GIVE 'EM HELL, GIVE 'EM HELL, NEBRASKA SUCKS!

I'm about to watch the Big 12 Championship game. If UT wins, they will continue their undefeated season and play in the national championship game against...well, it looks like Alabama, and not the team that the most worshiped quarterback leads (Florida).

I have really taken the initiative to get my career going; it is exciting, scary, and stressful all at the same time. This past week I got new head shots taken by a photographer who is just now starting up his company. He is building his portrait portfolio, so I was his guinea pig and got them taken FO' FREE. We took them outside in the freezing weather, but I guess that's the price you have to pay. I don't know if I got exactly what I wanted, but he offered to have another photo session with me. For now, they will have to do. I am either too critical of my photos, or I just need to resort in blowing the $500. I can't think of it as blowing; this is my career, my life for the next 40 years (or whenever I decide to retire). It's just so hard to do when I can't afford to lose that much cash. I can't afford that at all. Josh may also experiment with me in a studio...at least to get my commercial shot. This is the theatrical shot I chose. What do you think?

I have lined up some work for this upcoming week before I leave Austin. Tomorrow I have an audition for an independent feature, Monday I have an audition for a professional theater downtown, Thursday/Friday I'm hoping I can commit to a paid extras call for Friday Night Lights, and Saturday and Sunday I may do some unpaid extra work. I was also notified about auditioning for a short film sometime in the next two weeks. I have been checking casting calls daily from all of the websites I know, and I am diligently searching for any work to add to my resume...and maybe eventually to my paycheck. Once next semester starts I don't know how much time I'll have to do this until the main stage show is over. We had two readings of the script this past week, and I am excited! But it will be a lot of work and time once rehearsals start in January, possibly six days a week of rehearsals and costume fittings and eventually tech rehearsals and the performances! Whew! It's making me excited if I can really start thinking of myself as a working actor.

The game is about to begin. HOOK 'EM!

we should just be thankful for being together. i think that's what they mean by "thanksgiving", charlie brown.

After another piece of pie, I yet again feel too lazy to do anything. I'm really glad I gave pumpkin pie a chance because I happen to enjoy it...with loads of whip cream on top, that is.

I wish as many casting calls that are posted in LA would be posted in Austin. Either there is a lack of casting calls, or there is a lack of casting calls that fit my description. If only I were 5'10" or 25 or bilingual...or a man. If I was a 5'10", 25 year old, bilingual man, I'd be in luck. Maybe I should get over their "descriptions" and submit anyway. Maybe I can give them a whole lot of 5 foot 3 inches that they'll love.

...but maybe not.

I've resorted to Craigslist. It's sketchy, and scary, but maybe there will be something. I plan on dragging Whitney to auditions I am not 100% convinced are legit anyway, so I'll be okay. I did respond to a listing for a spokeswoman, and because I didn't think, I didn't think about the fact that I would actually have to test a product in order to be a spokesperson for it. I'll cross that one off my list because it's some sort of weight loss supplement, and I don't even want to go there. Then again, I'm also crossing $1500 off my list as well.

I went to see New Moon today with my sister. Yeah, yeah, I don't want to hear it. It has become such a huge cultural phenomenon that I think I should be well aware of it. Plus, I'm an actress; it's my job to watch movies...good and bad. The casting for Bella just really angers me. I congratulate Kristen Stewart for booking such a huge role, but seriously, you're telling me there was no one who acted the role better? She's the same awkward, moody girl you see in real life, so where's the acting? I guess you could blame the directing, but each movie is being directed by someone different, so I wonder why there are so many similarities. It just frustrates me because you can never fully understand how this business works...why some people get cast when others don't...why some are given that big break when there are thousands of others who probably deserve it more. I mean, I'm not worried...just frustrated. ;)

Black Friday serves as a day solely to remind me of how little money I have and how even less money I will have once I graduate. I was fully ready to sit in line at 2 in the morning to nab some of the great deals they have going today. I've been saving my money from work, so that I could buy an SLR and/or a laptop on Black Friday. I could have bought one of them, but after countless times of hearing how I need to save my money, I decided against it. The real world sucks.

when i grow up, i wanna be famous, i wanna be a star

I am twenty years old. I am already grown up. :O

As I said, I'm graduating in May, and I've been freaking out about how I'm going to survive. But I figured that if I want to act, I should start focusing on my acting career, and hopefully the whole income-to-pay-rent-and-eat-and-live thing will work itself out. I am determined.

First things first: I need some good headshots. No, I need great headshots. An actor's headshot is his/her calling card; it can literally make or break them. If you don't have a great headshot, the chances of you never getting an audition are pretty substantial. I have heard this all too many times. I have seen this happen all too many times at my two internships this past summer, both at the talent agency and casting agency. As I did my daily mail delivering at the talent agency, I would usually find a headshot or two at an assistant's desk that they kept simply to make fun of and to show other coworkers. The only submission I ever saw them keep was from a man looking for a voiceover agent (aka his demo reel got their attention...no headshot needed). One day at the casting agency I sat and watched one of the casting directors go through a stack of 20 or so headshots and literally spend less than half a second looking at each one, throwing all but 2 or 3 away. I tried to keep up with her quick glancing and quick throwing away, but I couldn't see what was so wrong about a lot of them.

So my friend, Josh, who is a photojournalism major, is going to attempt to capture these amazing headshots for me on our fourth attempt? I'm hoping his new portrait lense is magical. These headshots are free in exchange for his practicing and possibly building his portfolio. I can't afford to pay for professional headshots...even though that is what I need and may possibly have to resort to in the worst case scenario. All the photographers the talent agency recommended charge $500 plus. I don't have that kind of money...especially when I'm about to graduate and live completely on my own. But before I blow the $500 (headshots should be retaken annually also, so that's $500 a year...excluding if I change my hair or gain/lose weight), I did just find a photographer who is offering to take free portraits. His/her work looks pretty legit, and though this person may not specialize in headshots, maybe he/she can make something work. I emailed this person as well, so we'll see.

I also looked up several talent agents in Austin. Once I find my perfect headshot, and maybe add a few productions to my resume, I am going to submit, submit, submit. I'm planning on this all to be done when I come back in January. I'm planning on having an agent in the spring before I graduate. Before then, I will continue to check casting calls and send my headshot and resume anywhere and everywhere that may possibly have a role for me. Cross your fingers.

genesis

I think that word refers to the beginning. And this is the beginning of my blogging experience. Okay, I'm lying, I must embarassingly admit that I used Xanga for quite a while. Then I thought facebook "notes" would suffice. But now I'm grown up and sophisticated, and thus my blog should be...right? Anyway, after reading through a former coworker's blog, I became inspired to keep one myself. We'll see if my blog is inspiring enough for anyone to even read.

The next three days, including today, mark the final performances of The Importance of Being Earnest, for which I play the character of Cecily. I am more than grateful to have been cast in this role, but I will still be grateful for the show's run to end. I have been going nonstop this entire semester with class, work, production lab, rehearsals, football games, etc. etc. I need a break, and Christmas break cannot come soon enough. I'm just happy not to have any finals! I am unhappy about having to miss my last UT football game before I graduate...due to our final performance on Saturday. It is a sad day in the life of Sam Wiley. I suppose I should be calling myself Samantha Wiley, since that is my "actress" name, but I just like Sam so much better.

I finally, yes finally, got cast in one of the theatre and dance department's mainstage shows next semester. My auditions every semester have finally paid off. I knew this was my last chance, so I put everything I had into this audition. I made my resume look perfect, I "splurged" on actually getting 8X10 headshots printed, I rehearsed and videotaped myself and watched and rehearsed and videotaped myself and watched and rehearsed and videotaped myself and watched until I was absolutely satisfied with my monologue. Luckily I had been working on a second monologue in my Acting Shakespeare class all semester, so I had a backup that I felt absolutely satisfied with...thank goodness too...because they did in fact ask me to do a second monologue! I was absolutely ecstatic to see my name on the callback lists for all the shows for which I had auditioned. I felt good about my first callback, the second fell flat, and the third I knew I had completely blew. Thankfully, I did get cast for that first show, and thankfully it was the part I felt I would enjoy the most.

Right now I am at work at the Texas Performing Arts center. The phones have been ringing more than I would have liked today. But I can't complain because I get paid to sit at a computer, occasionally answer phones or sell tickets and fill out envelopes...not to mention I get great benefits, such as seeing Broadway shows and commerical acts for free! I graduate in May, and this job will not pay the bills. I am kind of freaking out. Actually, I am really freaking out. I won't have financial aid to pay my rent...I won't have classes to go to...I will be a full fledged adult. I am out of my mind FREAKING OUT.