Time will Tell

Wow what a crazy few months it’s been here in the bustled state of California. More than anything I’ve realized how fast time goes by. After awhile you forget when you got here. I literally had a dream that I missed my two year anniversary of moving here. Don’t worry it was only a dream it’ll be two years in August. The other thing that passes you by quickly is groups of friends. For a girl who’s kept childhood friends from infancy to the present it’s foreign for me this idea of waves of different groups of friends. The traffic really plays the role of the enemy in relationships. Even though it takes a half hour to get ANYWHERE, you never get used to it. The grocery store down the block seems might as well be Timbuktu after a long day in the car to and from a gig. When you work a regular job on the side, so you can pay your monthly bills and acting workshops/classes, you begin to realize how precious your hours of the day really are. The past month for example I sadly came to realize I spend about 70% of my time OUTSIDE of my house. Mondays, I play volleyball, Tuesdays Bible study, Wednesdays friends days, Thursdays babysitting, and the weekends I’m always travelling for some such film project or work out class or community. You HAVE to fight for community here. In Kansas City it was simple. All the community you needed was in a 3 mile radius because it centered around a common church. I don’t really know what I’m writing about now other than some struggles I’ve had to battle since moving here that I think it’s important for people to realize. Relationship takes work, more specifically it takes sacrifice. This place is chalk FULL of people. TOO many people. Yet to find people who are similar and like-minded, generous, sacrificing, and humble, you are going to have to do a little investigating. I was lucky enough to spend over a year with my best friends in one house, but sometimes changes happen that no one expects.

I’m currently in Korea town close by are the following qualities: Paramount Studios, the 101 FWY (It’s BEYOND huge to live near enough a freeway entrance, it cuts the travel time to anywhere in HALF), phenomenal Korean BBQ, Cheap shopping, cheap gas, and cheap rent. It’s also closer to Hollywood and all my auditions so it has been a blessing even though it came at the high price of leaving my safe comfortable home in lower Beverly Hills area.

This is mostly a random excerpt of something I’ve now seen first hand and have learned after being here over a year regarding authenticity and behavior in this industry for myself and in others. How to navigate past the first glance of a producer and get them to see something useable and desirable without coming across as unoriginal or fake.

I was auditioning for UFC Gym which just bought out a chain of gyms and they wanted to run a commercial on it. Let me just tell you from experience. You think those commercials are staged men and women put in poses and hosed down with water right? Wrong! I did a commercial for Reebok and it was the most exhausting ten hour WORK-OUT I have ever done. I guess that’s not actually a fair scale considering I’ve never work out for ten hours straight before so I couldn’t really judge it whatever…The next day I looked like I’d had a bad encounter with a bicycle seat and in turn couldn’t sit for days. Anyway, back to the audition…

From the moment I walked in I knew this wasn’t going to be your average fitness model audition. Some of these girls could wring their CLOTHES out on their chiseled abs. It’s fascinating to see the obvious differences in casting choices, I was in a room where there was literally, one of everything. All ethnicities, all ranges of physique, we even had some kids which was the most surprising. There were definitely a couple of those Beverly Hills Moms, with their Gucci purses and wallets, fresh manicure, and their hair all did 😉 and their kids were models after them. They had their hair extensions and manicures, make-up that aged them five years and booty shorts with sports bras on. This isn’t even an exaggeration. This one mother daughter combo was especially interesting to watch as the 14 year old something was sharing all the gossip to her 40 something mother who seemed more enthralled with her phone than the topic yet she still inquired on all the names so as to be in the know. Before I came to LA I had gone to a talent competition where all ages were spotted than picked to be a part of this company that put on a show for casting directors. There were a bunch of starry-eyed kids paying all this money to have glam shots, new wardrobe, new hair etc…and they ended up being dolled up and not given any serious advice on how the business works. Speaking of advice let me start with the most basic:

Here’s what a headshot does: It opens the first door.

You can make major mistakes with a headshot first off. It’s important to A. Not look like a Barbie/glam photo and B. Not look like a yearbook photo. Both are subtle differences that you need to keep a very keen eye out for. I can give you perfect examples in my own history of photos.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stop you’re embarrassing me 😉 Ok so glamorous but not place-able. A Headshot needs to draw you in by standing out, while at the same time being versatile enough to see you as anything. Easy right? Wrong! This is where you have to lay aside vanity and look at adaptability. This goes the same for hair color options as well. As a blonde I was usually going for the typical blonde roles, because as you can SEE I wasn’t just blonde I was BRIGHT BLONDE. This is fine if you want to be those roles but for someone like me who wants to use a wider range of skills than the average I decided to make a switch just for now so they can see I actually do both.

Ok next blog post I’ll share some fun stories about recent run-ins and interactions that yes you will all be surprised at. Stay tuned!