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.