#actors creative workshop

[andthenigotserious]

DANIELLE E: AUDITION #39

what i wore: i wore my black boots, jeans, neon vneck, straight hair, down, light make up. wore my glasses in the q&a and took them off for the audition. she complimented my glasses as well and made a joke when i said they made me look older ("oh yeah, you look 45") and then later in the q&a she put on her glasses and looked at me and goes "do i look older"? lol. i wanted to look good/be super interactive in the q&a because we've interacted on twitter before and the first thing she said before starting was *pointing at me* i recognize you from your twitter pic. like AH! that's so fucking cool. i always knew it was good to connect with CDs on twitter and such and obviously i won't get a JOB through it but like danielle even said- i'm a familiar face in the casting room. i'm not a stranger. she's more likely to go towards me if i give a good audition, etc...

casting director: danielle e (HUGE commercials casting director)

project type: n/a because it was a workshop at ACW (i used my free workshop for this one!!! treated myself hehe)

how prepared i felt: super prepared! i did the roommates.com commercial that i've worked on with chris/auditioned with before and felt super calm and confident. she said i did great and then we had a nice convo after and she gave me feedback on headshots and such (she's such a huge casting director to the point where my agent said he didn't like a certain headshot and i said it was danielle's favorite- it actually was- and his response was "if danielle likes it i like it" LOL. so aaah so happy i can name drop her too! lol) and we had great convos about my type and such. i really do like her!!

key notes: i want to get a different commercial down i think. or maybe stick with this one. idk. i always get nervous that i'm going to get too comfortable with a certain piece and i like to have many options under my belt so i'd rather learn a new one anyways...

what to do differently next time: maybe set up a private sesh with chris and work on a new commercial. we'll see.

[andthenigotserious]

ACTOR'S CREATIVE WORKSHOP 10TH ANNIVERSARY

so the place i go to a lot of my workshops/classes at celebrated their 10th birthday the other week and invited everyone to go

i went honestly, for the raffle LOL. they were offering free headshots/classes/etc so of course i had to get in on that! shit's expensive out here!

they had vegan coconut ice cream, cake, food, and everyone was mingling. i found someone from my commercials class and he was with his (i think) wife so we hung the whole time. she won a free class which was awesome and then they left and i stayed the whole time cause i was DETERMINED to win something.... i never got my name pulled.

however, they announced they would also pick a twitter winner so you best BELIEVE i tweeted a motherfucking storm and tweeted pics of the diff food and ice cream stands at the party and such ....AND GUESS WHO WON A FREE $45 WORKSHOP MOTHERFUCKAAA

ME! HELL. YES. TWITTER FOR THE WIN!!!!!! 

[andthenigotserious]

WORKSHOP #4: TV DRAMA WITH ERICA S

this was through actor's creative workshop as well.

k... this casting director was not giving ANYTHING away during this workshop; people even asked "can you give us a little tidbit of what you'd teach in the class?" and her response was basically "no, take my class" lol. therefore, this was way more of a question and answer with her which was still awesome because she's a HUGE name in the casting department!!!

i don't really have anything else to ask since it was more personal questions she answered for people, but it was overall interesting hearing her answers and opinions on things like sending postcards, reels, auditioning, etc.

one valuable thing she did say was to like scott david's casting page on facebook; apparently he'll literally cast people off facebook... um... YES PLEASE. done and done!

[andthenigotserious]

WORKSHOP #2: COMMERCIALS WITH CHRIS GAME

this workshop was through actor's creative workshop as well. chris game is awesome. he reminded us constantly that we should not give casting directors the power they think they deserve; he said they wouldn't even have their jobs without us (and wow- DUH- never thought of it that way) and that we should never ever let them go on a power trip with us. 

he sold his class briefly at the beginning and then gave advice on advice on advice. i LOVED this workshop. one of my favorite pieces of advice i took away from this was to do it DIFFERENTLY if a casting director asked you to redo your audition. he said "if they ask you to do it again, that means do it again but DIFFERENTLY. we are casting directors, not directors, so we don't know how to direct you. you need to know what we mean. if we say do it again just like you did then THAT'S the only time you do the audition again the same way."

how many times have i done something the exact same way in acting class after a teacher told me to do it again?! um i'll tell you: EVERY TIME! but now i know to take chances and do it completely differently. if the first time i'm scared maybe the next time i'll be confident. if the first time i'm shy and timid the second time i should be loud and outgoing. 

he said to also be aware of your frame, the camera, not having your back to it, staying in the moment past "cut", etc. once again, so much invaluable advice that i will forever remember. i liked him so much i had a private coaching session with him too but i'll write about that later...

the best part about this workshop was that he HAD AN ACTUAL REEL of the auditions from a HUGE wendy's commercial. one of his students was the top 4 girls called back, and she got it. watching the other 3 girls' auditions were.... sad. to say the least. i couldn't believe that THEY made the cut after hundreds of auditions... they were ... SO BAD!

one of them literally slated and said "hi my name is (insert name) and i have laryngitis.. oh god you can hear it!" 

ARE YOU KIDDING ME. YOU COULD BE MAKING SO MUCH MONEY IT'S DISGUSTING BY BEING CAST AS THIS LEAD IN A WENDY'S NATIONAL COMMERCIAL AND THAT'S THE FIRST LINE YOU SAY IN YOUR AUDITION OH MY GOOOOD GURL. NO.

the other ones were just not good, i couldn't believe it. and then seeing his student do it was a COMPLETE 180 and she killed it. and she wasn't even the "type" they were looking for but when it comes down to it talent will win! (well ... most of the time haha)

you know who the student turned out being? the same girl who also got the geico commercial that is "you'll be happier than a witch in a broom factory." and now that same girl is starring in scandal. all because of that wendy's commercial!

it really opened my eyes to the possibilities there are in this business and how just taking a risk can change EVERYTHING! and if it doesn't work, it doesn't work! you won't know unless you try.

*i sent a postcard to him as well thanking him for the workshop

[andthenigotserious]

WORKSHOP #1: COMEDY WITH NICK A.

for this and the next few posts, i use "workshop" lightly (lol). i had never signed up for anything like this before so i didn't know what to expect at all. i think usual workshops have you working on your craft the whole time but this was through actor's creative workshop, which has classes. so i'd say it was half a workshop and half him selling his class to us. however, it was still extremely helpful and awesome because he gave insight into the industry and was brutally honest with us about a lot of topics! 

he spoke about his previous experience as a casting director (he got his start on will and grace as an assistant- or intern- i forget) and then moved onto commercials and other big projects. he briefly spoke about how China has a deal with Legendary and releases a few of their movies a year (China only releases 23 American movies a year) and he also explained how commercials are (nowadays) shot in bulk; therefore if you get a job for a halloween commercial you'll probably also shoot a thanksgiving, christmas, and new years eve commercial (you know those commercials for old navy, target, etc that shift with seasons). just like if you're cast in a july 4th commercial, you'll probably do general summer commercials and back to school commercials too- which i found really interesting. i guess it makes sense to get them all done at once with actors who you know you like already! 

he then talked about the rule of threes and gave advice on how to work on your comedic timing and how to break the pattern while also keeping the same rhythm. he obviously did not give away too much because then no one would take his class, but i'm definitely going to use this advice in future auditions. 

you best believe i took notes during the entire workshop! as should you if you ever attend one, they say such invaluable things about the industry and how to get ahead in it and you don't want to forget anything they say!!!

i sent a thank you postcard to him (which is essentially your headshot in postcard form) afterwards which is standard in the industry; just a quick "thank you for (insert specific thing you learned)" and "here's my managers info!"

although i kept thinking: what if the fucking mailman draws a mustache on my face?! hopefully he didn't...