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I've made it a mission with blogging to try to stick to positive topics and stories... which is why sometimes it takes me a while between posts. Thinking about it, though, maybe that's doing a disservice to myself and to anyone reading this who is thinking about becoming an actor.
So... here goes a post that might border on negative, but is also the truth.
There is nothing quite like Opening Night. For months, you prep and memorize and study and try to incarnate a character so that you can feel proud when it's time for curtain call.
Last weekend (sorry for the delay in blogging, I blame the Thanksgiving turkey) I got to do exactly that after performing the lead role in "Learn to Be Latina" at The Diversionary Theatre in San Diego.
This process was unlike many of my other acting endeavors. My background is predominately film, so taking on the lead role in a play was a challenge in and of itself. With a talented cast beside me and the amazing Theatre House Directors, we came together in the final hour to deliver a solid show. The feeling of hearing your audience laugh uproariously for the length of the entire play is indescribable.
Thank you One Republic for inspiring this blog (click here to listen while you read on - I promise it will enhance the experience).
What a roller coaster. Since I made the decision in 2010 to quit my "real" job as a lawyer and chase the hint of a hope of a glimmer of a dream, the road has been nothing if not unpredictable. Such highs. Such lows. Stagnation in between. Frustration. Elation. Confusion. Confidence. Catastrophe.
Despite it all, I'm still here dammit. Hollywood may be set up to tell you NO, but I've never been one to listen to authority (just ask my parents). I am stubborn; I am hardworking; I am a dreamer; and I am determined.
What have you been doing?
You all know that question, and the tight feeling in your chest that usually accompanies your search for an answer. I've come to value those rare occasions when I actually have something ready, and this is one of those times!
Before Thanksgiving, I finished shooting several days on a pilot for the web that I'm pretty excited about. I got involved through a plain ol' audition notice online. It was one of those auditions where things just came together. I liked the sides, I liked what I could glean about the story, I hit it off with the writer/director and costars, and I even knew exactly what to wear for the character. And (nerd alert, as referenced in my introductory post), in a scene at the callbacks, I got to do magic! Fantasy-style, not Gob-style. I couldn't ask for much more in a project.
The crew was young and geeky, and we all got along really well. Quotes from video games and Star Wars were flying fast. Whatever obstacles we did face were mostly locational. We spent two days in a Bushwick basement, so the sound of running water quickly became part of the scene. We were not, however, able to incorporate the fire alarm that went off during a shoot in a dorm. That day went just a little long.
During one of my post-turkey feast bike rides around Los Angeles I came across a very sleek, very sheik, modern looking furniture store.
I like sleek. I like sheik, and I like natural clean cut lines and clever uses of space.
Mash Studios designs have all of the above.
I peeked in and found several pieces of striking furniture and one in particular that looked awfully familiar to me.
Can you figure it out? Come on, take a wild guess?
Yup!
This is thee bed that Edward and Bella Cullen not-so-delicately exercised their wedding nuptials on in the latest Twilight Saga; Breaking Dawn Part 1.
And you know what? It's really f---ing sturdy.
(photos courtesy of Mash Studios)
Yours Truly -- Ann Hu
"There is only one way of surviving all the early heartbreaks in this business. You must have a sense of humor. And I think it also helps if you are a dreamer. I had my dreams all right. And that is something no one can ever take away. They cost nothing, and they can be as real as you like to make them. You own your dreams and they are priceless. I've been a lavatory attendant, a theatre usher, a panhandler, all for real. Now, as an actor, I can be a journalist today and a brain surgeon tomorrow. That's the stuff my dreams are made of."
- Al Pacino
"We're dead as a species if we don't tell stories, because then we don't know who we are."
- Alan Rickman
“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”
- Steve Jobs
Do you collect characters? I do.
One of the many reasons I love NYC are the abundant and rich people-watching opportunities. A great deal of my character research happens inside the New York City Transit System. It's awesome (though I have been guilty of listening to other people's conversations a little too intently.)
But what about historical figures? I fantasize about which one of them I might one day get to play in a biopic, but I also think it's important to note them as important characters. We remember and study them because they were significant in history and no matter who they were or what they did, they somehow captured people's attention. And that's our job as actors, right?
I saw J. Edgar recently and even though the majority of the film's 137 minutes is devoted to Hoover's role as head of the FBI, the person I walked away wanting to know more about was Emma Goldman - a Russian born anarchist deported from the United States during the Red Scare.
One day it was announced in elementary gym class that we would be running a mile as part of the President's Physical Fitness Test.
(Side note: The purpose of this program was to get kids more active. Turns out it not only made me hate physical fitness, but also the president.)
I loudly protested this one mile torture until my teacher snapped, "Then just walk it, Erin!" And so I walked, full smirk, at the most leisurely pace possible, thinking I had won.
I've long since mostly gotten over my hatred for physical fitness and political figures, but I've continued to view running as a painful venture, and one that should be avoided at all costs. But then I somehow began spending time with a lot of people who valued running. When they'd wax poetic about their morning jog I was incredulous. "You run? ON PURPOSE!?"
On Monday, I joined AFTRA. I am now officially a union actor.
AFTRA is the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. Some television shows are under SAG (Screen Actors Guild) contracts, and some are AFTRA. In NYC, more and more are becoming AFTRA.
Joining AFTRA isn't difficult. If you have the money to pay the joining fee, then you're in. (And if you've gotten a waiver on an AFTRA set, then you can pay in installments, which is what I'm doing.) I went to their office, and the whole joining process took about 15 minutes. Piece of cake!
It's Thanksgiving again. And I'm making my homemade vodka cranberry sauce; a recipe I got from a potluck years ago in the Hamptons in New York.
I started to write another blog about things to be thankful for when I realized that in all my years in New York, I never once saw the Thanksgiving day parade.
And it turns out, this year in New York, a very special New Yorker is giving thanks for many blessings she has received from her hometown and around the world; Lady Gaga.
A few months ago, I caught the tail end of the VMAs, and like everyone else, was blown away by both Jo Calderone and Beyonce's performances. Gaga, not only performed in drag, she was Jo Calderone.
Today, I am thankful for the freedom we performers and artists in America experience. This is all a matter of perspective, of course. Things could be better here. Things can always be better. That's why we do what we do. It's a strange time in the country. It feels to me as if we're inching towards a confluence of 1984, Catch-22, and Brazil. All excellent books and/or movies; not the greatest real-world scenario.
But if I wanted to get on stage and portray our president as a cross-dressing alien who has an unhealthy fondness for porcupines, no one would stop me. No one would watch it, but the government wouldn't shut me down (right?). If I wanted to go to an open mic and tell people this is what I think happens behind closed doors in the White House, I could do it. I could even write a blog about it (META). No jackbooted government thugs are breaking down my door right now. I guess because I'm not sitting peacefully in front of a campus building. That seems to really push their buttons.
Not everyone enjoys these freedoms. I encourage you to learn about people like the Moustache Brothers of Burma. This is a comedy trio whose shows most closely resemble what we know as vaudeville, combined with criticisms of the ruling military junta. These guys have gone to labor camps for what they've said in public, and they continue to say it.
This blog is not about the thrival jobs actors find to stay afloat (though there are some correlations here). It's about survival in the purest sense - fighting to stay alive against overwhelming odds.
When I can put down Game of Thrones, I have recently been picking up Not Without Hope - Nick Schuyler's semi-autobiographical account of surviving a marine disaster. Schuyler was on a fishing trip 50 miles off the coast of Tampa in February of 2009 with 3 of his best friends when their boat capsized. Of the 4 men aboard, all in their 20s and in great shape, only Schuyler survived the 40 frigid and grueling hours until rescue crews located the boat.
Two of the guys (both NFL players) died within the first 12 hours of the boat capsizing. Schuyler's third and closest friend died just before dusk on their second day adrift. Only Schuyler survived, on pure will power and determination.
You know how when you really, really HATE a show you watch it obsessively? And you analyze every moment? And you go into fan forums and debate and talk about all the nuances and developments? And after that you go back and watch it again? So you have more topics to debate and rant about? All because you HATE that show so, so much?!
What?
You don't do that?
Yeah, me neither.
Because that makes no sense! I don't even do that with television I love. And I love TV, remember? But who has time for that? And why put a ton of energy towards something you despise? That is just against everything I learned in The Secret...
And up until about 8 months ago I would have said NO ONE does that.
But people do. Lots and lots of people.
Hello! My name is Colin Fisher, and I'm the newest blogger here at Unscripted. I'm under the strictest of orders to tell you a little about myself, so let's get down to it, shall we? We shall.
I'm originally from Tennessee. As a child I was far too shy to get involved in performing. Spelling bees were about as close as I got, and they were terrifying. I felt myself drawn more and more to entertainment throughout high school, though I entered the University of Tennessee as a physics major with every intention of becoming an astronomer. Hey, guess what? Astronomy is just really hard math! After a quick semester in broadcasting, I took an acting class and immediately fell in love. I majored in theatre with no minor, no fallback. I suppose if I had chosen to do anything other than act, it would have been teaching Latin. As you can imagine, most of my artistic career has been a struggle against complete left-brain dominance.
I've lived in New York City for a little over seven years now. Does that make me an official New Yorker? My blood pressure says yes. I came up in 2004 to attend grad school at the New School for Drama, at the time the Actors Studio Drama School. That's a long story, but yes I have attended several tapings for Inside the Actors Studio. Yes, they are all at least four hours. Yes, James Lipton gives you a dirty look if you cough.
This image seems particularly fitting when it comes to how performance artists identify with the Occupy movement.
I spend a lot of time with actors. Actors are artists. Most (though certainly not all) artists tend to be somewhat liberal. It's pretty simple, the left seems to care about us and the arts a lot more than the right does. So it should come as a surprise to nobody that most of the actors I know support the Occupy Wall Street movement. A sizable portion consider themselves active participants.
Meanwhile, unions are flocking to the Occupy movement left and right. The AFL-CIO unanimously endorsed the movement, for example. Unions see this as a great opportunity to do what they were created to do for their members.
So I was a little startled to hear from some of of my friends that the Actors Equity Association, Screen Actors Guild, and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists all have released sgtatements saying they do not support the movement. Especially after the Writers Guild of America publicly endorsed it.
One of my friends, a member of AEA in good standng, wanted to do a reading of the play The Alchemist for the protesters here in New York City. It's a play that actually speaks to a lot of the things the protesters are out there for, especially in the slightly modified form my friends had rehearsed and scripted. But apparently Equity was going to make that difficult because they didn't want to seem allied with OWS.
I understand the delicate position that a union finds itself in, as it must represent members of all political stripes. However, when the unions publicly say they are not endorsing the movement, no matter what the wording, they appear to oppose the movement instead. And trust me, that's going to alienate far more members than an endorsement would.
Furthermore, while a union is a representatitve body, no group of people have identical opioins and beleifs. After a certain point, I think it's in AEA, SAG, and AFTRA's best interest to endorse the things that it beleives are best for the organization as a whole. And if what seems like every other union in the country, including the national writers union, beleives the the occupy movement will be beneficial to them, I'd like to hear the actors unions' specific reasons why they disagree.
In light of my post last week and as part of the development of the transmedia piece I am working on, I went in search of more online theatre.
It's a funny thing to look for because I am not entirely sure how to define online theatre. I know - it's that epic conversation about "what is theatre" and we'll never come to a consensus on it. HOWEVER, I do think it's appropriate to differentiate between film streamed online, television online, webseries or webisodes, video blogs and theatre on the Internet.
One of the things I found that I felt I could comfortably place in this small and specific category was the livestream from Joe's Pub at the Public. Sure, they have music too, but they also have performances like The Civilians: Let me Ascertain You that are pretty easily defined at theatrical events.
So I am coming out of rehearsal for a play I'm and I head to the park to eat my lunch and just sit down for a few minutes. Behind me, I notice some dogs playing and their owners talking. I decide to go over to them and ask if I can pet their dogs.
Low and behold, the two gentlemen I'm speaking to are writing an hour long tv sitcom - one is an actor and the other is a writer/producer. We exchange info and I go about my merry little way.
I receive a call from the producer who thinks I will be perfect for one of the roles in his show he's writing. I'm thrilled. The role sounds so exciting. Think of "The Office" meets "Sopranos." I'm in! Or am I?
He ends up calling me the next afternoon and talks my EAR off for over an hour. This is now a business conversation that starts to head into personal territory, Within that hour, I gather that he is going to be incredibly difficult to deal with. He doesn't deal with emails or websites?? Okay...
Let's say, hypothetically, that you had gotten to play a featured role on a television show. That you had filmed for nearly four hours with the leads, gotten a hair cut for the project, and that you had told pretty much everyone you'd ever known that they should watch for you.
And then, let's say, that episode never aired.
That would be heart-breaking, wouldn't it?
You know, hypothetically.
I’ve written a lot lately about setbacks and stagnation, so I thought I would take time out to write about how well things have been going in the last 10 days. Acting is a series of ups and downs and right now, I’m up. I’ve got 4 different projects lined up back to back to back to back.
Currently, I’m in Virginia on the set of an Investigation Discovery show for a 2-day shoot that they flew me in for. I am playing the good guy who gets killed in one of those crime recreation shows. Dialogue is all improv. We only do 2-3 takes of every shot because of the packed shoot schedule and everyone’s on their A-game. It’s a great shoot.
Just before I flew out here, I wrapped up a short drama (From a Great Height) in LA in which I played half of a gay couple that adopts a daughter together. I play the outgoing half of the couple and I was the one who finally got my partner to come out of his shell. The crux of the film is how my partner deals with my sudden death. I’ve worked with this director previously and I know the final product will be great.
How much ego is too much? As actors, we’ve got to believe in ourselves and our talent to the point of what some may view as obnoxiousness. As Tyra Banks always says on ANTM, “If you don’t believe in yourself, who will?” But sometimes it’s hard to keep this confidence in check because you’re so caught up with staying positive and self assured. When does it become a turn off?
