Tools of the Trade: Getting Your SAG Card

It’s a classic catch-22. How do you get a role in a feature film? You need a SAG card. How do you get a SAG card? You need to get a role in a feature film.

So you want to be a card-toting, dues-paying member of the Screen Actors Guild. Who doesn’t? Being in SAG means access to roles that actually pay money! But getting into SAG is difficult for one simple reason –

SAG doesn’t want you to get in!

There are already thousands of SAG actors that don’t work consistently. The majority, in fact. Yet every SAG actor has an equal vote in all union issues, most of which don’t apply to them yet. Letting more members into SAG just means more unemployed actors making decisions that affect the small percentage of the membership that actually is working.

So they make it wicked hard to get into SAG. And wicked expensive – initiation fees were $2,277 last I checked. But if you want to move your career forward, getting into SAG is necessary and in my opinion, it can be done.

Here are the ways:

• Taft-Hartley – A fast pass into the ranks. Easier if you’re under 18, a celebrity in a different field (like Jordan Farmar), or if you have a crazy talent like fire-eating that happens to be needed on How I Met Your Mother this week. Make sure your resume lists all your special skills, but only if you can actually do them. Taft-Hartleys seem to be more common in the commercial world, so try to get a commercial agent right away.
  
  
• Background Vouchers – Get with a good call-in service and be professional. Show up on time, bring good wardrobe choices, and stay where you’re supposed to be. 2nd 2nd ADs like actors who listen to them, work hard, and don’t complain.
  
  
• Via AEA or AGVA – Snag a lead role on stage or in a theme park, and a year later you can become SAG Eligible. Disney’s Pixar Parade, anybody?

But most of all, be diligent! It’s a long road, but you’ll get there eventually. If I can do it, so can you! Click here to read Part 2 of this series!

Logo Land

Thought it was time to give my blog a logo. What do you think?

My logo inspiration:


Famima!! With two exclamation points!! One of my favorite places ever!!


This logo will do for now - unless there’s a brilliant graphic designer out there that wants to design a few alternatives for me. Anyone? Bueller?

To Do: Procrastinate and Be Impatient

I’ve accomplished so much today! I’ve done three loads of laundry, emptied the dishwasher, and vacuumed the living room! I even cleaned my keyboard! What haven’t I done yet?

Oh right...

Write.

Procrastination is a sneaky little devil. Disguising itself as productivity, eating up precious hours, slinking into my day and refusing to go away.

Whenever I’m running errands, waiting in line at the post office or stuck in traffic on the 405, I fantasize about writing. I picture myself curled up by the window with my notebook while the words pour out with graceful ease. I’m glowing with creativity. Any man who happened to see me in this state would be immediately drawn to my intensely beautiful aura, stunned by the breathtaking sight of me in my element. It’s an idyllic tableau in my mind’s eye. Me. Writing.

But then I get home and open up said notebook, and I can’t find a comfortable position on the sofa. I have emails to answer and vital Tweets to check. I often end up inspecting my pedicure, reading my past writing, or rambling for a while before drawing a huge X through the page, punctuated by an angry scrawl – “Who cares???”

Procrastination gets the blame, but I know that impatience and self-imposed expectations are my real enemies. The unnecessary demand for results that stunts my creativity and keeps me from diving in without fear.

And then I remember – bird by bird. A brilliant anecdote from Anne Lamott’swonderful book Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life. Any daunting task becomes less daunting when you break it down into pieces. Everything is written one word at a time. One paragraph at a time. One page at a time. Bird by bird.

And then, I write.

Fictionless Friday: An Update

My writing has gone to a dark place. A delightful and delicious dark place. And although I’m enjoying it, I have no idea what happens next.

Two months ago, my writing mentor challenged me to set my fiction writing aside for a while and start writing about myself. To find the material that’s already within me, lying in wait to be discovered.

Didn’t seem like a difficult challenge. If anything, I was game to see what I would find once I dove into the dark recesses of my soul. So I did.

Sixty days later, I have almost 100 pages of material. I’ve written about my family, the pain of being an outsider, the guilt of failed relationships. Tearful and charged words about school picture day and my hatred of eHarmony. I remembered stories about train rides to Kansas and the Sears catalog that I thought I’d forgotten. Gotten angry over casual encounters of the kindergarten kind. It’s been a thrilling trip into my psyche and I’ve enjoyed every minute of it.

But now, when I look at those 100 pages, I don’t have a clue what to do with any of it. How do I take all of my personal junk and use it in my fiction writing? Or my new television pilot ideas?

Putting my stories into my characters would just make those characters sad, pathetic losers. Perhaps that’s simply borne out of self-judgment, but I just don’t see how the dark details of my life can possibly be applicable.

Maybe you think it’s obvious, but I’m still waiting for the click. The ah-ha moment where I see how my personal material can be mined in my fictional narrative.

Established writers always tell me to write what I know, but who wants to see a show about my crazy little life? I don’t know. But until the pieces fall into place in my head, I’ll continue writing about myself. Fictionless and fancy free. We’ll see what happens next.

Emmys 2010 Roundup

I love the Emmys. There are plenty of people in the industry who roll their eyes and sneer at award shows, labeling them self-indulgent, commercial spectacles filled with false self-deprecation and ego. And they are. But I still love watching it.

Because at its core, the Emmys is a celebration of the medium I love so much – television. Viewers are reminded of the exceptional content on TV and incredible talent is acknowledged and honored.

For the people who work in television, the Emmys are a party weekend. TV actresses exchange their H&M for designer gowns and borrowed diamonds. Hardworking TV writers escape the writer’s room and parade the red carpet like movie stars.

And it all gets me excited. I’m excited for people I’ve worked with who are nominated. Excited that I’ve worked on nominated shows. Excited to be a part of such a good-looking, talented community. And I get really excited thinking that someday I’ll be in one of those seats at the Nokia, wishing and hoping they call my name.

No use critiquing the show itself. Award shows are flashy, fleeting entertainment. They’re simply means to an end – a fancy stage presentation for handing out trophies. This year’s show was serviceable with several enjoyable moments.

Until next year’s TV lovefest...

One Line Wonder

“Ever have a bedpan emptied on you?”

My one line in the episode of Lie to Me I shot this week, for which I was in hair and makeup longer than I was on set. Almost 7 years after my television debut on ER, in which I exclaimed,

“I’ve never done a rectal!”

Ah, the joys of playing doctors, nurses, reporters, and other professional characters that exist to support the plot. One line here, two lines there. Nameless faces interacting with the main characters. It’s a fine art to be sure, and I’ve got it down.

And before you think I’m biting the casting hand that feeds me, I am absolutely grateful for every single one of these roles. I know that for every one-line secretary audition I get, there are at least 2,000 other actresses who wanted to get that audition too. But for whatever reason, I got to audition. I got the part. I got to try on Trina Turk and Diane von Furstenberg at my wardrobe fitting, get my hair and makeup done alongside Amanda Peet, and eat endless amounts of chocolate at crafty. I live a blessed, blessed life.

Still, I know that each one of these jobs is just a step towards a shift in my acting career. A shift toward roles where I get to show emotion. Roles in which my character has a name and gets called by that name. Roles that allow me to break top of show. Roles which have more than two lines. A career shift that is coming soon enough – all I need to do is continue to work hard and be patient.

Right now I’m happy to fit whatever stereotype is needed – Asian-American, intelligent, capable (fill-in-the-blank). But I can’t wait for the day when I play someone the audience remembers. Perhaps I’ll be the girl that everyone thinks is the victim at first, but later discovers is the killer! Or perhaps the girl who witnessed a mob hit that needs protection from retaliation. That will be cool.

Tools of the Trade: Online Resume Links

So you say you’re an actor? You want to work in TV and film? Then take this key piece of advice to heart:

Make sure people can find your acting resume online!

A few weeks ago, I was looking for an actor for my short film project. Not a problem, I thought. I know plenty of actors. Just had to check their union status first. So I logged onto Facebook, perusing the profiles of my actor friends, looking for links to their online acting resumes.

And I could barely find any! Their profiles detailed what TV shows they watched, their birthdays and siblings, and all the animals in their fake farm. But rarely did I find a link to their acting resume in the Links section. Rather than send a message and wait for a response, I simply moved on to the next person.

So this is for my actor friends and anyone else out there. Help me help you! After you create your resume on Actors Access or LA Casting, broadcast the link to it any way you can. Put it on your Facebook profile, YouTube channel, blog, email signature – anywhere and everywhere! If you don’t, who knows how many jobs you’re missing out on.

Start broadcasting!