Goals 2012 - How did I do?

Last year I posted my 2012 New Year's Goals here to keep myself accountable.  While going through these one thing I'm going to remember is:

If it's important to you, you will find a way.  If not you'll find an excuse.

So, let's see what ended up being important to me this year.

ACTING/CAREER: Goals Achieved:5  Got Close:4

• Attend class unless working an acting gig or sick.  *Mostly. Although, towards the end of the year when I was going to 4 classes a week I played hooky a couple times.*
• Work on scenes from plays I can put up. *I did work on scenes from plays, but we never got any of the plays up. Next month, I will be in "Boy's Life."*
• Read two plays a month. *I lost count. Some months I read more, other months I reread old plays. In the end I am happy with the number of plays I read.*
• Find and attend a good on-camera class to supplement my acting classes. *I attended an on-camera commercial class.*
• Complete editing on both my films before the PWFF early bird deadline. *One made it for the early bird deadline. The other made it by the late deadline.*
• Write and produce two more shorts this year. *We are halfway done filming one short I wrote. I didn't get a second one done, unless you count the 72 Hour Film Fest.*
• Continue to help at the agency once a week. *Went to the agency most weeks.*
• Find three casting offices that I can help out at as a reader. *I did!*
• Blog every Monday. *This will be my 47th blog this year. I did miss a couple weeks and some weeks were late - but I think that's an okay record.*

HEALTH: Goals Achieved:1  Got Close:1  Did Not Do:1

• Do something exercise-like at least 4 times a week. *Haha, yeah, not even close.*
• Cook at least 3 homemade dinners a week. *I didn't keep track, some weeks I made dinner every night, other weeks we ate more fast food than I would like to admit.*
• Make my own cleaning supplies.  Including laundry detergent and Windex. *I made both detergent and Windex. Plus, I tried to use cheaper, more natural cleaning products like baking soda.*

PERSONAL: Goals Achieved:1  Got Close:2  Did Not Do:1

• Do one craft per week. *I made a lot of crafts, but by halfway through the ear the one a week goal was too much - plus, I didn't have room for all these crafts.*
• Go see/do one cultural thing per week. *I did a lot of cultural stuff this year, but again the once a week goal was overwhelming. I am happy with the amount of culture I got.*
• Work on those novels.  Write 2 pages a day and reach 300 pages of a rough draft by August. *Nope, not even close.*
• Have friends over at least twice a month for movie night, dinner party, etc.  Can be low-key. *We had lots of small events throughout he year including Walking Dead nights and movie nights.  I am pleased with our social life this year.*

Now, it's time for me to start working on my 2013 Goals.

2012 Year in Review

I recently read one way to improve your spirits is to say out loud 5 positive facts about yourself - not opinions like I am nice or I am pretty, but actual facts such as I won best ugly sweater at the Christmas party, etc.  For my end of the year review I am going to state positive facts about me from the past year.

1. I GOT PAID TO BE AN ACTOR.  This year I started off with being cast as a costar in the pilot, Graceland, set to premiere next summer.  In the last month, I was cast in a supporting role in the new feature from James Franco's production company, Rabbit Bandini Productions, called Holy Land.  Plus, it was my first opportunity to act in front of a green screen.

With my "Okie Family" on the set of Holy Land

Over the summer, I had the opportunity to work with Eckhart Schmidt on his latest documentary about Los Angeles, reading passages from literature about the City of Angels.

2. I GOT TO ACT THIS YEAR - A LOT.  Besides the productions I was paid for, I had lots of opportunities to act and many were with my super talented friends - such as The Revolving Doors, Gibbon's Tail, and Nick Acosta.

I got to be in a Revolving Doors short,

in a Gibbon's Tail music video,

and in a Nick Acosta fan film!

Other than the films and plays I worked on, I had an amazing year of acting classes.  I had a master class with Ashley Judd and an intense 3 month class with James Franco, Val Lauren, and Jim Parrack.  We worked on plays I always wanted to but never had the guts to do like Clifford Odets.

3. I WAS AWARDED BEST SCREENPLAY AT THE PLAYHOUSE WEST FILM FESTIVAL.  Just completing the short film, All You Need, that I wrote and produced was a big achievement for me.

With my award and the director, Ricardo Ultreras.

All You Need was then accepted to the Oscar qualifying Los Angeles Shorts Festival.

With some of my cast at the LA Shorts Fest.

4. THE SHORT I DIRECTED FOR THE 72 HOUR FILM FEST WON BEST COMEDY.  This was my first attempt at directing and it was especially difficult since the film had to be conceived, filmed, and finished in that 72 Hour time allowance.  You can watch the whole film here, Little Bride Lie.

Discussing the scene with my DP and actors.

5. I GOT A HUG FROM NATHAN FILLION at Comic-con while I was dressed as The Doctor.  Not gonna lie - this might have been the highlight of my year.

Nathan Fillion is hugging me - this is pure awesomeness.

Also, my Effie Trinket cosplay was featured in Entertainment Weekly Comic-con issue.

That's me as Effie on the far left.

Bonus, I witnessed Chipper Jones' Walk-Off of the Year at Turner Field.  I'm sure going to miss seeing him in a Braves uniform.

At Turner Field with my Mom and a Craig Kimbrel bobblehead.

So, I had a pretty good year and I didn't even mention the trip up to Carmel, dinner at the Magic Castle, my nerdtastic birthday party, or all those wonderful nights spent watching TV and movies with my amazing friends.

Next week, I will take a look at the goals I set last year at this time - see where I succeeded and where I failed.  Probably won't be as cheery of a post.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and a happy New Year!

When Relaxing is Productive

Now that Los Angeles is packing up and closing down for the holidays, it's a good time to recharge and reflect.  I'm spending the next two weeks not thinking about classes or filming or worrying about what's on the breakdowns.

Yes, I am going to allow myself to be lazy and sleep in until my body clock wakes me up.  And no, I'm probably not going to worry much about exercising or watching what I eat.  But, that doesn't mean I'm not working on my acting.

Here are four things I plan on doing on my Holiday break to help my acting.

1. Relax and not stress so much.  In LA, with all the classes, auditions, holiday parties, and work-work it's easy to get so caught up that you never find time to yourself.  Trust me by the last couple weeks of this year I was stressed and you could see it on my face.  I wasn't sleeping well and I was getting rundown.  A relaxed actor is a good actor - stress is not conducive to being an open and attentive actor.

2. Read.  My Kindle is full of books I've been meaning to read and just haven't had the time.  So, what does reading have to do with acting?  Well, I'm glad you asked.  An intelligent actor is a good actor.  Like, I've mentioned before you can't act what you don't understand.  One of the fastest ways to gain knowledge and intelligence is by reading.  I also find reading helps give me a springboard for my imagination.  Another thing that makes for a good actor?  A great big imagination.

3. Watch lots of movies and television - new stuff and classics.  One thing that I love to do is watch really great actors act.  It inspires me.  I go through phases where I'll watch all I can from an actor I'm obsessing about.  I just watched all of the BBC show "The Hour" because I was so impressed with Ben Whishaw in "Cloud Atlas."  I also adore Martin Freeman and watching "The Hobbit" (twice already in the theater) has made me want to rewatch his amazing work in "Sherlock."  I love movies and TV, I mean it's why I became an actor, so this holiday will be filled with both.

4.  Spend time with my family.   Being with loved ones helps to remind me what's important.  As an actor, when you know what means the most to you that's when you can access and share the deepest parts of yourself on stage or on screen.  Plus, I'm extremely lucky to have a very supportive family.  They give the strength I need to continue to pursue this career.

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday and please take this time to rest, relax, and recharge.

Because I am Terrible at Marketing ...

This week I watched an interview with Manager/Producer, Seth Jaret, on MyTeeVee.  He is currently focusing on New Media and creating webseries.  The whole interview is full of great information for any independent producers out there.

Throughout the interview he keeps bringing up the same thing: MARKETING.  He says marketing can be up to 2/3rds of your job as a producer.  This is something most creators forget about, because we are creators not business people.

I know this very well because I am one of those creative people lacking that business edge.  I am not a natural salesperson (I'm probably the exact opposite of "always be closing.")  It's one of the reasons why I am not great at typical networking. 

So, what do us creative-non-business-types do to get our work in front of the audiences we want?  Especially when we are low-budget producers who lack the funds for billboards and commercials?

Well, the wonderful thing about the internet is that it is very democratic.  Anyone can create something that can become a huge hit, but the downside of that is that almost anyone can create something - so how do you stand out among all the rest?

First, of course, you have to produce quality content.  But beyond that, Seth mentioned in the interview that on the internet it is often good to focus on developing work for a micro audience of really involved viewers.  After that, it's important to produce regular content to keep your audience interested. 

How do you build this micro audience?  As I said at the beginning of this, I am terrible at marketing ... so I don't have all the answers. 

I've noticed the people on Twitter who maintain a large quantity of followers tweet multiple times a day, often about the same sorts of things or at least in the same voice (for example: Patton Oswalt's tweets are comedic and the Dalai Lama is inspirational.)  On Tumblr, I've noticed the same thing.  Those who post regular content geared towards a specific theme are the ones with the most followers.

What I gather from this information is the importance of developing a brand and make sure you keep that brand clear across all your social networking sites.  And it's important to keep your followers engaged by creating new content often.

I wish I was better at selling myself since as an actor I am the product.  It's definitely something I am planning on working on more in the New Year.  Something to go on the goals list ...

How I Network

A couple months ago I got an audition for a co-star on a television drama through my agent.  Once I got there I realized that the casting assistant running the session is someone I've interned for at other offices on a number of occasions.  Now, I don't know this for sure, but I am pretty positive that the reason I got this audition was because of my relationship to the casting assistant.  While I was there I made sure to offer my intern services to the casting assistant again.

I am terrible at networking parties or those sorts of things.  Mainly because I am too busy eating whatever free food is available.  Trust me, if there is a cheese plate in a room I will probably not be more than two feet away from it the entire night.  Besides I never know what to say to anyone and generally just glue myself to the one person in the room that I already know.

Since traditional networking doesn't work for me, I've had to come up with other ways to build and form relationships.

Let's go back to this casting assistant that called me in.  My first introduction to her was when she was extras casting looking for volunteers on a ultra low budget film.  It was a project working with some cool people so I volunteered.  Months later she was casting a music video and remembered me.  It was another working for food sort of day but I was happy to come out for it.  After the music video shoot I thanked her because it was a lot of fun and asked if she ever needed interns.  She was an assistant on a show at the time and took me up on my offer.

I have auditioned for her twice since then for two separate shows and I know if there is ever any thing I'm right for she'll call me in.

But, I didn't start my relationship with her with some kind of agenda or end goal in mind.  I simply offered to help when I could.

Remember you are building relationships, it can't be only about what you can get out of it.  I always help out on my friends' short films, intern when I can, and just try to be helpful in general.  People will notice and even if it doesn't pay off immediately, it will eventually.