Starting the slow climb

Yesterday was a long, yet productive day. I got up fairly early and got ready to head out to submit myself to casting agencies.

For those who don't know (I only just learned this myself) casting agencies book background actors ("extras") for TV shows, movies and commercials. This is not the same as having an agent, however. Basically the way it works is, I call the hotline and if there are any jobs that match my character description (18-28 caucasian female, etc) then I call the number provided and submit myself for the casting. A casting director then reviews my file, along with every other submission and chooses from that list who he/she wants to cast for the show. These are not speaking roles or anything. These are the random people you see milling about, taking up space in the backgroung of scenes. Nonetheless, they are paid roles, so that's a good thing!

So, I left the house a little before 10 yesterday morning and made my way up to Burbank to the first agency on my list, "Central Casting". They are one of, if not the biggest casting agencies in L.A., so naturally everybody and their third cousin registers with them. They are only open for registration for one hour Mon, Wed and Fri for the non union actors, like myself. Well, after driving around looking for parking for half an hour (not kidding), I got in line with the 200 other people waiting to register. Like a smartie, I had my paperwork filled out beforehand, so I didn't have to wait in an additional line. It took about an hour and 40 min to get thru the line, in which time I chatted with the people around me, gleaned some good info from them, and exchanged email addresses with a lawyer-turned-part-time-soon-to-be-full-time-actor, Michael.

After my paperwork was reviewed and stamped, I was sent over to have my picture taken for the casting database. They do accept headshots, but apparently casting directors prefer to see on-the-spot digital pictures (and sometimes even polariods. ew.). Again, like a smartie (and with good advice from Marilynn) I wore a cute lacy tanktop and also brought a business-like jacket and my glasses with me so I could have 2 pictures taken, offering 2 different "looks".

After Central, I headed to Jeff Olan Casting in Sherman Oaks. Thinking I would be there for another hour or more, if it was anything like Central, I put 4 quarters in the meter (which is an hour's worth of time). Wouldn't you know, I was in and out of there in 13 minutes!!! Paperwork, picture and out the door! What a waste of $.75!

Grumbling about the injustice of it all, I got in my car and headed to West Hollywood (on Sunset Blvd, even!) to the third and final casting agency of the day; Prime Casting. Again, I spent less than 20 minutes registering and being photographed, but this time I was lucky enough to find parking in an Office Depot parking lot less than a block away.

So, one step closer and $95 poorer on my path to fame, I felt quite satisfied with my accomplishments thus far in the day, and I headed down to Culver City to meet Josh's dad, Mike for lunch. He flies for SkyWest, had a wicked long layover in L.A., so we met and had lunch at Islands Restaurant, chatted for a bit and then he headed off for the airport, and I headed home.

For dinner, I met up with my friend, Steven, at the P.F. Chang's at the Third Streer Promenade in Santa Monica. Steven is a good friend of mine from VA and an amazing photographer. He'll be doing my headshots tomorrow, so we discussed looks and hair, etc for the shoot. The best part was the free dinner we got because Steven works at PF's and his manager comp'd our whole meal! Sweet!