Monday, March 28, 2005
I think I need to write more often. After re-reading some previous posts, I realize that there's a lot more going on in my head than I'm writing down. And since this is my currently chosen method of therapy, perhaps I should write more, even if I don't feel I have something interesting to say.
I feel like I've run into a roadblock of some sort in my quest to be a working actor. I'm studying and I'm 'out there' -- I've been working pretty steadily doing voiceovers and narrations... I have good headshots and I keep my resume current. I submit to everything I find that is suiable for my age and type. But I cannot get an agent to answer any of my submissions or come to a play performance. I can't seem to find the path to get over this hump.
Every day I take an honest look at what I'm doing and not doing. I scan the trades and boards every day... I attend workshops and industry functions. I send mailings and updates and post on boards. I read and study and submit and work really hard at being active and visible all the time. What am I not doing that I need to be?
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My husband says I need to stay in contact with old friends and acquaintences that are in the business. I try that, I really do, but for some reason it feels cheap to me to reach out and bug someone that I was intimate with or worked with ten years ago and ask them to set me up with their agent. Am I crazy? Should I drop a line to my old boyfriend (who's now married, but he's been doing voiceovers on a very successful TV show for several years and has quite a few successful films to his name as well) and ask him to hook me up with his voiceover agent? Or should I send a letter to another old flame who's a successful stunt actor and director?
Feedback appreciated.
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I'm harboring a whole lot of ickiness towards my Bloody Day Job... it's not that I don't like my job (well, I DON'T, but I don't hate it, either) but I'm starting to really resent the fact that it's infringing on my acting career, my personal life, my mental well being, even my ability to go to the gym on a regular basis. I understand that I gotta eat and have health insurance and all of that, but at the same time, I am watching myself get sucked further and further into the corporate maze that is my company, and it's not what I want. I'm also starting to exhibit symptoms of job-related stress, and THAT's interfering wth my marriage and my health.
I can't afford to just quit outright. My income is integral to the household. My husband's business doesn't have health insurance, and it's still in the growing stages anyway, so he doesn't have the income to keep us afloat by himself. I already asked my employer if it would be possible for me to alter my schedule (working four 10-hour days with three days off, instead of the Monday-Friday thing) but they wouldn't go for that.
So how does a person with a full-time "9-5" style day job pursue acting without losing their mind?
