So far, I have never seen a celebrity just walking around the streets of Los Angeles. I have, however, attended three events where I saw heaps of celebrities up-close.
A couple of weeks ago, my buddies and I went to be seat-fillers at the MTV Movie Awards. Though the filming started at 5pm, they wanted us there by noon. This meant several hours of standing in line, and thereby gaining a decreased esteem of MTV. However, once we finally got inside, I began to feel more okay about MTV again. Soon after we sat down, we were passed by Paris Hilton and Jessica Alba, each walking a few rows in front of us. Once the show started, the celebrity train was a long one–announcers included Jack Nicholson, Cameron Diaz, Eva Mendez and other big stars. I enjoyed Mike Myers’ performance, and we, the audience, rose to our feet when Johnny Depp arrived to receive his award for best performance.
Last week, my friends Christian and Amanda invited my roommate Brian and me to a screening of the television show Friday Night Lights. We saw several of the cast members being interviewed as we walked up. Then we entered the theater (bedecked with two gigantic statues of the Emmy statuettes) for the viewing. I had never watched the show before, but it was pretty good, and afterward, the director, producers, writers and virtually the whole cast came on stage. After a question and answer session, we were very free to walk down to the front, where all the celebrities were. I just stood there (I can’t really call it mingling), but my roommate Brian, genuinely a big fan, got his picture taken with a couple of different cast members. Here’s a link to one of the pictures:
http://collect.myspace.com/reloc.cfm?c=18&fuseaction=viewImage&imageID=11669082&friendID=12613403&id=
Now last night, Christian and Amanda got my roommate Tim and me invited to an art show opening in Santa Monica. Christian’s description of what the event would be included its location and that one of the members of the Police was involved. He also said we should dress “not smart, but hip.” We got there at about 7:00 and had free cocktails and appetizers. The four of us looked at the exhibits, and the three of us who were not British practiced our English accents. After a couple of hours, I turned around for some reason to look, and there was Sting, getting his picture taken with some guests. Besides Sting himself, I am not really up on the Police, but I believe all the other members were there, too. Soon after we saw Sting, Jeremy Piven walked into the exhibit. To top it all off, two members of our group met someone who they later found out was Orlando Bloom’s cousin.
Some of the celebrities, most notably Carmen Diaz, look amazing in person. Geez. However, others look wholly normal, and the tallest person I’ve seen so far was a German actress I’d never heard of.
I got my pictures back yesterday from a shoot I did with a photographer a couple of weeks ago. I showed them to my acting coach last night, and she was really impressed. She even thought I should take them in to a very reputable modeling agency’s open call to see about modeling with them; hey, it’s worth a shot, right?
It seems, though, that she thinks I am better-looking in pictures than in real life. She has told me twice “you photograph exremely well, amazingly well,” in a somewhat incredulous tone. She was also hesitant to have me send out the picture about which she really said, “wow.”
“The thing is,” she said, “if we send that picture out, they’ll be expecting something specific, and then when you show up it will be something different.”
Perhaps it is not that she does not think I am good-looking, so much as the picture leads people to believe my personality is different from what it is. In the picture, I look really relaxed, smooth and confident. I actually look somewhat thoughtless, too, as though I am good enough for anyone.
I begin to question whether it is a compliment when someone says you are photogenic.
The picture:
I always leave my commercial auditions class with worthwhile new information. Our teacher is really experienced, having booked something like thirty major television commercials. She gives us the lowdown on how people get parts in commercials, and she puts us on camera to help us learn what to do at auditions.
One thing I didn’t know about commercials before I transitioned to Los Angeles is sometimes people earn “residuals.” This means that every time a commercial airs, someone keeps track of it and those who worked in the ad get paid in twelve week increments. So sometimes, an actor works on a commercial for one day and for the next year or more gets a check in the mail every 12 weeks, provided that the ad is still running.
Oftentimes, though, a person gets paid a “buyout,” which means they get one check for doing the commercial. Actors usually do not like this as much because the commercial might get aired hundreds of times, but they’ll never get another penny for it.
It turns out that commercials sometimes pay better than television programs. My teacher says many actors lie about how much they make on tv. What she means is, if you ask an actor if they are earning a lot of money for their television program, they’ll usually say “yes,” even though the asker perhaps wouldn’t be impressed by the actual sum. I think, though, it is hard to decide what counts as a lot of money. I’d be pretty pumped to earn $1,000 for a television show, but this would not compare well to the $10,000 or $3o,ooo a person might make for a national commercial.
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There is no best choice for where to take acting classes. I decided to take classes at schools I respected and that would look good on my resume. Therefore, I am currently taking one course at the Second City Training Center (www.secondcity.com/?id=training-education/training/la_tc) and another at the Stella Adler Academy of Acting (http://www.stellaadler-la.com/contactus.html).
At Second City, I am learning the fundamentals of improvisation. Improvisation is the type of acting on which Saturday Night Live is based. Usually, to come up with their skits, they begin with an idea, or even just a word, and improvise to see where it leads. I decided to take this class because many parts I see advertised request people with improvisation experience.
At the Stella Adler Academy of Acting, I am taking “Commercial Audition,” a course designed to help students get a commercial agent and to know how to succeed at auditions. One of our first discussions was about which “types” each of us could play. My types are from age 20-30 and include college student, graduate student, young professional and young dad.
So far, I do not have an agent. In the next couple of weeks, I plan to send out a mailing to perhaps 60 different agencies to seek an agent who would help me get auditions for commercials. In the Fall, I plan to send out a mailing for a theatrical agent, which means an agent who would help me get auditions for movie and television program roles.
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t’s true. When I was in high school, I thought it sounded like the ultimate in affirmation for someone to say to you, “please come model for us.” This implicitly says that they like the way you look and that they think you COULD be a model. And on a more buried implicit level, I think it implies they like something about your personality, too, particularly if you are a person whose personality comes forward while working or acting.
Let it please be clear that I know think this sort of information SAYS NOTHING ABOUT HOW VALUABLE ONE IS AS A PERSON. But, for a person whose appearance was made fun of a lot while growing up, it produces some serious momentary happiness. In fifth or sixth grade, I received one particularly nonsensical jab, “you could ice skate on that nose.” This was one of the less hurtful remarks.
So yesterday, I went to get new acting head shots taken with a couple of different photographers. They were both very positive about taking pictures of me. One asked if I was six feet tall and said that if I were, I could be making a lot of money. The other thought there was something interesting about my face and wants to photograph me again. It is worthwhile to note here that neither of these photographers was creepy, and neither wanted me to take my clothes off. That happens to both ladies AND guys, folks. In Spanish, I’d write “ojo,” which means “watch out.”
I signed up with a modeling company about a month ago, but so far have not been checking my inbox to see jobs I could apply for. I’ve been in a moving process and am only now settled in where I am. Today I got an e-mail saying I had a “booking request,” which means someone is interested in me modeling for them. I’ll let you guys know how it goes.
I Here I am as a “hood,” as my mom would say it.
