Rats of Hameln

So it's been ages since my last post and I feel so terrible since this is usually the way I start my posts. lol. But once I am a little behind, then I fall a little more behind and then it's just daunting because there are SO many things that I have to write about. If I could just stay on top of it, then I wouldn't have to play catch up! lol. So I've decided to try and write about each individual project or event instead of trying to cram it all into one long post.

So this post is about my most recent project - a short film titled The Rats of Hameln. (Pronounced Ham-lyn). I am told it was inspired by the Pied Piper tale and there are a lot of allusions to it. The director/writer, Elvis Chirinos, worked on Boiling Pot with me and is actually the person responsible for bringing me onto that project! He wrote the short with me in mind, but I still had to audition for it. It was a casual audition - outside of a Jamba Juice near my apartment. He filmed it on his phone, but it died and I ended up having him film it on mine and then sent the video to him. It's the first audition of mine that I've ever been able to watch afterwards. lol. After reading the script though, I wondered what that meant he thought of me, cause the character is kind of evil. lmao.

Well, I got the part (just in case you didn't see that coming even though I'm writing an entire post about the shoot haha).

The shoot took place over two days - a couple of weeks apart. Then a third day - only about an hour and a half - was needed to re-record some audio.

I don't want to give anything away - because there's a few twists in the film - but basically, I play a villainess (though of course, I think I'm in the right). Val (my character)'s boyfriend is conflicted about the life they live and that leads to a few surprises. There's a German scientist, love, guns, and blood! I even speak a little bit of German in it. Okay, okay, it's only one word, but still! It was my idea to have Val say something in German. :P

One of the things I really liked about it was the little details that Elvis really thought about. For example: My character always had something with lace on, and something red on. My wardrobe was entirely black, white and grey with small pops of red. Like a red bow in my hair or red garter.

Even though it was only a short, it was one of the best projects I've worked on! :)

The first day on set, we were in one of the crew members' homes. I had to drop my husband off on base that morning because he was leaving for month-long training. So I didn't arrive on set until 10:00am ish. I can't really remember for sure - but I know after dropping Ethan off, I went home to take a nap because I woke up around 3:00am to drop him off. lol. I was on set until about 7:00pm I believe. So that was a fairly short day. At least in comparison to the average day in this industry, which is about 10 hours.

Day one of the shoot.
I had red lips for most of the shoot as well.
I loved my costume and even got to keep some of it! yay! 

This scene was for a flashback so they made me look a little bit younger with a braid and a "fresh" face. 

Loved the fat braid and the glittery bow! :)

Second day of the shoot was at UC Riverside in the Paleontology lab. I arrived at 9:00am and didn't leave until after 1:00am. It was a 16 hour shoot! Almost double the time we anticipated it would be. But that's the entertainment industry for you! Shoots almost always go over (not always over by 7+ hours, but they almost never take the time you think they will).

Most of the crew for this project also worked on Boiling Pot, so it was fun to work with people you already kind of knew. Although, I didn't really know any of them. Since on BP, I was mostly background and tried to remain professional and not step out of line and try and talk to any of them too much. But I recognized all of them. lol. The actor portraying my boyfriend, Ken Shiode, was in Boiling Pot as well (in a larger capacity than I was). The makeup artist, Brittany Durlach, who has become a friend, did makeup and hair for BP as well (for Danielle Fishel). The shoot took place about an hour from my apartment, so it was funny to find out that she lives right down the road from me! She works at Jeffrey Michaels Salon - which is fabulous as well. After the shoot I had her cut and highlight my hair since it had grown out a little since getting my head shots (cheaper than getting new head shots, that's for sure!)

Fossils at UC Riverside!

Day two of the shoot, I wore a creepy mask!!

I even beat up one of the scientists! Jenavee Shay also worked on Boiling Pot as background with me!

My favorite makeup artist EVER, Brittany Durlach, (also from Boiling Pot), works on the mask. 

Some fake blood got in my hair, and since I had an hour long drive before I could get home to shower, I had it in a bun. Upon taking it out of the bun, it didn't move. :P

Well a week or so after the second day of filming, I had to go back to UCR to record some audio. Since I had a mask on, some of the audio didn't come out right, plus, there was a loud fan constantly running in the lab which made it harder to hear. We used the boom mic about halfway through that shoot but all the audio before we began using it, I had to redo. It was made easier by the fact that I didn't have to match my lip movements since I was wearing a mask. Lol. I did have to match the sound of my walk though! But that didn't take too long, and I even got to see a little bit of the film while it was still in production, which was a first!

Well, I can't wait to see the final cut!! And don't worry, I'll definitely be posting it once it's up!
Thanks for reading!

Blogging and Networking

So, since my last post I have done a lot of research and reading about how to Tweet and internet-network and blog (etc) effectively. One of the tips I read was to read similar blogs to yours. Honestly (and I'm so embarrassed to say) it never really crossed my mind to do that. Don't know why. But I did some googling and found a couple of blogs - one of which was REALLY helpful because she (Brandi Ford) listed a TON of acting blogs.  Her blog is fabulous - love the way it looks - and has a lot of great recommended reads, resources, etc. I randomly scrolled down the list of about 40 blogs and opened maybe 10-15 of them. I was mostly interested in female actors' blogs since their experiences in the business will be more similar to mine. I found a couple of good ones, a couple of great ones and closed out the ones that didn't have anything that caught my eye. (Which now makes me think I should revamp my blog to do the same thing. Kind of like resumes in the "real world" and headshots, reels, and resumes in the "acting world").

One of the pages I kept open, after reading a couple of posts, I realized was Stephen Amell's (star of Arrow). I'm still surprised that I found his blog amidst a bunch of actors who are like me - struggling, essentially nobodies. Well, anyway, I emailed Brandi and asked to have my blog listed as well, she agreed (yay!) and I don't know how she determines what order she lists them, but for whatever reason, my blog is near the top. (Secretly happy about that! Okay... not so secretly. lol). Hopefully my blog will get some more traffic from that.

Another tip I read was to promote others. I'd tried to do that already, but I'm now trying to do it more. I tag people in my tweets and mention their blogs or pages or work they've done, I retweet them, and mention them in this blog, etc.

Lira Kellerman has a great blog with great articles on how to use Actor's Access effectively. First let me say that if you are an actor - especially in the LA area - you need to know about Actor's Access. She has some great tips on how to maximize your chances - what to do and what NOT to do when it comes to headshots, reels, notes, etc. Now I won't steal any of her thunder and tell you the whole article. I just hope I've peaked your interest enough to go read it now. :) She also has a great list of gift ideas for actors. To anyone who's interested... *ahem* I love this super cute crutch necklace (to remind the actor to "break a leg).

Briefly, other articles I have found on the twitterverse to be helpful:

Seven Tips for Surviving the (Independent) Film Industry

Twittering for Actors

8 Steps to Actor Happiness

Batgirl Audition

So at the end of last week, I had an audition for the character of Barbara Gordon for a tv pilot. I was SO excited when I heard about the audition - I did as much research as possible (as recommended by the director) and checked out The Dark Knight Returns from the library - that is the comic that the world of the pilot is based on, even though the character Barbara Gordon is not in that comic. So after reading that, I also checked out Batgirl: Year One and Birds of Prey: Of Like Minds.

I rehearsed the sides they gave me over and over and even filmed it a couple of times so I could watch myself and try and see what needed work. Then the day of, I drove to Colton - almost to San Bernadino - and had my audition. I was the last one to audition for the role, which could be good and bad. Good because I'll be the easiest one for them to remember, bad because they could've been tired or already seen another actress that wowed them and they'd already decided on her. Well after waiting in front, I was brought to the back where practically 20 people were sitting to watch the audition. I read the scene with who I'm assuming is a crew member, it was obvious he wasn't an actor. After we finished, another crew member (director or casting director possibly?) asked someone off to the side of the group if they wanted to "give it a go" and then a man came up to me and he was introduced to me as the lead actor playing Richard Grayson (Nightwing, the original Robin) and then we did the scene together. They had also given me a cold read for another character (Helena Bertinelli/Huntress) and I read that with Grayson as well. They thanked me and I left. I was told that they would probably make their decision by the end of the next week... so if I don't hear anything by Sunday I guess I didn't get it. But I'm not banking on getting it - I never do - cause then you're just set up to be more disappointed. I always anticipate rejection so that if I do book a role, I'm pleasantly surprised. :) 

I wore green, hoping that that might subconsciously make them more likely to pick me, or consciously if they noticed. Because the character Barbara Gordon is drawn in green A LOT!

A lot of my Facebook fans were excited for me - my inner nerd was geeking out too. :P So, just crossing my fingers but, again... just expecting rejection. But I would so love to play Babs. After reading the comics and the research online... I love the character and think I'd be a great fit for it!!

Shentel Commercial, Moving back to Cali!

So, that audition I had with Erica Arvold for the Shentel commercial I had last week? Well... I got it! :D Woot! It is filming on Thursday, and sometime before then I'm supposed to be contacted by the production company about what time and what I'm supposed to bring, etc. So excited! This commercial pays more than I would make in two weeks at the restaurant! Granted, I only work one day a week, but still. lol. Because of our society's taboo on talking about money, I have an ingrained aversion to saying how much I'm going to make, but if I'm striving to be honest on this blog, I have to bite the bullet and just say it. lol. It's no huge number, but it's the biggest paycheck I will have received to date, not only for acting, but in general. I will make $500 for this commercial - and I'm not even a principal role in it! :P Hopefully, that means that from here on out, I can expect to make that much or more for any acting jobs I get. Now, just to make sure I actually get jobs. That's the hard part. =/
Also, my computer came in today (hence why I'm writing another post - I seriously hated typing on an ipad for the last two weeks).
And, I signed a lease, and am moving in to the apartment in California on the 28th! Which means I am starting my cross-country drive with my mother-in-law on the 24th. I have a modeling gig on the 22nd for another $100, and this is my last week of work at the Grille. Money is really going to be tight for the next couple of days until I get paid at the Grille - I had to pay a deposit for the apartment and the car payment goes through today, leaving me about $20 in the checking account to get through til Wednesday - and if I can't pick my check up on Wednesday, I won't be able to deposit it until Friday. Eesh. Well, enough about my finances!
Well, that concludes my update. Unfortunately, my move means I won't be getting any more jobs any time soon cause I have to get settled. But once I'm in California, or, most likely I will start on the drive, I will submit to casting calls and hopefully get some auditions when I get back.
That's all for now!
Thanks! :)

Erica Arvold casting audition, computer crash...

It's been a while since my last post, and to all my dedicated readers (all two of you? Hi mom and dad! Lol) I am sorry! Since my last post, my computer crashed and it is currently at the Mac store having all of the data pulled off of the hard drive (I pick it up tomorrow!) and I ordered a new computer and it isn't going to be delivered until Thursday. I'm just praying that all of my data was successfully saved!

Anyways, last week I had a fashion show for Usanii House in Maryland. Specifically, it was a runway show for jewelry and accessories designed by Usanii House. It was different, not on a real "runway" as expected, but we walked through what was essentially a bar during happy hour. It was still fun and good experience, but I hesitate to call it my first "runway" show. The other models were all very nice and there was a large mix of personalities and ages and levels of experience. One model was from Ukraine and was the same age as me and was also married. She had the most typical "runway model" look. Tall, super thin, amazing cheekbones, and long sleek blonde hair. Lol. But she was very nice.

The following day, I had an audition with Erica Arvold casting for a Shentel commercial. It was probably the most fun and relaxed audition I've ever been to. I arrived at the building (in downtown Charlottesville) and immediately loved the decor for one. Lol. They were holding auditions for multiple projects (they're also doing the casting for Killing Lincoln I believe, another upcoming Lincoln movie). I was auditioning for the role of a college student that jumps into a swimming hole. I was told to bring a swimsuit to change into, and so, in my normal trend, brought two. While I was waiting, I met two other "college students" auditioning (though both of them were actually college students). They were casting for 5 slots, so I didn't feel like I was in direct competition with them. Though, the male actor auditioning had never acted in his life but was on the Virginia Tech diving team which of course, if he gets cast, will make me feel incredibly inadequate as an actor... lol. They were both nice and it made it a lot easier, having talked to them, when we all went in to audition   together as a group and had to act and improvise that we were good friends. When we were called in,   first we had to "slate" (state your name usually, and then Erica had us state our hometown and say  what we did for fun. I said I train my dogs) and once we had each done that, we (as a group) acted as  if we were standing on a rocky ledge and about to jump in to the water. but  more than that, we just  goofed around like teens would ("no you go first! Its so far down! is it cold?") I feel I did really well,  but I'm trying not to get my hopes up. Though it'd be soooo nice to get it, cause it pays $300!  Anyway, had I not auditioned with the other two actors at the same, I would've been much more  nervous, cause we were all in our bathing suits. And for the first time, I was worried about my tattoo.  But, luckily, the other two both had tattoos as well. Lol. Filming starts the week of the 11th, so I'm  hoping I'll find out soon. And if I don't find out soon, then I guess it's safe to assume I didn't get it. 

Well, Thursday I have a couple shoots. I have one for breast cancer awareness (not nude or anything,   just wearing pink and looking tough) and then later that day, a mock "engagement" shoot done by a  college professor.  I also have scheduled a shoot for a couple weeks from now. It's a "running" shoot, basically exactly  what it sounds like. Lol. I will be running, and running, and running some more  while the  photographer takes pictures. And this one is paid! Yippee! Lol. Then, once I am back in  California, in  October, I have scheduled a casual beach shoot as well as a tentative shoot with a  fellow Marine  wife/photographer. I just signed my lease, waiting for it to be approved, but as of right now, my move in date is the 28th. Which means I'm leaving in less than 3 weeks! Gah! Lol.  
On an unrelated note, sometimes, while writing posts for this blog, I have to fight myself to post   certain things, I am naturally hesitant to post about auditions and potential opportunities and things of that nature, because if I do not get the job, or the opportunities fall through or something, then it will  appear that I have failed and people will therefore judge me. But I wanted this blog to be honest and  to potentially help other aspiring actors/models/performers/etc to see what life for an actor/model is  really like. I wanted people to see the reality of it, the hardships of it, the rejection, etc. and since people will judge you regardless of what you say or do, I try not to let my fear of being judged stop me from doing certain things. That fear hurts me with auditioning and acting- primarily with improv - because I am afraid of making a mistake or of making myself look stupid, so I end up coming across as timid and hesitant, not strong, confident, and as a bold risk-taker. 

Well, time for this wannabe (No! - to quote one of the Cinderella Story movies, I'm a "gonnabe!") to get her beauty rest. 

Don't forget to check out my model mayhem profile and website and Facebook page. :)
More later. Thanks! 

Ping Pong Summer Audition at Pat Moran Casting

So yesterday, I had my first "big" audition. Granted it's for an independent film, but it has Susan Sarandon and Amy Sedaris in it!
My new manager (woohoo!) Tom Townsend told me about this website (dragonukconnects.com) which has all of the major casting calls in this area. I found the one for Ping Pong Summer, submit myself, and they called me in for an audition! I found out less than 24 hours in advance, so the day that I got the call I stressed about what I was going to wear. Thank god for my mom and sisters (and dad on occasion) for helping me! The part I was auditioning for was a 16-17 year old teenage girl (circa 1985), whom after auditioning, I believe would be the lead character's sister. So, I was really worried I would not be able to make myself look 6 years younger than I am! Jeez I never thought I'd feel this old at not even 23. Haha.
I left early the next morning (not that 10:00 is early, but I mean I left early in that it takes 2.5 hours to get there, and I left 4 hours in advance). And I arrived in Baltimore almost 2 hours before my audition time was supposed to start. I grabbed some lunch at Qdoba (delish! First time in years actually) and then couldn't figure out where else to go so I went to the casting office, hoping I could find a bathroom in the building before I went in to their actual office to freshen up and maybe somewhere to sit for at least half an hour so I didn't look like a complete fool coming in an hour and a half early. No such luck. They had to buzz me in, and then there was nowhere to go but up the stairs and then the office. At least they let me wait in their waiting area and gave me the sides to study. I memorized them and then around 2:00, all at once a bunch of teens/young adults came in. Hard to judge some of their ages, but most of them were under 18 (could tell because their parents were with them) and then there were a couple who looked to be about my age or younger (no parents with them). And I was relieved to observe that not all of the female actors were up for the same role as me.
Being the first to arrive, I was the first called in to audition, and was a nervous wreck! It didn't go horribly though. We rehearsed the scene once, Pat Moran (casting director) told me I had "good instincts and good cadence/timing" but needed to "tone it down" a little. As I've always been taught, it's better to have them tell you to tone it down then to have them try and pump life into you. Much easier to get an actor to tone something down than to make it bigger. So I took that as a good thing! The second time through, they taped it. I fudged up one of the lines (dang it!) but not horribly so. I stayed in character and tried to fix it and keep going.
Once the scene was over (it was only about 10 lines long), Ms. Moran said to me, "That's all we need, thank you, good bye." Which threw me a little bit because I had been preparing to say something that my manager instructed me to say at the end of every audition. ("I really appreciate the chance to audition for you today. If given an opportunity, I promise I will work hard and will not let you down.") But I didn't feel as if there was an opening for it since she clearly had just told me to leave! lol. (not in a mean way, she was very nice but professional and extremely busy). So I just said, "Thank you for the opportunity." And left.
I was out of the office by 2:15 (and my original audition slot was 2:30). So I called my manager, grabbed some Starbucks, and drove the 2.5 hours home. Then ran 2.5 miles (it was a great stress reliever lol) and submit myself for more auditions.
Now, all that's left is to, firstly, no longer stress about it. Secondly, wait! I just pray for good news, as always. Cross your fingers for me! :D
Though this isn't related to the Ping Pong Summer audition, yesterday I also scheduled an audition for a local studio's commercial on Saturday and then today received a call from Central Casting asking me to work Friday in House of Cards (starring Kevin Spacey)! It's just as an extra, but I don't care! I'm just so excited! lol. Though the listing I responded to said "recurring/featured extras," so we'll see!
Keep checking back for more posts about my auditions and gigs. I'll try to update as frequently as possible.
Thanks!
~Laura