Big Stick Energy
I’ve been lucky. I’ve been booking. Sure it’s also auditioning, building a portfolio overtime, and relationships with casting directors, but it’s also a sprinkle of magical, elusive, glittery, LUCK. In the acting world, we like to say “you gotta build that momentum.” Partly because the industry is so random, we come up with notions we can budge the universe in our favor if we just get the ball rolling. Pessimist or optimist, I think it worked this time around.
Ever since I wrapped my short film in April, jobs have been falling in my lap that have nothing to do with one another. I can’t say “oh I was on set when my DP mentioned a casting.” Not at all. I’d just open my email and there would be another “Congratulations!” from a casting director who has no connection to anyone else I know. Yes I made a self-tape for them and put in the work earlier in the month, but I developed a skill of “submit it and forget it” due to the sheer number of casting calls I never hear back from. Getting ghosted is so common that a proper rejection is a luxury. So lately I’ve been fully embracing my time on set, my hours in rehearsal, and moments in modeling while this glitter storm is raining on me.
Rehearsing for the new play Remembering Morgan
Filming a commercial in Connecticut (I love a free hotel stay)
Street photography style shoot with the ever kind Larry Felton
Commercial modeling for a new clothing subscription brand
Every set has been welcoming, considerate, and a joy to work on. (I like to imagine that the jobs I don’t book simply have crabby crew members and the nicest projects are yet to come. It eases the rejection.)
When you find a pile of sticks next to a pile of rocks, you do a photoshoot. You must.
I’d like to note that all of the above jobs are non-union, commercial, or modeling. My heart goes out to the WGA, DGA, and SAG members striking for fair pay and recognition. We do this because we love it, but it’s not just a labour of love, it a full time job in a billion dollar industry with 16 hour days on set, overnight shoots, consistent networking, and inconsistent schedules. You would think the people who create America’s binge-worthy shows that every 9-to-5er and student escape into after a long day deserve a fraction of the revenue the executives take. For a digestible summery of what’s been going lately, I listen to Breaking Out of Breaking In. Must we really go on strike every 10 years for equal pay? What if we avoided this mess by simply, I don’t know, giving writers and other creatives what they deserve? Just spit-balling.