There are many things I am. Being graceful is not one of them. If it was, I would have stuck with ballet after my performance of Animal Crackers at age five. Eh, probably not. The tutu wasn’t “me.”
Anyway.
I’m sitting in a little lobby with all redheads. Dark redheads, almost-blonde redheads, and even one true ginger. I’m trying to hear what is going on in the room but I can’t unless I put my ear up to the door — and I think that would be a bit of a faux pas. I get called in by this guy who was…eh maybe my age. He was cool and easy going, which is better than the latter Nothing-But-Business type. I had to slate my name, my height, and then turn to each side for profile. Yadda yadda. “Do you have any dance or yoga experience?” Say what? Now, I’m still on tape, so I couldn’t say that. The extent of my “professional” dance training would be in the chilling rendition of my 8th grade school play “100 Years on Broadway.” (Jesus Christ Superstar was mind-blowing) and I wasn’t going to admit to that so I said, “Not professionally”. As for yoga, I’ve taken classes at the gym, and so that is what I said. I didn’t want to lie, so whatever.
Then he put two couch cushions on the ground. WTF? Is what I’m thinking. He tells me I need to lay down and get up gracefully.
Let’s rewind back to the beginning of this entry. I. Am. Not. Graceful. Sure, I can be graceful on a horse, but walking in a straight line? Not so much. So I do it, as gracefully as possible and then he asks me to do it a second time. Then he takes the cushions away and tells me to lay on my back on the floor and get up gracefully again. I’d like to point out I’m doing this barefoot and my feet are a tad sweaty which doesn’t help for the ease of motion I was going for.
In the end, I’m just glad I got up without falling back down.
So a 30 minute drive to Santa Monica and an hour trip back (thank you L.A. traffic) for not much of anything, but whatever. My first audition in L.A. has come and gone rather uneventfully. Now I’m off to buy a pumpkin and some ingredients for a pumpkin dip for a pumpkin carving party tonight.
Lesson: Check the gym’s schedule for yoga classes.
Yes, I’m tumblring from the waiting room of an audition. It’s 2:15…my audition was at two. They called me at 11:30. NBD. Oh, did I mention that I have hives on my arms right now? Or that I have no idea what I’m auditioning for besides the description “Amy Adams type shoot. “? Yeah both of those.
Regardless, I’ll tell you how it goes. Wish me luck.
Well, here it is…my cost of moving to Los Angeles from Florida:
Car shipper: $900 I know you can drive, but I’m not one of those people who can drive 12 hours a day. Also, driving from Florida with gas + food + hotel it’ll come pretty close plus putting 3,000 miles on my car.
Rent and Deposit: $1400 This is CHEAP. $700 with utilities included for everything is almost unheard of and I was freaking lucky. Some also want first, last and deposit.
DMV stuff: Approx $180 for license + registration. Varies between cars
Smog test: $30 Required for all out of state cars. It’s usually $50 but I found a coupon on a website.
Box shipping: $100 Even with my trunk full and two suitcases I shipped out boxes. FedEx does a super cheap home ground. Shipping plus buying the actually boxes unless you have some laying around. Lucky you.
Misc stuff: $200 Stuff you don’t bring from a shower caddy to pillows to a stupid power strip because there aren’t enough outlets in your room. It adds up. Definitely bring what you can like a comforter and sheets. Space saver bags are a lifesaver…but yet another cost.
TWO IMPORTANT NOTES:
I DID NOT NEED TO BUY FURNITURE. My room came furnished with a bed, dresser, desk AND television. You either can rent a truck and move your current furniture (More $$) or try and sell it and buy stuff here. Either way, that’s more money.
I HAD A JOB FROM DAY ONE. I had no need to worry about income when I got here. That is usually not the case (and something I find extremely irresponsible). If you don’t have a job you should add $2,000 onto your moving costs.
So there’s the breakdown. I have money still in my savings account just because I wanted a buffer. God forbid my car DIDN’T pass the smog test and needed something done to it. Remember this is on top of acting classes, gas, food, entertainment, etc.
The Acting Plan thus far just got a wrench thrown at it. This isn’t just any kind of wrench. And it’s not a bad wrench. It’s actually a really, really good wrench.
I needed extra cash so I was going to babysit part time…$100-200/week extra is a nice bit of play money, right? Well, I found on sittercity.com (HIGHLY SUGGESTED for NWAs who need money) a woman looking for someone to watch two kids “in a barn setting.”
Now, for those who aren’t familiar with the Wonderful World of Horses, there are a lot different types of riding. I ride what is called hunt seat or “hunter/jumper”, and we have a tendency to look down on people who ride “English.” What? At least I’m admitting it. So what are the chances that this barn is anything like what I’m use to?
Well, pretty good since it’s exactly my kind of barn. Gorgeous (and expensive) horses, nice barn, big rings with nice jumps. They show on the horse show circuit. And they tell me they have plenty. For me. To ride. The big deal about that is you can’t just walk into a barn and ride by yourself (well, you can but I’d hate to see what kind of animal you’re put on) — they want to charge for lessons($50/half hour is a low ball) at least and after riding for 20 years there are very few people I will pay to teach me. But these people just want me to ride their horses. A lot of them. And still babysit a few hours a day of course, but did I mention I’ll be riding?
Here’s the wrench:
Horses are the love of my life. No, that’s not quite right; they are my life. And if came down to choosing, I’d pick horses every time. There’s no stopping to think. Maybe I should love acting this much — maybe some people do. But I gave my heart away after my first pony ride at two years old. Am I going to quite acting? Obviously not or else I’d delete this blog. But I have horses in my life and that’s a very important thing I need to balance…
People go their entire lives looking for their place in this world. Mine is on a horse.
For the longest time the only people who knew I was acting were two of my best friends and my family. I finally told everyone because I had to film the day of our football conference championship game so they’d stop yelling at me. And still I only told my close friends. I wasn’t acting for the attention. I was doing it because I really loved it.
Fast forward to my move.
When people ask what brought me here it’s usually followed by a look…like they’re waiting for me to say “I want to be an __actor/model/musician/director___” already preparing for an eye roll or some passive aggressive comment. But I say “I transferred out here for work,” which is followed by either “In the industry?” as in You were in student movie in east bumble and you’re ‘transferring’ out here for acting OR “Oh,” like I’m some sort of strange creature from another planet.
Is it a lie? Sorta. I mean, I DID transfer out here WITH my job. It comes down to the fact that I really don’t want any third party comments on how everyone wants to be an actor and how hard it is. Obviously, this site directly jokes about that. I’m not an idiot. To be damn honest, I’m probably smarter than whichever know-it-all is nosing into my business. So to avoid to unsolicited advice, I keep it to myself.
And in the future, if I happen to “make it” and they remember me and my not-in-LA-to-be-an-actor-lie, I hope they laugh and think to themselves, “I knew it.”
So I’m still a “fan” of my television show’s Facebook page and the director/writer posted that there’s a “special presentation” in two weeks. I only talk to one guy from the show still so I messaged him asking what was going on. He said that the deal to sell the DVDs for season 2 fell through and it’s to try and talk people into buying them. The DVD sales are the only way they can afford season 3.
Can I just say how freaking happy I am that I didn’t stick around for something that probably won’t happen. I was even supposed to be the main character the show revolved around, but I said no. The aforementioned friend is not doing season 3 (if there is one) nor are two other cast members. Personally, I think it’s too much blood, sweat and tears to make a third season out of something that the stations who run it don’t want to pay for after two years. The only reason I did it in the first place was to get more on my resume, stuff for a demo reel, and a legit IMDb page (the people with only “extra” or “uncredited” roles annoy me). And the demo reel is kind of sad since we worked with a skeleton crew. The makeup is awful. I was supposed to be a preacher’s daughter but I look like I belong on a street corner in thigh highs and pleather skirt instead.
Okay, enough ranting. This is just to pat myself on the back and tell myself I made the right decision.
Well, I’ve been in L.A. for an entire month. Acting wise, I’ve had one meeting with a friend who is a CD and she’s super awesome, but that’s it. It took longer than I thought to get everything — material and mental— organized. I was suffering from chronic hives when I moved here but those are finally under control because my new doc is awesome. I still need to lose the weight I gained from the months worth of steroids I was on for said hives back in Florida, so I’ve been going to the gym like a crazy woman (until yesterday when I woke up with a neck injury—cause I’m awesome at injuring myself in my sleep). All of my clothes finally have their place, closet is organized, routine has been set.
In between all of this I still work 6+ hours a day from either home or the Panera in Studio City when I need to get out of the house, and the work is going to pile on the next month. Which is kind of the only reason I can afford to live here, so it is a priority right now.
CD Friend (sorry, she’s remaining anonymous unless she tells me otherwise) gave me a friend to take (new) headshots with, but I need to a) get my body back to a decent look — and I’m not talking starving myself to a size 0. b) decide wtf I’m doing with my hair.
Whichever I chose I need to keep it like that. Natural(top) or red?
