Step Nine: ShortFilm4Kicks: "Wayward" Pre-production

Fabulous writer, novelist, and my sister Colleen Garrison wrote a screenplay for a short film (approx. 12 minutes) entitled Wayward (tentative title). To view the full screenplay click here. She wrote it in anticipation for Halloween.

It's about a girl, Shelley, who takes a walk in the woods and encounters a witch whose intentions are not kind, to say the least. Shelley thinks it is just a crazy woman, but she quickly learns that everything really isn't what it seems.                                                                                                There are four characters: Shelley, the Witch, Shelley's brother Mark, and Shelley's mom. I will be playing Shelley; Colleen--the Witch; Jared--Mark; and Mom--Shelley's mom, of course!

For pre-production, we had a production meeting a week ago where we read through the script and made any necessary revisions. We conceptualized the project, picked filming locations, and discussed possible costume and props. We will finalize everything before filming. I've memorized my lines (don't know bout Colleen and Jared though) and am eager to start shooting this weekend.

Hopefully we can have it done and feature it for Halloween!! And if it all goes well, we may redo the production with better equipment, extra crew, more cameras, and better sound.... but probably not. We just want this for Halloween!

Hopefully it will be just one of many screenplays that Colleen writes these next several weeks that I can act in and we can produce together. For me, it would be invaluable practice and experience.

Step Eight: Weigh Your Priorities... Play time? No time.

So, I decided that I won't participate in the play "It's a Wonderful Life" because of the time commitment. I've outweighed the pros and cons: ....and the bottom line: I don't want to devote a month's worth of (unpaid) time for a tiny blip on my resume, when I could wait tables and make enough money for Lasik.  college of course. 

                     Pros                         
1. New experience
2. I was excited to learn lines and role-play
3. See the atmosphere of acting
4. Networking and new friends
5. Something for the resume
6. Fun, fun, fun
7. I'd get to see my friend Kyle a bunch
8. I have multiple roles
9. I have speaking lines

                     Cons                         
1. My roles are small.
2. It's far. 45 minute drive from my house.

3. Requires multiple visits per week.
4. Would require rehearsals every day the last week, even though my characters are minor.
5. The play itself runs 3 weeks: Decemeber 2nd to the 17th.
6. Requires every Friday and Saturday night for 3 weeks.
7. Cuts into my chance to make money at the Cheesecake Factory. Restaurant biz is super busy and generous during the holiday season. Weekends are the most fruitful.
8. It's stage acting. I want to be a screen actor.
9. It would require Sunday rehearsals and matinee shows, which is a buzz kill for stage acting.
10. I'm bitter that I didn't get a lead part (mostly I'm bitter that I didn't prepare before auditioning b/c i could've gotten a lead if I'd prepared better.)
11. "It's a Wonderful Life" is truthfully a bit boring. It was hard to even just get through the movie in one sitting (which I didn't even do... I had to watch it in 4 different parts! secret: once I watched past the lines I would have, I never finished the rest).
12. I have 5 speaking lines.

=========================================================================

"It's A Wonderful Life" Feature Film & Script

these would have been my lines:

  WOMAN

                        How am I going to live until 

                        the bank opens?

------------------------------------------------------

  MRS. DAVIS

                        Could I have seventeen-fifty?

------------------------------------------------------

               EXT. STREET IN BAILEY PARK – DAY
               CLOSE SHOT
               George and Mary are talking to Sam Wainwright in front of 
               the latter's car. Hs wife, Jane, is now out of the car.

                                     SAM
                         We just stopped in town to take a 
                         look at the new factory, and then 
                         we're going to drive on down to 
                         Florida.
                                     GEORGE
                         Oh...
                                     JANE
                         Why don't you have your friends join 
                         us?
                                     SAM
                         Why, sure. Hey, why don't you kids 
                         drive down with us, huh?
                                     GEORGE
                         Oh, I'm afraid I couldn't get away, 
                         Sam.
                                     SAM
                         Still got the nose to the old 
                         grindstone, eh? Jane, I offered to 
                         let George in on the ground floor in 
                         plastics, and he turned me down cold.
                                     GEORGE
                         Oh, now, don't rub it in.
                                     SAM
                         I'm not rubbing it in. Well, I guess 
                         we better run along.
               There is handshaking all around as Sam and Jane get into 
               their car.
                                     JANE
                         Awfully glad to have met you, Mary.
                                     MARY
                         Nice meeting you.
                                     GEORGE
                         Goodbye.
                                     JANE
                         Goodbye, George.
                                     SAM
                         So long, George. See you in the funny 
                         papers.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Step Seven: Research Local Community for Experience

You want to gain some experience while you have none. Audition and participate where you can! It's all about the simple research (that you can do all online).

• Local Community Theaters: Research your area and find a few that may suit your needs (distance, people, atmosphere). Just google "community theater" or "local acting classes" for your area. You can participate in theater productions, acting groups, and start developing a network, which is very important in the business. In my area (about an hour-away radius), i found several theaters and schools: 
• Shelton: Center Stage
• Ridgefield: The Ridgefield Theater Barn 
• Ridgefield: The Ridgefield Playhouse
• New Canaan: The Studio: A School for Performing Arts
• Trumbull: PACC: Performing Arts Center of Connecticut 
• Fairfield: Next Stop NY!: Acting for TV, Film, Stage
• Stamford: Curtain Call 
• Newtown: Sabrina's Encore Productions
• Westport: Center Stage Theatre Company
• Broookfield: Brookfield School of Performing Arts
• Local Classes: many times your local community theaters will have classes available for you to enroll that may run 6-8 weeks per season. Check them out. They tend to range from $200-$500. There may also be classes and workshops available locally at a nearby university. Your library may also know of the current happenings in the acting community, so be sure to ask your librarian and check the website!


• the class i wanted to do but it had already started was at the Ridgefield Theater Barn and the class was called "Developing Your Acting Career" taught by Susan Grace Cohen (NYC Tisch (resume))
• though, i found out it was taught Tuesdays 6:30-8:30pm and went at the end and waited to talk to her. i couldn't get into the class but...*
• Private Sessions: You're area may have talented and experienced acting teachers available for private sessions. Usually they are an hour long and are $100/hour. For the coaching you get, it could be well worth it. Check their credentials and make sure they have the background necessary to teach you well. Remember, "great actor" does not always mean "great teacher."
• *.... she (Susan Grace Cohen) offered to do private sessions. after looking up her credentials(my fave of her students is Karen Allen - Raiders of the Lost Ark, Starmann, The Sandlot) and such, she looks like a great teacher. i emailed her and we will work together at least a few times before I go back to school! it'll probably end up being $300 or more, but that could be something invaluable to my acting career.

Step Six: Getting Audition Results, Lessons Learned

Well, I didn't get a lead part. I got 3 smaller roles though: Jane Wainwright, Miss Davis, and Woman 1. All i got to say is: i really should've watched the movie before I auditioned. I think i would've gotten a lead had i seriously prepared. from the experience, I learned key things to auditioning:

• Prepare as much as you can
• Get there early
• Act like you know exactly what you're doing
• Make no apologies
• Skim the given lines, then read again slower, then once more.. then try to memorize some of the lines. Just get the gist and know the emotions in the scene. Then just be you being the character.
• Stay cool, or else your excitement will blind you from your focus

I haven't decided yet on taking the roles. I'm watchin the film right now to see if my characters are good enough to devote hours of rehearsals topped by 45 minutes of driving to Shelton each way every time (of course the film and stage play are much different). 

In retrospect, it would be a good thing to put on my resume and it would be experience. Even just being there might do me good for networking and would put me in the atmosphere of actors, which would be enlightening and give me direction, i'm sure. I will go to the cast meeting this Saturday to see what it takes to be part of this production... and... if it pleases me... then let's all break our legs!

Step Five: Final Headshot Selection

Forewarning you! This is a lot of me!
You'll first see examples of THEATRICAL headshots (theater, film, television);
then COMMERCIAL headshots (just commercials). Then, you'll see my final selection of both!
[for better understanding of theatrical vs. commercial headshots, click here.]

You can do a few different things to get the best headshot. First, you narrow it down by your:

1) Look

• you want each look to be expressive, open, and clear. the goal here is to let casting directors see you, see into you. your eyes is one way you can tell if it's a good shot. do they say something to the viewer?

2) Composition

• once you have your favorite looks picked out (it could be 10 or 50), you can crop your pictures to your liking. headshot trends show that its now popular to have a "head and shoulders" image. the ratio is 8x10. color. and could be portrait or landscape view. 
• portrait is more traditional and is easy for casting directors to look through, but landscape has gotten popular because it previews film better. 
• for landscape: casting directors have to turn the picture while going through a pile, which could be a good thing or bad. Bad, because it could be considered an annoyance; ood, because they look longer at it.

3) Communicative Power

• many shots will appear to be the same, but don't be fooled. one slight degree of the corner mouth or eyebrow can change the whole look and feel.
• for example, the pictures to the right appear very similar, but they are very different: the one above communicates power, mystique, is almost villainous. the picture below communicates vulnerability, worry, doubt. you see the difference?
• choose images that communicate something important like: this is me and i'm proud of it or i know i am right for this role. the goal is to have it be communicative enough where casting directors will want to stop and look longer (even just a few milliseconds) at your headshot because it speaks more than just "this is a pretty picture."

4) Intent

• for what role do you want this headshot to be? do you want to spend time picking and printing different headshots or is the "money shot" the best option? I like to be prepared for both scenarios. the "money shot" would communicate what you want but it could be versatile for every role to which you apply. this is the most common. however, with the popular growth of online portfolios that allow many different headshots, be prepared to select other images that express something different.
• emotions that could be conveyed in my different headshots: confident, right, declarative, wild, sure, deviant, poised, suspect, whimsical, innocent, vulnerable, etc.

COMMERCIAL is similar in that you want to consider look, composition, communicative power, and intent. However, to me it is more basic, light, and fun. Wear light colors, have a happy and open expression as well as pose. If you have a nice smile, show it. These were my final choices:

NOTE: make sure your headshot looks like you! Casting directors hate it when they looked at your headshot and in walks someone who is completely different. It should look like you and capture your personality as well as your intent.

It is smart to ask family, friends, and strangers their opinions. Ask them which is their favorite and which really communicates something. It's also a hint if they end up looking at a particular one for even just a second longer than the others.

Finally, my current final picks are.... drumroll.... but you can already see them. So take back drumroll and instead... i'll just say....... BAM! what do you think? be honest. i want what works and it was a hard decision for me.

Step Four: First Audition Ever!!

While you select your headshots (which can be quite a long process), you want to find any local auditions that can give you just-a-FEEL for the theatre and the atmosphere that auditioning entails. This particular audition was at a community theatre so I really didn't need ready-headshots or anything. It was a good experience... Read on!

There is a Community Theatre Center in Shelton, CT that puts on many plays year-round. i subscribe to their email list because my friend Kyle Attanasio is a principle in a lot of their performances (he is currently the muscleman in "Harvey"). i opened up this particular email and it said:

So what does an aspiring actress do?

Carpe Diem!

I went to my 1st audition ever.

1) We drove (my lovely mother drove because i have not yet renewed my license because I'm lazy and i sleep during all of the DMVs open hours. yes... insomniac... or do i really mean vampyr!! yes. vampire. much cooler.) 45 minutes to Shelton, got lost cuz of the damn bridge (literally it was a dam bridge). but i got there!
2) signed in and met the director of the play who was casting.
3) went in and he spoke with me for a couple minutes about experience, age, and info.
4) we talked about the two characters that he wanted me to read for: Violet (flirty, floozy, flighty, ditz-like but has Spunk, always done up, not the let's-go-on-a-hike-type) and Mary (the lead; a pretty face, very sweet and cute, told she has spunk).
I really should have studied the characters beforehand, or at least watch the movie! i haven't seen it for many years... but it wasn't on Netflix so.. whatever.
5) He gave me the two pages of lines to study and look over
6) After about 5 minutes, a member of the Center--Steve-- rehearsed lines with me.
7) We rehearsed for about 5 minutes..
it's so great to get into character with someone else who's in character. i have never read lines or done role play so this was extra exciting... and a challenge for my first time. you have to think about everything: your voice, your face, your body language, connecting with your partner, creating a believable scene.
8) We went in and performed the short scene for the director. i didn't memorize my lines by any means as i had just gotten them and am not very experienced with that yet. but i tried to use what i had.

9) After that, he said he will do callbacks for some people during the week. for those without callbacks for big roles, they'd just check the website one week from today to see what role they got.
10) I wish i would have filmed my audition! i was just so exciting and experiencing everything new that i didn't think about it. dang it! then i could've seen how bad i was and learn from it.
11) i think i did good-relatively-for never having read lines or role played. it was a revelation. i never knew that side of me--performer and actor. Starting to feel it!!!

i have no idea if i will get any part but i don't care because it was just THAT revealing and all worth it to know that this truly is my passion-- it's a rush, just a few minutes even of "playing pretend" and truly trying to harness a character's essence. i don't really think i did that with Mary (she sorta lacks personality) but i liked playing the flirty Violet. I'd like the chance to try to MAKE a character out of Mary though. more time. more practice. more study. these are exciting times!!!!!

p.s. yes. i was so excited about doing an audition that i did a mini photo shoot for this blog. that's just 3 of about 20 that i took. from a tripod. on a timer. in my room. by myself.

Step Three: Headshot Photoshoot

1) Headshots: the 1st feeling of actual progress

i knew i needed headshots before anything else. you need a headshot to apply to open casting calls and to apply to get an agent. this was the first step. (again i cannot recommend highly enough headshots101.com)

2) Jessica Dall Photography

That's when I decided to ask amazing photographer and friend Jess Dall, to do my headshots. We set up a photoshoot and got down to business. I had four different costume changes--which gives me a lot to work with when deciding what shot to give for a specific casting call. this was the first photoshoot i'd ever done. i'd never had any such experience, but she made me feel comfortable and professional. make sure you pick a photographer who will do the same for you as well as helping you pick out your best shots and edit them.

3) Image Selection
Headshot selection is very important. Out of the 200 images that were taken during the photoshoot, I had to narrow it down to the 20 best. When I say best, i mean the ones that best COMMUNICATE something to the viewer. you speak to the camera with your eyes, facial expressions, and pose.

Once I have the best 20 photos picked out, I'll post another step that goes into headshot specifics like cropping options and public opinion surveys that really help with final headshot selection.

Below are examples of each outfit I wore for the shoot. 1) light and fun for commercial; 2) plain but brilliant blue T for anything; 3) white T with tan leather jacket for a little drama; 4) business apparel for formal casting.

Step Two: Headshots and Casting (very important)

In acting, headshots are the foundation for your business (study and practice is the foundation for your craft). Getting headshots is the first place to start because they act as your business card, resume, and foot in the door. It is usually an 8x10 portrait in color (5 years ago, color headshots were very rare but now they are a must). Headshots should be updated every year or every 10lbs lost/gained.

"Step One: Research the Industry" made me understand that before i do anything in the biz, i've got to have my own calling card. this led me to a very good website:

1) Headshots
[headshots101.com created by experienced L.A. photographer Jessica Pettyjohn]


this website really is amazingly informative for the starting actor. i cannot recommend it enough. it provides a detailed account of the purpose and types of headshots (commercial vs. theatrical) as well as the process before the photoshoot, during and after the shoot, and what to do next as an actor.

2) Casting

Casting was an abstract concept for me. I have no experience in the industry so how would i even know what casting i should try to fit? Casting is what you would be cast as. It would be what you are personally aiming for in your career. It would be what a casting director would see fit for you. It would be what you show the casting director what your are fit for. -Pettyjohn

A good exercise that is enlightening and helpful to determine your own casting (my answers shown):

1. Name three or more actresses that you admire and want a career similar to theirs.
1. Jennifer Lawrence, Emma Stone, Leighton Meester, Kristen Bell, Amanda Bynes
2. Name three rolls in three different films that you feel you would have been perfect for had you had the chance.
1. She's the Man (amanda bynes' role), Model Behavior (main girl), Hunger Games (katniss)
3. Name three TV shows that you would be thrilled to be on.
1. Gossip Girl, Fringe, Psych, New Girl, SNL, (old: Smallville, Buffy, Charmed, Friends) 
4. On the TV shows listed above name what type of characters. (i.e. if you named "24" then would you be a terrorist, a field cop, or someone in the actual office? If you named "CSI" would you be a victim, the bad guy, a new detective? Would you be the lab tech, etc?) Shape it. Name it. 
1. My answers for any show: 
1. 1. Competition (girl who seemingly does everything the same or better than main character--presents main character with lame competition); 
2. 2. Schemer (helps pull off a scheme, plot, and can manipulate well); 
3. 3. Funny Sidekick (comic relief but actually has it all cool underneath the surface); 
4. 4. Vulnerable Newcomer (to be shaped up and transformed); 
5. 5. Kick-ass Newcomer (has it together, other characters admire)
2. for Fringe, it would be fun to play another FBI agent like Olivia Dunham, or a person who dies in a really weird way
5. What are your strengths in acting? Are you better at comedy that drama? Are you able to laugh and smile naturally? Are you more of "an actors actor?" Take a look here. And answer honestly.
1. i have good comedic timing and whit. i can smile and laugh naturally. i aspire to be an actor's actor. i am very coordinated. i have an artistic eye. i am a fast learner.
6. What age ranges are you able to play easily?
1. late high-school to college-age and post college (about 17-25)
7. What is your body type? Are you bald? In shape? Out of shape? Thin? Fat? Gorgeous? Pretty? Unique facial characteristics? Not so pretty?
1. athletic, 5'8", muscular, in shape, can be ugly and gorgeous, unique facial characteristics: two dimples when I smile, good-length eyelashes

Right now, i am just studying and learning still, so i haven't fully come to terms on my casting. I know who and what i like, but i need to figure out if i am fit for it. who says i'm not fit? i am the only one who can determine what is most natural and best for me. But for now, i know enough of my casting to pull off my headshot photoshoot... oooh me so excited!