About ten years ago, I had the pleasure of working on this short film from Film Friday, called Dragonquest. I have been so in love with this little film since then, and even after all this time, I am always happy to encounter Melissa, Adam, Joseph, Cal and Matt. It hasn’t been online for me to share since then, so I’m really happy to be able to finally share this with you now.
Creative Support Group
I’ve been thinking lately about the ebb and flow of the creative impulse.
I find that when I am surrounded by creative people, that I am inspired to create. Â When I have sat down and had coffee with a group of actors, writers, or directors (or what have you) for days afterwards I find my creative energies more focused and more powerful. Â Over time, if that creative contact has not been renewed, I find that I get distracted by the many non-creative pursuits/demands that surround me. Â I’ll get caught up in stuff from my day job and to wind down I’ll fire up the video games, or without the creative inspiration that these creative folks bring out in me, I’ll just fire up the video games instead of writing or working on something creative.
This is something I’d like to change. Â I’d like to keep the creative energies going, and to that end, I’d like to propose a regular get-together of creative people. Â Coffee (or beer for those who drink it) at some place where we can sit and talk about theatre, or writing (or whatever) in the hopes that I can keep the creative juices flowing (and hopefully so the other folks participating).
So, thoughts? Â Would you be interested in such a group?
Agent Search – Suggestions Welcome
Years ago, just before I “left the business” for five years, I started a search for an agent. Â This was interrupted by the realization that a large scale project I produced had left me burned out and no longer passionate about theatre/acting. Â So I left it, giving up the agent search and telling myself that I would never go back to it.
Five years later, I tentatively returned to acting, telling myself it was a hobby and that I would stick with my day job and just do plays and things when it was convenient (usually when people asked me), and I didn’t bother to take up the agent hunt again, because…well, why would I if it wasn’t something I was intending to do as a profession?
Of course, that couldn’t last.  The theatre bug, once it bites, is incurable.  It might go into remission, but it will never truly go away.  And once the passion for it returned, I had to admit that the “day job” I was working was not enough. Doing the occasional play or film was not enough.  And so, recently I’ve been thinking about how to do more, and I’ve had to accept that really, if I want to do more acting, I need an agent.
Its been a while since I was in the market for an agent, and during that time, I could talk about being relatively new to the business. Â Now, I’m 40 and can no longer make that claim. Â If you are an unrepresented actor, later in life, what is the best approach for introducing yourself to an agent? Â Any suggestions how to go about this? Â Any suggestions for agents who might be in the market for a..well, a me?
The Quest for the Perfect App
Ever since I got my iPhone, I’ve been on a quest for the perfect app. Â Of course, there are some fine apps: for twitter, facebook, linked in, for every social network you can think of. Â There are apps that take neat pictures, and apps that give you a lightsaber. Â There are Shakespeare apps and games and schedules and what-have-you.
But I’m not looking for any of those. Â I’m looking for the perfect app for actors. Â I’ve found some apps that you can load your script onto and use for rehearsal. Â Apps like Rehearsal and HollywoodHelper. Â And these are potentially helpful apps, but they don’t do what I really need them to. Â Both Rehearsal and HH serve a specific purpose: you load up your script, highlight your lines and use the app to help you learn them; but I’m not particularly fond of either. Â HollywoodHelper is completely free, but you can only load a script in text format. Â I don’t know about you, but I’ve never received a script in text format, so you have to shift the format. Â Every time, i’ve loaded up Hollywood Helper, its skewed the format, and not highlighted the lines correctly (It highlights the whole script). Â Rehearsal actually works the way I want it to: it takes the most common formats and highlights properly. The only problem is that after your first week of use, you have to pay per script added to the app. Â This sort of turns me off the whole thing. Â I wouldn’t mind paying for the app once and being able to upload at will, but the pay per script thing makes me not want to use the app. Â There don’t seem to be any other apps that do what these two do right now. Â So either way, I’m settling.
But Rehearsal and HH aren’t the “perfect actor apps”, as far as I’m concerned. I”m looking for something that connects the various tools that I use all the time. Â I want something that allows me to put appointments on a calendar, track contacts, keep notes, track monologues, and maybe even finances. Â Ideally the app has a web interface as well as an iphone app, so that when I’m at my computer, I can enter stuff on the web, and have it sync to my phone. Â I’ve come across a couple of options. Â There’s The Actor’s App, which does…actually, I’m not clear on what it does. Â Seems to list agencies and casting directors, but aside from that, I really don’t know what it does. Â There is an app called iPerform, and it seems to be close to what I want. Â But its over-priced, and although it does appear to have a web interface, it looks like you have to pay separately for that.
So there are apps that are passable, but they present their own problems (price or repeated payments), and there are apps that just don’t do enough. Â Somewhere, there must be a perfect app. Â Or at least, someone will build one.
Do you know of any apps that fit the bill?