I’m Back!

I have been on vacation for three weeks. I got back on Tuesday after a 20-hour journey from Damascus, Syria. Not an easy trip. I was in Israel, Turkey, Syria and Germany. My cell phone worked everywhere except for Syria, which was great because I didn’t think about work at all really, and I had a great time seeing, learning and experiencing new cultures. While in Israel I met up with a Casting Director there and we had dinner and talked about the industry in Israel and actors that she wanted me to know about. Lufthansa’s magazine had a great article on the hot young German actors and I watched eight films on the airplanes I was on! Traveling brings me a lot of perspective and opportunities, it opens my ideas up when casting, I get to see first hand what people really look like, feel and see the pulse of a new city, it all helps me when casting. I feel that this year has given me amazing opportunities to travel for work (Chicago, New York) & I truly feel after this trip that if someone said to me, I need an actor from the Middle East, I would be able to deliver.

On a side note, the trip was unique and fascinating. I loved Israel and everything it had to offer. Turkey & Syria were so different to anything that I had expected, especially Syria where the people where friendly and welcoming to such a high degree that it made me wonder if they knew that they were being accused of sponsoring terrorism around the world…something I forgot to ask our guide about.

I am still jet-lagged. I got to the office and opened piles of mail, bills to pay and jobs to figure out and organize. I have been casting a film called ONE KINE DAY and we are scheduled to start shooting in Oahu, Hawaii on July 6, and I am leaving June 15th to go do the local casting and oversee the acting and be a coach for some of the actors. I am very excited about the opportunity to cast there! At the same time I am casting VINYL with the same producer as whom I am going to Hawaii with. Before I left for my vacation I had five days to cast a short version of HALF-TRUTH which is part of the Netflix Find Your Voice Contest (http://www.netflixfindyourvoice.com/) go vote for it on June 5th!
I am also working on 5 other films and actively trying to attach cast to them. When I sat down at my desk on Wednesday, I had a minor meltdown, I am not the most organized person and between the phone calls to return and general office work, lists, etc…I felt a tiny bit overwhelmed. I just needed a good nights sleep. The nice part about work is, I am now sharing an office with some producers and another casting director. We are all getting along and it is nice to have people around me and not feel like I am in solitary confinement.

TGIF!