I got an e-mail this weekend from someone named, “Working Actress.” It said that she really enjoyed this website and that she had a blog and thought I might enjoy reading it.
I get e-mails like this quite a bit and usually the blog stinks but I went ahead and checked it out.
I loved it!
“Working Actress” is currently in the position any one of us would kill to be in. She does major guest star roles and is currently auditioning for leads in pilots.
One day she gives her view of the casting process, on another day she tells us what is in her purse in case of an acting-emergency (staples, highlighter, deodorant!) and another she says what its like to audition for a huge casting director.
Most posts, I could take something from out of my experiences and I’m sure you will as well.
I asked her permission to re-print one of my favorite posts. It’s called, My Mantra.
From workingactress.blogspot.com
“I’m a booker. I book all the time.”
That has been my mantra for about a year now. I was swimming in negative thought during the day, and needed to tell myself (trick myself, even) that I would work. That I would keep working. That I didn’t need to worry about the lulls in between jobs, when the next check would come, or the sadness that hits after your wrap a show, because, well…I had to trust that I was a booker. If that’s what I wanted to be, then I had to trick myself into being just that. (Even when I wasn’t booking a f-ing thing).
Some days I didn’t believe it, other days I felt like I was jinxing myself by saying it (or just felt down right obnoxious and silly), but I just kept drilling it into my head.
So today has gotten interesting. I just got a call from my manager that I have an offer for a guest star on a CBS episodic, but I’m also pinned* for a possible recurring on this ABC pilot that I love. They overlap with shoot dates, and conflict with an event I am committed to going to in NY next week. Both are great projects (strong networks, great directors). I gravitate to one role over the other, though. And one also shoots in Puerto Rico — which would be awesome.
When it rains it pours.
This is when I have to put my faith in my team (manager, agent) and hope that it all works out to our favor (for them, that is seeing if by some scheduling miracle, I can do both projects and go to the event). My agent calls these “high class problems,” and he’s right. Trust me, I never lose sight of that.
At the start of my career, I remember freaking out, and celebrating over getting one line on a shitty UPN show. At the time, that was a big success. It was phone calls of congrats, and flowers, and celebratory dinners with wine glasses clinking. It was a landmark of more work to come, and a glimmer of hope that said “holy shit, you’re really doing this.”
If there’s any industry where resilience pays off, this is the one.
Afterall, last week I was forgotten, this morning I bawled my eyes out for an audition, and over the past 5 years, I have heard “no” more than you can ever imagine. But today, is a “yes” day.
Point is: sometimes when you trick yourself, it actually works. I believed my silly little mantra, and well…it came to be.
Wow. Just read all her posts!!! What a busy life! And I thought I was busy. I wish she went into more details about everything! I’m so curious!!
You know, sometimes I get to where I think I’ll go back to Missouri and get a job at Wal-Mart. I keep going to different classes and am more confused than when I started! Sometimes it can be simply to difficult to continue. I don’t feel I measure up. I’ll try again tomorrow.
It’s weird this blog disappeared. There isn’t a trace of it on the internet anymore. I remember people thinking that Meghan Markle wrote it. And seeing as how the blog has disappeared, I wouldn’t be surprised if that is true.
Yeah, it was definitely Meghan who wrote it. I think she deleted it a while ago actually. Maybe when she booked Suits?