Day 336 - 339: From one thing to the next...

Day 336: Caught up on TV via Hulu. Watched Modern Family, Glee, Once Upon a Time, Revenge and New Girl.

Day 337: Cardio Hip-Hop class at Your Neighborhood Studio. LOVE this class! 

Day 338: Commercial audition at Kathy Knowles Casting. This was one of those auditions where you're not really an actor but a "real person" so they asked me questions about being a mom and it went so/so.

Day 339: Last Power Group of the year at TAN and it was a good one. There were lots of great accomplishments to close out 2011 and inspiring goals to start off 2012.

Updates galore! {Day 315 - 335}

I'm sooooo behind on my updates but I have been keeping track of them and I wanna get caught up before the year is over so here we go...

Day 315: Got to be a reader today at the casting director's office where I intern and it was AWESOME!! The casting associate (who has now been promoted to full casting director) said I did an excellent job especially since it was a cold read. What I appreciated more though, were the compliments from the actors I read with. Can't wait to see who gets the part.

Day 316: Rehearsed sides with Y'vonne.

Day 317 - 318: Emailed 24 managers and Atlanta agents

Day 319: Sent an email follow-up to the program director of KETP. Will call in 3 weeks if I don't receive a reply. Really don't want to start the arduous task of looking for a new job if I'm still in the running for this. {Found out the next week that I'm not. Boo!}

Day 320: Attended a free agent seminar held at Actors Comedy Studio with a hilarious agent from Metropolitan Talent Agency.

Day 321: Gave editing notes to the director of my "Promotion" scene.

Day 322:  Mailed a thank you postcard to the manager I saw 2 weeks ago, the agent I met on Saturday and a CD who brought me in for an audition awhile back followed by a private session at SKS and a cold-read audition for a voiceover gig (I booked it!)

Day 323: Emailed 13 theatrical agents here in LA.

Day 324: Mailed a hardcopy submission to 2 of the Atlanta agents I emailed last week.

Day 325: Took Thanksgiving off and enjoyed time with my family.

Day 326: Actually saw a movie in a theatre! Do you know how rare that is? Stephen & I saw Tower Heist and it was funnier than we expected.

Day 327: Met with Greg & Lex to do voiceover for episode 6 as well as the commercials then had lunch afterwards.

Day 328: Updated my production resume since I plan to start looking for a new survival gig.

Day 329: Met with my PG Buddy and he gave me a Starbucks gift card for Christmas. Unexpected and appreciated. Thanks Tom!

Day 330: Joined WIF after discussing it with a TAN Power Group member who is a member of WIF already and loves it. Very excited to see what new networking opportunities this organization will bring.

Day 331 - 335: Off for my Houston trip. Didn't submit to anything or even look at any breakdowns. Completely took a break from acting and enjoyed time with my brother and my friends as I was down there to be a bridesmaid in a wedding. I had a ball catching up with my college besties though I really REALLY missed my 3 guys, especially since Stephen's 30th birthday was during this time. Thankfully I have a very laidback husband who didn't give me a hard time about being gone. He didn't even want me to plan anything for him despite my best efforts to get him to do it up for this milestone. Instead he just wants an iPad 2 and he'll be happy. I told him to wait until tax refund time since the darn thing costs over $700 but I'm gonna surprise him with it for Christmas. And no he doesn't read this blog so he has no idea. Shhh....

Day 311 - 314: Updates

Day 311: Went to Power Group at TAN followed by coffee with Y'vonne. I swear there are some people in this world who always make you feel better when you're in their presence, she is one of them.

Day 312: The block schedule I created isn't working for me so now I'm trying something new. Today I took my monthly goals that I shared in Power Group and divided them up week by week to make sure I do the tasks needed to help me meet those goals.

Day 313 -  314: Updated my regional rep target list by using IMDb Pro to find all the agents whose clients were on the last few episodes of VH1's Single Ladies, CW's Vampire Diaries and BET's The Game, Let's Stay Together and Reed Between the Lines since they all shoot in Atlanta.

Day 286 - 287: Renewals, wardrobe and location

Day 286: Renewed my TAN membership. Picked up 2 wedding dresses for future DWP use that was donated by an actress who knew I needed one to complete shooting episode 6. Thanks Cheyanne!

Day 287: Visited USC's United University Church to make sure it would work for the location we need to finish episode 6. It looks great online but you only see bits and pieces of parts of the church rather than a full photo of what it looks like as a whole. So I'm glad it's going to work out as we're planning to shoot on Monday. 

Day 284: TAN with Twinkie

Day 284: Went to Power Group at TAN followed by 2 back to back coffee dates. Later on I went back to TAN to listen to Twinkie Byrd {casting director of films such as Jumping the Broom, Notorious, Stomp the Yard and the upcoming Sparkle} speak and it was AWESOME! As you know, she's one of the main cd's on my target list and despite not wanting to go because I was exhausted and knew that if I went I'd have a really late night at work, I silenced all of those nagging, non-helpful thoughts and went anyway. I'm so glad I did! First of all, there were only about 10 of us there {crazy!} when really every black actor in TAN should have been in the building. Second, she was hilarious because she's so real. She gave no-holds barred answers to all of our questions and even counseled a young lady who just moved out here who needed some guidance. All in all I felt like I'd went to church by the time it was over. Very glad I went, especially since I learned a few ways to get on her radar and get in the room with her that I hadn't known before and that's really what it all boils down to.

Day 272 - 273: Screenwriting Blogs

Day 272 & 273: Caught up on my staple screenwriting blogs. If you're at all into writing or think you might want to be or even if you just want to learn more about story to become a better actor, check out the following...

Go Into the Story

Screenwriting Tips... You Hack

The Bitter Script Reader

The Screenwriters League

Write, Write, Write

Princess Scribe's Blog

Your Screenplay Sucks

Script Gods Must Die

And if you have a favorite writing blog please let me know in the comments below so that I can take a look.

Day 267: Coffee with my "buddy"

Day 267: Had an excellent coffee date with my TAN power group "buddy" Tom O'Leary. When you join a power group you're assigned a buddy that acts as your accountability partner. You check-in with each other once a month and it must be in person rather than doing the email/phone thing that can be so easy and impersonal. Since he's in Long Beach we met in a little cafe right off the 405 only 15 minutes away from me that was convenient for him as well. It was a great meeting- truly! I learned a lot more about his background {he's a middle-aged actor who has retired from his civilian career and is returning to his love of acting} and about the goals that he has for the near future. It's a great balance because there are some areas that I'm more experienced in {new media and producing for example} and others where I can really learn from him {the world of voiceover and singing}.