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July 31, 2007
Hi. Howd'yado?
So... we've been orbiting around the right and perfect Cricket Feet, Inc., logo for, er, the better part of the whole five years we've been a corporation.
But it wasn't 'til our stars alligned with the most wonderfulestness of Colleen (CoCo) Wainwright, AKA the Communicatrix that we were introduced to this:
And, I'm sorry, but if there's a logo by which you should be inspired, it is THIS ONE. Holy crap. It *is* US. Wow!
So, we've been sitting on this for a few months while we neared our five-year anniversary as a corporation (now: July 2007), and well, it's time. Here she is: our "howd'yado" reboot of the Cricket Feet experience.
Whaddaya think?
PS--Probably one of my favorite days ever. Cast THREE MORE famous effin' people in this film and hired our seriously rockstar director for the November showcase. Ahh... lovin' it. LOVE-IN-IT!
Posted by bonnie at 11:09 PM | Comments (3)
July 30, 2007
Well, I needed that! (Uma update... with video)
WOW!
Usually I post the Uma Updates without commentary, but this one really, really got me. Somewhere around videos three and four I just lost it. I am soooooo proud of Uma and the progress she has made. She is doing SO WELL!!! And she sounds fantastic too. Oh, our sweet, darkerUma is just AMAZING. She's a miracle!
So, I wanted to post both to share the below update and links *and* to again say thank you to everyone of my friends and family who reached out--without even knowing Uma, or John, or Erik--and made donations to The Uma Fund earlier this year. You all helped something really phenomenal happen. And it continues to happen every day.
Bless you ALL.
-Bon.
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Dear friends,
My apologies if you've sent an email recently and I haven't replied to it. I'm way behind on my email replies!
Below, you'll find a detailed Uma update from John. But I'm going to start with a quick Cliff's Notes version because I want to ask you all to do some more visualizing, and the sooner the visualizing the better. Uma's getting an angiogram tomorrow morning (Monday, July 30), which is basically a scan of her brain to check out a portion of her aneurysm which appears to be bulging out of the coils that were originally inserted to contain her aneurysm. Please visualize this angiogram going well, and any procedures that might follow the angiogram going well too. Uma's kinda nervous about this trip to the hospital because it's the first big hospital visit she's had since she's been completely conscious of all of the things she's going through.
So send some good thoughts her way, if you will. Thank you…
Now here's John's latest update, with more detailed info about what this angiogram means:
===========
Hello everyone,
Uma and I are sitting in a doctors office wating for
her pre-op tests. It's friday.
She was approved for medi-cal earlier this month and I
remembered that, at one point, in NY, we had contacted
Dr. Wouter Shevienk, the director of the Maxine Dunitz
Neurosurgical Institute and he agreed to accept her as
a patient provided she was a qualified medi-cal
person. So....on Wednesday I called and asked if she
could see him. They set up an appointment for
yesterday, Thursday, and decided, after reviewing
films and charts from NY, that she needs another
angiogram to verify the efficacy of the coils clotting
her aneurysm.
Today we are having tests done to make sure she's ok
physically to have the angiogram and, possibly, more
coiling on Monday. On Monday, there are three
possibilities - 1) that she would not have any
problems and go home 2) that she would have a problem
that can be fixed by coiling and they would do that
then 3) that she would have problem that cannot
permanently be resolved through coiling and would
require "clipping", which would be done at a later
date.
Coiling is the placement of microscopic platinum coils
in the "dome" of the aneurysm to assist the body in,
usually, a permanent clot. This is done through a
femoral artery catheter and is not considered a
surgical or invasive procedure. This is what they did
for her in NY. The risks of this procedure are that
coils can loosen up, allowing blood to flow again into
the dome of the aneurysm or that the cois can actually
slip out of the dome and into the blood vessel which
can cause an inappropriate clot or stroke. These
things are unlikely but they do happen. Coils are not
always a permanent solution to an aneurysm and require
that she get checked regularly thoughout the year.
Clipping is an invasive surgery. They cut into her
cranium, locate the aneurysm and clip the "neck" of it
with a tiny titanium clip. This is considered a
permanent fix to the aneurysm if done without
complications in the surgery. The risks involved in
clipping are the same with any cranial surgery as well
as problems with the invasive quality of the
procedure. Any time you stick things in the brain you
can have swelling, vasospasm, stroke, memory loss,
speech problems, blurred vision, headaches, infection,
paralysis, etc. These complications are lessened by
the fact that she is not in the middle of her
aneurysm breaking. It's not an emergency.
She just went in for the chest x-ray. Earlier this
morning she had the other normal tests and she's ok to
go.
I was up last night, unable to sleep, thinking about
the options here. The idea that we could have a
permanent fix is very attractive. The idea that she
could possibly be set back in her speech or physical
therapy due to complications of clipping is
heartbreaking. She has come so far and I don't want to
see any of that amazing work compromised.
It's now sunday morning. I think I was avoiding
finishing this email because there is a part of me
that, honestly, doesn't want to face more
hospitalization for her. I thought it enough that she
would be in intensive rehab for more than a year. This
latest has brought back a lot of resentment on the
part of the doctors in NY. Why they never bothered to
tell us about this I don't know. Maybe tomorrow, after
her angiogram, we'll find out why they never told us
about it. Though it doesn't always help to look back
on things, I wonder where we would be in our lives now
if hadn't been looking through her chart and found
this report about the remnant of aneurysm. But as long
as we have to face this, then we might as well face
the whole picture which includes how we'll view, in
ten years, whatever hardship she's about to endure. If
surgery, exluding complications, then we have reason
to breathe a bit easier in terms of recurrance. Also,
and I hope I haven't said this about other situations,
I believe we are in really good hands. Cedars Sinai
and these physicians have an excellent reputation.
That and my informed questions and proper responses to
the answers are what we can do, physically, to help
her.
And now I want to ask all of you to pray for and think
of her tomorrow, Monday morning. We check in at 7:30am
and, at some point later, they take her back. People
are always reminding me to take care of myself. I've
found that this is often a spiritual thing, even if
I'm just going for a run to keep my first heart attack
at arms length. I'm thinking that one great prayer is
the one where you take extra good care of yourself (on
Monday morning) in honor of Uma and, of course,
yourself. Do something beautiful for yourself or
because of yourself and send that love past Uma on the
way to its final destination. For what it's worth, I
truly believe all the people who helped in this way
saved her life. I believe in it and I believe in you.
Thank you.
Recently Erik sent an email with video links to people
who donated to Uma. I don't think he'll mind if I send
the link to everyone. So here they are....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNPsSaG7nMw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbINlKh8fbU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UY1wYo5Ti38
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_ejiZyF--g
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHsrhSQo_XA
Also, I've set up a myspace page for Uma that is
including photos and video of her progress so far. As
often as I can, I will update this.
http://www.myspace.com/umaspace
Thank you for Monday.
Love,
John
===========
Okay, this is Erik again. I really like the paragraph in John's email where he talks about how doing something for yourself is a way that you can take care of Uma. I like it because it's a "task" and it's been awhile since we've sent out an Uma task. And we've seen that these tasks result in good things. Change, progress, health. So it's time for another task, dammit. Like John said, please take a moment (or several moments!) to do something for yourself today.
- Get a massage.
- Make out with someone you love.
- Take an extra hour at lunch and go frolic on the beach.
- Whatever. Anything. Just something good, something you love, something that makes you feel intensely happy.
And while you're filling yourself with happiness, please send some of that energy Uma's way.
Thank you.
with love,
Erik
Posted by bonnie at 12:39 AM | Comments (0)
July 29, 2007
The Actors Voice, 7/30/07
Hi Everyone!
Here's how tomorrow's The Actors Voice starts out.
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The Big Lies
Well, this always makes me nervous but it also almost always turns out to be a good decision. My column was 80% finished and then I came up with a new idea... so I tossed out the old column (don't worry, it'll get finished up and used later, I'm sure) and here I am with loads of enthusiasm and very little time to churn out a piece about Hollywood's biggest lies. No, I'm not talking about the ones like: Sylvester Stallone is 5' 10" or Joe Pytka is a pussycat or Lindsay Lohan's rehab is working. I'm talking about the lies actors are told every day as they pursue their dreams.
Well, call me The Myth Buster, because I'm goin' in. And I'm taking no prisoners.
===========
Continue reading this column in the morning, along with a Your Turn about whether an actor should terminate her contract with a manager before it's too late at Showfax.com.
And!!
Be sure to visit The Actors Voice: POV on Wednesday for a POV from a Sacramento-based casting director.
Woo hoo!
As always, THANK YOU for reading!
Cheers,
-Bon.
Live your dreams! If you don't, someone else will.
Posted by bonnie at 5:33 PM | Comments (0)
July 28, 2007
My Superpower Should Be...
Yeah, it's lame to make my first blog post in days a super-quick silly quiz, but here it is.
| Your Superpower Should Be Mind Reading |
 You understand people better than they would like to be understood. Highly sensitive, you are good at putting together seemingly irrelevant details. You figure out what's going on before anyone knows that anything is going on! Why you would be a good superhero: You don't care what people think, and you'd do whatever needed to be done Your biggest problem as a superhero: Feeling even more isolated than you do now |
Sooooooo busy. I love it. I'll check in next week at some point. I promise! *beams*
Posted by bonnie at 5:19 PM | Comments (1)
July 24, 2007
Casting Announcement!
Yippee!
As if today couldn't get any cooler.
Welcome Ernest Borgnine (*ahem* Oscar-winning Ernest Borgnine) in the starring role of FRANK in Another Harvest Moon.
Oooooh, I'm just so flippin' ecstatic!
I love today. *beams*
Posted by bonnie at 4:04 PM | Comments (5)
Good LORD, this is COOL!
We currently have 273 RSVPs for three nights of the Cricket Feet Showcase. Last night, we had to email 92 people to let them know there's little chance they'll get seated.
Why? Well the theatre seats 66. AND 181 OF OUR RSVPS ARE FROM FULL-ON INDUSTRY. (Even William Morris, y'all.) And, if last time was any indication, we'll have MORE RSVPs for Thursday come in tomorrow because folks who saw the show tonight will go to work and talk about it...
Sheesh, I am sooooooooooo excited! Yippee!
Gotta go. Still tons to do. I'm just way way way happy. Holy cow!! Six months ago, producing a showcase was just a DREAM!
Posted by bonnie at 12:08 PM | Comments (2)
July 20, 2007
"Toe thumb! Toe thumb! Toe thumb!"
So, I'm sitting on the sofa doing showcase stuff.
Keith says something sassy.
I threaten the same torture we offer the cats. (This would be a spritz from the water bottle.) Of course, I happen to shoot a little stream of water onto Keith's head from afar. He is up and out of his chair in a heartbeat.
"Oh, okay!" he says, as he's running over to start kissing on me, sitting on me, wrestling, playing.
As he plops down, he lands on the sofa cushion under which my left foot is lodged. My big toe is folded under and his weight is causing, um, pain. But we're playing and giggling and flirting and I can't find my WORDS.
So, I scream out, "Toe thumb! Toe thumb! Toe thumb!" (Of course, certain that he'll understand I mean "big toe knuckle" and shift his weight.)
When I finally find my words (in my head), I am giggling fiercely. I point at my big toe knuckle and say, "Toe thumb!" as if he should GET THAT.
And by now we are both laughing so hard that the tears stream down our faces. Unable to catch my breath, I can't answer his question: "Toe thumb?" He keeps repeating that question, because he doesn't know what a Toe Thumb is.
Well of course he doesn't. There is no such thing!! I CAN'T FIND MY WORDS!!!!!!! (The giggles continue.)
That is all.
Posted by bonnie at 7:11 PM | Comments (0)
July 18, 2007
7/13/01
Okay, so... I meant to post a blog entry about 7/13 on 7/13, but I was kind of busy. Forgive the five-day delay, wouldja? Thanks.
So, on 7/13/01, Keith Johnson and Bonnie Gillespie met in person for the first time.
We had been flirting online for three months or more, by then.
< insert random geeky joke about online romances here >
We actually didn't meet through an online dating service, despite the fact that that's where everyone's mind seems to go, when we say, "We met online in April, 2001."
No. We met on a Yahoo Group.
Not a singles group.
I had been writing for an online humor magazine for a few months (you might recall my snarky column "Don't Get Me Started," in which I bitched about whatever was on my mind each week or so) and Keith had been single for a few months. He met the psycho editor of our 'zine in a gaming forum elsewhere and was invited into our world. (Basically, it went like this: "You've got a sick, twisted sense of humor. You should meet our writers and fans." And he did.)
So, one of the things that happened in our group email exchanges (all in front of the masses, as this was no more than a message board, to me--and you can see how I still do that stuff today to stay in touch with my readers) was that he mentioned wanting to explore "this acting thing."
I told him how to avoid scams, gave him some tips, blah blah blah (same basic stuffs I did for anyone looking to get into this crazy biz, back then when I had time), and we started emailing "off-group."
Uh-oh.
That's where it gets personal. ;)
Well, Keith had been dumped and downsized and had all sorts of free time to email these 24-page romantic sonnets and I swooned as any good southern gal would. ;) Bonus points for proper grammar and spelling, yo. ;)
And we flirted like mad. Because, why not?!? He was in Michigan, for cryin' out loud. I'd never even BEEN to the Midwest except to maybe change planes. What could possibly happen?
Well... I'll tell ya... here's what happened.
We fell in love. Yes. Online. And if you think about it, it makes perfect sense. We fell for each other emotionally, mentally, and spiritually (through emails and phone calls--and yes, he had the advantage, seeing my photo running with my column), and that meant the only way we didn't KNOW we dug each other was physically, and dangit that's the easiest one to figure out. You see each other in person and either you're hot for one another or you're not.
So...
July 2001, I proposed a meeting. Keith was going to travel to SLC for a geeky computer thing and I, as a freelance employee of The Sundance Institute, could easily make a business trip out of the weekend as well. So, why not? Let's meet on neutral ground.
Neither of us wanted a relationship. He was still healing from a broken marriage. My mother had just passed away and I was rebuilding myself. It was a total rebound recipe.
But we decided... what the fuck. Let's do it.
July 13, 2001, I landed in SLC. This was pre-9/11, so I could meander through the airport for the three hours before Keith's plane landed. I walked past the lovely view of snow-capped mountains, saying to myself (or to Mom), "Sheesh! Can you believe I'm here?!?" and then I felt my mom say, "Yeah. Of course. I sent you here."
I had a posse of girls back in LA ready to execute extraction plans if he turned out to be a psycho. (Yeah, I had done a complete background search on him and his ex... and there were details most folks would be uncomfortable having available ready for the extraction plans, should I say the code word when I called in from the road. My girls said they felt like Charlie's Angels--and I loved that. Folks say, "Oh, that's so smart of you to head out having done so much research on someone!" And I say, "Hey, my mom didn't raise any dummies. Well... yeah, she did, but those are my brothers." Heh heh.)
Point is, I was doing something totally stupid (potentially), but I wasn't going into anything without a plan in place. (I'm all about the "what ifs.")
So, my heart is leaping out of my chest. I've just flown to another state to meet some random guy I've been flirting with online for a few months. OF COURSE, he's the last one to get off the plane. And he's in Dockers pulled up way too high and he's carrying three Microsoft manuals under his arms.
I'm in love.
It's him. I know it. Yeah. This is it.
Holy fuck. I'm looking at my future and here it is. Geekalicious.
So, he and I walk through the terminal holding hands and smiling at each other like we both have too many teeth.
He heads to the rental car counter and I head for the pay phone to make my first of the planned phone calls to "my angels." I say, "Oh my GOD. It's him." And Faith says, "What? He's crazy? He has an axe? Are you okay? Say the word!" And I say, "No, cousin. It's fine. I'm in love."
And we show up to our hotel room--YES, we had reserved two rooms in case we didn't click--and there's three white roses and a bottle of champagne.
Now, I don't know how much you know about Salt Lake City, but having a bottle of champagne in a hotel room is a pretty fucking pimp move, for that location. Bonus points for Keith, for damn sure!
Anyway, it was a lovely Friday the 13th, that July 2001.
And after that, I traveled to Michigan (McChicken) to meet Keith's son and spend a week in his world (at which point I established that there is not enough vodka on the planet for me to live outside a major city--I used to think that I'd grown up in a small town, AKA Atlanta, and then I realized that there are places in this country where I could *never* live simply because it is NOT important to me that butter is on sale at the Meier or that "scrapbooking" is a verb). I prepped Keith to audition for a play at the community theatre in Grand Rapids, and he booked the role and... well... the rest is a story for around October-ish.
Suffice it to say that July 13th is a pretty cool anniversary in my life.
It's when my decision to give a guy a chance lasted more than a few months (seriously--I've run every amazing guy in my life away in a really short period of time) and when a guy decided to give up a decade of one lifestyle to choose another that seems to be working pretty dang okay.
Yeah, it's easy to say he's got the good end of the deal, but y'know what? I'm grateful for Keith a whole dang lot. Yeah, he's a man-child, but what man isn't? I'm impossible to live with and fully expected to run him off within weeks.
Six years. So far, so good.
Posted by bonnie at 4:43 AM | Comments (6)
July 15, 2007
The Actors Voice, 7/16/07
Hi Everyone!
Here's how tomorrow's The Actors Voice starts out.
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Trust That You're Enough
My husband and I have a relationship that is built on two fundamental principles. One: Always trust that we each have the other's best interests at heart (that way, even when we're fighting, we know it's because we both want a result that improves our relationship or current situation). Two: Always go for the funny. (I tend to argue that that last one is the more important of the two, but it's really because of the first one that the last one works so well.) The idea is that, if there is a joke to make, you'd better take the shot (even at the other's expense). That keeps us laughing, no matter what. Nothing wrong with that.
But this week's column is about the first principle: TRUST. And it's not just trust in an intimate partnership I'm talking about. It's trusting your fellow castmates, trusting your director and producer, trusting your agent and manager, trusting your acting coach, trusting yourself. All while pursuing a career in an industry where self-doubt and cut-throat tendencies seem to rise up. No, it's not gonna be easy, but it sure will be wonderful, once you embrace trust in your career's path.
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Continue reading this column in the morning, along with a Your Turn about the unique issues facing actors of color (Are there any?) at Showfax.com.
And!!
Be sure to visit The Actors Voice: POV for a POV from a very busy TV casting associate.
Woo hoo!
As always, THANK YOU for reading!
Cheers,
-Bon.
Live your dreams! If you don't, someone else will.
Posted by bonnie at 4:57 PM | Comments (0)
July 13, 2007
July 2007 12 of 12
Finally! My 12 of 12 for July is here!
What's 12 of 12? Well, visit the amazing Chad Darnell to find out!
12:03am: Look at these stunning orchids Faith sent me for my b'day! Wow!! So lovely!
3:28am: More birthday flowers. Hee! And the candle Quinn picked out before he left. It smells way yummy. (Almost time for bed, at this point.)
3:28am: Not bed yet... gotta put today's postcards out by the door. We've mailed 680 units to promote the Cricket Feet Showcase by now. Phew!
3:29am: Oh!!! Still not headed to bed. There's Salema in the cubby, so I gotta snap that one too! Note to interns: see, I haven't done ANY sorting/filing since your last visit. ;)
1:16pm: Thwok LOVES bubble wrap. Loves it. Thinks it's an air mattress for her to enjoy.
1:50pm: Time for lunch! Anna Vo hooked me up with rice-flour tortillas last month and I am SET! I have these stuffed with turkey and pepper jack cheese. YUM!
2:59pm: Keith on RED. This thing is soooooo cool.
5:06pm: Dashing out the door for my talk at The Actors' Network, but since Salema is the featured kitty this 12 of 12, I figured one more of her would be fun.
5:50pm: I'm sooooooo bored. We've been in traffic for 45 minutes and have traveled exactly four miles. I am not kidding. So... I discover a spider bite (or something) on my arm. Fun, huh?
BONUS PIC! 6:23pm This month's bonus pic is HOT. Okay, so let me set this up for you... We've now been in traffic for 75 minutes. We *still* haven't made it to the 405 (which is about six miles from our house). Seriously, I have NEVER sat still in traffic for SO LONG. Of course, we're now gonna be late to my talk at TAN. But here's what's HOT... this kid is ROCKING OUT to Yiddish Rap (Hip-hava-nageela, anyone?), BEATING on the outside of his car, driving as far over to the right of the lane as possible, and he *refuses* to pull up whenever traffic begins to roll forward a few feet, because he is SOOOOOOO watching himself in the mirror as he has this private concert going on. He then looks around to see who's watching him (and catches us, here, in the mirror, taking his photo), then watches himself in the mirror some more and blasts the music and rocks the Jew-fro even harder. This guy was HOT. (At least he thought so.) And that's good enough for a bonus pic for me! (Hey, we had to pass the time somehow and this was very entertaining. Traffic sucks!)
8:47pm: So, of course, I forget to take any photos while at The Actors' Network, even though it was a rockstar talk with some of the coolest actors I've met there. And they're in their way cool new digs. I LOVE the new location. It's stunning! Mojitos on the patio soon, Kevin E. ;) So, I snapped a photo of the handwash HAND on Ventura Blvd., as we leave the 818.
11:53pm: One of the actors we saw at TAN was the lovely Ms. Tara Radcliff. She's so dang cool. So, we decided to head to Dan Tana's for a late dinner...
11:54pm: ...and loads of storytelling and gabbing and all that jazz.
So, there ya have it! Another 12 of 12 for you to enjoy. ;) I think I cheated on the last two photos and they were actually taken an hour later than what I've said here (making them officially taken on the 13th), but, eh, it's close enough.
PS--Keith and I met in person in SLC six years ago today. I'm going to post that little story later. Had to get this 12 of 12 up and then back to work. :) Wheeeeee! Happy weekend, everyone. And THANK YOU for all of the wonderful birthday wishes!!!! XO
Posted by bonnie at 12:23 PM | Comments (4)
July 11, 2007
The Sum of All Years: 36
Best of LA, then BBC Breakfast. 35K weekly hits, then THR pilot. Goodbye Roxbury, hello showcase. Westside happy hours became essential as I did more casting, more writing, more epiphany-filled living. Being "thirty silly" rocks!
Posted by bonnie at 1:41 AM | Comments (7)
July 8, 2007
The Actors Voice, 7/9/07
Hi Everyone!
Here's how this week's The Actors Voice starts out.
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The First Thing an Actor Should Do in LA
Over the course of the next few months, I'm going to be bringing some of the chapters from my first book--Casting Qs: A Collection of Casting Director Interviews--here to The Actors Voice. Why? Well, it's a sad time for Casting Qs. It's going out of print. Yup. We did a lot of research before deciding to not create a second edition of my first baby and came to the conclusion that the amount of work required to get its existing interviews updated--not to mention interviewing the new generation of working casting directors in order to really create as useful a book as we'd want the second edition to be--was simply not do-able for me anymore.
Why? Well, when I conducted the interviews for the first edition, I did so as the casting columnist for Back Stage West. It was my job to meet with a different CD each week and compile these interviews to run in the paper over the course of several years. I wasn't yet a casting director. I didn't have a busy calendar of speaking engagements. I hadn't authored several books. I wasn't producing showcases. To publish a book filled with CD interviews when I'd been collecting these columns each week wasn't a tough start-up, really. To update the existing interviews (some of which are as much as seven years old, now) and conduct new interviews, I would have to--for no pay--return to an interviewer lifestyle and stop casting, producing, and speaking, as well as ceasing to write this weekly column, The Actors Voice: POV, and my next book.
Frankly, going back to the interviewer lifestyle while leaving behind the very cool stuff I love doing every day just doesn't seem like much fun to me. I'd rather help get casting directors to share their thoughts with you as contributors of POV, as guests at my various speaking engagements, even as co-hosts of my various podcast and web-based TV projects that are currently in development. Am I sad that there will be no more Casting Qs for folks to buy in stores or browse at libraries? Yes. Very. I'm especially sad because it has become a required textbook at many colleges and universities, and that's the kind of thing that I know would've made my mother so very, very proud. And maybe there will be a time when I can take an unpaid three months off from everything else and go around collecting new interviews and publish a new version of Casting Qs. Until then, I'm going to do what I can to bring some of the content over here, to The Actors Voice, so you will be able to search out and read the information when you no longer have the option of getting the book.
Thank you all for indulging me! We're going to start out with a revamped version of The First Thing an Actor Should Do in LA--a chapter in which 15 casting directors originally participated, a few years back. I've added in content from other previous casting director interviews to really round this piece out. So, the eight key ingredients to success in this market are: Stay Focused, Be Prepared, Get Training, Have Great Headshots, Work a Survival Job, Do Theatre, Find Good Representation, and Network. Let's get to it!
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Continue reading this column, along with a Your Turn follow-up on last week's piece at Showfax.com.
As always, THANK YOU for reading!
Cheers,
-Bon.
Live your dreams! If you don't, someone else will.
Posted by bonnie at 10:37 PM | Comments (2)
July 6, 2007
fun stuff (a BB exclusive)
I'm on the Oxy campus (sitting b/w the fountain + gym steps--where Brandon used to show up to flirt w/ Lucinda Nicholson or to tutor D'shon Hardell), way early for my speaking gig this morning.
I am endlessly amused by the 90210 exteriors + entertained by hummingbirds dive-bombing one another.
Drive to Eagle Rock was insanely speedy.
Quinn + his dad are out w/ "Aunt Liz" and Adam. Man, I wish that kid didn't have to go so soon. We have the BEST time.
Reporting from the still-unnamed BlackBerry, I'm days-away-from-37-Bon. ;)
--
Bonnie Gillespie (via BlackBerry)
http://cricketfeet.com
http://more.showfax.com/columns/avoice
"If I had known how popular going into casting would make me, I would've done it in high school."
Posted by bonnie at 8:38 AM | Comments (3)
July 5, 2007
My New Favorite Song
It's a Michael Jackson/Queen mashup and I love, love, love it. Can't get it out of my head.
(And be sure to get to the first "chorus" to get really hooked... stay for the bridge. Hell, listen to the whole thing over and over again like I have done. It's just so dang cool.)
I'm also slightly crazy in love with this Pink/Salt-N-Pepa mashup.
That is all.
Posted by bonnie at 3:29 PM | Comments (3)
July 2, 2007
Three Geeky Things
1. Last night I made a really yummy Zucchini Gratin. YUM!
2. Self-Management for Actors is apparently huge in China.
3. My new best friend is an iPhone (no, it's not mine; yes, I'm still another couple of years away from splurging on another expensive toy, but MAN is it cool).
Posted by bonnie at 1:49 PM | Comments (6)
July 1, 2007
The Actors Voice, 7/2/07
Hi Everyone!
Here's how tomorrow's The Actors Voice starts out.
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Bringing the Kids Along
Ooh, got a great question from a reader recently.
What is the best way to handle being a mother in this business? I am currently (and surprisingly!) pregnant, and moving to LA in a year. Obviously, my husband and I will have a baby by the time we get there. Is it bad protocol to bring a baby to an audition? I know daycare is the obvious choice, but if I happen to have her for the day...I worked as an actress in Chicago for almost four years and mothers would sometimes bring their children to the auditions, and of course leave them in the waiting room while they went in for auditions. I just wanted to feel out LA before I make any major faux pas.
As for auditions I'm holding, I might not even know that babies are along for the ride much of the time, since many actors--like those you've observed in Chicago--choose to leave their young ones in the waiting room with friends or other family members they have brought along. I would imagine that session runners might have a less-tolerant stance on this sort of thing, simply because of the overcrowding involved, when you show up with an entourage. But the handful of actors who have brought babies into my audition rooms with them have either done just fine or had their focus so completely split that their auditions were blown from the beginning.
Of course, I'm just one CD in a city of 600 of us. And I cast SAG indie feature films. So, what about the other CDs who are casting studio features, TV shows, commercials, theatre, industrials, voiceovers, and so on? Well, for a sense of what the general vibe might be about kids joining their parents at auditions, I decided to check in with a few working actor parents (some whose kids are also actors, others whose are not) and Anne Henry of BizParentz.com for their advice on this issue. Huge thanks to Robert Clendenin, Eitan Loewenstein, James Runcorn, Anna Vocino, and the amazing BizParentz.com for giving us a sense of what's going on in casting offices all over Los Angeles.
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Continue reading this column in the morning, along with a Your Turn about adding video to your Actors Access account after making a submission (and whether the CDs of that submission will be able to see that video) at Showfax.com.
And!!
Be sure to visit The Actors Voice: POV for a wonderful POV from one of LA's top voiceover talents.
Woo hoo!
As always, THANK YOU for reading!
Cheers,
-Bon.
Live your dreams! If you don't, someone else will.
Posted by bonnie at 11:23 PM | Comments (1)