This Journey

Back from LA

Hello lovely followers.

I got back from LA on Sunday night after a long but fun week. I filmed three days total on the pilot I was working on- I’m only a guest star for a few episodes if it gets picked up. I can’t really share any details until I’m told that it is getting picked up. All I can say is that it’s a comedy and it’s hilarious. I had such a great time filming. The cast and crew were all so nice and caring.

When I wasn’t filming, I was driving around LA going from audition to audition. Since my Mom couldn’t come out with me this time, I was with a lovely woman with whom I’d worked with on ‘Lilith’ and ‘The Kings of Summer’.

I went to Venice Beach on Saturday afternoon and got a terrible sunburn which is just now starting to turn into a tan. I looked like a tomato for a few days.

Anyways, I’m back in North Carolina now with my family… spending most of my time doing school work. But hey, I can’t complain. I’ll be graduating later this year compared to next June if I had stayed in public school.

On a personal note, I’m happy to say that I have found the most wonderful and supportive boyfriend in the world and he makes me very, very happy. He lives back in my hometown in Ohio and I’m planning on visiting him and my other friends in a few weeks. Yay!

Los Angeles here I come! Exciting news!

So I’m headed off to LA tomorrow morning :) I am so excited. I booked a hilarious pilot, but I can’t give any details as of now. I’m hoping it will get picked up and it has a good chance because the lead is a well known celebrity. I only film two days total (they condensed all my scenes into two days) so I can spend the rest of the week meeting directors, producers, and going on a lot of callbacks! There’s a lot of stuff going on with me right now and I couldn’t be happier :)

I’ve been in North Carolina for 16 nights and 15 days. It feels like I’ve been here for months, seriously. I haven’t even started my damn online school yet! My guidance counselor is taking forever to get my transcript to the admissions counselor at my new school. It’s incredibly frustrating knowing that I can’t do anything to speed up the process.

Other than that, I’ve been getting a ton of auditions lately since it’s pilot season. (Pilot season= happens at the beginning of every year when a bunch of new television shows are cast). That’s keeping me busy! Even though I am pre-occupied with auditions and such, I am feeling pretty down in the dumps lately. I’m praying my ass off that I’ll get a callback or better yet, book something!!!, that will take me out of NC, even if it’s just for a few days.

Keep your fingers crossed for me <3

Time to cuddle up on the couch and watch the SAG Awards red carpet pre-show.

Changes.

I realized a few days ago that I never blogged about how I went to Los Angeles all last week for some auditions and callbacks. I initially went out there for 3 projects, and currently, I haven’t gotten 2 out of the 3. I’m still fighting hard for the last project, but it is a HUGE movie so God knows what will happen with that.

My lovely agent in LA set up a few meetings with casting directors and a few new auditions to make the most of the time I was out there. I have a good feeling about some of the projects I tried out for. I’m keeping my finger’s crossed and hoping that I get to work again really soon. One project shoots in LA and another one shoots in Utah. I guess we’ll see what happens!

On a different note… SCHOOL. My first day of Junior year starts tomorrow. Surprisingly, I don’t feel too much at the moment. I know I’ll probably have trouble falling asleep tonight just like every other kid. But I’m not feeling as anxious as I usually do. I’m not feeling blue or depressed like usual, I feel fine. It’s kind of a relief. I think I know the reason why I’m feeling this way.

Yesterday, I brought up the subject of ‘moving’ to my parents again. I told them how guilty I was feeling that we were separating our family just so I could graduate from high school in Ohio. I told them that honestly, I don’t care whether I stay here or not. There’s nothing here for me anymore. I have friends here that mean the absolute world to me, but it’s not worth putting my Dad’s job or the sake of my family at risk just so I can be with my friends. Families move around the world every single day, and soon we’ll just be one of those families. I’m ready now to go and start over again in North Carolina. There is a catch, though.

When I do go out there, I’m pretty sure I will go to an online school. The only reason I would do this is so I can graduate earlier and it will really help when I have to travel for work and auditions. The bad thing about this is… how the heck am I going to meet any new friends? It’s not fun being lonely and I would hate to feel that way at home. I do have my family, however, and I love them more than anything in the world.

I’m not exactly making a huge sacrifice. The only thing I’ll miss here is my friends. They are the only reason that I would want to stay here for 2 more years. But family is more important than anything to me, and I have to do what I have to do. There is too much on the line if we stay here and I’m not willing to risk it. I know it’s the right decision to leave Ohio and go to North Carolina for my Dad’s job. We need to be a family. My older sister will probably stay here in an apartment while she attends college. She will be the only one who stays in Ohio. We would have moved earlier I think if it wasn’t for my acting. We are always kind of waiting around to see if I’ll book this or that. If I book a project, my family will have to be separated again for a little while, but my parents are willing to make it work.

So the fact that I’ll most likely being moving in a few months, makes school just a little bit less of an issue. I know I won’t be stuck in public school for much longer now. No, I don’t really like homeschooling. At all. But it has become necessary for my job. I missed 40 days of school last year. 4O DAYS. And it was not a walk in the park, I’ll tell you that. I spent weeks trying to make up my work and communitcating with my teachers and all that crap. But if I am going to an online school, when I’m on set all I have to do is go on my laptop to do all of my work. It’s more convenient for me and my lifestyle at this time, so that’s what I have to do.

My friends are already telling me how much they’ll miss me and all of that, but I know they will move on. That’s what everyone does. We will still keep in touch and hopefully be friends for life, but it will be extremely hard saying goodbye to them. My friends are just like my family so I know they’ll always be in my heart. Forever. I’ve had some of the same friends for 10 years and I’ll never forget them.

In conclusion, moving is difficult and extremely hard. It proposes challenges in every aspect of life and is stressful for every member of a family in different ways. But at the end of the day, I will have lost nothing. My friends will always be in my heart and my family will stay by my side.

This is all just a part of my journey.

The First Hope

I can’t tell you all how excited I am to see what happens with my short film The First Hope. The actors were all great, the crew was incredible, and I know it’s going to be a gorgeous little film!! The director hopes to have it completed by September but you never know when it will actually be done. I hope you all can see it somehow when it comes out!!

As for right now, not too much is going on. I’m just trying to get through the last few weeks of school. It doesn’t help that my math teacher obviously hates me because I miss so much school. It’s incredibly frustrating but hey, I’m going to be an actress, not a mathematician.

I’m currently waiting to hear back from a few auditions so send good vibes!

Off to Los Angeles!!!!!!!

Short Film :)

So I’m finally on spring break this week, thank God! The only problem is that I have to take drivers education classes every morning for 4 hours. It’s awful.

On the other hand, I found out yesterday that I booked a short film :) Hooray! I’m being flown out to Los Angeles at the beginning of May to film for a little over a week. It’s a cute story about the relationship between a sister and brother.

I’m getting ready right now to record an audition for the show Army Wives. Fun fun.
Happy spring break!

Los Angeles

Two weeks ago I was flown out to Los Angeles for a callback for a new tv show. Out of hundreds of girls, it was narrowed down to me and one other girl. To make a long story short, neither of us got the role. When I found out, I was 10% upset and 90% relieved. I had convinced myself that it was an amazing role for me when in the end, it really wasn’t. The project itself was exciting but the character didn’t exactly speak to me.

While I was there, I got to meet the incredible agents in the Los Angeles office of my agency, ICM. I auditioned for amazing new tv pilots and a romantic comedy film. I havn’t heard anything so far, but my fingers are still crossed!

On Friday, I recorded an audition for a new NBC pilot. I sent it in, and the next day, my manager and agent called me saying that the casting team and producers wanted me to test for the role! Testing consists of working with the casting director, possibly the director, and sometimes the writer of the show. They give you notes and feedback for each scene that you have. After the work session, you go audition in front of the whole production team behind the show. It’s pretty intimidating! I had to do that for the callback I had 2 weeks ago. I walked into a small room and found myself auditioning in front of 20-something people. I sat down on the chair facing them and peformed my scenes. After I was finished, I walked out. Simple as that. But let me tell you, it’s not fun. The atmosphere in the room is serious and uptight, at least it was for that audition. But I found out later that night that I was too young for the role. I shrugged it off and moved on! There are bigger and better things out there for me.

But anyways, back to the recent callback I got. I was planning on going back to Los Angeles tomorrow to test for this new show, but my manager emailed me saying I might not have to go. They might test me off of my audition tape I sent in from home. We shall see, we shall see. Personally, I’d rather go audition in person. I always feel it’s best to meet the casting directors and producers face to face. They get to know you better before they cast you. As for now, I’m kind of sitting around my house waiting to hear what I’ll be doing this week!

P.s. Has anyone seen the new NBC show SMASH? I love it!!!!!

Will post about Los Angeles hopefully tomorrow. I spent over 6 hours doing homework tonight so I didn’t get around to it.

Sleep tight!