And So it Begins

To anyone I haven't told previously, I finally got my first part in New York City.  This feels like such a long time coming, even though it has only been 6 months since I've moved here.  I guess it feels so long because the last show I was in was The Credeaux Canvas about a year and a half ago.  The show is a sketch comedy show called "Something Outrageous" that originated at Second City in Chicago and has migrated it's way to New York City.  It has a very cabaret/vaudeville feel to it.  So for those of you itching to see me perform, here are the details. 

Title: Something Outrageous
Where: The 45th Street Theatre (45th St between 8th and 9th Ave)
When: Friday 11/11 and 11/12 at 8:30 pm
Price: $25, but that includes free drinks before the show
Tickets at Smarttix.com and 212-868-4444

It's a very short show, only about 45 minutes.  There are multiple casts and productions so make sure you get tickets to the 8:30 show, because that is mine.

This truly feels like the beginning of my journey.  I am really excited that it has started after the last few months, I really needed this. 

In other news, I have another audition today.  It's for a musical...I am really freaking out about it, because I haven't done a musical since Godspell about 3 years ago.  I have been watching videos from it to kind of remember what it felt like, and can't help but smile from all the fond memories.  To those of you who are curious, here is a video.

Anyways, I am hoping that this show will start a streak of parts, but if not, at least I got over the hurdle of getting my first part in New York.

Auditions Auditions!

So I haven't updated in a while, basically because nothing has really changed enough to inspire me to update, until recently.  A few minutes ago I just got an email telling me I have an audition on Monday, this will follow my two auditions that I have on Sunday.  This is the most that I have had in a while.  This means though I thought I was telling myself that the summer is a slow season for my type of projects, that I was actually right.  I had started to doubt myself through most of September because of the lull that occurred.

I also switched to overnight shifts at work, which means I do not have to freak out every time I get an audition notice, worrying if I will have to switch shifts with someone.  I can know look at it knowing I will be free at the time.  I also get weekends off, which is a nice plus.

I'd like to say that I will update soon with the results of these auditions, but I can't guarantee it.

Cheers.

Filling the Gap

So blogger just came out with an app for the iPhone, which is pretty awesome. Now I can blog from wherever I am. I just wanted to give a quick update on how life is going right now, since my last post was about a month ago an it ended with me saying I was going to update more, but apparently my life had other plans.

I started two new acting classes, which I love. A scene study and a voice class. With the scene study class I am finally getting to do some real character work, which I haven't gotten to do since The Credeaux Canvas, which was about a year ago. It's basically been torture being away from it that long, so I'm happy to be back. I also had an audition for my first paid gig. I didn't get it, but I got called in to audition, which is good enough for me.

I have another audition in a few weeks, I'll let you know if this one works out more positively. I'm sorry for the lack of wittiness and charm in this post, but I really wanted to update everyone on what was going on. Till next time.

Cheers

"Focus" and "Growth"

So it's been a really long time since I posted, I wish it was due to the fact that I was busy booking work and getting tons of auditions.  Alas, it is not.  I went on a trip to Vegas, which was awesome, but basically I have been submitting myself to any project that fits me, but have only gotten one audition in the last few weeks.  The audition did go very well though.  I didn't get the part, but it was the best I felt coming out of an audition in a long time.  I knew that I had nailed it, and they thought so too.  They emailed me and said that my audition was wonderful, but they decided to go in a different direction with the part.  Now I know they could have just been lying about this whole thing to soften the blow, but they also said they wanted to work with me in the future, hence, growing my contact base and growing as a person.  I also didn't take the rejection personally what so ever,  which brings me to the title and topic of this entry...Focus and Growth.

My sister gave me these stones that are meant to keep me on track with the words "Focus" and "Growth" on them.  I m really taking the words to heart.  I carry them around with me as a reminder of how I am going to keep growing as a person.  Realizing that if I don't get a part doesn't mean I'm not talented, it just means that someone else fit the part a little bit better.  I will also try to remain focused at all times.  If something doesn't further my career or my life in general, why do it?  This has been a great lesson and I thank her for it.

Maybe this positive thinking has sent out some good karmic waves or something because I just found out I have another audition this week, which hopefully I will be able to attend if I can get someone to take my shift at work.  I'll keep everyone updated.  Also, now that my life is a little more stable, I will be updated more again.

An update on my life

So, since I said in the last post I would do an entry basically summing up where I am in my acting career so far. Basically at this point, I am about 3 months into my acting career and things have been slow going. This is to be expected. I wasn't planning on getting a ton of roles right when I got here. That makes no sense. I have been getting a few auditions though, probably averaging about 1 a week. My favorite one was a few weeks ago. I had to blow up a balloon and shake maracas. It was all very entertaining for me. Also, they said I was funny, so that's good. I also had an audition that I had to film. I had to record a video as if it was the last few minutes of my life. I'm going to post it when I have access to youtube, which apparently you don't on megabus, but I'm not very proud of it. It was really late and I know that I could have done better.

I also began writing non-blog things. I have a screenplay in the works. It is only a few pages right now, but it is the farthest I have ever actually gotten in a script, so that's good.

I also have begun work on a website for myself. It isn't going to go live until sometime in the end of the summer when I get my new headshots, but look forward to that.

Until next time.

EDIT: I found a way to get the youtube video on.

Ah, the good ole days

I know it's really ironic/hypocritical to be complaining about new media on a blog, but I kind of love being an ironic hypocrite, so I'm going to. The acting world has changed so much since the days of Old Hollywood, where all you needed was a head shot, and that was it. Now actors need to have websites, performance reels, online profiles at websites like actorsaccess.com, mandy.com, backstage.com, etc. in addition to your headshot and resume. This has made things a lot easier for people, but also a lot more difficult. How are you supposed to keep up? It takes a lot of balance, let me tell you that. I started working on my own website, not to be debuted for a long while, but at least it's a start.

Speaking of Old Hollywood vs. New Hollywood. I think for me, Old Hollywood would have fit my style a little more. In general it was a lot worse for actors, but in some ways it was better. First, studios used to nurture there stars. Agents, managers, and producers would help to "make" them who they were. They would advise them on good career choices. I know all of this stuff sounds great, but in order to not get pissed that life isn't like that anymore I need to remind myself that these actors were owned by the studio system. They weren't paid well and almost worked as slaves for the studio. You were not allowed to do movies for other studios while you were still under contract.

I reality I wish that studios took risks more often. In the golden age of Hollywood, stars were raised and worked their way up through the ranks. Nowadays if you are not already a star, no one is really going to help make you one, which I understand and am okay with, it just would be nice you know? Also, Old Hollywood movie producers took more risks. I get discouraged when I look at what is in theaters and it is all sequels or based on some previous source material. No one is really making original work. I know that some people feel that there aren't many stories left to tell, but I'm not that cynical. There has to be more stories out there. Well anyways, that's my rant for now. My next post will be more informative and an update on my actual life. It also won't be too long from now. I'll try to get it out soon.

Cheers

Are You Afraid of the Dark?

It has been a while since I updated, but not for lack of wanting to. I have had this post in my mind for quite some time, but haven't found the time to sit down and actually write it down. Two completely different entries could be written that have the same title as this post. This is not a post about the awesome Nickelodeon show from the 90's, but my attempt to be witty and creative with my titles.

This post is my way of saying that I will no longer let fear stand in my way. This not to say that I will not be afraid of things because that is preposterous. It is just saying that fear should not hold me back. I had a realization that I have all of these great ideas and these great choices about characters and ways to realize them to stage, but I would shy away from them and take the safe route out because it was easier. Nobody can HATE the safe choice, they just don't like it very much.

The best actors make the boldest choices, and they follow through with them. I recently realized that this is one of the hurdles that I will need to cross. I have crossed it before, and when I make bold and interesting choices they have always been met with positive feedback. The issue is that I need to make these bold choices on a consistent basis, and to do them in auditions. This is not to say that every every reading needs to have some enormous affectation or some huge decision, but to say that when I make character choices to stick to them.

One terrible instance of this happened about a year ago. I was at a callback for Brighton Beach Memoirs and I had practiced the audition in two different ways, one with my normal everyday accent, and one with a Brooklyn accent. I was told my Brooklyn accent was good by a friend, but me with my lack of confidence and fear of failing decided to go without the accent. Trouble is, with the way the dialogue is written and who I was reading with the accent came out on certain lines, which never looks good.

To sum it all up, I am no longer going to be afraid to stick to my convictions. I will also not be afraid that someone is going to judge me or think I am weird because I had an original take on a character. What is the worst that can happen? They remember me for being different? Hell! At least that means they remember me.

Cheers

One Goal Accomplished

So, I accomplished one of my goals for the summer. I signed up for an extras casting agency, which granted was the easiest of the goals to complete, but at least it is progress. So I feel that I am getting into a routine here which I feel is good. Routine helps me stay sane, but at the same time when I want to break that routine it feels all the more difficult.

I have gotten in the habit of submitting myself for auditions during my lunch break at work and when I am off. It helps me feel productive and keeps me thinking about the ultimate goal of my move here.

One thing that they never mention when people talk about moving to a big city to become an actor is homesickness. It sucks. I really like my life here in New York, but nothing will ever replace the PEOPLE back home. My coworkers are not nearly as awesome, and I don't spend enough time with people in my acting class to make lasting friendships like the ones I already have. I think this is actually a good thing, because acting is a cutthroat business, and I am a softie as it is, I don't need an emotional attachment to my competition to stand in my way also. Basically the end of this entry was meant to tell you all that I miss you and am thinking of you, and that I am really thankful for all of the support I have gotten. You are awesome.

Cheers

My Star(bucks) Life

There is something I find very romantic in a bohemian type of way that I have to access the internet at coffee shops. It makes it easier for me to pretend that I am actually this super creative person, when in fact I am not, and just play one on TV. Well hopefully I'll play one on TV some day. I tend to do that a lot. I create stories and characters for myself that I act out in my actual life, in public. Like at this moment I hope to appear to the people around me as a fascinating young author who just had to stop at this Starbucks because he had a breakthrough and couldn't risk forgetting it. I also do this for people that I see. Like the girl sitting in front of me right now is (according to me) a Columbia graduate student who is lounging with her laptop, happy to be done with finals. The lady to her left is a struggling author/cat lady. She writes on her Macbook, hopefully publishing the next New York Times Bestseller, but trying to remember if she changed the litter in the box yesterday. The man with the suitcase behind me just flew in from JFK from England hoping to meet his long distance lover. I know this all makes me sound like a creeper, and maybe I am, but I am amusing myself with my own imagination.

Uta Hagen, the author of my Acting Technique textbook and brilliant actress, says that true actors are story tellers and will make up stories for people that they see on the streets. I guess this is a good sign for me?

Part of me wishes that my roommate/landlord doesn't get internet access. On a practical note, it also gets me asleep faster, seeing as I stay up until 4 or 5 in the morning looking up useless factoids on wikipedia.

Let the Fun Begin

So, I have been in my new place for almost a week. It's been very interesting. I love it, for the fact that I have my own space, but I hate the fact that New York is outrageously hot right now and the one thing I forgot to bring from home was a fan. My roommate basically forced one on me, so I have one in the meantime. I also don't have internet access, which is why my posts are going to be a little bit more scarce. I will try to update at least every couple of days. We should be getting internet access in a few days, but who knows?

As for the acting life. I am really loving my acting class. I know that I have taken this class for a few years now, but now that I am in the city, everything seems to click a little bit better. I really seem to understand the process a little bit more. I also love the fact that I do not have to wake up at 5:30 in the morning to get there.

I had an audition today, so my average of about one per week it still going strong. I think it went well, but for the first time I had to miss an audition because of work. They only gave me about 6 hours notice and it happened to be the one day that I was working until 9. The role wasn't that great, so it's not a huge loss, but I still would have liked to go. Work is going to to be an interesting obstacle because I have never really been that great with time management, I also need to make sure that I stay employed, but some acting jobs require multiple day shoots on a short notice. Since I have not gotten one of these jobs yet, I haven't learned how my managers are going to react when I say that I need the next few days or week off. Only time will tell.

This lack of internet access has lead to a few really good things. I get a lot more sleep. Also, I realized why some actors become writers, because if you have a computer with no internet access, writing is really all you can do with the computer. So I think I might start doing some of that. I'm not really sure, but it'll give me something creative to with my time.

Well I hope that I will be able to update again soon.

Cheers

My Mobile Connection

So, I am writing this while on the bus, and while Megabus is supposed to have wifi, apparently my bus does not, but I will NOT be beaten. That is actually the theme of today’s post. Not letting anything break you down. I realized that I have been focusing too much on the negative in my life and need to start focusing on the positive. So instead of thinking about things negatively (i.e. I have been in New York for a month and have only had two auditions) I should spin it in a more optimistic manner, such as, I have only been in New York a month and am averaging an audition every other week. Which in the stage of my career, is pretty damn good.

So in my attempt to start working towards something concrete and to feel like I am actually accomplishing something, I am going to make a list of goals that I want to accomplish before the end of summer. The reason I am choosing summer is because it is kind of a break for the industry. No agencies will be taking on new talent until around October, all TV is on hiatus, and most film students are on break. So in my attempt to gear up towards what I hope to be a busy fall, here is my very short list of goals:

1. Get an acting job in a film(paid or unpaid)

2. Begin compiling clips for an acting reel

3. Get back into shape

4. Sign up for an extras casting agency

I know it is only four, but I wanted to make them doable. The reason I like them are because all but one is controlled by me. To be honest I can only do so much to control if I get a job in a film, but I will do all I can. The reason I want to make it a film is because without film credits and experience I cannot craft a reel, which as I have learned is one of the most important devices in landing an audition. When I say reel, I do not mean a few clips of me doing monologues or whatever comes to my mind. I mean clips that appear professional and showcase me in a way that my headshot and resume cannot do alone.

So…three cheers for setting summer goals!! Also, if you haven’t noticed, my twitter feed is on the right hand side of this page. I put it there for a reason, because I am beginning to use the website in a more active capacity. I hope that if you are not already following me that you would begin to (I know shameless plug, but you I have to do it). If you don’t have an account, just check here regularly, because when I want to do a quick update, I will just tweet something instead of doing a whole post.

Cheers

As One Door Closes Another Opens

Recently, I have noticed that when I don't get a part I was auditioning for, it always seems to work out for the best. Or at least I am able to find the silver lining about not getting a part. With not getting the part in the one act, I realized that I can use all of the extra time that I am going to have for more productive things. I also realized that this is probably the best thing for me. I know this is going to sound very strange, but I am happy that my first audition was a "no" because I am going to be hearing that a lot, so why postpone it. The more I hear it, the easier it'll get.

So, I was browsing craigslist and found an ad for a site that seemed pretty interesting. It's called Imadeamovie.com. Now this site makes you pay if you want to become a producer of these movies, which I would never do, but it is free to audition. I auditioned for a part in The Zombie Movie, which seems like a B-Movie horror/comedy type of thing. Here is my audition, what do you all think?



Also, I have another in person audition. It's for a student film at Columbia University. Who knows how it goes, but it is something.

My Headshot

So, this shot may look familiar to people who have seen my facebook. I have a black and white version of it on there, but color is really more the standard now. I'm thinking that I'll probably need another more serious one in the future, but for now I really kind of like this one. It will hopefully serve its purpose, which is a first headshot in order to get me started with everything. It was taken by Tim Brown at TAB Photographic. He did a lot of our publicity stuff for The Credeaux Canvas.

Now...time to get working on formatting the resume correctly.

And So It Begins

I have been invited to my first audition today. It's for a one act written and directed by someone entering a play competition. It seems pretty cool. I'm not expecting much from the audition, but I am happy because it is my first and that hurdle is always the hardest to cross.

For this audition I finally had to decide on a headshot that I am going to use. I'll post it when it is complete, but I am pretty happy with it. A few things I learned should be avoided when it comes to headshots:

Crazy Poses (look natural, not positioned also avoid strange head positions)
Gobbs of Makeup (look like you would when you came in to audition)
Super Close Cropping that causes you to lose ears and foreheads and stuff
Distracting backgrounds or gimmicks
And that none of these rules are set and stone and can be broken at any time if the picture permits, besides not looking like yourself. They like it when you do.

That last rule however makes it almost impossible to choose a headshot because what if you are the exception? Well when I chose mine I figured I wasn't so I played it safe. We'll see how it works.

Also, I am planning on doing some background work. We'll see how that goes. I'll keep everyone posted.

One New York City tip to everyone. Texting Kills, even if you are not driving a car. Always be alert. That is all.

What Ever Happened to Helpful?

So I originally was going start this post with a long story about how a bunch of craigslist ads for apartments turn out to be scams, but I figured I would get more to the point of what this post and entire blog are going to be about. Sure it is going to chronicle some cool stuff that happens in my life, but in reality I am hoping that it can help some people in the same predicament as me realize that there are other people out there.

Basically when I was looking up advice about starting a career in acting there is not much out there because there is kind of a catch-22 that is created when it comes to giving advice. You only want to take advice from people who have made it, but those people who have made it don't have time to post online articles giving away every detail of their rise to stardom. This is not to say that there aren't any reputable and helpful sources out there (Actors Access/Backstage) but to acknowledge the fact that there are a lot of people out there trying to make a quick dollar praying on the naivety of young actors. After yesterday's search and freakout I found numerous e-books and programs that only wanted my money in exchange for the secret to stardom. These sites just make me angry as with the craigslist postings. What ever happened to just being helpful without wanting to swindle someone for all they are worth? How come these people are clever enough to come up with and pull of the schemes, but not clever enough to get a real job? I guess its kind of like the people that come up with computer viruses? Just wanting to mess with someones life? Either way from this point on I'm not letting them affect me.

The First Post

So as many of the people who will probably be reading this blog know, I am an aspiring actor who just moved to New York City. woohoo!! Anyways, i figured that this blog would be a good way to kind of chronicle my life and experiences here. I started a video blog on Youtube when I was going through my weight loss and it really seemed to help. So this blog will probably be more for me than it will be for you. Who knows, maybe it'll go viral and ill get a TV show out of it like the "Shit My Dad Says" Twitter account. Anyways that's all I'm going to post for tonight, because it's rather later, actually it's really early if your a normal person, but we all know I'm not one of those.