Getting Representation

Well it's been a couple of weeks since I last posted. I have been doing some meetings, so I've held off on posting something till I knew what was happening for sure. This month I've been working on getting some representation.

I met with a manager named Ross Brown. The only reason he met with me is because he's talking to my roommate and one day he called the apartment and I answered and he ended up asking me what I did and eventually asked me to send him my headshot and resume. About a week later he called and set up an appointment for me to go in and read for him.

So I went in and did 3 cold-readings. It's pretty safe to say he was unimpressed. Basically, I was told that he doesn't think I'm "there" yet to where I need a manager. I agree with this, because I personally don't think you need a manager until you have an actual career to manage. Otherwise, you're giving away an extra 15% that you could have kept yourself. However, I hadn't gotten any calls from any agents yet, so I figured if you wanted to represent me, it'd be better than nothing, plus he could help refer me to an agent. So besides telling me that I didn't do a good read, because I wasn't bold enough in my reading, he said that I needed to lose weight because I would only get certain parts being my size. Personally I thought the read was decent, not fantastic, but decent for the parts I was reading for. I haven't done theatrical acting in quite awhile, so I know I'm rusty, and could use some acting classes to get back to par. As far as the weight thing, I've lost about 50 pounds this past year, so I'm definitely going towards losing weight, but being big right now seems to have worked out as far as getting commercials, so I think it might help being big as I start out.

So I got the typical, I'll think about it and give you a call. Have I received a call? No. Oh well, since I didn't submit to him on my own, I see it as nothing gained, nothing lost. At least I do as I cry in my pillow at night screaming for Ross Brown to call me.

Later that week I met with my first agency, Commercial Talent. I was referred to this agency by a friend of mine who also is represented by them. I met with one of the partners, Sheila, and did a good read for them. The next Tuesday they called and told me they like to sign me. On Wednesday, however, I had a meeting with the Jana Luker Agency, who I was referred to by my comedy coach, Barb North. After meeting with Kathy Keeley, I decided to sign with them over Commercial Talent, because they seem like a smaller agency, so I'd get more attention, plus they have a Theatrical branch that I'd like to sign with eventually. Right now I'm just signed through their commercial side.

So I now have commercial representation through the Jana Luker Agency. I'm happy with myself, because it only took 3 months to get an agent, which is a lot sooner than lots of people take to get agents in LA. Once pilot season is over, I hope to land Theatrical representation, so that I can be sent out on TV show and Film auditions, instead of just commercials.

Besides that, I also have new color headshots. Woohoo. For some reason, Black and White headshots are out of style in LA and so I don't want to see like a newcomer with my Black and Whites.

Comedy wise, I've performed at least once every week in March. I did a show that is filmed for Sprint, AT&T, and T-Mobile phones. They play one minute clips of comedy every day on their web-phones. Hopefully they buy some of my jokes so that I can have some kind of income rolling in. Sadly, the only money I've made this year is through gambling and turning tricks on Sunset. Apparently, people my size ARE in demand, so take that Ross Brown.

I also did a show for Premiere Radio. So be sure to check out www.premrad.com under their comedy link. Hopefully they'll have some of my bits on their sometime in the future.

Next month I'm taking off from comedy and will be doing some traveling with my homeboy who just got back from Iraq. He was in Iraq for the last 8 months. I told him to be careful on which Carnival Cruise he selected, but no, he had to take the one that was the cheapest, and look at his luck, he gets stuck in Iraq on a cruise for 8 months. Naw, I was attempting a joke there, but I'm too lazy to be creative and funny. He was there in the military.

So that's my life this past few weeks. I got an agent, was turned down by a manager, and got some pretty new pictures taken of me. I was worried at first when the photographer asked me to take my top off, but he assured me that it would be tasteful, so I agreed.