It has been five months since my last post on July 23. Then, I was in the midst of a heart-breaking move and separation from my partner of nearly 17 years. Now, I am in a much more positive, peaceful state of mind, and I felt I owed it to my readers to tell you what happened next, and where I go from here.
As I have said since I started this blog, this was intended to be just "my year in LA" to see how I did pursuing acting full-time. I am happy to report that after a great first six months, work has continued to come in steadily. It is a rare week when I don't have any acting work, and all of it is paid these days as I no longer accept non-paying jobs. Since July, I appeared in one musical, was invited to join a prestigious theatre company, and am currently working on two children's holiday plays with the two premiere children's theatre companies in LA. I have been cast in two feature films that shoot in December and are likely to get national distribution. I did several webisodes, including one with Patrick Warburton ("Seinfeld," "The Tick," "Rules of Engagement"), a music video, several re-enactment shows, and a student film for Loyola Marymount University that involved learning a made-up language and speaking it in an Eastern European accent. And on November 1, after one full year in AFTRA and ten days on "Held Up" as a principal, I am finally eligible to join the exclusivie Screen Actors' Guild. It has been exciting, challenging, and fun.
But, back to the heartbreak. In July, after Pasha (my pug) and I moved into my new apartment on the border of Hollywood in Los Feliz, I was so sad that it was difficult for me to go out in public without crying. I took a break from my acting studies at The Actors Collective (although I started back with a Manager's Workshop there this past month), and from doing much acting work of any kind while I focused on the formidable tasks of unpacking and grieving for my marriage. It was very difficult for me to go from a 2000 square foot home to an 800 foot one bedroom apartment, and find a place for me to put all my antiques, my heirlooms, and most of all, my clothes (I'm sort of a wardrobe collector and have tons of period and character costumes)! I still don't have all my books, photographs, and scrapbooks from my home in Foster City; that's going to require one final move, and I'll have to get a storage unit for them. But I found that as I unpacked and gradually created a home that looked like nobody else but me, it was healing and liberating. I enjoyed putting my childhood treasures on display with inherited items from my grandmother and my parents. I could see the blending of the generations in my home, and reminders of them are all around me now. Plus, I found places for my favorite items that I have collected on my world travels, and they give the apartment a little bit of an exotic air. It's small, but it is cozy, and now it is home.
The real salvation for me this summer, though, came when I was cast as "Grandma Georgina" in the musical "Willy Wonka," put on by the Stepping Stone Players in Glendale. I hadn't done a musical since 2004, because singing and dancing had gotten two strenuous and painful for me, but in this role, I spend the entire show in a bed with the other three grandparents! No dancing, a little singing (plus helping out the kids in the big numbers from the wings), and a lot of comic lines - a great role for me. I even have a top quality DVD of the performance, so I can use it on my next reel. And I met some wonderful people who were so kind to me and helped me through the worst days, when I would go on, do my lines, come off, and cry. The rehearsal period was seven exhausting weeks (every night, Monday through Friday), and then a three-weekend run which earned crowds of 200-300 every show and rave reviews in the press. It was a real blessing for me; it's hard to be depressed when you are singing "The Candy Man" every night! Plus, the show has such a good message: "If you want to view paradise, simply look around and view it. Anything you want to, do it; want to change the world, there's nothing to it. There is no place I know like the world of pure imagination; living there, you'll be free, if you truly wish to be." Maybe acting is the world of pure imagination, and I am finally free and living my dream of being a full-time actress.
When that run ended in September, I took a much-needed vacation to visit friends in the New York City area, and then developed a killer sinus infection on the way home that lasted for almost a month. Even so, I worked, doing the webisode with Patrick, a lead in "Murder by the Books," a supporting role in "1000 Ways to Die," and the afore-mentioned music video and student film. Also, in an effort to eliminate as much negativity as possible from my life, I fired my agency (Affinity Artists), as my agent was a nasty man who never returned calls or e-mails and lied about sending me out for auditions; and I dropped my membership in the Underground Theatre Company, also run by a brutish man who locks the doors when workshops start and won't allow you to even audition for productions if you have any conflicts. I don't need that in my life. I'm still seeking an agent, and have had some interest from four agencies, but they are not the ones I want to be represented by, and I'd just as soon wait until I can get a really good one. I'm also looking for a manager, who I hope will have the contacts to get me working in network TV, which is the next step for my career.
In December, I was cast in a lead role of the Dancing Squirrel Company's production of "The Adventures of Holly and Snowflake," a holiday play that we take to underprivileged and at-risk children for ten shows before Christmas. The people that run it are wonderful and kind,and I love doing this kind of "giving back" work for children. I have also been cast in two roles in The Black Box Theatre Company's production of "The Velveteen Rabbit," one of my all-time favorite books, which will run mid-December to mid-January. It's a great way for me to get involved with children, since I don't have any of my own, and all my family lives at least 2000 miles away. I'm really excited about being in both of them.
I've also been cast in two feature films: "Justice on the Border," as the sheriff in a small New Mexico town helping the feds battle the Mexican cartels (yes, I know, me as the sheriff is a stretch, but remember Frances McDormand in "Fargo?" She won the Oscar that year.); and "The Hit Team," a comedy in which I play a target of the Mafia and get to give a comic performance as a dead body. Also, a movie I shot last summer, "Mommy and Me," is now ready for distribution and got a lot of interest at the recent Film Industry Market, so it may be coming to theatres nationwide! And just this week, I did an overnight shoot on a new web series, "After Hours," set in a bar, and got my first SAG voucher (ironic, since I no longer need them to join SAG - you need three to become eligible). I was also asked to join the prestigious Sky Pilot Theatre Company, whose works are regularly reviewed by the LA Times; I start a one-act festival with them in January.
So I think my year in LA, acting-wise, has been a success. Is it profitable? No, not yet. I would have to be doing SAG work regularly to turn a profit. And this, of course, was the big sticking-point with my husband: I was spending too much money on my career without showing a profit. Well, every start-up takes time to get going, and this was in many ways my start-up year. I'm only sorry he was not able to see our commitment through to the end of the year. But truthfully, I would not have wanted to quit now and go back to the Bay Area. I have discovered that LA is where I really belong. All my life I have felt like a gypsy; restless, never fitting in wherever I lived. But here, almost everybody I meet has felt that way. Most of them are in the creative field now, and no one cares what your day job is, or even how much money you make. It's "what are you working on" that is important. LA is a place that values the creative process in all its forms, and I am finding my place in it, particularly by bringing theatre to our children who no longer have arts programs in California's bankrupt public school system. I'm proud of that, and proud to be a part of the tradition of acting that stretches back thousands of years. Art lasts. It may be the only thing that really does. And to create art, you need artists, like me. I'll never feel ashamed again that I am "just an actor," no matter how hard my husband tried to make me feel that way.
So I guess I am starting over. From now on, my blog won't reflect just "my year in LA," but my life as an over-40 (WAAAY over) actress in LA. I'm not making any promises about how often I'll write, but I do promise that I will post when I have something that I think is important to say, and that it will be honest, and I hope, interesting.
In Hollywood, when the director yells "cut" and we go back to start over, it's called "back to one." And that's where I am - back to one, starting again, with another chance to do better now that I am (sadder) older and wiser. In the movies, you can always get a do-over, and if you get it wrong, you can "fix it in post" as we always say; that is, make it look perfect in the finished product. I'm trying to stay real in a world of artifice, and in doing so, I think I have found my home at last. Back to one.
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Friday, July 23, 2010
Facing "The Realities"
On June 26, 2010, I was privileged to perform one of the monologues in the new play by Brandon Sharkey, "The Realities." The play is about people who have been on reality shows and how the experience has affected their lives. All of us who performed in it have been on reality shows, but the monologues were not our true stories. I got cast in the show partly because I was on "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" But the monologue that I performed was about a woman who had been on Big Brother, who was now trying to deny that the experience had changed her at all. In fact her new "celebrity" had changed her whole life and was driving her to drink and pills in order to cope with it.
In a way, I feel like that is what I am dealing with now in my own life. I came to LA almost on a whim for the first time in 2005 for three months, to see if I could get work here as an actress. I expected to work a little and get a childhood fantasy out of my system. What I did NOT expect was that I would fall in love with LA, that I would get work on the first day I sought it, and that I would do so well that I would want to keep coming back again and again until ultimately, I would have to choose between a new life here and my old life in the Bay Area. But that is exactly what happened. Of course, it isn't quite that simple. The wild card for me is that I had already given up my career and my old life because of my back injury and my lupus, and that acting gave me back a sense of worth, of purpose, of dignity that I couldn't seem to find with anything else (believe me, I tried!). It doesn't take into account that my health improved dramatically when I lived in LA, to the point where my joint pain almost disappeared. But my husband hated LA, and told me every time I raised the question that he would never leave our waterfront home in Foster City, even if I made it big in LA, which of course I have yet to do. So when I asked him one more time if he would be willing to move, even to a drier area like San Jose, he said no, and I realized that he wasn't ever going to change his mind. I offered once more to come home at the end of the year, but we both knew it was a hollow promise. My heart is in LA now, no matter how much I try to deny it.
So currently, I am trying to face the reality that I will be moving forward alone. It's a scary prospect. I never expected my little experiment to turn out this way. It was, as the title of my blog attests, supposed to be just a year in LA. Suddenly, I'm a full-time resident. I have moved to a 1950s style apartment in Los Feliz (right off Hollywood Boulevard) with hardwood floors, on a street with both huge magnolias and palm trees, an apt metaphor for the Southern girl who has ended up in this most exotic of worlds. My dog, Pasha, lives with me now - she and I packed up my things from my beautiful waterfront home in Foster City over an Independence Day weekend (another metaphor?) that was punctuated by periods of such wrenching sobbing on my part that I thought some of my organs might be damaged. This is the most difficult experience of my life.
But Pasha and I made it to Los Feliz on July 5th, after an eight and a half hour drive on a trip that usually takes six. For an eleven-year old pug that had never traveled more that 45 minutes in a car before, she did fantastic. She was a little confused about the apartment - no traction on the hardwood floors, no back deck to run across to chase squirrels and boats - and as I showed her my little place I kept saying things like "I know it's not as big as what you're used to," apologetically, idiotically, and crying. No, it's not what we are used to. But I think this may be the last great challenge of my life: to embrace the fears I have about being able to care for myself with my illness; to live on greatly reduced means (I have a disability income that allows me to make a limited amount of money each month, and so far I have not exceeded it); and ultimately, to live and work successfully and happily in one of the most eclectic, fast-paced, competitive, cosmopolitan, challenging, and glorious cities in the US, if not the world. Am I up to the challenge? Well, only by living it will I be able to tell.
I was going to use this post as a kind of mid-year analysis, to see how I am doing. So I will close by saying that although I haven't worked in July, it was by choice (I turned down some unpaid work) because I had too much going on in my personal life and the stress caused me to feel really bad. But January through June, this is the best year, business-wise, that I have ever had. I completed a new reel in July, which you can see by going to my profile at Now Casting and clicking on the 2009-2010 Theatrical Reel. It's mostly comic and I'm very proud of it. I also got a new look; I am keeping my hair dark after coloring it for "I'm Alive," and I cut it in a short, curly bob. I like it; I wore it this way 20 years ago and it makes me feel a lot younger. I'm getting new headshots next month since I look really different. I guess I am trying hard to live an authentic life, to face reality whenever I am confronted with it and to tell the truth as much as I possibly can, even when it hurts. That feels like growth. So I guess my year in LA has been good for me so far, even though so far it is the hardest work, emotionally, that I have ever done.
In a way, I feel like that is what I am dealing with now in my own life. I came to LA almost on a whim for the first time in 2005 for three months, to see if I could get work here as an actress. I expected to work a little and get a childhood fantasy out of my system. What I did NOT expect was that I would fall in love with LA, that I would get work on the first day I sought it, and that I would do so well that I would want to keep coming back again and again until ultimately, I would have to choose between a new life here and my old life in the Bay Area. But that is exactly what happened. Of course, it isn't quite that simple. The wild card for me is that I had already given up my career and my old life because of my back injury and my lupus, and that acting gave me back a sense of worth, of purpose, of dignity that I couldn't seem to find with anything else (believe me, I tried!). It doesn't take into account that my health improved dramatically when I lived in LA, to the point where my joint pain almost disappeared. But my husband hated LA, and told me every time I raised the question that he would never leave our waterfront home in Foster City, even if I made it big in LA, which of course I have yet to do. So when I asked him one more time if he would be willing to move, even to a drier area like San Jose, he said no, and I realized that he wasn't ever going to change his mind. I offered once more to come home at the end of the year, but we both knew it was a hollow promise. My heart is in LA now, no matter how much I try to deny it.
So currently, I am trying to face the reality that I will be moving forward alone. It's a scary prospect. I never expected my little experiment to turn out this way. It was, as the title of my blog attests, supposed to be just a year in LA. Suddenly, I'm a full-time resident. I have moved to a 1950s style apartment in Los Feliz (right off Hollywood Boulevard) with hardwood floors, on a street with both huge magnolias and palm trees, an apt metaphor for the Southern girl who has ended up in this most exotic of worlds. My dog, Pasha, lives with me now - she and I packed up my things from my beautiful waterfront home in Foster City over an Independence Day weekend (another metaphor?) that was punctuated by periods of such wrenching sobbing on my part that I thought some of my organs might be damaged. This is the most difficult experience of my life.
But Pasha and I made it to Los Feliz on July 5th, after an eight and a half hour drive on a trip that usually takes six. For an eleven-year old pug that had never traveled more that 45 minutes in a car before, she did fantastic. She was a little confused about the apartment - no traction on the hardwood floors, no back deck to run across to chase squirrels and boats - and as I showed her my little place I kept saying things like "I know it's not as big as what you're used to," apologetically, idiotically, and crying. No, it's not what we are used to. But I think this may be the last great challenge of my life: to embrace the fears I have about being able to care for myself with my illness; to live on greatly reduced means (I have a disability income that allows me to make a limited amount of money each month, and so far I have not exceeded it); and ultimately, to live and work successfully and happily in one of the most eclectic, fast-paced, competitive, cosmopolitan, challenging, and glorious cities in the US, if not the world. Am I up to the challenge? Well, only by living it will I be able to tell.
I was going to use this post as a kind of mid-year analysis, to see how I am doing. So I will close by saying that although I haven't worked in July, it was by choice (I turned down some unpaid work) because I had too much going on in my personal life and the stress caused me to feel really bad. But January through June, this is the best year, business-wise, that I have ever had. I completed a new reel in July, which you can see by going to my profile at Now Casting and clicking on the 2009-2010 Theatrical Reel. It's mostly comic and I'm very proud of it. I also got a new look; I am keeping my hair dark after coloring it for "I'm Alive," and I cut it in a short, curly bob. I like it; I wore it this way 20 years ago and it makes me feel a lot younger. I'm getting new headshots next month since I look really different. I guess I am trying hard to live an authentic life, to face reality whenever I am confronted with it and to tell the truth as much as I possibly can, even when it hurts. That feels like growth. So I guess my year in LA has been good for me so far, even though so far it is the hardest work, emotionally, that I have ever done.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Shooting "I'm Alive"
This post has been removed at the request of the producer due to privacy considerations.
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Why Hollywood Marriages Fail
It is a cliché that everyone in Hollywood is has been married and divorced multiple times. This stereotype is a cliché because it is, of course, partially true. Rue McClanahan, a stage and TV star best known for the TV series “The Golden Girls,” who died this week, was married six times. Yet there are many long-lasting and loving marriages in Hollywood; Kyra Sedgwick, known for her starring role in the hit series “The Closer,” has been married to Kevin Bacon for over 20 years. My Bacon number, by the way, is two, and if you’ve ever played Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, you will know what that means.
But still, it is true that many, many Hollywood marriages end in high profile divorces, often due to very high profile affairs (Brangelina, anyone?). I’ve been on a lot of TV and movie sets, and a lot of the time we extras spend waiting we also spend gossiping about the leads and who is sleeping with whom (I know some stuff, but I’m not telling!). And I think the basic reasons that stars divorce come down to these:
1) Long separations due to location shoots
I’ll bet if Jennifer Aniston had it to do over again, she wouldn’t have sent her gorgeous husband Brad Pitt off to work on location with equally gorgeous Angelina Jolie, who already had a reputation for getting involved with her co-stars, on the set of “Mr. and Mrs. Smith.” I suspect this is why Brad and Angie now alternate who works, taking turns on films and accompanying each other to sets with all six kids in tow. I’m sure it makes the love scenes a lot less sexy when the whole family is watching.
2) Long work hours
Shooting a weekly series is a demanding job. I have worked on the “House” set and was told by the regular background actors that 16-hour days are the norm for the cast and crew. And the star’s family lives in England! I’m not sure if that marriage will last. I’ve heard Rob Lowe say this is the reason he left “The West Wing” and “Brothers and Sisters,” so he could spend more time with his family, who lives in Santa Barbara, which is 90 miles up the coast from LA. I can relate!
3) On-set emotional affairs
As I have mentioned, even after a ten-day shoot background actors can feel very close to each other. What about actors in a four-month theatre run? Or in a regular series? Even if you are not playing a couple, you can get very close to your co-stars. Noah Wyle even married his makeup artist! (They are divorced now, but still). My point is, you have a lot of downtime on set, plenty of time to have your emotional needs met by someone who is not your spouse.
4) on-set physical affairs
I have only done a few kissing scenes, and I can tell you that your body does not realize that it is “just acting!” There is usually some chemistry between the actors for love scenes to be believable, and if they are sexy enough, the scenes often continue into real life. The examples are too numerous to mention, but the most famous is probably Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, who met while filming “Cleopatra” in the early 1960s when both were married to others. They ended up leaving their spouses and were married for 12 years, divorced, then remarried, divorced again, and were planning to remarry when he died suddenly in his early 50s. A very passionate couple whose relationship began with those sexy scenes on set.
5) One star’s career takes off and the other’s doesn’t
Everything is relative in terms of careers “taking off;” this can mean that one is just making more money than the other. This year much was made of the “Oscar curse” when Sandra Bullock’s marriage collapsed right after she won Best Actress, but that was for cheating; a better example is that of Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillippe. When they married, Ryan was the bigger star, but over the course of their marriage, her star has eclipsed his, and many in Hollywood speculated that he could not handle her larger success and that the Oscar win was the last straw. Others speculated that his suspected affair with Abbie Cornish was really what killed their marriage. Either way, they are divorced now.
6) Substance abuse
Too many examples to count here! Suddenly successful actors usually have access to a lot of money, and they may be isolated from former friends and support systems due to their sudden fame. Too many of them then turn to different forms of substance abuse for comfort: alcohol, cocaine, and/or heroin to name a few, as well as prescription drugs. Carly Simon divorced James Taylor after he missed the birth of their son because of his heroin addiction (he’s now clean). Melissa Williams left Heath Ledger due to his drug habit; he later tragically overdosed accidentally, robbing us of a great talent that had just begun to flower.
7) Physical abuse
Much of the abuse that goes on marriages is hidden, but there are a few notable examples. Tina Turner is a dramatic example of a woman who left her husband Ike after years of abuse with nothing but the clothes on her back, and spectacularly turned her life around. Charlie Sheen’s current wife is apparently planning to divorce him after turning him in for his abuse of her over this last Christmas holiday. And of course, O.J. Simpson’s second wife, Nicole, left him due to his abuse, but later paid with her life when he killed her and her friend Ron Goldman with a knife. Sadly, many abused spouses do end up murdered by their abusers.
8) Emotional or verbal abuse
This type of problem usually gets hidden under the heading of “irreconcilable differences,” but you read about it in the bitter divorce battle that was underway between Dennis Hopper and his most recent wife (fourth? Fifth?), that ended with his death last week, in the acrimony between Alec Baldwin and his ex-wife Kim Basinger in the leaked e-mails about their daughter (“you are a rude, thoughtless little pig”), and of course, Charlie Sheen again, and his ex-wife Denise Richards (I can’t even quote that leaked voice mail, as it is X-rated!).
9) Financial problems, usually overspending
This latest, greatest example of this type of stupid behavior is that of Heidi and Spencer Pratt, of “The Hills,” married less than one year, millions in debt, and already separated. Heidi is the only who had 10 plastic surgeries IN ONE DAY. This is a case of too much fame, too much money, too fast, wasted on two idiots. There are others, but these two are my favorites.
10) Non-support by the non-acting spouse: financial, emotional, or otherwise
Finally, we get to the spouse that just really does not want the other person to be an actor. This usually happens in the case of a career change, when the other is used to a quiet life, or doesn’t want to move to LA. It happened to Jim Carey, it just happened to Crystal Bowersox, and sadly, it is now happening to me.
Keith and I have decided to separate formally as of around May 12. I have moved into a larger apartment, still in the Los Felix area of Hollywood, and will be bringing my furniture and my pug, Pasha, down to live with me here in late June. Keith had always been clear to me about not wanting to move to LA, and not wanting me to be an actor (“acting is the world’s most selfish profession” he’d say). He’s right, actors DO require a lot of attention, and are narcissists to some degree, but I think I am more of a studier of the human condition, and I like to portray that on stage and film. I’m not surprised that we ultimately were not able to stay together, but since we have been a couple for nearly 16 years, I am devastated and heartbroken by this decision. Our lives since I became ill have just taken completely different paths, and I feel much better physically in LA than I do in the Bay Area, while the best place for his work in computer science remains in San Jose. I love him and wish him all the best.
Namaste,
Jennie
But still, it is true that many, many Hollywood marriages end in high profile divorces, often due to very high profile affairs (Brangelina, anyone?). I’ve been on a lot of TV and movie sets, and a lot of the time we extras spend waiting we also spend gossiping about the leads and who is sleeping with whom (I know some stuff, but I’m not telling!). And I think the basic reasons that stars divorce come down to these:
1) Long separations due to location shoots
I’ll bet if Jennifer Aniston had it to do over again, she wouldn’t have sent her gorgeous husband Brad Pitt off to work on location with equally gorgeous Angelina Jolie, who already had a reputation for getting involved with her co-stars, on the set of “Mr. and Mrs. Smith.” I suspect this is why Brad and Angie now alternate who works, taking turns on films and accompanying each other to sets with all six kids in tow. I’m sure it makes the love scenes a lot less sexy when the whole family is watching.
2) Long work hours
Shooting a weekly series is a demanding job. I have worked on the “House” set and was told by the regular background actors that 16-hour days are the norm for the cast and crew. And the star’s family lives in England! I’m not sure if that marriage will last. I’ve heard Rob Lowe say this is the reason he left “The West Wing” and “Brothers and Sisters,” so he could spend more time with his family, who lives in Santa Barbara, which is 90 miles up the coast from LA. I can relate!
3) On-set emotional affairs
As I have mentioned, even after a ten-day shoot background actors can feel very close to each other. What about actors in a four-month theatre run? Or in a regular series? Even if you are not playing a couple, you can get very close to your co-stars. Noah Wyle even married his makeup artist! (They are divorced now, but still). My point is, you have a lot of downtime on set, plenty of time to have your emotional needs met by someone who is not your spouse.
4) on-set physical affairs
I have only done a few kissing scenes, and I can tell you that your body does not realize that it is “just acting!” There is usually some chemistry between the actors for love scenes to be believable, and if they are sexy enough, the scenes often continue into real life. The examples are too numerous to mention, but the most famous is probably Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, who met while filming “Cleopatra” in the early 1960s when both were married to others. They ended up leaving their spouses and were married for 12 years, divorced, then remarried, divorced again, and were planning to remarry when he died suddenly in his early 50s. A very passionate couple whose relationship began with those sexy scenes on set.
5) One star’s career takes off and the other’s doesn’t
Everything is relative in terms of careers “taking off;” this can mean that one is just making more money than the other. This year much was made of the “Oscar curse” when Sandra Bullock’s marriage collapsed right after she won Best Actress, but that was for cheating; a better example is that of Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillippe. When they married, Ryan was the bigger star, but over the course of their marriage, her star has eclipsed his, and many in Hollywood speculated that he could not handle her larger success and that the Oscar win was the last straw. Others speculated that his suspected affair with Abbie Cornish was really what killed their marriage. Either way, they are divorced now.
6) Substance abuse
Too many examples to count here! Suddenly successful actors usually have access to a lot of money, and they may be isolated from former friends and support systems due to their sudden fame. Too many of them then turn to different forms of substance abuse for comfort: alcohol, cocaine, and/or heroin to name a few, as well as prescription drugs. Carly Simon divorced James Taylor after he missed the birth of their son because of his heroin addiction (he’s now clean). Melissa Williams left Heath Ledger due to his drug habit; he later tragically overdosed accidentally, robbing us of a great talent that had just begun to flower.
7) Physical abuse
Much of the abuse that goes on marriages is hidden, but there are a few notable examples. Tina Turner is a dramatic example of a woman who left her husband Ike after years of abuse with nothing but the clothes on her back, and spectacularly turned her life around. Charlie Sheen’s current wife is apparently planning to divorce him after turning him in for his abuse of her over this last Christmas holiday. And of course, O.J. Simpson’s second wife, Nicole, left him due to his abuse, but later paid with her life when he killed her and her friend Ron Goldman with a knife. Sadly, many abused spouses do end up murdered by their abusers.
8) Emotional or verbal abuse
This type of problem usually gets hidden under the heading of “irreconcilable differences,” but you read about it in the bitter divorce battle that was underway between Dennis Hopper and his most recent wife (fourth? Fifth?), that ended with his death last week, in the acrimony between Alec Baldwin and his ex-wife Kim Basinger in the leaked e-mails about their daughter (“you are a rude, thoughtless little pig”), and of course, Charlie Sheen again, and his ex-wife Denise Richards (I can’t even quote that leaked voice mail, as it is X-rated!).
9) Financial problems, usually overspending
This latest, greatest example of this type of stupid behavior is that of Heidi and Spencer Pratt, of “The Hills,” married less than one year, millions in debt, and already separated. Heidi is the only who had 10 plastic surgeries IN ONE DAY. This is a case of too much fame, too much money, too fast, wasted on two idiots. There are others, but these two are my favorites.
10) Non-support by the non-acting spouse: financial, emotional, or otherwise
Finally, we get to the spouse that just really does not want the other person to be an actor. This usually happens in the case of a career change, when the other is used to a quiet life, or doesn’t want to move to LA. It happened to Jim Carey, it just happened to Crystal Bowersox, and sadly, it is now happening to me.
Keith and I have decided to separate formally as of around May 12. I have moved into a larger apartment, still in the Los Felix area of Hollywood, and will be bringing my furniture and my pug, Pasha, down to live with me here in late June. Keith had always been clear to me about not wanting to move to LA, and not wanting me to be an actor (“acting is the world’s most selfish profession” he’d say). He’s right, actors DO require a lot of attention, and are narcissists to some degree, but I think I am more of a studier of the human condition, and I like to portray that on stage and film. I’m not surprised that we ultimately were not able to stay together, but since we have been a couple for nearly 16 years, I am devastated and heartbroken by this decision. Our lives since I became ill have just taken completely different paths, and I feel much better physically in LA than I do in the Bay Area, while the best place for his work in computer science remains in San Jose. I love him and wish him all the best.
Namaste,
Jennie
Friday, June 4, 2010
"Old Mo" has Shifted
It's been over three weeks since I have posted, and the reason is simple: I started getting work again. As I wrote about in my last post on May 9th, April was a really bad month for me, and I only worked one paid day. But I was confident that the momentum, "Old Mo," would shift - it always does. And I was right. It shifted mid-May, in a big way.
I had continued to be offered small jobs, mostly unpaid background work, through April and early May, and I decided to take a few of them even though they didn't pay, just to remind the universe that I was a working actress. One of them, a promo for something called "Young Nails," just involved me coming in, sitting in front of a green screen (so they can change the background; they use it a lot in animation and CGI) in three different outfits, and smiling. I even got my hair and makeup done, and they gave me a tee shirt and free body lotion. So it's not all bad, even if you don't get money (and they fed us). Another was for a Christian-theme film called "Belle of the Bus" where I got to play my favorite-ever character title, "Vixen with a Walker." I've got to figure out how to write a You Tube spoof using that. But this was unpaid too, and I still need to pay the bills, so I prayed very specifically to get a PAYING JOB. And that afternoon, no kidding, a student director that I had made a film with in 2005, called out of the blue (she told me later she had felt the Lord leading her to call me) with a major offer.
This student, now no longer studying at USC, is named Lily Shi and she is an amazing woman. She grew up in China, got a degree in economics, and has written a book about how to revitalize the American economy called "Build an American Ark" that the Obama administration wants to work on with her. She has a very interesting salvation story, and she has set that to music in a concert called "Song of Salvation." The film we did in 2005 was called "Father I Hear Your Voice," and I played piano and sang in it. She said she loved working with me, and asked me if I would not only sing in the concert but also manage the project of a small concert first, then later with a larger choir, and finally a documentary movie and a CD, all paid above scale! I couldn't believe my good fortune, and I truly believe it was an answered prayer. Of course I said yes, and have been working with the delightful Lily since May 11. Our concert will be June 19th at 2:00 p.m. in San Gabriel, and I will be sending an invitation to all my friends who live in the Los Angeles area. So far we sound really good! :-)
After this happened, the flood gates seemed to open. I got cast as an angry Vietnamese (no kidding, accent and all) mother in a screenplay for the 18th annual UC-Irvine Screenwriting Festival (it ended up winning!). I got cast in a major supporting role in the summer cast of the long-running play, "Vampire Masquerade," at The Next Stage" in downtown Hollywood, where I will be performing Friday nights in June and July. I got cast as one of the leads for a benefit play called "The Realities" about people who have been on reality shows (thanks to my experience on "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" back in 2003), which will be held on June 26th at the Santa Monica Playhouse. I did a paying job on the new Spike TV reality show, "1000 Ways to Die," as a neighborhood lady who is mad at her mailman for reading her mail and tries to knock him down in the local carnival dunking booth, then is horrified as he is accidentally electrocuted when he falls in the water which was electrified by people missing the target and hitting the circuit box. It's very funny - watch for it in September! I got cast with no audition as "sister of patient" in a National Board of Medial Examiners training video, and though I haven't shot it yet they have already said they want to use me more. And I shot the role of a "flamboyent drama teacher," also a paying role, in a music video that will run on Disney. All this happened prior to Memorial Day!
There's more, but you get the idea. I think it's called "trust." Yes, there aren't as many projects going on right now, and the competition is fierce. But as long as I believe I am meant to be here, the work will come. It hasn't stopped in the nine years I have been working as an actress. When it does, then I'll do something else - like go back to school and study how to me a costume designer. That "flamboyent" thing comes really easily to me!
Blessings,
Jennie
I had continued to be offered small jobs, mostly unpaid background work, through April and early May, and I decided to take a few of them even though they didn't pay, just to remind the universe that I was a working actress. One of them, a promo for something called "Young Nails," just involved me coming in, sitting in front of a green screen (so they can change the background; they use it a lot in animation and CGI) in three different outfits, and smiling. I even got my hair and makeup done, and they gave me a tee shirt and free body lotion. So it's not all bad, even if you don't get money (and they fed us). Another was for a Christian-theme film called "Belle of the Bus" where I got to play my favorite-ever character title, "Vixen with a Walker." I've got to figure out how to write a You Tube spoof using that. But this was unpaid too, and I still need to pay the bills, so I prayed very specifically to get a PAYING JOB. And that afternoon, no kidding, a student director that I had made a film with in 2005, called out of the blue (she told me later she had felt the Lord leading her to call me) with a major offer.
This student, now no longer studying at USC, is named Lily Shi and she is an amazing woman. She grew up in China, got a degree in economics, and has written a book about how to revitalize the American economy called "Build an American Ark" that the Obama administration wants to work on with her. She has a very interesting salvation story, and she has set that to music in a concert called "Song of Salvation." The film we did in 2005 was called "Father I Hear Your Voice," and I played piano and sang in it. She said she loved working with me, and asked me if I would not only sing in the concert but also manage the project of a small concert first, then later with a larger choir, and finally a documentary movie and a CD, all paid above scale! I couldn't believe my good fortune, and I truly believe it was an answered prayer. Of course I said yes, and have been working with the delightful Lily since May 11. Our concert will be June 19th at 2:00 p.m. in San Gabriel, and I will be sending an invitation to all my friends who live in the Los Angeles area. So far we sound really good! :-)
After this happened, the flood gates seemed to open. I got cast as an angry Vietnamese (no kidding, accent and all) mother in a screenplay for the 18th annual UC-Irvine Screenwriting Festival (it ended up winning!). I got cast in a major supporting role in the summer cast of the long-running play, "Vampire Masquerade," at The Next Stage" in downtown Hollywood, where I will be performing Friday nights in June and July. I got cast as one of the leads for a benefit play called "The Realities" about people who have been on reality shows (thanks to my experience on "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" back in 2003), which will be held on June 26th at the Santa Monica Playhouse. I did a paying job on the new Spike TV reality show, "1000 Ways to Die," as a neighborhood lady who is mad at her mailman for reading her mail and tries to knock him down in the local carnival dunking booth, then is horrified as he is accidentally electrocuted when he falls in the water which was electrified by people missing the target and hitting the circuit box. It's very funny - watch for it in September! I got cast with no audition as "sister of patient" in a National Board of Medial Examiners training video, and though I haven't shot it yet they have already said they want to use me more. And I shot the role of a "flamboyent drama teacher," also a paying role, in a music video that will run on Disney. All this happened prior to Memorial Day!
There's more, but you get the idea. I think it's called "trust." Yes, there aren't as many projects going on right now, and the competition is fierce. But as long as I believe I am meant to be here, the work will come. It hasn't stopped in the nine years I have been working as an actress. When it does, then I'll do something else - like go back to school and study how to me a costume designer. That "flamboyent" thing comes really easily to me!
Blessings,
Jennie
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Extra Work, Amateurs, and Pros
I didn't book much work in April, but I did work a couple of days as a plain old background actor, commonly called an extra. I wasn't featured in any way, I was just in the background. One I did for free; it was an independent film, set in the late 1980s,called "Leaving Limbo." I got to dress up in leggings and lace, and wear my hair big and curly, like old-school Madonna. Really, that's the only reason I did the job, because I still love to play dress-up. The other job was a non-union gig on "Criminal Minds" where I played a patient; I got to wear pajamas, a robe, and slippers the whole time I was on the set, and ride in a wheelchair. I also shot a short romantic film in San Francisco last month done entirely by film students in six hours. I thought I'd write a little about the differences between working as an extra on an amateur vs. a pro set, and working on a student film vs. a professional independent film.
The call time for the indie film was 6:30; it was set in a converted downtown theater in Pasadena that is now used as a church. When I arrived and went into the sanctuary to check in, I saw about 14 other men, women, and girls dressed in the familiar leggings and leg warmers, "Flashdance" cut-out neck sweatshirt look from the 1980s. The lobby had a few posters that had been created in the 1980s style for fake movies, one very "Fatal Attraction," another very "Breakfast Club;" the overall look was very authentic to the period. The Assistant Director (AD), a young woman who appeared to be nervous and not used to power, herded us to the mock theater exit, where we were supposed to be leaving a showing of that late '80s weeper, "Steel Magnolias." I explained to the teenagers behind me that this is a sad film in which Julia Roberts dies, so they would be sad or dabbing tears. I felt 100 years old.
The AD walked us through our blocking, pairing me up with a witty gentleman from the church as my date, and putting us in a group of about seven couples to exit as our leads are talking in the lobby. We are seen in the background behind them. The premise is something about the lead female falling asleep and waking up to find it is 20 years later; hence the title, "Leaving Limbo." It sounded a lot like "13 Going on Thirty" to me but hey, I wasn't asking any questions. So theoretically, all we had to do was come out of the theater, but not like we were in a wedding procession, then go our separate ways as we had been told to do, while the leads had their conversation. And we had to do that without making any noise or running into anything.
But this is not as easy as it might sound. The director wanted to do this in one long take with a wide angle lens on the lobby. This is called a tracking shot, because she started the scene by following the dorky male lead from the corner where we were exiting to the far corner where his blind date, the female lead, was complaining about him to her friends. In the meantime, there are 15 extras in seven groups moving in three different directions behind them, and two others at a popcorn stand. And of these extras, I was the only one who had any acting experience. So there was a lot of running into things during the shots, or forgetting to crossover when they were supposed to, or slamming of the restroom door during the take, so we ended up shooting this one tracking shot for about 90 minutes. Then we had to do close-ups on the leads from each direction, and the shoot ended up lasting nearly four hours, on a scene that will take less than two minutes in the film. The lack of efficiency caused by the amateurism of everybody involved probably doubled the time this should have taken.
By contrast, in the TV show, "Criminal Minds," a CBS crime procedural drama starring Joe Montegna along with others, the cast and crew were models of efficiency. I booked this job through my calling service, Joey's List, which is run by a former employee of Central Casting. Now he has a group of reliable extras that he will market to Central for $65 per month whenever you want to work, saving you the trouble and hours and hours of calling it can take to get through to Central. I usually book work whenever I tell them I want a background job, but this month I only got one day out of eight I listed myself as available. It's never been that bad before.
Anyway, once you are booked, you get a mailbox number on Central's call-in line, and the night before the job you call in to get all the details: call time, location, wardrobe information, and any other details that you might need to know. I was in the hospital scene group as a patient; there were two of us, along with two doctors and two nurses, and we all arrived at 5:30 p.m. When I arrived at a CBS studio in Burbank I'd never realized existed, I went straight to the check-in trailer and was told it would be "a little while" til they used us. The crew had been there since 2:30 p.m., so that meant it might be a late night (usually you can add 12 hours plus a one-hour meal period to get your maximum day; the studio does not like to pay double time as it must over 12 hours). So we settled in to wait.
Usually I visit a lot with the other extras on sets, but this being a late call, we were all pretty tired, so we didn't do much socializing. I had a book, and my new Blackberry phone, so I was able to check e-mails regularly, and the time flew by. Before I knew it, it was 8;30, and the AD told us we were breaking for a one-hour lunch. The food, of course, is one of the best things about a network show, but since we were not on location but at the studio we often don't get a great meal and sometimes even have to buy our own at the commissary. Not so here. They had barbequed a flank steak, and we also a choice of chicken or fish. They had a sushi station. They had a full Mexican food bar. They had a full salad bar. About the only complaint I had was that they didn't serve Diet Coke! They also provide to-go boxes, and since I wasn't that hungry, I got enough of a meal to feed me twice the next day! "Working for food" on these sets really is a perk.
After "lunch," we went back to the set, and waited two more hours while the crew hastily put up the walls of the "hospital room" that our guest star, Linda Purl, would be emoting from. I was amazed at how fast they worked. We finally got started on our one scene; I was pushed by a nurse down the hall past Joe and one of his colleagues, looking exhausted and in pain, which at that point was not too hard to do as it was almost midnight and my back was killing me. We did five quick takes, with the principle actors' experimenting a little each time on their delivery, and then the AD in charge said, "Okay everybody! That's a wrap!" For our part of the show, with two and a half pages of dialogue, it had taken two hours to build the set and shoot the scenes; we normally estimate about an hour per page just to shoot. So this was one speedy cast and crew. Their professionalism was impressive.
Doing student films can be delightful for many reasons. At this point in my career, I usually get to play leads, and the students treat me like a star. This particular film was being shot in a classroom setting, with the teacher working very closely with me and the student director, so for me it is like getting free acting lessons. And of course, if the student does what they say they will, you get a copy of the film to be used in your all-important acting reel, which is the visual part of your resume that you put on the Internet for casting directors to look at when you submit for auditions.
This particular film was a romantic comedy where I was playing the female lead, a woman in her mid-30s. Her age along was reason enough for me to be excited about doing the film. I got to act opposite a handsome young actor who reminded me a little of Matthew Broderick. It was like going on a date with a grown-up Ferris Bueller. I was doing the film for a class at San Francisco's Academy of Art University. It is called "The DMV One;" the premise is that the young man goes in at the end of the day to renew his drivers' license at a small-town DMV office where the young woman is alone. She begins the series of questions that quickly devolve into a series of insinuations about his personal life, which leads up into a sexy back and forth where they both get satisfaction of different kind than what is normally provided at the DMV. It's a very funny film. The standard practice at these shoots is to do a quick run-through of the film first, then begin shooting, and when we did the run-through the class was howling, which is very gratifying.
This film was very complex to shoot because it was full of witty banter, arch glances, and ultimately, a near kiss. I had always heard that romantic scenes were not romantic to film, and now I understand why. As you are gazing into each other's eyes, there is a camera stuck between your faces in the close-ups; the positions you're asked to hold can be excruciating (yep, there's that back pain again); and if you are working with an amateur crew, the biggest problem with working with students, it can take forever to get the scenes shot right. This is due to unfamiliarity with lighting, camera angles, and how to get the best emotions out of an actor. A student film really is a learning experience for all. But these students were as professional as many indie filmmakers that I have worked with. They worked quickly, without wasting time, and were serious without being pompous. We had a great time, and shot ten pages of dialogue, or a five-minute film, in seven hours. Not bad for amateurs!
So. which is best? Well, obviously, I like getting paid to work. But if I could do the type of work that I got to do in this student film (light romantic comedy) and get paid for it, this would be a dream come true. And that's what I'm working toward.
The call time for the indie film was 6:30; it was set in a converted downtown theater in Pasadena that is now used as a church. When I arrived and went into the sanctuary to check in, I saw about 14 other men, women, and girls dressed in the familiar leggings and leg warmers, "Flashdance" cut-out neck sweatshirt look from the 1980s. The lobby had a few posters that had been created in the 1980s style for fake movies, one very "Fatal Attraction," another very "Breakfast Club;" the overall look was very authentic to the period. The Assistant Director (AD), a young woman who appeared to be nervous and not used to power, herded us to the mock theater exit, where we were supposed to be leaving a showing of that late '80s weeper, "Steel Magnolias." I explained to the teenagers behind me that this is a sad film in which Julia Roberts dies, so they would be sad or dabbing tears. I felt 100 years old.
The AD walked us through our blocking, pairing me up with a witty gentleman from the church as my date, and putting us in a group of about seven couples to exit as our leads are talking in the lobby. We are seen in the background behind them. The premise is something about the lead female falling asleep and waking up to find it is 20 years later; hence the title, "Leaving Limbo." It sounded a lot like "13 Going on Thirty" to me but hey, I wasn't asking any questions. So theoretically, all we had to do was come out of the theater, but not like we were in a wedding procession, then go our separate ways as we had been told to do, while the leads had their conversation. And we had to do that without making any noise or running into anything.
But this is not as easy as it might sound. The director wanted to do this in one long take with a wide angle lens on the lobby. This is called a tracking shot, because she started the scene by following the dorky male lead from the corner where we were exiting to the far corner where his blind date, the female lead, was complaining about him to her friends. In the meantime, there are 15 extras in seven groups moving in three different directions behind them, and two others at a popcorn stand. And of these extras, I was the only one who had any acting experience. So there was a lot of running into things during the shots, or forgetting to crossover when they were supposed to, or slamming of the restroom door during the take, so we ended up shooting this one tracking shot for about 90 minutes. Then we had to do close-ups on the leads from each direction, and the shoot ended up lasting nearly four hours, on a scene that will take less than two minutes in the film. The lack of efficiency caused by the amateurism of everybody involved probably doubled the time this should have taken.
By contrast, in the TV show, "Criminal Minds," a CBS crime procedural drama starring Joe Montegna along with others, the cast and crew were models of efficiency. I booked this job through my calling service, Joey's List, which is run by a former employee of Central Casting. Now he has a group of reliable extras that he will market to Central for $65 per month whenever you want to work, saving you the trouble and hours and hours of calling it can take to get through to Central. I usually book work whenever I tell them I want a background job, but this month I only got one day out of eight I listed myself as available. It's never been that bad before.
Anyway, once you are booked, you get a mailbox number on Central's call-in line, and the night before the job you call in to get all the details: call time, location, wardrobe information, and any other details that you might need to know. I was in the hospital scene group as a patient; there were two of us, along with two doctors and two nurses, and we all arrived at 5:30 p.m. When I arrived at a CBS studio in Burbank I'd never realized existed, I went straight to the check-in trailer and was told it would be "a little while" til they used us. The crew had been there since 2:30 p.m., so that meant it might be a late night (usually you can add 12 hours plus a one-hour meal period to get your maximum day; the studio does not like to pay double time as it must over 12 hours). So we settled in to wait.
Usually I visit a lot with the other extras on sets, but this being a late call, we were all pretty tired, so we didn't do much socializing. I had a book, and my new Blackberry phone, so I was able to check e-mails regularly, and the time flew by. Before I knew it, it was 8;30, and the AD told us we were breaking for a one-hour lunch. The food, of course, is one of the best things about a network show, but since we were not on location but at the studio we often don't get a great meal and sometimes even have to buy our own at the commissary. Not so here. They had barbequed a flank steak, and we also a choice of chicken or fish. They had a sushi station. They had a full Mexican food bar. They had a full salad bar. About the only complaint I had was that they didn't serve Diet Coke! They also provide to-go boxes, and since I wasn't that hungry, I got enough of a meal to feed me twice the next day! "Working for food" on these sets really is a perk.
After "lunch," we went back to the set, and waited two more hours while the crew hastily put up the walls of the "hospital room" that our guest star, Linda Purl, would be emoting from. I was amazed at how fast they worked. We finally got started on our one scene; I was pushed by a nurse down the hall past Joe and one of his colleagues, looking exhausted and in pain, which at that point was not too hard to do as it was almost midnight and my back was killing me. We did five quick takes, with the principle actors' experimenting a little each time on their delivery, and then the AD in charge said, "Okay everybody! That's a wrap!" For our part of the show, with two and a half pages of dialogue, it had taken two hours to build the set and shoot the scenes; we normally estimate about an hour per page just to shoot. So this was one speedy cast and crew. Their professionalism was impressive.
Doing student films can be delightful for many reasons. At this point in my career, I usually get to play leads, and the students treat me like a star. This particular film was being shot in a classroom setting, with the teacher working very closely with me and the student director, so for me it is like getting free acting lessons. And of course, if the student does what they say they will, you get a copy of the film to be used in your all-important acting reel, which is the visual part of your resume that you put on the Internet for casting directors to look at when you submit for auditions.
This particular film was a romantic comedy where I was playing the female lead, a woman in her mid-30s. Her age along was reason enough for me to be excited about doing the film. I got to act opposite a handsome young actor who reminded me a little of Matthew Broderick. It was like going on a date with a grown-up Ferris Bueller. I was doing the film for a class at San Francisco's Academy of Art University. It is called "The DMV One;" the premise is that the young man goes in at the end of the day to renew his drivers' license at a small-town DMV office where the young woman is alone. She begins the series of questions that quickly devolve into a series of insinuations about his personal life, which leads up into a sexy back and forth where they both get satisfaction of different kind than what is normally provided at the DMV. It's a very funny film. The standard practice at these shoots is to do a quick run-through of the film first, then begin shooting, and when we did the run-through the class was howling, which is very gratifying.
This film was very complex to shoot because it was full of witty banter, arch glances, and ultimately, a near kiss. I had always heard that romantic scenes were not romantic to film, and now I understand why. As you are gazing into each other's eyes, there is a camera stuck between your faces in the close-ups; the positions you're asked to hold can be excruciating (yep, there's that back pain again); and if you are working with an amateur crew, the biggest problem with working with students, it can take forever to get the scenes shot right. This is due to unfamiliarity with lighting, camera angles, and how to get the best emotions out of an actor. A student film really is a learning experience for all. But these students were as professional as many indie filmmakers that I have worked with. They worked quickly, without wasting time, and were serious without being pompous. We had a great time, and shot ten pages of dialogue, or a five-minute film, in seven hours. Not bad for amateurs!
So. which is best? Well, obviously, I like getting paid to work. But if I could do the type of work that I got to do in this student film (light romantic comedy) and get paid for it, this would be a dream come true. And that's what I'm working toward.
Saturday, April 24, 2010
On Typecasting and Shooting "Whoreders"
Business has been slow in LA since I wrapped "Held Up." I haven't worked a single paying day in April, not even any background work through my calling service. Most of the network shows have shot all their shows for the season, and the new pilots are wrapping up now. The major films that shoot in the summer are just cranking up, so we are in a major lull. And since actors like to be acting, I have resorted to taking a few non-paying, "will work for food" jobs. One of them was a short film for the web channel "Funny or Die." It is a parody of the popular show, "Hoarders," except that this show is called "Whoreders," and the star of the show hoards - you guessed it - whores. And I play - wait for it - a whore.
Now, I understand that most actresses have to play hookers at some point in their careers. Some of them even win Oscars for it, like Donna Reed in "From Here to Eternity." But usually, these actresses are doing it to play against type - Donna Reed definitely was not the hooker type, and that's why she won the Oscar. I'm not sure I've done enough work to have a type, but the work I'm best known for at this point - "Whorified" - just may have typecast me. Oh sure, I've played lots of mothers, teachers, nurses, doctors, and in my upcoming film, "Child of God," I'll be playing the lead, an innocent widow who is the soloist and secretary at a small town church, a far cry from a hooker. But until it comes out, the work that I've gotten the most recognition for is from playing a whore.
I'm not complaining. Hookers are great fun to play. On this set, there were about 30 or 40 of us in an old house right in downtown Hollywood, just a couple of blocks north of the Chinese Theater. We were all wearing tons of makeup and varying degrees of slutty clothes. I was relatively sedately dressed: I had on a black tank mini-dress with my black bra straps hanging out and lots of cleavage, lacy bike shorts, sky-high gladiator sandals, and huge dangling earrings, and I was holding a black feathered fan that one of the other "girls" had loaned me. The director had asked us to bring props and reading material that might be funny, so I read the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP - yes, I'm a member, because I'm retired) magazine (I was playing the "old" hooker, which is also starting to get "old"). Some of the girls' sex toys that they were using as props will probably have to be pixilated in the film; they were definitely X-rated. But it all worked; the atmosphere was great, and the props were funny.
So the idea for the film is this: the door opens, and the pimp says to the team who is doing the intervention, "These are my whores." The team gasps at the sheer number of us in the house (we were all sitting/lying over the furniture and floor) and make appropriate filthy comments. Then they tell him to start making cuts (eliminating us from the group). And one by one, as he cuts us, the team would lift us up and "bag" us as if we were garbage, just like they do on "Hoarders." Kind of demeaning, especially when you are doing it just to get a free lunch. And when the actor playing the pimp came up to me and said, "Hey, 1930s? It's time for you to go," I was actually hurt and didn't have to act my sad expression.
The funniest part of the shoot was the point where they loaded about fifteen of us onto the back of a dump truck, "bagged" (don't worry, there were large holes for us to breathe through, and the bags were clear, but it was kind of creepy), and them filmed it driving slowly away. When we took off the bags we realized we were on the main Hollywood tour route; a group of tourists was gaping at us and snapping photos of the whole shoot. All the hookers smiled and waved, and I called out, "Welcome to Hollywood!" What a crazy scene this place is.
So, I was happy to be working again, it only took about three hours, I met some nice people, and I had a good time playing "dress up." And the bottom line is, I don't care if I am typecast as long as I am getting paid. But this is supposed to be show "business," and I promised myself that since I am doing this as a "professional" actress I was not going to do any more of these non-paying jobs. So who's the real whore? The one who gets paid to do her job, or the one who gives it away for free?
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Now, I understand that most actresses have to play hookers at some point in their careers. Some of them even win Oscars for it, like Donna Reed in "From Here to Eternity." But usually, these actresses are doing it to play against type - Donna Reed definitely was not the hooker type, and that's why she won the Oscar. I'm not sure I've done enough work to have a type, but the work I'm best known for at this point - "Whorified" - just may have typecast me. Oh sure, I've played lots of mothers, teachers, nurses, doctors, and in my upcoming film, "Child of God," I'll be playing the lead, an innocent widow who is the soloist and secretary at a small town church, a far cry from a hooker. But until it comes out, the work that I've gotten the most recognition for is from playing a whore.
I'm not complaining. Hookers are great fun to play. On this set, there were about 30 or 40 of us in an old house right in downtown Hollywood, just a couple of blocks north of the Chinese Theater. We were all wearing tons of makeup and varying degrees of slutty clothes. I was relatively sedately dressed: I had on a black tank mini-dress with my black bra straps hanging out and lots of cleavage, lacy bike shorts, sky-high gladiator sandals, and huge dangling earrings, and I was holding a black feathered fan that one of the other "girls" had loaned me. The director had asked us to bring props and reading material that might be funny, so I read the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP - yes, I'm a member, because I'm retired) magazine (I was playing the "old" hooker, which is also starting to get "old"). Some of the girls' sex toys that they were using as props will probably have to be pixilated in the film; they were definitely X-rated. But it all worked; the atmosphere was great, and the props were funny.
So the idea for the film is this: the door opens, and the pimp says to the team who is doing the intervention, "These are my whores." The team gasps at the sheer number of us in the house (we were all sitting/lying over the furniture and floor) and make appropriate filthy comments. Then they tell him to start making cuts (eliminating us from the group). And one by one, as he cuts us, the team would lift us up and "bag" us as if we were garbage, just like they do on "Hoarders." Kind of demeaning, especially when you are doing it just to get a free lunch. And when the actor playing the pimp came up to me and said, "Hey, 1930s? It's time for you to go," I was actually hurt and didn't have to act my sad expression.
The funniest part of the shoot was the point where they loaded about fifteen of us onto the back of a dump truck, "bagged" (don't worry, there were large holes for us to breathe through, and the bags were clear, but it was kind of creepy), and them filmed it driving slowly away. When we took off the bags we realized we were on the main Hollywood tour route; a group of tourists was gaping at us and snapping photos of the whole shoot. All the hookers smiled and waved, and I called out, "Welcome to Hollywood!" What a crazy scene this place is.
So, I was happy to be working again, it only took about three hours, I met some nice people, and I had a good time playing "dress up." And the bottom line is, I don't care if I am typecast as long as I am getting paid. But this is supposed to be show "business," and I promised myself that since I am doing this as a "professional" actress I was not going to do any more of these non-paying jobs. So who's the real whore? The one who gets paid to do her job, or the one who gives it away for free?
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