Good & Bad Career Developments...

I guess any development is good, right?

I've been in the market for a new manager for a while now, but I still hadn't interviewed one that I really thought fit me well. Well today I got an email from my old manager from long ago (the first one I ever had, dating back to my college days) saying she moved back to LA and wanted to pick me up again. So that is good news. She was a pretty good manager, but back then I wasn't a very good client! (mostly because I was still in school, didn't know the biz, etc.)

The other news is that today I got THE letter from Actor's Equity Assoc saying I had reached my EMC point limit and now I have to join the union. I did not expect this letter for a couple years still. I guess being a member of a sister union accelerates the process in a way I didn't really understand. This is a real stumbling-block in my career strategy since a big part of my marketability is my non-union status. But, on the other hand, joining any union is always a milestone in one's career and you know, a good thing! I also have a fondness for Equity in my heart because the union has been very good to me (even as a non-member). But I'm not in a show right now, so I don't have to take any action immediately. But now the next time I get cast in an Equity show, I will have to deal with the inevitable.

Do I have any actor friends that read my blog? Any advice?

...sigh...

Lent is over! The good news is, I got to enjoy some yummy treats. The bad news is my "excuse" to eat healthy has passed and now it is back to plain-old will power. I've decided that I will pick a few days between now and Jenn's wedding where I will partake of the sugary elements, but the rest of the time will very closely resemble how I ate during Lent. Okay, so in an effort to ensure that I will follow through with this, I am now going to publish those dates publicly, here, on this blog. Bum, bada Bum!

*Jenn's Grad/Birthday celebration May 28
*Bridesmaid Luncheon
*My & Mom's Birthday July 23
*Wedding Cake August 4

Now, here are the big No-No's:

*The Junk Food on the community table at work
*Little desserts at family gatherings
*The "fatted white cake" after the baptisms at church
*No craft services at any movie set, of any kind
*Definitely no buying any sweets, even at coffe shops
*no eating chocolate by myself or in secret!

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy. I wish I had a metabolism.

Casting

Well, we finally held our auditions last night. I brought the blanket I'm crocheting because I was sure that we would have a ton of no-shows and lots of down time. Well, we didn't! We had a GREAT turnout! The actors just kept coming in, one after another, all the way from 5:50 to 9:40. In fact, the building we were in almost kicked us out for going past the time on our reservation. But it was definitely most fun to work with the kids. We took them 4 at a time so we could see them interact and boy, were they fun. After their readings we had them play a little game, and let me tell you, kids are so creative! We even had some really little ones, I think maybe down to 4 or even 3. Too cute.

My student Michelle from Norwalk High came along to be our monitor. She is doing her Senior Project on something theatre-related and I thought it'd be a good experience for her. She said afterward she had a wonderful time and wants to come again if we do callbacks.

Long Time, No Blog

Sorry I haven't been blogging much lately. I guess not much to tell. To everyone's dissappointment, I am not in a new show yet. (people keep asking...) I've been auditioning a lot, going to callbacks and also keeping real busy with Andy's movie. He is preparing to shoot a few scenes from the feature he wrote and he made me casting director. It's a really hard job to do all that scheduling when you've never done it before! After Monday, the CD part of my job will be over and I turn into wife of director/writer/producer and probably also The Caterer. Hmm... somehow I think I'm going to remain quite busy.

April Fools

The following Casting Call appeared in my inbox today, April 1st:

Friday, Mar. 31, 2006, 3:42 PM Pacific CLOONEY TUNES (Seven Roles) Feature Film UNION Producer: Rhode Rooner Director: Tass Devula Casting Director: Riley Kiote Location: New York Start Date: 4/1/2007

PLEASE NOTE: DUE TO AN UNFORSEEABLE GLITCH IN OUR SYSTEM, THIS BREAKDOWN HAS BEEN RELASED 24 HOURS AHEAD OF SCHEDULE. BREAKDOWN SERVICES APOLOGIZES TO ANYONE WHO HAS BEEN INCON- VENIENCED BY THIS ERROR. JUST PRETEND IT'S TOMORROW.

GEORGE CLOONEY: CAST (GEORGE CLOONEY)

[ HEINRICH VON HELLMAN ] 40 to 60, pompous, Germanic, self-absorbed, he's parlayed a family fortune in mayonnaise (to which he is allergic) into the directorship of the Metropolitan Opera in New York. Insanely ambitious and status-obsessed, terrified whenever mayonnaise appears in his presence, intent on leading the Met to new levels of musical greatness, this easily-enraged egomaniac has signed George Clooney to perform in "Pagliacci" under the guise of asking for an autograph. Willing to take Clooney to court if he balks at "pervormink," Hellman has more problems on his hands than an under-rehearsed movie star: his opera house is infested by a mysterious phantom who wants to drown Hellman in his own viscous condiment... LEAD. NOTE: ACTOR MUST BE WILLING TO WORK WITH MAYONNAISE [ CHRISTINE ] The soprano. 17 to 20 years old, a great singer with an immature streak, Christine is repulsed by George Clooney "because he's like old and gross and has like these gray hairs all over his old head and junk." Utterly disrespectful of her neophyte Pagliacci, Christine is enchanted by the mysterious, romantic Phantom who whispers to her about the music of the night. But when she goes into the bowels of the Manhattan sewer system in pursuit of her Phantom, Christine learns to her horror that old fart George Clooney is coming to her rescue... LEAD. PROTOTYPE: A rilly young Scarlett Johannson [ PHANTOM OF THE OPERA ] Tall, suave and masked, he pursues Christine with the ardent zeal of a sophisticated, elegant man of romance. Speaking to her in whispers through an electronic vocal thingy that makes him a great singer of duets with too many syrupy strings, he convinces Christine to ruin George Clooney's big night by coming with him to his underground lair. But when Christine unmasks him, he is revealed to be wannabe tenor Daffy Duck, hell-bent on taking Clooney's place on thtage ...LEAD. NOTE: Talent's real face will never be seen. Okay to submit mimes. [ FEMALE MOVIE STAR ] Furious because George Clooney has cancelled their latest steamy getaway in Samoa in order to perform in "Pagliacci," this major female movie star is a woman scorned. Wrongly convinced that George has dumped her half-way to the altar (in fact, after two dates), she flies from romantic Pago Pago to Manhattan to have it out with George. A woman who has never stepped on stage before and can't sing a note, she soon finds herself onstage at the Met, desperately singing "Ragtime Gal" with the aid of an animated frog, vamping wildly until George brings Christine back from the sewers...LEAD. PLEASE SUBMIT ONLY MAJOR FEMALE MOVIE STARS FOR THIS SOMEWHAT HUMILIATING THREE-DAY CAMEO. [ MAYOR OF MILAN ] Livid because estupid American movie estar George Clooney is buying up too much property in Eetaly, he too flies to Manhattan, hoping to keep Lake Como for the Eetalians. Short, blustery and volatile, this mercurial politico is so enchanted with George's harried, boiled-down-to- four-minutes rendition of "Pagliacci" that he invites George to open the new season at La Scala ...SUPPORTING; THINK ROBERTO BENIGNI [ ANGELICA ] The mezzo-soprano. 30 to 45, a woman of slinky, sultry Italian sensuality, mixed together with the driving ambition of a human jackhammer, Angelica is determined to seduce her co-star all the way to the altar, and pursues George with an increasingly impassioned frenzy that gives Clooney a feeling he's never felt before -- the urge to ESCAPE!...LEAD. OKAY TO SUBMIT OVERWEIGHT AND OVERSCALE. ACTRESS MUST BE WILLING TO NOT HAVE SEX WITH GEORGE CLOONEY. [ JESSICA RABBIT BODY DOUBLE ] Revealed to be the one true love of George Clooney, Jessica shows up at the end to crook her little finger and swoop off with both George Clooney AND a certain New York real estate magnate panting after her. Must be swervy, curvy and very three-dimensional; actress will stand in for Jessica, who's busy shooting something in Romania for The Sci-Fi Channel...PLEASE SUBMIT ACTRESSES WHO AREN'T BAD [ THE DONALD ] A legendary real estate mogul and hotelier, with a rug like a freshly slaughtered raccoon (OFFER OUT TO WILLIAM SHATNER), The Donald shows up after the chaos has ended to give an exhausted George Clooney a bit of news: George has been booked into the Bellagio as a last minute replacement for David Copperfield, and has to make the entire Las Vegas Strip disappear -- two hours from now. But when Jessica Rabbit wanders past, The Donald's eyes pop six feet out of his head and bright red steam hisses out his ears...ONE DAY CAMEO [ AMIR FUDD: (PROTOTYPE: DICK CHENEY) ] George Clooney's droll publicist who continues to tell everyone that everything is ok despite the fact that everything is going wrong. (Special Cameo Role only-this is a special role because it turns out in the end that he has engineered the whole mess to destroy George because he is insanely jealous)

STORY LINE: When GEORGE CLOONEY is tricked into singing the title role of "Pagliacci" at the Metropolitan Opera, George's crinkly eyes turn panicky with stage fright, and he turns for help to the greatest Wagnerian opera singer in cinema history -- Bugs Bunny. Coached by his manic mentor, a jittery George puts on his clown makeup, only to learn that a demented Daffy Duck is determined to "take thenter thtage away from that inthufferable thinema thuperthtar" and has kidnapped his leading lady...

© Copyright 2006 Breakdown Services, Ltd., All Rights Reserved.