Monday, November 9, 2009

Not Enough Hours In The Day!

I'm at home. Sitting at my computer. I should be in La Mirada, waiting around to audition for Putnam, but I'm not. Why? Because I have managed my time terribly.

It felt really good to be so busy when I got back home. Working, auditioning, and doing three student films. But I didn't allow myself enough time to prepare for the one audition that was really important. I guess I could have pulled a song out of my book and arrived with that, but I don't have any monologues I can just use off the top of my head. Not a single one. Most of the musical auditions only require you to have a song and sometimes dance, and then if they like you they'll have you come back and read sides from the show. But that's not an excuse, I should definitely have at least two monologues for times like this, when I didn't look at the breakdown hard enough to see that we needed to have one prepared. Ugh. Get it together, Nicci.

I also have a tight schedule with the films, at least two of them. One of the scenes was originally scheduled to be done in class last Tuesday (the second part of the nun one), but the director had to go out of town for a funeral so it was rescheduled for this Tuesday, tomorrow. The other scene I most recently started doing is going at 7:45 tomorrow night, so hopefully the first scene can go at 7:00. We filmed the first part of the nun scene this weekend. Long long days, but I think it's going to look really good. We're planning on filming the second part this upcoming Sunday, probably another 12 hour day.

I'm pretty sure I'm going to get some really good stuff for my reel with these projects. I've got a few things from a while back to start it out, but these will be great to add, I'm sure.

With all this that's going on, plus trying to work enough to pay the rent, I'll be staying home (meaning here in LA) for Thanksgiving. This will be the first major holiday since I've moved out here that I won't be with any family. I guess I was always with family before I moved here so it will actually be my first ever! I did see my family this summer when Evan and I went up for the Garlic Festival, so as long as I can have family time in December I think this one will be ok. Plus, some of the roommates and neighbors are staying here too, so is Evan, so we can have our own Thanksgiving dinner together. I think that will be nice.

Monday, November 2, 2009

McDonalds Monopoly, It's Time For You To End


I am now doing 3 student films. I went in last night to audition for a friend's project, another friend who worked on the bis student film I did early in the year. He just called me today to officially offer me the role. The three scrips I'm working with are all really good. The first one I got, the nun one, is shaping up to be so much more than it seemed in the beginning. During one of our first rehearsals we all talked a lot about intentions and character background. From what was summed up about my character, it seems as though in this scene she's almost like a mixture of Blaire and Chuck from Gossip Girl. All about being the queen bee, but smart about the way she shows her authority. I like it.

Also, it's great to be getting back to film acting. It's so much more subtle. It's a good exercise to go from theatre to film and back again (which I'll hopefully do soon). You can almost forget how real you can make something when you don't have to make sure a whole crowd of people get it. The camera is so much more intimate. I definitely learned a lot during RENT, and I like that I get to take everything from that experience and apply it in a different way using a different medium.

Not singing and dancing 4 times a week and running at least 3 times a week is starting to take a toll on me. I've only been to the gym two or three times since I've been back, plus the roommates and neighbors have been doing the McDonald's Monopoly thing and I've been helping. I've definitely had a few too many angus burgers and large fries... The worst part isn't the number on the scale but how I feel. Luckily that number hasn't crept up too much but without more activity and better good, I have less energy to do the things that are good for me. I'm much more inclined to sit myself on the couch, eat chips and watch bad television. And I already do that enough!

Halloween was good. I got invited to a few pre-halloween parties but didn't end up attending, probably from the McD's + audition/rehearsal lethargy. I picked Evan up from the ariport on Saturday. We threw on some plaid shirts, called ourselves cowpeople, and drove into Hollywood to meet up with my neighbors. Traffic was pretty terrible, but at least the house was on the outer edge of Hollywood. I can't imagine trying to drive into the heart of Hollywood any time after 3:00 pm on Halloween.