ok, so finally i've gotten some information on when some of the shows i was extra-ing on are airing!!

-csi: miami, i believe is episode 4, airing on october 15th. i'm wearing a black dress, and i'm one of the rioters, lol.

-las vegas will be airing on november 23rd, it's episode 9 of the new season, called "it ain't easy being green," and i am wearing a bright dress at times and also a darker dress with a black waist-belt. in this episode, i basically walk around a lot socializing in the casino. there's a scene where several of the leads, two girls and a guy, are walking through the casino, and i'm right behind them.

i hope we can see me at least once-that would be so fun!

so, today was my first day of work as a personal assistant, and it went very well! i think i'll enjoy doing this once a week. i do a lot with marketing, billing, filing, but also i get to do fun errands like walk the dog, take him to the groomers, and pick up shirts from the cleaners. i love running errands, so it's fun for me!

more later, but now it's bedtime. goodnight!

hello all! it's been a few days, a few semi-uneventful days, hence the fact i haven't posted. nothing too exciting or out of the ordinary has happened recently, more of just going to class, trying to get an agent, etc, so i didn't' want to bore you with the details.

something exciting did happen to my roommates the other day, however. they both decided to take up swimming laps for exercise, and went to the public pool. while holland went to the locker room, she asked a lady if there were rentable lockers, and she turned around and it happened to be diane keaton! evidently she was there to watch a child's swim meet. holland said she looked and dressed exactly how she does in the movies. and that, once she realized holland wasn't a gawking fan (at least not on the outside!), she was very nice. i wish i'd have been there-i like diane keaton!

speaking of diane keaton, i think i mentioned on a previous post that i had met peter michael goetz, who is an actor from father of the bride (with diane keaton, ahh, connections...) among many other things. anyway, i decided yesterday to take some pictures i'd printed out just at cvs from lane and my impromptu beach photo shoot back to the goetz's (or is it goetz'? anyone know?). well, anyway, he and his wife had said to bring the pictures when i got them, so i took them by, found their house, which was an adventure in itself, and discovered that they weren't home. luckily, i had prepared for that :) so i had an envelope with the pictures, my resume, and my headshots ;) in it, and had paper to write a note. i just reminded him who i was, and said, if he got a chance, to feel free to pass my stuff on to his neighbor (who he had mentioned was in the industry), and to give me a call when he had a look at the photos! (i also included a p.s. saying that i had indeed recognized him, and that his scene kissing the doberman in father of the bride was one of my family's favorites...which is true) so...this was just yesterday evening, and he called me back already this morning! he was very kind, and complimented the pictures, and lane for taking them. he asked if it would be alright (ha! would it be alright!?) for him to give his sons my headshots. apparently, he has two sons that have directed more than 200 tv commercials and some feature films, and they're "always casting." hooray! again, it's one of those things that could turn into something, or may never, but only God knows, so i'll just be patient and wait...peter was very kind, and said that he was happy to help, since we're all in this together and he's been in my shoes before, too, in his career. so that was an exciting development!

as for jobs...clearly money is the biggest problem out here. i'm convinced that's why most actors give up. so i've been applying for jobs continuously, and i interviewed with a lady to be a dogwalker for a company she started. basically, it's just her and she wanted to hire one other person. i thought it would work well with my schedules, and i'd get a lot of exercise, but would you believe, i did not get the job!! lol, i can't even get a job as a dogwalker, lol, no it's really fine. it just wasn't meant to be, i guess. (by the way, moving out here and taking risks has surprisingly made me a more laid-back person. i guess when you really are faced with the truth that God is the only one who knows your future, it kind of makes you not worry much, since you know it doesn't do any good...) a friend here said that when i "hit it big" haha, that i can write in my memoirs that at the beginning of my career, i couldn't even get hired as a dogwalker, lol. sounds good to me.

so...one job interview after another...i had one this morning that i found out about through one of my acting coaches, morgan sheppard. his friend needed a part time personal assistant, and that sounded great to me, so i interviewed with him today, and i got the job!! yay! see, when it's really meant to be, it usually falls into place. anyway, the job will be flexible, and i'll learn a ton about the industry. my boss is a very well renowned voiceover artist, kris stevens, and i think it will be really cool to learn about the workings of the voiceover industry (one of my life goals is to play the voice of a disney character at some point). check out his site at kriserikstevens.com, and turn up your volume, i think you'll recognize some of his stuff ;) anyway, i start that next week. i'll only work usually one of two days a week, however, so keep praying for other money-making opportunities. i know they'll come.

let's see, what else. oh, last night, i got to go with holland to her first work function. her new job had a get together for some of the employees and clients at a new swanky lounge in one of the tallest buildings in downtown la. (google elevate lounge) we felt very posh. the place was very upscale, an open-air lounge area, and we had gourmet appetizers and i got to meet holland's new co-workers. seems like her work environment will be great!

other than that, i'm still keepin' on...waiting and hoping. next week, i'll probably make some follow up calls to agents and soap opera casting directors, to whom i sent my headshots and resumes. off to grab some lunch, but thanks for reading and stay in touch!

(in answer to the questions on the previous blog, just fyi: the scene lines i was practicing with my roommate on the beach was a scene for class, not the silent film. sorry about the confusion...dialogue, no dialogue... :))

well, i thought by now, i might have some behind-the-scenes pictures from the sunday filming of "two pink lines," but alas, i do not. nonetheless, i still wanted to blog a bit about it, so i don't forget any details in the coming days...

it was a short, but packed shoot, as i expected. first off, i went to the house of the director, kristin, and her husband, todd. they actually live on the second steepest street in the united states!! no joke, i even googled it! yep, it's actually illegal now to make streets that steep; they are on a 36% grade, isn't that insane!?! needless to say, i did NOT park by their house, but just walking up the hill to my spot was a workout! their house was adorable, and we just shot on their porch, and in the bedroom and bathroom. as i said before, the assignment was a short silent film that was a self portrait. kristin decided to write about her miscarriage, so it was a very emotional piece. we watched the raw footage, and i'm really looking forward to seeing the final product. unfortunately, usc rules state that it can't be put on the internet unless it's less than 10% of the footage, so i'll see what i can do...

i feel like the shoot was a really good experience, acting wise, too. my co-star, seth, played my hubby, and he was talented. i spent a good deal of time cramped rocking back and forth in their bathtub with fake blood on my hands and nightgown. i know it sounds gory, but it was very tasteful and touching. the scene was in a stark white background, and just being in that position made it easy to get into character. it was really cool. so, yeah, i'm definitely glad i did it. made some new friends out of it, too. kristin and todd were great company, then seth and another usc film student were also fun, as we all sat and had pizza in the chill southern california night air after filming.

today was busy! this morning i went on a photo shoot that i found on an email service that sends me gigs (mostly student or non-paying stuff...good experience) that match my profile. a professional photographer needed some people for a portrait shoot, and just to expand his portfolio. it benefits me, too, since i get digital copies of all the shots, too. one thing he's doing is shooting with different lights on a plain background, but with everyone in this same white tank top. it's cool to see the different people with different attitudes wearing the same thing. i haven't seen all my photos, but the one he put up on his website is eh, i've seen cuter. but whatever. if you check out www.chuckespinoza.com/blog, it should probably still be one of the first couple of blog entries. you'll see a picture of three of us in the shirt, click on it, and then scroll through all the different people. you'll see me in there, obviously. i think it's kind of a jank picture of me, a bleh facial expression, but the lighting is cool, i guess. you can judge for yourself. i'm just excited to have some more photos!

i had class for pretty much the rest of the day. a new one called camera techniques was amazing. i learned so much that i didn't know about, well, techniques for acting to a camera. this was really beneficial, since i'm so used to theater, and need to learn about marks, eyelines, and the subtleties of playing to one person (the camera). then i had a theory class, and morgan sheppard's class, who (please check out his imdb and see one of his films) is a phenomenal actor and coach.

anyway...i'm beginning to get sleepy, and better head to bed. more soon. goodnight.

sorry i haven't posted in a couple of days. nothing earth-shattering has happened :)

i've enjoyed the past few days...going to classes, doing a little myspace work for a friend (which is nice to have a tiny bit of income in these circumstances...). and then, today, i was very productive! i mailed out my first mailings to commercial agents. i sent out 15 packets of my headshot, resume, and a little note to the agent. please pray that they reach the right hands, and that i will be lead to the right agent, if any at all. with the way things go around here, to even hear back from one of the 15 would be nice. and who knows how long it will take. one thing about "the biz" is that nothing is usually immediate. i guess it's forcing me to become more patient, which is a good thing.

this afternoon, holland and i went to the beach for an hour or so and she was gracious enough to run lines with me for my new scene. tonight we are having one of her friends from high school (who now lives here) over for pizza. YUM!

as for tomorrow, i did end up getting the lead role in a USC student short film! it's the one i mentioned in the previous post. it's called "two pink lines," and is a self portrait of the director, kristin. it's the story of she and her husband discovering they are pregnant and then having a miscarriage. it's a silent film, so i'm excited to see how it will work to just portray it without any words. i saw the treatment (script without dialogue) and it looks very moving. so, after tomorrow i'll have more to post, i hope.

hope everything is well with, well, everyone :) and goodnight for now...

well well well...yesterday and today were pretty big days. well, not really i guess. just fun days. yesterday, we got our new roomie and our dog! holland made her way here from kentucky and moved in, and brought lane's dog, eisley, back with her. hooray, doggie!

in the evening yesterday, however, lane and i decided to finally go do a photo shoot that we'd been planning for weeks. i had an idea for makeup, which was black runny eye makeup to look like i was crying. and then lane had looked up concepts with water, and we decided to combine our two ideas, and do a photo shoot with my makeup and at the beach. it was so much fun! i love having my picture taken, and being a little model, and lane (and holland, too, actually) love taking pictures. they both studied photography, so i guess i'll never have to pay for headshots again! lol. anyway, so she and i did some research, packed our bags, and drove up about 5 miles to malibu. we found a parking spot on the side of the road, and then walked a ways past several houses until we found a little hidden staircase that was an entrance to the public beach. we found a great spot that had no people and gorgeous rocks and beach. we ended up stumbling upon some great backgrounds, as you will see in the coming photos.

some of the makeup is normal, and then some is the creepy look, as you can tell. we were going for a darker look, which is clearly not my normal personality, but it's nice to be able to show that i can act different characters than just always the girl next door. i've included an array of photos, so you can see the several types we were taking.







weird, right? the water was SO cold!! while we were taking pictures, there were three older people sitting out on their back porch of their malibu home watching and sometimes laughing as i'd squeal from the cold water!! lane even took a picture from up on their stairs, and they were very friendly. so...after we finished our photo shoot, i walked up to say thanks to them, and lo-and-behold, i recognized one of the people. it was the father of the groom from "father of the bride." he was the actor who kissed the dogs in the movie? it's a great part. but, i didn't mention that to him or anything, didn't want to be weird. they all said "wow, you're going to have some great shots!" and, that they wished their neighbor was there, since they knew i was an actress, and he worked in the biz. but, peter (the actor), said when i get copies of the pictures made, to bring them back by for them to see. so, who knows!? i tell ya, God makes crazy appointments! maybe something, maybe nothing...

today, i drove about two hours south to carlsbad, which is just outside of san diego. i got the lead role in a commercial that was a student final project for a film student. it was a lot of fun. i got to drive through laguna hills and newport beach, which were both gorgeous. i love that i live by the mountains and the ocean! anyway, we filmed all day at his family's house, and we actually watched some of the footage at the end. i think it's going to be good stuff. it'll definitely add to the resume! during our lunch break, chris (the director) took the camera outside to set up the next shot. then, his dad accidentally opened the garage door, which hit the camera and totally screwed up the lens! and, this is an expensive piece of equipment!! so, they had to leave and drive an hour away to an open camera shop and buy a new lens!! this gave us about a 2 hour break, so i watched the rocky horror picture show (for the first time, and it is the weirdest movie ever!) with some of the crew and chris' mom.

when i left, i got another call from an lacasting submission. a usc film student asked me to audition for her final project short film on tuesday. it sounds neat. it's a silent film about the progression of a husband and wife from finding out they're pregnant through having a miscarriage. lots of opportunities, so i'm glad to be busy and working (even if it's not necessarily for money, it's great experience). but, all in all, it was a good day, and now i'm home. sigh. with my two roomies and a dog. tomorrow, i plan on taking a holiday. maybe even the beach? yay. and then back to work on tuesday! i'm already itching to go back to class. i'll rant on acting sometime i'm sure, but i'll just say that i'm loving it, i know i'm doing exactly what i'm supposed to be doing, and i can't wait to dig deeper into becoming a better actor. sigh. ok, as always, more soon...goodnight.