The New Age: Transmedia Artists

Via The Underground Multiplex

RE: the networking thing I was stressing out over, it was mostly fun. I'm still not great at it, but I was definitely not the disaster that I imagined.

Part of the event, hosted by Chicago Filmmakers, included a TED style talk by LEW OJEDA and JOSEPH R. LEWIS of The Underground Multiplex. The entire presentation was great, but what really resonated with me were their thoughts on being a transmedia artist. Basically, the game has changed. No one is merely a Director, merely a DP, merely a Producer in the era of digital entertainment. If you're going to be successful you have to wear all of the hats and you need to look good in them. No one has the luxury of specializing anymore.  Content creation is king and you must learn to rule.

During the question and answer portion of the talk, someone asked how actors might apply this idea to their work. Lewis said (paraphrasing) that when someone says the word actor, he sees someone who is not in control of their own career. He sees someone waiting for the next job to come around. In order to take charge of the uncertain career of an actor you have to--you guessed it-- create. Write yourself a role you've always wanted to play and get it out there. 

In other news, I've been cast in a Columbia student film. It's horror, and I've been promised that there will be "Carrie amounts of fake blood."

Backstage Reports a Boom of TV Filming in Chicago

Via Indiewire

In a previous post I mentioned that Chicago was the number one place to live and work as a filmmaker. According to Backstage, it's also gearing up to be a great place to find television work. Previously, Chicago actors were mostly relegated to Cop #1, Punk with Blue Hair type roles while the bigger Recurring, Guest Star, etc. spots were auditioned and cast out of town. Now, Chicago based actors are getting more opportunities to nab those kinds of roles. And, what's even more promising, Mickie Paskal (a prominent casting director in the City) stated that there are "rumblings that a bunch of pilots are looking to shoot here."

Exciting times.

You can read the rest of the article HERE.

Networking for Introverts

Shy Maiden by Michael Drummond

This past weekend was spent researching agencies I would like to work with, stuffing envelopes, and going out for lunch with a friend. Today, I walked to the post office to mail off my submissions, did general housekeeping, updated my paperwork, and worked on my monologues for an audition tomorrow.

In addition to that audition, I'm attending a networking event with industry folk tomorrow evening. I'm rather nervous about the prospect. Despite my passion for acting, I'm an introvert. I'd rather sit at home reading a book or tormenting my cat with a laser pointer than go out. I'm not good at the bar scene and have never been to a networking event. So, I enlisted the help of my best friend, who happens to be a master at events like these. (I tried to talk her into starting her own blog or becoming a career coach or something, but she declined.)

Some of her tips and my action plan for tomorrow evening:

1. Know what you want to get out of attending the event. (Super important. Don't go in there without knowing why you're there).

2. Confidence is key. Fake it if you must.

3. Scan the room immediately, look for people that suit your purpose for attending the event.

4. Spot an interesting person? Go up and introduce yourself. (Just like that, good heavens).

5. Small talk. (Yikes)

6. Exchange information.

7. Repeat.

8. Follow-up.

Her plan was much more detailed and eloquent, but I'll save that for when I've finally convinced her to start a blog helping those like me.

Errands, Chilvary, and a Goodman Deal

Today was errand day. I had a lot I needed to do and, surprise, surprise, I didn't get everything I wanted accomplished.

First off, I had to go and purchase my Chicago city sticker. I have absolutely no idea how I knew about this requirement. In fact, I'm rather certain I stumbled upon it while checking out parking options. If you park a vehicle in the city of Chicago for more than 30 days, you have to have a sticker. This sticker has to be bought within the first 30 days of moving here or purchasing a car. If you fail to do so, it's a $60 fine when you finally figure out you have to register. I've also heard that they're going to ramp up ticketing for those without stickers. I wish there was some sort of packet that you got when you arrived in the city. Maybe I'll make one. I bought mine at a currency exchange. Make sure you bring in your lease and the VIN number.

Second, I needed to head to J&S Photo Service to pick up my headshots. I did a lot of research online to see who did a quality job and their name kept popping up. I am very pleased with the prints. The colors are vibrant and the thickness of the photo paper is great.

On my way to J&S I had to catch my second bus. I get on and my Ventra card, which I loaded up today and had just used to get to the currency exchange, didn't work. I stood there, baffled, and held it up to the scanner repeatedly. The messages Sorry didn't work scan again, insufficient funds, played on a loop. The very nice bus driver told me not to worry about it. Thank heavens. And people say Northerners don't do chivalry.

Third, LIBRARY CARD! I'm super excited about this, mostly because when I got there I immediately found three books that are currently on my amazon wish list. Their YA section is great. When you go to sign up you need your ID and two pieces of mail, a bill and another letter will work.

Finally, I want to see Venus in Fur. However, the tickets for seats I would want to sit in are expensive. But, they have this great program where, on the day of the show, you can enter in the promo code MEZZTIX, and some of the seats remaining in the Mezzanine will be half off! That. Is. Awesome. I ended up not going today because I'm saving this well reviewed show for when a friend comes to town.

Methods of Rejection: The Fade Out

I Am Waiting by George Hodan

With the explosion of texting as a means of communication has come a newish way of "breaking up" with someone. It's called the Fade Out.

A Fade Out occurs when there has been ample communication between parties and then that contact starts to slow down, then it trickles, then it stops all together. It's a slow process leaving the non-fading party slightly bewildered and a little upset. Be a (wo)man and just break up for heaven's sake. Relationship wise I have been faded out once, in college. Confusing to say the least and a very undergrad (read immature) thing to do.

What I'm talking about in this post is, however, a type of rejection that performers experience. It's not a perfect analogy to a relationship Fade Out, but it's close enough. The scenario I'm describing is when a performer has made it through the first round of auditions and has been called back. After completing their call back the casting director/director/etc. says that we'll let everyone know either way by such and such date. And then, the wait begins. No Facebook posts on their page hint at their decision, no emails are forthcoming, no telephone calls congratulating or explaining that they went in another direction. Instead, it's as if the audition never happened. A few weeks later they post the cast list on Facebook, you're not on it.

Most of the time, I fully expect that if I'm not cast I won't hear from anyone about it. I'll find out who's cast on Twitter or Facebook. That's the Silent Rejection, which isn't as good as the Band-aid Rejection, but is preferable to the Fade Out. The only time I expect to hear that I didn't get cast is when I am specifically told that I will be informed either way. Then, once the deadline has passed and I haven't heard I still wait. Maybe I got it, maybe they're just slow, maybe, maybe, maybe...

What do you all prefer? Band-aid? Silent? Fade Out? Let me know in the comments.

PS Happy St. Patrick's Day.

Chicago Shakespeare Theater and $20 Tickets

This is going to be short and sweet. Cool thing to do in Chicago: $20 Chicago Shakespeare tickets for those under 35.

Making live theatre more accessible to people is a fantastic initiative. There's a stigma about theatre being snobbish and elitist. I will admit that, especially in today's economy, ticket prices for good theatre are often prohibitively expensive. This offer, which targets students and young professionals, puts world class theatre ticket prices in the same ballpark as movie tickets. Score.

You can get them HERE.

My First Week in Chicago

What a whirlwind of a week it's been. Moved, auditioned, unpacked sporadically, had a callback, went out with friends, saw a show, and said goodbye to my mom one week later.

Saturday 3/1

The move turned out to be a lot less stressful than I was anticipating. (This is, in large part, thanks to New City Moving, who I researched and read about on Yelp! More about them later.) I might have mentioned it before, but I'm a worrier. I constantly envision things that could go wrong in a scenario. I'm talking events ranging from things that could happen to horrible freak accidents. (I blame the latter on seeing Final Destination as a child.)

Anyway, the plan was to meet the movers at a giant block store about 18 miles away from my apartment. Me being me, was stressed that security guards were going to swarm my vehicle and tell me that a dirty loiterer like me couldn't be there, get out, etc. Luckily, that didn't happen. What did happen was a blown out tire on the trailer that my dad was driving.

We were pretty close to the meet up spot, around 5 hours into our drive and about an hour out, when I noticed that little black chunks were flying at my car. (I was driving behind Dad). Damn trucks, I think. It's super lucky those black rocks they are throwing up aren't busting my windshield. Then, the chunks get bigger. I realize what's happening and frantically try to get my blue tooth going to call Dad, since ya know, handheld cell phone usage is now illegal in Illinois. Siri doesn't cooperate, instead asking whether I wanted her to look up an article on something. NO! Siri, obviously not! By the time I get her dialing Dad the tire has blown out. Luckily, it just kind of rolled off the wheel frame rather than exploding and sending the truck careening into anything. Also luckily, we have a spare and Dad has important life skills, like knowing how to change a tire.

Once we're back on the road I get a call from the movers. They're about an hour out from the location. How convenient I tell them, I am also about an hour out.

Nothing else of note happens, thank heavens, and we arrive whereupon the movers unpack a trailer that took Mom and I about 6 hours to pack (at least) in about 20 minutes. Color me impressed.
I say a tearful goodbye to Dad, who is driving back the same day to try to beat the impending ice storm scheduled to hit our area, get in my car, and hit Chicago traffic.

The truck beats me. I try to find parking. I attempt to parallel park. Let's hope I get better at that real fast.
By the time I make it to may apartment the movers have already unloaded a bunch of boxes. Things progress pretty smoothly until they try to get my seven foot couch through the door and around an exceedingly tight corner. Initially they're like, it won't go. And I'm like, No! I cannot tell my dad that he was right about the couch.

Them: We'll take off the legs.
Me: Great.
Them: Well, that didn't work because you see this back leg, it's like glued to the frame, not just screwed in.
Me/Mom: Give us a hammer, we'll rip it off.
Them: Let us try it again at a different angle.
Me/Mom: Thank you.
Them: (Grunts, groans)
Me: Yay!!!

They got it through with some impressive twisting. If not for the couch they would have probably been finished a good half hour earlier. As it were, they came in over $300 dollars UNDER the estimate that they sent me. Moreover, with all the stuff that I had the only thing that broke was a single piece of stemware. Granted I'm not thrilled about that, but in the grand scheme of things I was extremely happy with what they did for me. Everyone was incredibly polite and efficient. Thus, if you're considering moving to Chicago, I recommend New City Moving to get you settled into your new place. I have no regrets in hiring them. (Note! Nobody paid me to say that. My blog's not that big...yet.)

The rest of Saturday was spent putting my bed together and crashing.

Sunday

Sunday Funday was largely spent unpacking. My apartment is rather small (studio) so it was a bit of an issue trying to place things when Mom (who graciously agreed to stay for the week to get me settled in) and I were crawling over boxes, the dog, the cat, and each other. Slow going to say the least.

Sunday afternoon I had my first audition since moving to the area. I was a tad bit frazzled. I left my apartment with what I thought was plenty of time to spare. I was wrong. I was about five minutes late. In fact, the auditionors were walking out of the theatre when I was signing in. They filed back in when the proctor told them there was one more. Despite my tardiness, I felt good about the audition. The director worked with me a bit on my monologue and we chatted about my recent move. I was asked if I was available for Wednesday night if I happened to be called back. Yes.

Monday

More unpacking. Still can't really see the floor. It's like playing hot lava all the time. Get a lovely surprise that makes my day.
No word about the audition.

Tuesday

Unpack. How do I have this much stuff! I cut down!! Get an email inviting me to the callbacks.

Wednesday

Unpack. 3M Command Hooks are possibly the greatest home organization invention ever. Other than, like, nails, which I can't use...a nail that is.
Callback! For which I am incredibly early since this time I overestimated the commute.

Thursday

Unpack. I get my Comcast box. I set it up. I get internet and cable and proceed to watch 3 episodes of House with Mom. Then I spend an infuriating two hours putting together a breakfast table. Pretty sure that I pull my bicep trying to force the castors into their designated slots.
No word about casting.

Friday

Unpack. Then, joy of joys, we leave my apartment and go see Gypsy at Chicago Shakespeare Theater at Navy Pier.
It was awesome. I'd never seen the show before. I loved the music, I loved the costumes, I loved Herbie, Louise, and the real live lamb! Performances were beyond solid from ensemble to Mama Rose. It was a very enjoyable show and both Mom and I liked it.

Take a cab back. Pull onto my street and see the flashing lights of a fire truck. Proceed suspiciously. They're at my building. Someone's trapped in the elevator. This happens a lot according to a neighbor Mom and I meet in the stairwell. Hell. I suppose if I'm being honest my quads can use the strength training climbing stairs provides.
No word about casting.

Saturday

More unpacking, I feel like the end is kind of in sight?
Later in the night I go see Tim Ipsen, the boyfriend of one of my best friends, play bass at a cafe. It was a really nice evening. Great music, good food, and wonderful company.
No word about casting.

Sunday

Sleep in a little late. Walk to a restaurant to get lunch with Mom before she leaves. Another tearful goodbye. This growing up stuff isn't always so fun.
Still no word about casting.

Monday 3/10

Friend in town. Pretend I know more about Chicago than I do.
As of this post, no word about casting.