My first entry - scary!

Ok, my first blog entry.  A bit scary allowing everyone into my thoughts, especially the insane mind of an actor.  After having what was by far my worst shoot ever today though, I figure I might be more entertaining!

So I thought I had some bad shoots before.  It's okay; that's understandable and expected when starting out trying to make it the business or whatever it is in acting.  Everyone knows it is a difficult profession, but it's not until you actually try to do it that you understand just how monumentally difficult it is and how crazy you have to be as well as insanely passionate and in love with it to sacrifice all the other areas of your life for it.

Anyway, my worst shoot as of yet.  It began last night, Friday, with the following text in which I have changed the name and left out the film school: "Hi Kristen.  My name is Mary from _____ film school.  I find u from starnow.com.can u act for my short film on this weekend?Saturday better in Sydney city.  Xoxo."  (And just for the record, that is written as I received it so any typos are not my own!)

When I received this text I was volunteering at a kids Halloween party to get my Halloween fix as sadly there's not really any Trick or Treating Down Under, and I was exhausted from the hundreds of parents and children and trying to prepare for my screentest workshop at 9 AM Saturday morning.  My gut says "No, STAY AWAY!  Do not do this film!  They don't even want to talk to you on the phone let alone meet you or audition to you, this is not a good sign!"  Other red flags included not having a script or any e-mails and it being the day before the shoot.  I texted her back trying to get more information as I had literally no idea what the character was, the part, the script, the location or time of the shoot, ANYTHING.  After finally prodding for a script and that I couldn't commit without something, she typed part of the script out on her i-phone and sent it to me. 

I was familiar with the script and didn't have anything major in the afternoon, so I told her I would do it.  Many people will tell you as an actor do every single thing you can.  Even if it's crap, it's still experience and you never know who you might meet or what you could learn.  I told myself this and that I still needed to be professional and prepared, because if I wasn't going to do this there's no benefit for anyone.

So my boyfriend drops me off at the film school, where I meet the director and the other actor.  I was a bit surprised as I was looking for the other crew - I don't think I've ever done even a student film with less than three crew people.  Well, we attempt to get a cab which no one seems to know how to do until I suggest we go to the corner where there are cars driving by (wow, imagine that!), and hail a cab.  The director tells the cab driver we have to stop at her place to pick up the camera and then go to Maroubra, which was news to me and for those of you not familiar with Sydney it's not exactly close to the city centre.


As much as I would like to I don't have time to go into all the details of the shoot, but let me just say that as an actress I was by far the most knowledgeable of the 3 in our group.  The director was very sweet and the guy I was acting with was nice as well; although I was less than thrilled when we were doing a shot where he picked me up to swing me around and show how "in love!" we were and he said that I was heavy and to do the shot fast because he couldn't hold me.  Umn yeah, that's just what every actress wants to hear!


You know it's okay to worry a little bit though when you've been filming for over an hour and the director who is also working the camera says, "Oh, I forgot I can zoom!"

It was kind of the longest short shoot ever.  We only did one take of almost every single scene, we didn't even have to know the lines going into it, and the director actually said once, "Oh I'm tired, you guys will figure the acting part out!"  I am curious to see how the final product will turn out and I would actually like to see it and perhaps even post it but ethically I don't know if I can do that.  One I'm not sure about legalities and copyright and whatnot, but two I don't want to embarrass or put down someone's work in the public space that they have genuinely worked hard on.  Although I'm not sure how hard a person is working on their film when it is due on Monday and they contact the actors at about 11:00 Friday night for a Saturday shoot so she can do all the editing on Sunday.  Anyway, I digress as I often do when writing, but my point is I think the film will end up being more of a comedy than a drama.

I have no clue how this will be cut or edited as the two page script was cut up into chunks and we filmed and were only required to remember about five lines at a time.  The thing is, there was only one take of the majority of these chunks, and little if any continuity between them.  My favourite was when we finished a take with the other actor kind of kneeling by my feet, and then we started the next take and the next line with him in the kitchen.

You've gotta love the life of an undiscovered struggling actor; and if not at least the stories you get out of it!  Here's hoping that it pays off and I don't offend anyone with this blog.  I'm told it's the best way to market myself and that people want to know what I'm thinking; here's praying that will still be the case after reading this?!?  (Also that there's no one who will be reading this in a creepy internet way; that will be the subject of many other blog entries!)