'm ashamed to say that that ugly emotion has tried to sneak up on me.  And has maybe tapped me on the shoulder.  But today is a new day.  And I always have the choice to shift my perspective.  And I'm not a wooly mammoth stuck in a tar pit* - I can shake off this feeling of being "stuck" and "on a hamster wheel" and choose "purposeful redirection."  And be excited about where the day will take me.

And I am.

There is a run in my immediate plans.  I have a writing assignment to work on for my new sketch comedy writing class, I have episodes to tweak for our new webseries, I want to get started on my screenplay that I literally dreamt up, and I have some business on the "business side" to take care of - some letters that need to get out by the end of the week.  It is going to be a gorgeous day and I'm thankful that I get to spend so much of it being creative and working on my craft.  I'm ready to fail better.

(*We visited the La Brea Tar Pits when my parents were here last week. And in my morning pages this morning, I kept thinking about that image of the poor wooly mammoths, stuck in tar.  Even if the tar was only an inch thick, they could get stuck.  And they would just have to stand there and hopefully die from exposure - from thirst and hunger.  Or, if they were unlucky, a predator would get there first and attack the easy prey.  Of course, then the predator would get stuck too.  Unless they were a vulture, pecking and ripping away at the mammoth's flesh and flying away.  Prehistoric times were brutal in LA.  So when I start to feel "stuck" again, I'm going to remind myself to NOT become the wooly mammoth and avoid the tar.  Because not much has changed over the eons...the vultures have just become figurative.)

I'm Back

Sorry for my lack of posting the past few days - my parents were in town visiting and we made the most of their time here.  It felt like everyday was actually two days with all that we crammed in.  They got quite the comprehensive tour of LA but as they were leaving we were making lists of all that we didn't get to do yet...so they have an excuse to come back!  I mean, besides the obvious excuse, which is visiting their first born child!  It was a really great visit and it meant a lot to have them out here.  My husband asked me what my favorite part was and I have to say it was a moment, when we were riding in the car on our way to our next adventure, and I looked over and it really hit me that my parents were here.  Not on the phone, not on Skype, but physically here.  As cheesy as that sounds, it brings tears to my eyes just typing about it.  It is not easy living far away from family.  And it really makes the time you spend together even more precious.

But today it is back to the grind!  The day is full and starts with reading to my third grade classes.  Then it is off to my first sketch comedy class this afternoon.  And then a production meeting tonight.  I've got a bit more writing to do in preparation for that so I need to stop writing here...more tomorrow!

GIRL PARTS Teaser!!

It's here!  Our first "clip tease" of our new webseries.  Check it out! Tell your friends!  Share the tease!  Enjoy!

Houdinis

I love House.  I loved it before I was on it, I've continued to watch since, and I can't get enough Hugh Laurie.  Working with him AND Robert Sean Leonard was literally "a dream come true."  I took an acting class a few years back in NYC and it was an audition technique class.  The teacher - who I loved and respected - said, "Google Hugh Laurie's audition for House.  It is brilliant." The first time I watched it I thought, Really?  And then I watched it again and thought, Really.  That is how it is done.

At the Gator event I went to earlier this month, someone asked what an actor can do to get cast on House.  And Garrett said (I'm paraphrasing), I'm not really sure cause I'm not usually involved at that stage but to me it always seems like they cast the person that doesn't look like they are acting.

That is the key - a magician never reveals his tricks....and actors are magicians when they are doing it right.



As a side note, funny that the script quotes Mick Jagger in the audition...because they did the same thing on the show last night and even ended the episode with that song.

**if the formatting of the video is blocking the text, refresh the page until it looks correct.  Blogger kind of sucks with that glitch.  If you just refresh the page a few times though, it should look right.  Sorry!**

Spring Break

The cast of GIRL PARTS.
And our director with the photobomb.

It is spring break this week for my 3rd graders so I have time to write this morning!  It was a very relaxing weekend that involved a lot of reading and sitting in the sun.  We had a party celebrating the GIRL PARTS shoot on Saturday and it was great seeing all of our crew and guest stars.  I'm looking forward to our launch this summer!  I also heard that there is a teaser trailer almost ready that should be out today or tomorrow so I'll be sure to share.

The other webseries we are developing is coming along nicely.  We have about two-thirds of the first season written with outlines for the rest of the episodes.  Of course there will be many a re-write in our future but it feels good to be chugging along on that project.

Speaking of projects, remember the April Fool's short I did at the beginning of the month?  We got a lot of positive feedback and will be reshooting it at the end of the month with a better camera for better quality so we can submit it to festivals.  Always fun to have something like that happen!  I think it has a solid shot for getting into a few screenings around town.

R.I.P. AMC & OLTL

In my dressing room, the day of
my screen test.

The acting world was shaken yesterday with ABC's announcement that they have cancelled daytime staples, All My Children and One Life to Live.  Having worked on both of these shows and having tested for a major contract role on one of them last year, I took the news pretty hard.  It is so much more than an American form of entertainment dying.  It is also so much work that is being lost for those of us in the entertainment industry.  Soaps sometimes get a bad rap because of their outrageous story lines and particular style of acting but these shows are the workhorses of the industry.  Turning out new scripted shows everyday is an incredible feat.  Soaps can be a training ground for many actors and oftentimes, the soaps become a place to call home.  A place to have a career.  The place where actors work year after year, developing characters that have fans like no other fans in this business.  Soap fans are devoted and invested and even though things have changed since soaps started - fifty years ago! - with less people at home during the day, many people record their stories and catch up with them when they have time.  There is a strong core of viewers that are mourning the loss of this form of entertainment.

At some point, almost all actors work on soaps - here's a fun list of some actors that started in daytime.  It is a great place to work when just starting out - as background work, under-5s or dayplayers.  Getting the opportunity to be a contract player is a huge accomplishment. And forget about the actors for a moment - the behind the scenes is a huge machine that is getting cut off.  Soaps employ so many crew members and directors and writers.  What struck me the most when I first was on a soap set was how factory-like the operation is.  There are sets lined up, ones that are permanent, ones that are built overnight, scenes are shot quickly and you move on to the next.   This kind of work standard requires a well-oiled machine and the crews and casts made it happen.  The loss of soaps from the landscape leaves a gaping hole for so very many.

Soaps are how I became an AFTRA member.  Soaps are where I was hoping to get another chance at for a different contract role.  Now, there are less opportunities for actors to get a break.  Soaps being replaced by unscripted talk shows and cooking shows signals how the acting world is seriously shifting.  With reality television continuing to grow in primetime, daytime was a place of refuge.  But not anymore.

So as the model changes, so do we.  We write more and produce new media and try to carve out a space to perform.  And we cross our fingers that one of these forums will eventually become the new way to make a living...because as of now, no one has really nailed down a way to monetize new media.  We do the work for "deferred pay" that we know we'll never see.  We do it in hopes that it will lead to recognition for bigger projects.  That a network or casting director or producer will take notice and say, "There she is!  Just who I've been looking for!"

And we do it because we can't help ourselves...

We love to act.  We love to tell stories.  We love to connect to what connects us all.

You will definitely be missed, AMC and OLTL.  You will definitely be missed.

Men of a Certain Age Panel

I love the SAG Foundation's Conversations series.  They always provide such interesting insight behind the shows that I love to watch. Men of a Certain Age is one of those shows and I think what I like about it is the real quality of the dialogue, of the acting, of the humor.  Because everything seems so natural, I questioned whether they improv on set.  The moderator for the night brought that up and Ray Romano answered that they don't do much improv.  Occasionally in the diner scenes but for the most part, what you see and hear is all in the script.  That is amazing to me.  I hope I can write scripts that tight at some point.  Other little gems from the evening:

I have to keep moving or I catch up with myself.

- Ray, when asked what made him want to create another series

If I don't see something coming in a scene, it delights me to no end.

- Scott Bakula, on what appealed to him about the script

Hide the setups, make the setups as enjoyable as the payoff.

- Mike Royce, about successfully writing comedy

The show is a drama with laugh out loud moments.  Which is kind of how I see life.  Although, if you've seen Stranger Than Fiction - one of my favorite movies - I'd probably have to sit down and seriously evaluate the comedy-versus-tragedy formula.  Until then, I'll keep enjoying smart writing with interesting characters and relationships.  If you haven't watched Men of a Certain Age yet and want to learn more about the show, check out their show page on TNT.  

And here's a recap from the season finale, which they screened for us before the Q&A.  Things to know:  Ray's character, Joe, is addicted to gambling and trying to make the Senior Tour, Scott's character, Terry, is a bit of a man-child that is a struggling actor and now works for Andre's character, Owen, at the car dealership that Owen's father built and just turned over to him.  The three of them have been best friends since childhood.

Jiminy...

...crickets.  I wish I had something fun to report on the acting front but it has been, as we know, quiet.  Tonight I'm headed to a SAG Conversations panel with the cast from Men of a Certain Age.  Have you watched this show yet?  The hubby and I love it.  I really enjoyed the panel I went to before with the cast of Parenthood so I'm looking forward to tonight.

It was announced this week that Michael Shannon is going to be playing the villainous role of General Zod in the new Superman movie.  I really enjoyed his work in Revolutionary Road and am interested to see him in a "blockbuster" type movie.  Here's an interesting little interview about how his casting process went.  I'm always fascinated with the details that lead up to a deal.

Creativity

I put this up on my Facebook page and thought that would suffice, but the message has really stuck with me throughout the week so I thought I'd share it here too.  If you've watched it already, awesome.  If not, and you're a creative person, you might find some interest in what Elizabeth Gilbert has to say.  Some jewels that stood out to me:

- I have a genius, I'm not a genius
- Ole, Allah
- Our job is to show up; that is our only requirement

As I go into this weekend, with an afternoon of writing planned today and a day of shooting tomorrow, I'm taking a bit of this with me.  Ole to you.  Ole to me.

Days like Today

It has been a slow few weeks in terms of auditions and I've started to feel antsy.  I have to remind myself that I've done a lot in the past month despite the lack of "going out."  Shooting the commercial, shooting the webseries, shooting a short film, production meetings, writing, painting, and a lot of knitting have all been happening.  I just get incredibly restless and am always wondering what's next and when "next" will happen.  When I start to feel this anxiousness, I open up The Artist's Way and skim over the parts I have underlined or highlighted.  Today I randomly turned to the section about "Filling the Form":

Most of the time, the next right thing is something small: washing out your paintbrushes, stopping by the art-supply store and getting your clay, checking the local paper for a list of acting classes...As a rule of thumb, it is best to just admit that there is always one action you can take for your creativity daily.  This daily action commitment fills the form. (pg. 141)

The bolded section of that quote is what I have underlined in my book.  And it is true.  I can't discount the "one action" I've been taking each day.  I'm looking for a new class to take - I'm thinking sketch comedy is on the horizon - and I've been doing all that I've already listed.  We have rehearsal tonight for this weekend's shoot and I plan on writing this afternoon after I go to yoga and meet with my friend T. for coffee.  Things are happening all the time.  I have a vision of the "big picture" of all I want to be doing and I always want to skip ahead.  For example, my screenplay that I'm working on, I keep picturing our shoot days...even though I'm still in the research phase. I'm looking way beyond instead of looking at the next right step.  And that is where all of the anxiety is stemming from.  In my acting career, in my writing career, in my life.  I need days like today to remind me that I am exactly where I should be and that each step I take is leading me to where I want to be.

It's great...to be...(finish it for me!)...a Florida Gator!

Graduation Day
at UF

Egads!  I didn't post yesterday...sorry!  The morning got away from me and once that happens, there probably isn't a way back into the land of blog.  But I'm holding onto the morning this time and updating this thing.  Spent yesterday afternoon as many Angelenos do...working on my screenplay while working on my tan.  One of the many benefits of having a patio.  Wanted to get a bit of sun time in because a cold snap was moving in today and plans on staying throughout the rest of the week.  

Last night I had a great time at a Gator social that the SoCal UF alums put together for those of us "in the industry."  Garrett Lerner, executive producer/showrunner/writer for House, is also a Gator alum and was the featured speaker.  It was so interesting to hear about the writing side of the biz, especially since I'm working on my writing more and usually only hear about the acting world.  Definitely refreshing and a learning experience.  I introduced myself after the Q&A - somehow we never officially met when I worked on House - and ended up spending a good chunk of time talking with him and a group of writers and producers.  There seemed to be more alums there last night that are in that side of the industry than there were actors...which was also refreshing.  Don't get me wrong - I love my fellow actors - but it is nice to expand the circle and learn from different trades.  All sides of this industry fascinate me and meeting fellow Gators that are shaking up the world of Hollywood is always going to be a good night.

Quick post!

Sorry for the quick or nonexistent posts on Mondays lately!  Between going for a run and getting ready for the day, I end up running out of time before I need to leave to go read to my 3rd graders.  But, before I run out this morning, I wanted to tell you to check out my IMDB page to see my red carpet pictures from the screening a few weeks ago!  See you here tomorrow....

April Fools!

No, I'm not pulling a prank...I'm sharing the short we shot on Monday!  It is actually titled, APRIL FOOLS, and it launched online today.  Check it out!