"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