My goodness, it's just all that's on my mind when I show up to blog lately. And that's not to say that it's all that's on my mind in my daily life (HELLO--I received TWO feature film scripts within three hours of one another on Thursday. Time to write up more bids. Getting offers to cast films based on casts of previous films I've been able to bring together... and that's only gonna get more common, as these latest films hit the festival circuit or even *gulp* distribution). But even when I'm thinking about my potential and current casting gigs, I'm thinking about the strike because I'm thinking about the writers of this material... and how the hell do you cast anything, film anything, continue forward with anything when there are tens of thousands of people losing jobs right and left while the producers refuse to come back to the table and negotiate anything?

(And then of course I think about the concept that the producers don't want to negotiate anything right now because they're absolutely thrilled with the idea of letting the writers be the bad guys who shut down Hollywood right now, knowing that if the strike continues for months as it's predicted it will, they'll then come right up against DGA and SAG contract ends and, welp, let's let them strike too and make everyone living outside of Hollywood believe that creatives are a bunch of spoiled brats who don't care if you--the viewer--is subjected to an overdose of reruns and reality TV.)

*sigh*

Just hurts my heart.

And I feel worst for people like my friends on shows that are heavily improvised or at least punched up on the spot (which is anything comedic, basically) because even if they can continue to "honor their contract" as actors by showing up for work, they can't "do their jobs" because if they change a word, they've crossed a picket line for the part of themselves that wears the writer hat.

As a hyphenate, I feel bad for these friends.

And as an observer, I have to say I'm learning a fuckload about character. There are those who will say it's business as usual because dammit, they need to pay their rent, and then there are those who have enormous balls and get themselves fired from their non-union jobs because they want to stand alongside their writer coworkers. I'm a non-union worker from a union family (ask me about my grandfather's federal imprisonment for blowing up powerlines in protest of union busting activity in the copper mines of Tennessee someday--yes, I'm a descendant of a member of The Ducktown 8) and most of my friends in casting--most of them, Teamsters--have had to move away from their regular offices so that actors can come audition without crossing picket lines. I, of course, am married to a SAG member and was not accepted into the CSA when I applied two years ago. And I earn a good living as... a writer.

How conflicted can ya get, right?

But I'm not conflicted. I support this strike.

This strike cut into our showcase attendance (yet we still packed the house each of FOUR performance nights) because agents and managers can't really "shop" for new clients when they can't be sure there's anything on which to send out their current roster. Casting offices are closing up because there are no new scripts to shoot, but why would a CD want to go out and scout when she's trying to figure out how she's gonna meet her staff's payroll next week? Unsure of when she'll be hired to come back and cast the rest of the season?

Ah. I'm so over writing about this because it's all just so frustrating. And others say it so much better, elsewhere. Watch the videos. Read the posts. Read the least producer-funded strike coverage. Join the MySpace. Sign the petition (I'm number 1841, y'all). Walk the line with your fellow creatives and feel that powerful surge of solidarity intersecting with that desperate fear of "How long will this last?" to really get it.

The showcase was outstanding. I have a LOT to blog about the showcase (this whole year of showcasing) here before too long, but not tonight. I also need to blog about our nonaversary, the third edition of Self-Management for Actors, and the next half-dozen films I'm casting.

I can't believe it's November. I can't believe it's double-digits in November already. Good lord, this year... and thank god, y'know? Those of y'nz who follow numerology will enjoy knowing I'm in my "9 year" and that means endings, closing off things, weeding out what's not working to launch into the next nine year cycle with a new perspective and focus. Hell, these past nine years? Wow. Just wow. I had The Age 28 Epiphany, sold everything I owned on eBay, dropped out of my PhD program, and moved to LA to give acting "one last try." That "one last try" lasted 18 months and then Mom was dying and I was writing for a living. "My daughter, the writer," finally came true for her. And I never went back to acting, after having gone home to help her pass away in peace.

That's another blog post for another day.

Tonight, I'm sipping the Bailey's the wonderful showcase cast presented me with last night. It's sweet and warm as it goes down and I guess I need that hug from the inside right now.

When darkness turns to light
It ends tonight,
It ends tonight.
Just a little insight won't make this right
It’s too late to fight
It ends tonight,
It ends when darkness turns to light
It ends tonight,
It ends tonight.
Just a little insight won't make this right
It’s too late to fight
It ends tonight,
It ends tonight.
Tonight,
When darkness turns to light,
It ends tonight.

PS--Not trying to be cryptic or deep, this is just the song that's on my mind right now.

Posted by bonnie at 3:15 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

November 8, 2007

My Nightly Routine

It's quite simple.

Sunday: Showcase dress/tech and preview performance. Come home, read up on the strike, cry.

Monday: Tisch Arts West monologue slam. Come home, read up on the strike, watch strike footage, cry.

Tuesday: Showcase opening night. Come home, read up on the strike, watch strike footage, cry.

Wednesday: Showcase. Come home, read up on the strike, watch strike footage, cry.

And tonight we'll close the showcase. I'll come home, read up on the strike, watch strike footage, and cry.

I can't not cry.

I watch this footage, I read this coverage, and no matter how funny those writers are, no matter how much solidarity I see among actors and writers and show runners, no matter how much pride swells up in me when I see people fighting for something so damn simple as a tiny percentage of profits (so no one is being asked to give up a slice of something without that "something" already equaling a healthy studio and network paycheck), I am left feeling so very sad for how long I fear this thing is going to last.

I hear that outside of Hollywood this is being spun in such an ugly way. Writers are selfish. Writers don't care about their audiences. Writers are greedy.

Dear GAWD, with as much time as I've spent around creative, brilliant people in the past few days alone, I can assure you that writers want to write. We want to create. We love to create. We absolutely would do it for free (and usually do) simply for the joy of it all.

So, the fact that members of the WGA want to protect themselves and future WGA members by having protections put in place for new media that were skimped upon during negotiations for video delivery systems 20 years ago (because it was all "too new" and producers "needed every advantage" to help VHS and then DVD technology launch without being "hobbled" by paying pennies to writers on each sale or rental) to such a great extent that they'll NOT WRITE right now should tell you something.

This is a big deal.

Oh, and starting Friday my schedule will change. The showcase will be over and Keith and I will join the picket lines.

It's just the right thing to do.

Maybe I'll feel less like crying, being out there "doing something." Because right now, even with all of the amazingly brilliant creativity swirling around me each day, I feel completely powerless over what's happening in Hollywood. Two filmmakers for whom I'm casting feature films were at the showcase and our conversations turned to rewrites and new shoot dates. Even casting has to stop when scripts are in limbo. (At least when the filmmakers are also writers... and they wouldn't dare shoot a frame without the ability to tweak a line during the filming process. And since that's the kind of filmmaker with whom I work, well, you get the picture.)

I guess my optimism was short-lived.

Posted by bonnie at 4:26 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

November 6, 2007

The Strike Is Where You Pick-It

Goodness at the emotions that have flown all over me in the past few days! Just... goodness.

There's the showcase. Which is beautiful. Beautiful actors. Beautiful scenes. Beautiful experience. Again. And that's just based on the rockstar, standing-room-only preview. Goodness, what a delightful ride producing a showcase has been!

There's the feature film casting job on which I passed. Eesh. That's a toughie. I want to work; of course. But I want to work on projects about which I am passionate (and, if I'm not passionate about 'em, I'd better damn well be getting paid well enough to make it balance out somehow).

There's the strike. Oy, there's the strike. And as a working writer who has never been eligible to join the WGA (but who certainly hopes to do so, someday), I am both relieved and distressed. I want to believe there can be a quick resolution to this work stoppage. I want to believe the producers will relent, will walk toward the writers in the same way the writers were walking toward the producers by late Sunday night. But I also know that these are the same people who would have you think that no movie has ever made back its investment ever, thereby never requiring a full payout of back-end to talent who agreed to work for low-budget scale plus points.

Then there's the amazing small-group collectives like Naked Angels' Tuesdays @9 and Tisch Actors' West Monologue Slam. There are groups of writers and actors coming together to produce something--anything--because they simply must do so. It feeds their souls. It feeds mine too.

That makes me forget about the new wave of Bonnie-haters in this town (and yes, if I shared with you some of the Bon-Backlash that's out there now, many of you would prickle like Keith does when he wants to beat someone to within an inch of his life--and you know he could and would if I would let him--and you would be very protective of me. And I appreciate that. But it's exactly what this year has been about, in large part: Going from A Mom and Pop Shop to A Serious Force comes with both loads of good and a bit of bad. Haters are coming out of the woodwork. And they're good at what they do. Luckily... so am I. Even luckier, I am not afuckingfraid. Not even a little bit. Bring it, bitches. I'll go chest-out to you any day. And my tits are damn fine).

If I let my emotions run my life, I'd be all over the map these past few weeks. Instead, I've been doing a lot of observing (hence the lack of blogging). My rockstar intern left here Sunday night--after a conversation in which I revealed the reason I couldn't make eye contact with her was because it would make me cry--and said, "Blog, okay?"

So here it is.

The blog post in which I say that I am at once proud, aware that I'm growing, filled with complex and conflicting professional and personal emotions, inspired and motivated, and so completely ready to kick ass that I wish I had more feet.

Posted by bonnie at 1:39 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack

November 1, 2007

Call Me a Cockeyed Optimist

I really thought we could make it through. No WGA strike. No work stoppage in Hollywood. I had hope. I had optimism. I had delusions.

Man. What a bummer!

Here are some really good predictions and tips for actors from Jack at ActorSite:

Thriving During Chaos... a primer...

It looks like the WGA will be going on strike as soon as next Monday, November 5.

Here's what it means for you:

Commercials won't be affected, so PUSH FOR MORE COMMERCIAL WORK!

Voiceovers won't be affected so PUSH FOR MORE VOICE OVER WORK!

Feature films will be less affected so PUSH FOR MORE FEATURE FILM WORK! There are over 500 completed scripts for films that must be finished by April 30 or so, so post-production can be completed by June 30, when the SAG contract expires.

Pilots are less likely to be affected, depending on whether it is half-hour or hour. Most pilot scripts have already been written and there are about 25 pilots out there now for an early pilot season. FOCUS ON auditioning and BOOKING A PILOT! It's great for your career!

TV drama is unlikely to be affected for about two to six weeks, so KEEP PUSHING for bookings on TV DRAMA shows. This will vary from show to show. Most have one to five scripts already written, so they will continue filming until they run out of scripts.

TV comedy is the most likely to be immediately affected! Comedies need tweaking on a daily basis and comedy shows may shut down first.

I've already addressed how you can help the WGA during this work stoppage. In other words, If you book a role, then arrive early and walk the picket line to show your support before you honor your booking contract and go to work!

Got a call from a pretty big deal production company wanting to talk with me about casting some of their next films. (Yes, that's on top of the now NINE feature film scripts I've yet to get back to anyone about, with bids. Between that backlog and my goal to get Self-Management for Actors, 3rd ed. started, I would kind of like things to slow down a little bit in Hollywood.)

But I don't see that happening. Everyone likes to work. That's for damn sure.

Posted by bonnie at 11:32 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

October 30, 2007

Cricket Feet Showcase: RSVP now!

Hello *Industry Friends who read the BonBlogs!

We'd love to see you at the third 2007 Cricket Feet Casting Actors Showcase next week. To meet the cast and download a PDF of the invitation, go here and then click CAST.

Here are the basics:

The Cricket Feet Casting Actors Showcase
produced by: Bonnie Gillespie
directed by: Annie Wood

presenting:
Alex Collins || Alexandria Fierz || Amy Crofoot || Anna Campbell || Anoush Nevart || Beau Wilson || Christopher Haro || Constance Hsu || Courtney Andresen || Darren Meekin || Eitan Loewenstein || Eli Bildner || Ernest Monroe || Ethan Flower || Etta Devine || Gabriel Diani || Glenn Keogh || Jenna West || Jennifer Boarini || Jim Gleason || Katie Swain || Keith Johnson || Kimberly Crandall || Matthew J. Cates || Megan Hollingshead || Michael Proctor || Pamela Newlands || Paul Vroom || Sheila Daley || Shelley Delayne || Stephen Pollak || Tamika Simpkins || Tim Astor || Victor Fischbarg

A fast-paced, professionally directed, comedic showcase of 34 carefully screened and appropriately cast actors in just over an hour.

Free show.
Free food and drinks before *and* after the show.
Free industry kit with DVD compilation of the actors' demo reels.
Free industry parking.

Last chance to see us in Santa Monica before we move to our 2008 location (bigger, better, Burbank-ier)!

You have THREE dates to choose from:

Tuesday, November 6th
Wednesday, November 7th
Thursday, November 8th

All shows begin promptly at 8pm! :) Seriously. We're prompt. :) And funny.

Promenade Playhouse
1404-8 3rd Street Promenade,
Santa Monica, CA 90401

directions/venue info: http://promenadeplayhouse.com
reservations/showcase info: http://cricketfeetshowcase.com

Please RSVP using the handy form at our website. Thanks!

Thanks, as always, for your support! Add the Cricket Feet Showcase as your MySpace friend!

Cheers,
--
Bonnie Gillespie
Cricket Feet Casting

* Industry = someone who can lead (directly) to a job for our showcase cast. That means a director, producer, casting staff, agent, manager, or other VERIFIABLE professional in the industry. Non-industry = someone who has maybe cast one thing, but it was a short film starring himself. Someone who has maybe directed one thing, but it was a play starring herself. Intern in a casting office whose career track is "working actor," not "future CD." Basically, we love the hyphenates, we love the people who are out there doing it for themselves, but unless their butts in the seats = more opportunities for our cast, they're not likely to be let in as industry.

Y'all can still come, just be prepared to do so on a stand-by (or stand-up) basis. K? Thanks!

Posted by bonnie at 4:53 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

October 15, 2007

The Actors Voice, 10/15/07

Hi Everyone!

Here's how today's The Actors Voice starts out.

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Life as a Series Regular

Last week's Your Turn kicked off with the following email from a reader:

The question I have found myself wondering about lately is what the actual day-to-day life of an actor who is a star or series regular on a television show is like. We hear so much all the time about what life is like while chasing work but what about once you have gotten a really great job? I know it is hard to generalize because no two jobs are the same and each show is different, each role is different, each actor is different, but is there any way to get a good sense of what a daily, weekly, monthly, yearly schedule is like?

Well, just like we did with the popular On the Set column, I'm turning things over to the experts in this area: some of the most amazing actors I know--all of whom were willing to take the time to share a bit about what the series regular life is like. In addition to acknowledging the expertise from a few anonymously-participating network and cable series regulars, I need to extend a huge thanks to Twink Caplan (Clueless), Bob Clendenin (10 Items or Less), Sean Hankinson (Prom Queen), Valery M. Ortiz (South of Nowhere), Brian Palermo (Thank God You're Here), Anna Vocino (Free Radio), and Victor Williams (The King of Queens). Also, I'm ever grateful to Lindsay Hollister and Kathryn Joosten, whose contributions on regularly working in support of the series regulars rounds out this week's Your Turn. All of you, THANKS for bringing together such a wonderful collection of first-hand information and practical advice for actors everywhere!

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Continue reading this column NOW at Showfax.com.

As always, THANK YOU for reading!

And!!

Be sure to visit The Actors Voice: POV for the third POV in a four-part series from Prague-based CD, Nancy Bishop.

Woo hoo!

Cheers,
-Bon.
Live your dreams! If you don't, someone else will.

Posted by bonnie at 12:57 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

September 9, 2007

The Actors Voice, 9/10/07

Hi Everyone!

Here's how tomorrow's The Actors Voice starts out.

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Suzanne and the Football Players

My old high school is now a Performing Arts Magnet School. Let's just say that wasn't the case back in the '80s. In fact, when I arrived at North Springs High School as a sub-freshman ("subbie," 8th grader, y'all), there was no drama club. It (along with other non-sports-related extra-curricular activities) had been cut. But there was chorus, if you were into performing. (No, I have no idea what the folks who couldn't sing well were supposed to do. Debate team, maybe?) Anyway, by the time I graduated from North Springs, there was a thriving drama club with loads of young actors being tapped for the Governor's Honors Program and headed off to top-ranked performing arts programs at kick-ass colleges. But that's not what this column is about.

It's about a girl named Suzanne (and, oh, for the life of me, I wish I remembered her last name) and a show we did in the spring of 1986 called "Music Through the Ages." (Note: that may not be what the show was actually called. It was 21 years ago, for cryin' out loud. I'm lucky I even remember that we did this show, which may have been called "Memories" or "Musical Memories" or "Timeless Music" or something similarly clichéd. Point is, it was a musical theatre piece wherein we each were cast in two or three "decades" of music, and a very non-musical trip to the attic with grandma was the story that wove together all of these decades of music, which those of us who could carry a tune presented between each "discovery" in the attic's boxes.)

In case you are wondering, I was cast as one of the Andrews Sisters, Karen Carpenter, and Cyndi Lauper. Yeah. I had it pretty dang good. Suzanne--a lovely musician who could sing well but would only ever really be in the chorus--scored supporting roles in the backup singers' area for the Beatles medley and the Beach Boys medley, as well as a nice little backup portion for the grand finale ("We Are the World"). As did the football players who signed up for "general chorus" to get an easy A. Suzanne, who took her music very seriously, was not amused by this casting. She was actually quite pissed off. "They don't even CARE! Why are they doing this? Why is Ms. Simpson giving them these parts?!?"

===========

Continue reading this column in the morning, along with a Your Turn filled with MORE reactions to last month's Issues of Race piece at Showfax.com.

As always, THANK YOU for reading!

PS--Just got home from seeing SuperBad. Eh. Can someone explain what all the hype's about?

Cheers,
-Bon.
Live your dreams! If you don't, someone else will.

Posted by bonnie at 7:05 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

August 23, 2007

Hee! Good day!

Okay, so, a good day. A very, very good day.

I start out by calling back the man I hope will be my new agent. He is so awesome. Asks if I want to do lunch, stop by his office, or run off to Vegas for our meeting next week. I choose option B, as his office is on the way to SAG, where I will be hosting another 200 audience member talk about resumés and online casting for iActor (SAG's new thingy). I figure: bonus. He can come along if he'd like to see me doing that public speaking thing.

(I am seriously simultaneously freaked out and thrilled at the idea of having an agent again for the first time in... er... something like seven years. Yeah. I loved the serendipity that was signing with an agent over Thanksgiving dinner, 1999, and then was sad to make the call to her that I was leaving "the acting thing" behind after having spent a quarter-life making it "the only thing." But, MAN, have I *never* regretted retiring from acting. Not ONCE.)

Anyway, as I laid out five--yes five--new scripts, outlines, and treatments to begin the "review process" (meaning, I gotsta decide if I'm even writing up a BID to cast these things--and then I have to figure out what that bid might be), I thought, "How cool is it going to be to just change out the Producer Query Form on the Cricket Feet Casting website and have it say, 'for inquiries about Bonnie Gillespie's casting services, please contact Mr. Superagent at blah-blah-blah.' And then know, when the script comes over from HIM, that the deal memo has already been put together and all I have to do is cast the damn thing? So cool. That's how cool."

But, hey, if he's not the ONE, that's okay too. I now know I have the kind of self-pitch email and relationships with agents at the "right level" for me that I can go right back out and tap the next one 'til I'm in a gooooood partnership with someone who's gonna rock for me (and in whose pocket I'll put loads of commission dollars).

Anyway. It's a good day.

In fact, I got a cool little ego boost by checking out the Mayor Sam blog today. Seems that Joseph Mailander was in the house last night (the house being Tangier) for the little LA Bloggers Live event.

Here's part of what he had to say:

I went to a blogger reading last night at Tangier and listened to some younger and largely distaff LA voices read narratives about themselves. (A highlight for me was Bonnie Gillespie, who has a comedienne's timing.)

You KNOW I love the good reviews! Hee!

Anyway, wanted to take a moment to also upload the program from last night. Especially because it not only features my favorite ex-boyfriend's Spy Notebook, but also his favorite anagram of my name. Hee! Thanks for getting me set up to blog, Chip! Yay!

And thank you, Leah, for letting me join in the fun. Huge thanks to Colleen for the ever-present support and love.

Bonus shout-out to my rockstar intern Julie because, well, sometimes chocolate isn't enough. {{hugs}}

Oh, and thank you, LA weather. I'm chilly cold. And that's yummy fun! Whee!

Posted by bonnie at 8:57 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

August 22, 2007

Big Yeah OMG

Yeah.

Wow.

Where do I begin?

So I did something REALLY brave today before I left the house to do something else pretty brave. (Yes, when you do something REALLY brave, suddenly the other thing you *thought* was really brave becomes only PRETTY brave, and OMG, they're all still really freakin' big deals and, um, yeah... YEAH.)

I come home.

Basking in the afterglow of the pretty brave thing (which went well. Some would say it went better than well. Whatevz. It went. I'm glad I did it. I'll make Keith upload my seven minutes at The Comedy Store and everyone will enjoy the time I really went balls out).

Anyway...

Home.

Play messages. Check the caller ID to see (before messages start playing) who they're from.

Um... wow... is this really the ID I'm seeing?

No. Couldn't be. I like seriously JUST did the brave thing like HOURS before leaving the house. And I talked the whole way out about how it'll feel to get to the: "there's no reply gonna happen here, move on" stage in a week. And... um... there's a reply.

And it's not just a reply.

It's a, "Um, hi. You are a STAR, baby!" kind of reply (and I know that reads way smarmy, but, that's pretty much EXACTLY what he said... and it's soooooooo HIM!!!!!!!! OMG... do I now have an agent?!?

Really??????????

Um... so I guess casting directors need to be repped at some point too. And when they reach out to their, um, dream agent, and say, "Hey, what do you think?" and are met with a, "I think LET'S TALK" reply... um... that's a damn good day.

So, yay.

Moral of the story: See something that scares the bejeezus out of you and DO IT. And then do it again. Bigger. And then MOVE ON.

It WORKS.

That is all.

Posted by bonnie at 11:56 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

August 1, 2007

Showcase News: Director HIRED, Call for SCENES!

It is with great yippee-filled glee that I announce our November 2007 showcase DIRECTOR, the inimitable rockstar hyphenate: Annie Wood!

Annie Wood is an actor/writer/director who co-founded the theatre company Actorworks, directed her play Hiatus (while on hiatus from BZZZ! -- the WB TV game show she hosted and co-produced), and founded DoGoodStuff.org. Go show her some love, wouldja?

Also, our official CALL FOR COMEDIC SCENES is open!

In April 2007, the Cricket Feet Casting Actors Showcase launched with a cast of 35 actors in 17 comedic scenes. Representatives from agencies, management firms, and casting offices filled the Promenade Playhouse for three nights of fast-paced laughs (and dinner and drinks too)!

For our July 2007 showcase, we decided we wanted to use all original material rather than the combination of original and road-tested comedic scenes we produced our first time out. This turned out to be not only a huge success but also a wonderful opportunity for our writers—whose talents were showcased right along with our 32 fabulous actors' comedic skills!

So, we're doing it again for our November 2007 showcase! And this is our official call for comedic writers to submit original material. Yippee! We are specifically seeking two-person comedic scenes that come in at around four minutes. We are not offering any pay at this point, but you do retain