10:16 am - Friday, Mar. 04, 2005
The \"Jist\"

I have an audition today (My first commercial audition, other than the Pine-Sol callback, in over two weeks).
It's for Hometown Buffett, and I'm a "loan officer".

Recently, I was wondering how this year was stacking up, commercially, against last year.

So I checked the old calendar: Last year, I'd had the same number of auditions by the end of February (10), and fewer callbacks (Three, versus six this year), but had already booked the Hyundai spot in late January.

But in a game like this, it's downright silly to expect steady progress. It doesn't make much sense--Why cry over not having booked anything yet this year, when I could very well book two or three things this month? Or a big national the month after that?

Speaking of "a big national", I don't think my Jack-In-The-Box spot is going to fit that bill. I got that one residual check, but I haven't seen the spot on tv since (They seem to have quickly moved on to hawking the Chicken Ciabatta sandwich).

I guess it's a "wild spot" (That's what it said on the residual check pay stub). And while I don't actually know what that means, I hope it means that just because I'm not seeing it run here in L.A., that doesn't mean it's not running elsewhere.

But for now, I'm going to assume that I've gotten what I'm going to get out of it (Which is less than I made from Time-Warner, which was non-union), and set my sights on the "next big thing". And hope the next "big thing" will be bigger than the last "big thing".

(A side note: In all honesty, I don't think "my" Jack-In-The-Box commercial was that good. It's just not as funny as most of the others. The best "Jack" commercials are the ones where he's basically the "hero" in the spot.)

Which was yesterday.

But they didn't call.

I didn't think "call me tomorrow" neccesarily meant I had the part and they just had to decide on the other two actors (Though ever the optimist, it crossed my mind), but I did think it meant I'd be getting a call however things turned out.

But in any case, at this point I'm thinking I probably didn't get it.

And yeah, all my bitching aside about "logistics"--about dealing with work, commercial auditions, parking, etc, vis-a-vis being in a play--I'm disappointed.

I'm an actor, after all.

I should be acting.

Again.

The first time, I went to Cinema Prints on Sunset...but had left the cd in my computer at home.

D'oh!

The second time, just last week, I got there with the cd...but they couldn't open the file.

"D'oh!" again.

So yesterday afternoon, I went to a different place--Paragon Photo Imaging, on LaBrea--with the cd, and they had no problem opening the file.

Woo-Hoo!!!

I opted to get photos made instead of lithos (Photos are more expensive--You get 100 for about the same price as 300 lithos--but the quality is better, and every little bit helps when you're trying to get noticed. You want your headshot to "pop", as they say).

Unlike when I first got here, commercial castings are done almost completely online now, so I don't have to worry much about keeping JS supplied with headshots. Which means I can focus on just getting as many headshots as I need for things I'm going to submit myself for.

But anyway...

I also got the Time-Warner commercial to Lightning Dubs, where they're making a dvd (For me) and a video (To send to Mark and Jane).

Those two errands cost me about $170. But what are ya gonna do? I need headshots, and I want/need a record of the work I've done out here.

There are no movies I'm itching to see, the tv shows I watch seem to be going into pre-sweeps reruns, and I just can't seem to get into the book I've been reading (Call It Sleep) for what seems like years now.

And at the bookstore, David has banned borrowing books--and even putting books on hold--"indefinitely", at least till after the audit.

(I think I need to buy this guy a copy of How To Win Friends And Influence People...)

That's actually pretty cool--No conflict with work or with JS.

Just talked with Anita earlier--My friend who's already a notary--and she makes pretty good money from having taken a class in Loan Document Signing. It's something I'll need to consider, but for right now, I think I need to just focus on the step in front of me, which is taking the Notary test.

Well, I could drone on, but I think you've gotten the jist of it...

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