It’s the greatest time of the year! I get to write Christmas cards and put them in the envelopes with a stamp and everything, wait for an address to send to, receive it late, miss Christmas, then post it early January or never. I seriously found 3 Xmas cards in my room that I were meant to be sent last Christmas. Anyway in acting news...
I booked flights to LA again! I have American friends now so I have free accommodation. :) I still have no visa, manager and/or agent. Which means you could say my trip is useless… but I like to think it’s just prep for when I do go over and have everything ready. I’ll be doing a UCB course (which I missed out on last time) and trying to meet all the acting teachers I didn’t get to in the last trip. Might as well get some footage down in LA aswell. I’ll write some stuff, pitch some stuff, film some stuff and then hopefully it goes viral. That’s how things work these days right?
Hey I did a Melbourne trip! I went down on the advice of my agent and managed to get a Go-See with Chameleon’s Rosie Traynor and Maura Fay’s Louise Mitchell. I bought Rosie some macaroons (she apparently loves macaroons) and I didn’t bring Lou anything, mainly because I ran out of time. I actually ended up doing a casting for Lou on-the-spot while I was there. For what, you’ll never know (I didn’t get it. So don’t spend too long being jealous). I also got to hang out with my best peeps Cameron, Grant, Matty, Graham & Opell. If you meet them, become friends with them. You won’t regret it.
I auditioned for a play! Unpaid. For the first time in a very long time. It was awful. I mean the play was great but the director. Wowee! My audition was at 8pm. He called at 6 and asked if I could come at 7, people hadn’t showed. I said ‘sure’ like the extremely accommodating actress I am. I get there and the director sounds pissed when I call him to let him know I am there. There are no signs indicating where the audition is held. We walk to the audition room in silence, no small talk and before we enter, he says ‘So what's your name?’. After I sit down, he goes through my resume and mocks me because I ‘have lots of training’ Ooh La Di Da! Then he asks ‘So what on here are plays?’. I say just one of them and he then starts to laugh at me saying ‘you do know this is a play’. Yes director. I do. I’m not an idiot and am not here to waste my time like you are. The audition continues. I do a monologue. Then he tells me to read a little something in ‘my own time’ . It’s 7 or 8 pages. Very incorrectly formatted and hard to read material. As I start to read through page one, he picks up a seat, places it behind me, sits in it and then starts to have a loud conversation with the other 3 in the room, on the other side of me. I read the script, do the dialogue with a reader and tell them my availability. I didn’t get the role. Maybe if I got the role I could look back back on the audition and think ‘yeah that was necessary’. But I didn’t. It was a waste of my time. The director was condescending, unprofessional and a total dickhead. I hate unpaid gigs. At least when they are paid, you can say I did it for the money.
In other more positive news. I played at Likewise, an Improv show, with my main man Pete Lead. He is funny! I like this guy... you should see me or him or us both play together sometime. That would be nice. :) Or if you can’t see us go see The Bear Pack. Just spectacular. They do big shows at Giant Dwarf in Redfern. I’ll see you there.
The Cottonwood Fence is still rolling on. We filmed bits and bobs in Yarrimundi last month. The heat was ridiculous. Overwhelmingly hot. But lucky we were at a lake, so every afternoon we would pack up and go swimming for half an hour. Bliss.
Happy Birthday Equity! Equity had a nice ditty of a celebration organised by my friend Bali Padda. There was cake! There was a photobooth! There were free drinks! It was divine. My favourite part was when I got to meet Jordan Raskopoulos from The Axis of Awesome and the original Melbourne B2 (Bananas in Pyjamas). This is what dreams are made of. Queenie van de Zandt also sang 'I’ll hold on' from Miracle City. It was breathtaking.
I got my writing boots on... The are made of paper and I've drawn the shoelaces on with pencil. Not really. But I have started writing again. First my cabaret. It’s Better with Bette. It was titled something else but apparently Bette Midler is some sort of celebrity and I'm not the only own who admires her and wants to perform a cabaret in her name. Anywho… I've written an hour show but it’s not ready yet! Instead I’ll be entering a preview amount into the Your Theatrics International Cabaret Competition and hopefully I get selected into the heats and then to the finals and then WIN! That would be nice. It’s a bit of singing but mostly a lot of laughs. She is truly inspirational. I want to be her… but be me instead.
I’ve also completed writing ‘The Asylum’. It’s a working title. It's a comedy web-series. The "asylum" is actually the name of our place because it looks like a hospital ward. It’s all about the people that stayed with us this year. It’s been rocky having to find new housemates constantly but it makes some funny stories. It's written so now all we have to do is film it. Now I know what your thinking, the whole housemate thing has been done a lot. Well... I do not care. Thanks for listening.
Finally, this week I did some kiss-assing. Well that’s what my housemates would call it but I really just wanted to gift the people in the industry that have helped/ inspired me most this year. You know who you are. Don’t be afraid to thank people in the industry! My good mate Matt told me that I should send a thank you card to the casting agent everytime I get a gig. Do it! Greatest advice. Everyone loves gifts. Just like the macaroons. If it would make your day it would make theres.
And that's it! It’s all about the Christmas, New Years, goal-setting and LA for me now. I’ll let you know how everything goes.
Have a safe and happy New Year! xx
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