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4:39 pm - New Year's Day 2004
Big Jim's \"Acting Year In Review\"

Big Jim's "Acting Year In Review"
Happy New Year, Everybody!

Well, I've held off on this, but I think it's time...

Here it is Ladies and Germs, the end-of-the-year entry you've been waiting for�Big Jim's "Acting Year In Review":

In the past year, I had 60 auditions through JS. When I added them up last nite, it was fewer than I'd thought; while some months I'd had auditions in the double-digits, there were many more when I'd only had four or five (And I had nothing in December).

Sixty auditions is actually a lot of auditions�I'm not sure I had 60 auditions in my entire "career" in Lansing�but it still feels like not enough auditions, because...well, mostly because I didn't book enough work out of them (And the big "nationals", the ones I'm counting on to get me out of Borders and into a full-time acting career, eluded me, though I got tantalizingly close on a number of occasions).

From those 60 auditions, I got a dozen callbacks.

Over the year, the bloom came off the rose a little bit regarding callbacks---one too many "close calls"-- but they never completely stopped being exciting and encouraging; I perceive that as being a pretty high ratio of auditions-to-callbacks (Or would it be "callbacks-to-auditions"?), and while I would like to have booked more gigs from those callbacks, they still made me feel like I wasn't out of my mind to imagine I could succeed out here. They reinforced the idea that I was really "in the game".

I had 11 other auditions from submissions through Backstage�For student films, plays, an episode of Strong Medicine, and the "Club 70s" thing I did mostly as a lark (I might be "double-dipping" regarding the Strong Medicine episode; I think I submitted myself for that, but sent out a resume with JS as the contact number).

Those auditions came from the 99 headshots I sent out over the year, which was 21 headshots shy of the "minimum" I set for myself at the start of the year (I started off strong as the year began, then became more hit-and-miss about halfway through). Again, 99 headshots are a lot of headshots, but I coulda/shoulda done better; obviously, if 99 headshots only get me 11 auditions, then I need to send out a lot more headshots.

I also sent out 45 headshots to agents. This was a pretty big deal�I need a theatrical agent, and this was the first time I'd had the confidence to actually put myself out there�but unfortunately, nothing happened (I got one response�A phone call from a place called, amusingly enough, "The House Of Representatives"�saying "Thanks, but no thanks"). But I felt good that I'd done it, and was only a little discouraged about the result; Obviously, the more gigs I get�And more gigs are certainly coming-- the better chance I'm going to have next time.

And speaking of "gigs"...

In February, I did my first student film, Missing Breath. Just a one-day thing, but the first real "acting" I've done on camera (I never received my promised tape, after having called two or three times. I'm still pretty unhappy about that�With student films, getting tape for your "reel" is basically how you get paid�and in the future, I plan on being insistent to the point of being obnoxious, if necessary, about getting what's due me).

Then in June, I did the HBO commercial.

Whatever happened afterwards�my part was essentially cut out of the spot�getting that gig was huge. Up to that point, the idea of my being able to get paying gigs out here was basically theoretical, but afterwards, I knew it could be done...because I'd done it.

And sure enough, I did it two more times before the year was through.

In October, I did the "Godzilla's Return" spec commercial (Once again, I was supposed to get a tape that, as of this writing, has not been forthcoming. That's a pretty big "issue" for actors out here�People promise "tape" that you then have to beg for...and you still probably won't get it).

(Inspired by what I just wrote, I placed a call to the director, leaving a message politely asking about my tape. I guess we'll see what happens.)

And in November, I had the Incubus "Megalomaniac" video shoot, which was great fun.

And speaking of "Megalomaniac", the completed video is now online! I saw it last night for the first time (At first, I couldn't get the video at all, but found a site where it worked for me; It still wasn't great, but I was able to get the idea, and see that I am definitely in the video). If you want to check it out, the official website is here.

(Just got off the phone with Cary. I wanted to tell him about the video, and somewhat to my surprise, he was actually home; after some messing around, he was finally able to download the video, and confirm that that's me in a number of shots.)

It's pretty amazing, really; I'll be seen in this video by more people than have ever seen me do anything in my entire life. And I gotta tell ya-I think that's pretty damned cool!

Well, I feel like I've been going on about this stuff forever, so I think I'm going to take a break, and maybe come back later and write about something other than my fledgling acting career.

 

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