Wanted: A job…

I am now looking for work. I always get asked, “How do you get a film?” The answer is always the same for me, I send my resume out to anyone who will read it, I look at the trades, websites and figure out who will need a casting director and try to make contact with that person. It’s not pleasant to do, but it is part of the job.

I remember after “Rocket Science” premiered at Sundance and the Director won “Best Director,” I remember coming back to my office, sitting at my desk and thinking, “The phone is going to ring any minute now…ring…please ring…why aren’t you ringing?!!”

Anyway, the ringing didn’t happen the way I had played it out in my mind, so I was back to the drawing board and sending out my resume, letting people know that I was out there and available. My point is, not to take anything for granted and all of the success that you may feel you have from one project does not necessarily translate into more work. It just means that you can be proud of your body of work (which I am) and it helps me be more secure when trying to convince someone to use me for a job.

This week I had an actor come in for a general. He is from the U.K, 24, very charming and has had success in television there. He came in and asked me if I thought he should move to L.A. I said that it is a personal decision and that if he secured a Visa that allowed him to look for work in the U.S that I thought that trying it out for a year could be worth it. I then added, “You are not getting any younger…” I thought he was going to have a heart attack and drop dead right in front of me. He said no one has ever said that to him before and I explained that while right now you may be 24 and cute and fabulous, by the time you get your act together and get the Visa you may be 25 or 26 and a whole new crop of 20-somethings will be arriving looking for the same roles that you are going for and you may not be in the position you think you are in. Competition is fierce and I said that you should decide now what you want to do, but make a strong choice and don’t waste time thinking about it. I think he appreciated what I said to him, it forced him to look at his career as a career and not as something to take for granted.

Which takes me back to me looking for work. Every day I have to make choices that determine if I am going to be able to sustain successfully what I do. I have to find work and do the best that I can, because there is always someone right behind me looking to do the same thing for less money and there is always someone in front of me more famous and with way more credits then I have, but if I let that bother me, I would never have a job. So, I don’t let it bother me and I just get on with it…