Just a Week in the Life

This week gets mixed reviews from me. Part of it was good and part a little disheartening. I finally got my feedback from the agent audition. It is as follows:

Agent 1: I look like an actor and have a good headshot, rates me at a 5 out of 10 and said “nice job, keep at it.”

Agent 2: I look like an actor and have a good headshot, gives me a 5-8 (ready to compete) and said “good scene.”

Agent 3: I look like an actor but my headshot is not expressive enough, gave me a 6 out of 10 and said “cute, bright quality.”

I do not know which agent it which. Overall I am pleased with the feedback. I was a little disappointed that they did not provide more feedback, but usually with these auditions they don’t give you any. I hope to eventually get to the 9-10 range, but will take better than average at this point, especially coming from big time agents.

Not so great part of my week: the girl I rear ended filed an insurance claim, and a part that I got called back for and was certain I got I didn’t get. It all comes with the territory.

Random part of my week: a man who always comes into my work came up to me today and said “Sometimes you are so serious it makes me want to laugh. I can’t tell where things are changing for you cause you go from really serious to really happy; I can’t figure out your creative mind.” My boss says he is a director, but can’t remember if he directs for film or stage. Anyway I thought that his observation was pretty good, I usually can’t tell myself where the change comes from.

Hope you are having a good day!!

http://www.alissachristensen.com

Poll!!!

Who do I look most like? I have been compared to all three in the last month, just wondering what the general consensus is. Mary Louise Parker, Jennifer Jason Leigh, or Ally Sheedy? All the people commenting said I look like young versions of these actresses. Email me or comment and let me know!!

http://www.alissachristensen.com

alissa@alissachristensen.om

Random news

Andrew and I went and signed up for the Sandie Alessi Casting Agency today. Let the extra/background work begin!!

Random info: I rear ended someone yesterday, it was scary. The traffic here is crazy, it will be going normal speed and then for no reason at all just stop. Luckily I saw the car in time to slam on my breaks and only hit her going maybe five miles and hour. It was still pretty impactful, but nothing serious. No damage to either car yay. The girl was really nice, she was my age and she took down my info said she would only use it if she had to, but that she didn't think she would. All in all if that is the worst it is going to be I will be thankful. Hopefully that gets my car incidents out of the way here in Cali.

Also want to let you know that I have been auditioning like crazy, mostly for student films. It has been great to have so many auditions

That is all.

http://www.alissachristensen.com

Agent Audition

The agent audition was awesome. It was so nice to get up and act in front of people and get some real feedback.

I found out that the casting director we initially auditioned with really likes me. I guess when Andrew, Nick, and Brandon went in for their second interviews to go over the process he talked about me positively to all three of them. This is great!! I have somehow managed to catch the attention of a professional in the acting industry in less than two months of being in LA. He compared me not only to a young Ally Sheedy but also to a young Jennifer Jason Leigh and Diane Lane. I’m not complaining.

We were told to show up an hour and a half before the actual audition so that we could get our sides, scene partners, and then rehearse. I was given a scene about a twenty two year old singer trying to get a producers attention, and the producer treats me horribly. Not a bad scene, I got to freak out at the end. I wasn’t too impressed with me scene partner he was mumbling a lot.

While I was rehearsing that scene the casting director came out and asked me if I would kill him if he gave me another scene. I was stoked, now I would get not only two chances to show the agents what I can do but I would have the opportunity to show more diversity. I was paired with an older man, who again I was terribly impressed with, he also mumbled. This scene was for a woman in her forties, I think someone may have not shown up to the audition and that is why he needed me to fill in. This scene was much more dramatic.

The agents got to the theatre and we went up one after another and did our scenes. I felt really good about my scenes. I was in the moment and excited. Andrew was awesome. His scene partner was a little stilted, but he was in it. Brandon had a great scene and really good chemistry with his partner, and Nick was also good but I felt that the scene he was given wasn’t very good for showing off his abilities.

After we were done the agents got up and did a Q&A. They mentioned that they rarely represent someone who was not already SAG eligible. So, now I have my next step. I must become SAG eligible. I am going with Andrew to sign up for a casting agency that focuses on extra work so that I can get my SAG vouchers!!! This is a wonderful journey.

Acting update

Acting update: I didn’t get that student film, it sucks but it happens. Now I just move onto the next audition.

My friends Brandon and Nick have the same manager out here and she told them of an audition to go to. It was a prescreening with a casting director to get invited to audition in front of an agents from each of the three top theatrical agencies in LA (Talent Works, Diverse Talent Group, and Abrams).

Nick called Andrew and I after they audition and told us about it so we could also audition. We called in right away and got an audition time. The audition was great. I really enjoyed the casting director; he knows what a good casting director should do, make the actor comfortable the get the best performance out of them.

He kept going on and on about how he thinks I look like Ally Sheedy from The Breakfast Club. Don’t know if that is true but he certainly felt that way, he even pulled up a picture of her on the internet during the audition. He also told me I have a good fresh young clean look. He really liked my headshot. It was so nice to finally get feedback from someone who is actually successful and working daily in the acting industry. This man is a casting director who is currently casting shows. So just meeting with him and getting seen by him could turn out to be a huge networking opportunity.

Andrew, Nick, Brandon and I all made it to the audition for the agents. I was a little skeptical with all of us making it, but their manager said that other clients of hers didn’t make it and that the casting director really likes actors with theatre background.

I am super excited for the audition and the opportunity. The audition is this next Tuesday so I will definitely keep you updated. Wish me luck!

Go to my website http://www.alissachristensen.com

Ok, so it has been a busy week and I haven’t had time to write. I will try to update briefly.

I have been working more consistent shifts at Starbucks. I am starting to get the hang of it, but still feel at times I’m letting everyone down. I just need to remember that I have only been working there for three weeks, it’s ok that I don’t know everything perfectly yet.

I also started an experiment. There is such a stereotype about girls in LA. All girls are supposed to be really thin with big boobs and blonde hair to be successful. I wanted to see if I would be treated differently based on just one of those factors. Would people treat me differently with blonde hair? So I bought a long blonde wig and wore it out. The larger breast experiment is yet to come.

Side note: I bought my wig at the same place Britney Spears bought her wigs after she shaved her head. I thought that was kind of funny.

I went out with some friends to The Grove. The experiment didn’t go as well as I had hoped. I didn’t really interact with people just walking around the mall. I thought a bar might be a better place to interact, but I was with such a large group that no one approached us. I need to find a way to go out with the wig to a place where I really interact with people to see if there is a difference in the way I am treated.

The experiment continues.

Family

I got to see my sister today!!! She came to Cali with her husband and two kids for a week vacation. They started down in San Diego and came up to Universal Studios today. It was so nice to be around family.

They came to see my apartment this morning and then I took them to the Starbucks where I work. My niece really wanted to go to the psychic book store down the street so I took her there. Her reactions to it were so funny; she was slightly freaked out by the sticks with skulls on the top and the naked statues… hahaha.

After the visit to Starbucks and the book store they went to Universal Studios. I was going to go with them until I found out it cost a pretty penny to get in.

Once they were finished at Universal Studios I went to dinner with them at a 50’s restaurant named Mel’s. I was so nice having time to just sit and talk with her and the family.

I am so glad that my sister and I are starting to reconnect. We got really close about eight years ago, but then I went off to college and she got married and had a baby. We haven’t taken the time to build that relationship back up since then. The funny thing is that up until I moved here we worked at the same company for a year and a half, and we still didn’t find time.

We both decided during the visit that we want to have that close relationship again. So, starting today, we begin anew. We are even trying to plan a girls weekend where she would fly out here and we would spend two days laying by the pool and getting massages. I would love it so much.

It’s been a very good day.

Side note: I had an audition yesterday for a student film, and I am feeling really really good about it. I will find out by Wednesday. Wish me luck.

Friends:)

I went out this weekend with some new friends I made at work. I’m so excited to have friends here, it isn’t nearly the same as it is with my friends at home yet, but it is a network of people who understand. We went to see Earth. I was really excited to see the movie after watching the entire Planet Earth series. I was disappointed in the movie for the simple fact that it was just segments from the series put together in a movie. Still beautiful and impressive, but the same thing I have already seen.

All four of us that went out are actors. Sean is in his sixties and extremely talkative, probably the most talkative person I have ever met., but very sweet. Sam is nineteen and moved here from Colorado last August. Amalia is twenty six and moved here four years ago from Indiana.

One of the things I love about this place is the diversity; everyone I meet is from somewhere other than here. There is so much to learn from this great melting pot; the longer I am here the more I am appreciating what LA is.

Bread

So yesterday was my first time making bread from scratch.

It is a long laborious task, which I thouroughly enjoyed.

Plan to make much more bread in the future.

Hope future loaves will turn out better and not taste like yeast...yuck haha. It was my first try.

Recycling

Let’s talk recycling. I really like recycling; I think it is something we should all try to do as part of our duty to save the planet. Where I lived in Utah we had recycling at out houses, one bin for garbage one for recycling. These bins would be picked up by the city and taken to their respective facilities.

Here in Cali we don’t have the same recycling service. What I did find was a small recycling station in the parking lot of a nearby grocery store. Here is what I noticed on my recycling trip.

• Hours 8am-5pm, closed Mondays.

• Must recycle one piece at a time into a little conveyer…long lines and old men
• Apparently we can only recycle small glass bottles, aluminum cans (with the exception of slim fast cans), and small plastic containers, which doesn’t include yogurt containers. What happened to cardboard and paper?
• A big locked garbage can, had to carry all of what we couldn’t recycle back home to throw away.
• You get paid for each thing they accept, we made a total of $.35
  
  

Here is the bag full of what we had to take home and throw away, all of it being paper or cardboard.

Here is what we attempted to recycle, only a small portion of which ended up being acceptable.

Here is me…“What?”

Now the hunt continues to find a recycling place that will actually accept a broader range of items.

Things are falling into place

Guess where I got a job!!! Starbucks:) One 0f Forbes top 100 companies to work for. http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/bestcompanies/2009/full_list

I started training this week and am really excited to have a job I won't hate. My co-workers are very nice and helpful; there are some definite characters. I’m a little overwhelmed with all of the information I have to learn, but that is the same with any new job. Once I get some good practice I will be a drink making master. I will normally be working opening shifts, which means I will have to be to work at 4:15am.

I would consider myself a morning person, but someone who wakes up at 3:45am to go to work is not a morning person, that is a middle of the night person. The nice thing is that it will give me the whole rest of the day to work on auditions or anything else I want.

I’m so excited to finally start building some stability here.

I had three auditions this week. The first of many auditions I will hopefully be going on here. I auditioned for an agent, a theatre production, and a student film.

The agency was the Colleen Cler agency http://www.colleencler.com/. Both Andrew (boyfriend) and I were asked to come in at 11am on Tuesday morning. We thought it would just be the two of us, but in reality it was about fifteen people. We all got a chance to introduce ourselves and then we had to read a 30 sec commercial. The woman we were auditioning for was giving everyone comments like "now do it as if you were a valley girl," and the like. Well, we get to me and she says "pretend you are applying for a job, but you are anxious and nervous visibally." First of all when I go in for job interviews in real life I am anxious and nervous, but I always present myself professionaly. Second, I didn't know what she was looking for, so I was a little frustrated. My main focus became just making my second read much different than my first read. Overall, I did the best I could.

Andrew did really well, he had everyone laughing. We should find out yes or no tomorrow.

The theatre audition was very interesting. The director had us get up on the stage one at a time and say whatever we wanted for two minutes, and that was our audition. It was complete improv. I went in planning to sing and ended up talking about moving to California and the different jobs I have worked. There are some really strange individuals in this world. Lets just say I heard some crazy stories at that audition.

The student film was also an odd audition. The sides they sent were a giant action scene, no dialouge. I was extremley curious to see what the audtion would consist of. I kept having this image of me trying to act out a death scene by myself, which, of course, would look ridiculous...(punching) "take that you imgainary killer."

Let me preface this next part by saying that I am not a physically aggressive person in any way. I have never hit, kicked, or even spit on anyone intentionally.

When I got to the audtion I found out that they were pairing one man and one woman and having them audition together. They would put the two individuals on either side of the room, and would then telll the woman her goal was to get to the other side of the room while the man's goal was to keep her from getting there. Needless to say I was nervous, nervous, nervous. It didn't help that everyone coming out of the room after the audition looked exhausted and upset.

I was the last person to audition and when it came to my turn there was only me and one other girl there. They brought us both into the room and said "ok, you are both the victim and you each think that the other person is the killer, so you will fight each other." This makes no logical sense. If we each thought the other person was the killer we would just run away from each other, but whatever.

So here I am at my second audition in LA and I have to get into a girl fight; it was scary. We were pushing each other and screaming. I left that audition shaking...I hope not all auditions here are crazy.