It came in the mail last week and I was so excited to see it...I finally got my SAG Card! I feel like an Official Member of the Screen Actors Guild now and am so excited for the opportunities it will bring. Next up is the SAG Awards at the end of January and as a Member of SAG I'll be getting all the screeners of the Nominee's so I can see all the performances and movies that are up for awards! Even though I may just be one person, my opinion along with the other SAG-AFTRA members will make the decision for who wins Best Picture, Best Actor & Actress, Best Director, etc.
I was reading through a bunch of e-mails regarding Casting tips and information and I actually took some notes on Commercial Audition Techniques. The one thing I have noticed since I joined the Union is that there's so much more Non-Union acting work on the Breakdowns and I can no longer submit for those jobs since I'm a SAG Member. This only pushes me to get out and find an Agent so that I can be submitted for the Union jobs that aren't listed on the Breakdowns, but finding an Agent was always more difficult than it seemed. Perhaps now that I'm a part of the Union I'll have a better chance of finding someone to represent me Theatrically and Commercially and I'll be working towards that full-force when I'm back from Christmas vacation as most of Hollywood shuts down in the month of December.
A lot of the tips in the article I have used in my own Auditions and they certainly bring confidence and have helped but there were other tips that I'm so excited to use at my next audition like 'Coloring the picture with adjectives to hi-light the product' or 'Demonstrating what life was like before and after the product'. It's amazing how simple it seems but you get in that Audition room with the Casting Directors and on top of memorizing the script or scene, as nervous as you may be, you have to do all these things and more just to stand out from the crowd and bring yourself to the Audition. One of my favorite things to do at Auditions is figure out the clearest way to get the product or scene across and then challenge myself to figure out other ways to do it, making it different from what everyone else is probably doing. This way I'm setting myself a part from everyone else and giving the Director something different they may not have seen yet. Sometimes you'll take that chance and it'll work and other times it won't be what they're looking for but at least you tried!
Another article I was reading talked about staying positive through it all and not letting negative thoughts affect you. It's hard to be optimistic all the time when you're constantly bombarded with commercials that you think you might be perfect for or even commercials that you auditioned for you and you don't know why they hired the actress they did but you can't think like that. I've learned I need to take what I gained from that experience and use that at my next audition, anything that can better help me in the future or parts I should work on and improve but be proud that I went in and did my best at that time! Positive energy manifests itself and brings better things along and I can work my hardest but know that it'll happen because I am determined, creative, and well-prepared.
My New Year's Resolution was to write in my journal every day, write blogs that contain fun and important moments in my life along with creative happenings. Since I recently created a portfolio that I bring with me to Auditions, I have started taking notes about the Auditions and also writing blog entries that will help me at future Auditions because I can look back on what I did that worked and what didn't. It's important to keep these details along with Casting Information so that when I'm working with someone, I know who has brought me in for a Commercial or to read for a certain role. I'm a huge believer in Thank You notes/e-mails, so after I Audition I usually send out a Thank You e-mail within a day because at the end of all of this, it's about networking, and creating lasting relationships with people you'll work with in the future!
So I'm soaking up all this new information, meeting people, talking about work, and am excited for the future and Acting work. If I'm not Auditioning, that just means I need to create something myself, and I'll work hard to continue doing what I love :)
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