The Return of "One Last Shot"

It's January 1, 2012, the year the world will supposedly end (if you believe the Mayan calendar, on 12/21/12). I'm not sure I believe that, but if so, it will be a short year and thus easier to document my continuing pursuit of my mid-life acting career in LA. When I last wrote, it was March of 2011. I was excited about my prospects as a new SAG/AFTRA member, finally living full-time in LA, able to pursue my dreams of being an actress with no distractions, or so I thought. But life has a way of happening while you are making other plans. The road less traveled turned out to be bumpier than I expected.

For one thing, my work opportunities dropped off considerably after I joined both unions. I had been warned about this, but I guess it didn't really hit me until it actually happened. Whereas when I was non-union I might have had ten opportunities to submit to per day and up to ten auditions a week, now I was lucky to get that many in a month. Suddenly my paid jobs dropped to one a month or so, and almost none were at SAG scale. Most were paid at what is known as "ultra-low budget," or basically, as little as the production company can get away with paying you and still be union-compliant. I was amazed at how many SAG productions there were that didn't pay actors anything. I refused to work on these, so consequently I wasn't doing nearly as much film or TV work once I joined the union.

Fortunately, I was a member of SkyPilot Theatre Company, which turned out to be a real blessing in both my work and personal life. I had joined the company late in 2010, and acted in my first show in January of 2011. I started going to weekly improv workshops hosted by the company, and began to feel much more comfortable trying new voices and gestures in a setting that was safe for me; it didn't matter if they worked or not. I got to know the company members, and they became a kind of surrogate family for me. And in the summer, I co-produced and played a lead in an important original play written for SkyPilot by Samantha Macher, called "To the New Girl from the Former Mrs.: Advice to my Husband's New Wife or Girlfriend." The show was a critical and commercial success, earning raves from the LA Times and LA Weekly, and putting SkyPilot on the radar of the LA theatre scene as a company to watch for new works. I wasn't paid, but I learned a lot about producing a play, and joined the administrative staff (also unpaid) of the company after the show closed. I am planning to produce at least one show in 2012, as well as assisting in fundraising and grant writing, areas that I have experience in from my past life. I also participated in several of the company's monthly readings of new works written by our in-house staff of playwrights, and enjoyed giving them feedback and helping to choose which plays we will mount in 2012.

In addition to the work I did with SkyPilot, I performed in two other shows in 2011. One was an original musical tribute to 9/11 called "We are Different Now," in which I played "the unsinkable Molly Brown" and had a great, funny monologue written just for me. The other was the play version of "It's a Wonderful Life," in which I played "Mother Bailey," at the Sierra Madre Playhouse for the Christmas season, which played to packed houses and earned rave reviews. Although the 9/11 musical was marked by production problems and difficulties with various personalities in the show, it ended up being a genuinely moving, patriotic production. However, the show came at a very difficult time for me, as my beloved pug, Pasha, had died on September 8th, just a day before we opened on September 9th. Pushing myself to do these shows on September 9-11 really made me understand what "the show must go on" is all about.

Although stage work dominated my acting life this past year, I also did three student films, two infomercials for skincare products, a couple of re-enactment shows, a game show spoof for Spike TV in which I was part of the small but enthusiastic audience, small speaking parts in two independent films, and had a small credited part in Seth Rogen's next comedy, titled "For a Good Time Call." I also did a spec commercial called "The Elephant in the Room" with a real live elephant! And I fulfilled my childhood dream of working at Six Flags by playing a gypsy at Magic Mountain's Fright Fest. Although I injured my leg the second weekend and had to drop out early, it was still a fun time; I enjoyed telling fortunes and scaring kids, telling them "I love children; they're delicious!"

Another highlight of 2011 was that I started going to acting class on a regular basis. I began an on-camera audition class every week with Charlene Tilton (Lucy Ewing of "Dallas" fame) and Bob Rusch, SkyPilot's artistic director, and it helped me grow enormously as an actress. I also did one scene study workshop per month with a major casting director, to try to get better known among those who can hire me on prime time network shows. And toward the end of the year, I got signed by a new agency (for me) for commercial, theatrical, and voiceover representation. So far, the Polygon Group has sent me on more auditions in two months than my last agency did in two years, and I booked the very first one they sent me on. So maybe work will pick up in the new year; I have two auditions this coming week.

In 2012 I am focusing on getting my first part on a prime-time network show. I have been acting for ten years now, and that hasn't happened yet. I once said that if I hadn't "made it" as an actress in ten years, I would give it up. But the problem is, how do you define "making it?" If it's by money made, as my soon-to-be ex-husband tells me, then I have certainly failed, because I have yet to make a profit as an actress. But I know many people who consider themselves successful actors who can't pay the bills with their acting income. I would like to be able to do a paid acting job of some sort every week, even if it only paid me gas money; that would be a start toward profitability. But I'm not giving up now. I haven't even been in SAG for a full year yet. Maybe in nine more years...we'll see.

Here's to a successful, and profitable, 2012!