Felicia Day: How a Girl Geek Made It Big on Her Own

Gotta say, I love Felicia Day.  She, along with Joss Whedon and his amazing universe of characters and stories, have helped make geeky cool.  She's been a huge inspiration for me to go after my goals no matter what.  I hope to one day let her know in person.


Read about her web series "The Guild" and it's evolution below.  And if you still think you'll never get your projects off the ground afterwards, well, go get more creative about it.


Felicia Day: How a Girl Geek Made It Big on Her Own


Happy creating!


PS: Yes, I do get stupidly excited at mentions of Comic Con, Buffy, Angel, BSG, X-Files, Star Trek (TNG, Voyager, and DS9), and have been known to play marathon board games.  Ask any old roommate.  They've seen it.  Oh and I sing along to sing along blogs like no tomorrow.  Anyone got a freeze ray?

Audition Metaphor

Ask any actor: auditioning is a weird and difficult process.  It's a constant question or string of questions.  Am I the right type?  Too short?  Too tall?  Do I go big?  Small?  And most importantly, am I telling the story I need to be telling?  Sides are chosen for an audition for a reason.  Usually, they are an important part of the character's story.  This is especially true for leads.  The CD and producers want to see how you handle the character, often at different points in the story.  Auditioning for the waitress who makes a two second appearance halfway through the film?  Guess what.  That role is important too.  Scripts go through so many revisions and characters are edited out and changed constantly.  There is a reason why that waitress is there when she is there.  Hint: check out what's going on with the main characters in the scene.  Make your choices from there.


But what to do when you have to bring out your trusty ol'monologue?  And yes, you should have one or two of those stored in the memory banks.  And be out the look out for more as your type will change as you do.  Sometimes, it's hard getting the story out with your monologue when you only have a couple of minutes and that includes saying hi to those in the room and doing some chatting.  Joel R. Putnam really hits the nail on the head with what to do with shortened audition times and how to adjust your monologue accordingly.  Like with almost everything in life, leave 'em wanting more.  Check out his post below.  It's a great read!


Audition Metaphor


Happy creating!

The Audition Machine

My ramblings here have been more or less silent these last few weeks.  It's not because I haven't wanted to write.  Trust me.  But you know when someone says be careful what you wish for: it might come true?  That has been the definition of my life these past three weeks.


Besides my full time job (yes I still have one of those), I've been doing some serious auditioning.  And then doing some more.  As a friend so rightly defined it, I've been an audition machine.  Thanks Joe.  PS: you should check him out on Twitter.  And his production company.  


For those of you that know me and my schedule well, auditioning isn't out of the norm for me.  I do it quite often, either on projects I've sought out or ones that my amazing agent has submitted me for.  What has been different is the amount of callbacks I'm getting.


I'm walking around right now with a great big grin which just keeps growing with every callback I get.  And what's really awesome is that I know why it's happening.  I think every actor goes through a period when they just don't get there.  They don't sparkle in the room.  Nothing wrong with the read or the acting or the look.  They're just not "it".


I've gone through a long period of this but did some soul searching recently and did some re-focusing on my priorities.  I feel now when I get that call and go into that room, I've settled in.  I'm me and it's great.  Yes, I take my inspiration from a universe of sources--how can you not?  Discovery says it best: the world is just awesome.  But now when I audition, I'm just me.  Goofy, geeky, cheerful, and able to get into a character in a flash.  And it's paid dividends.


So to sum up, I apologize for the long silence.  It's been a great few weeks, filled with great opportunities booked and others in the making.


Oh and if you want to hear more regular updates--you know the ones I can do from my smartphone while waiting to head into the audition room--check me out on Twitter or on my Facebook fan page.


Happy creating!