17 Industry Professionals See Elizabeth's Work

Last week's 5-day NY Connection was incredible. I left with a solid understanding of where I fit into the industry (the girl next door), strong confidence in the work I am doing, and a host of new industry relationships.

Reviews

"When you smile, the camera lights up. It just lights up."

Lisa Lawrence, Headline Talent

"Very good at taking direction. You look good on camera as well."

Michele Bianculli, Stewart Talent New York

"That was delightful."

Eve Battaglia, Eve Battaglia Casting

"Thanks for being good. You are very well suited for [romantic comedies]."

Brette Goldstein, Brette Goldstein Casting

Casting Directors in Attendance

This list in addition to list of agents on March 9's post (minus Peter Kaiser, who was unable to attend).

Eve Battaglia

Independent Casting Director, Eve Battaglia Casting

Paul Fouquet

Casting Director, Elissa Meyers Casting

Brette Goldstein

Casting Director, Brette Goldstein Casting

Camille Hickman

Associate Casting Director, Lincoln Center Theater

Maria Higgins

Associate Casting Director, Tucker/Meyerson Casting

Ken Lazer

Commercial Casting Director, Ken Lazer Casting

Barry Shapiro

Casting Director, Herman & Lipson Casting

Tori Visgilio

Associate Casting Director, One Life to Live

Patricia Mauceri

I have started going regularly to the Actors Group that is part of Redeemer Presbyterian Church's Center for Faith and Work. The group meets once a month at Ripley-Grier Studios on 8th Avenue in the Fashion District. Last night, we had a guest speaker: Patricia Mauceri, who spent 14 years working on One Life to Live and has a New York acting career that stretches back about 40 years. It was such an invaluable time as we heard about not only her creative journey, but the journey that God was taking her on that whole time, even before she became a Christian. Her wisdom really helped this room full of young actors, me included, to look at our own journeys and motivations for being actors with a fresh perspective: one in which Christ gets the glory, not us. In fact, the first question she addressed to the group was, "Why do you want to be actors?"

Another piece of wisdom that I pray will stay with me is something she heard from her agent: "The minute you start believing your press, your career is dead."

Theatre, Commercial, Film, oh my!

Preparing for NY Connection is a process of being stretched. The 5-day intensive includes work on commercial copy, theater sides, and film/tv sides, all of which need to be memorized and prepared, ready to be worked over with casting directors and then presented to agents.

The agents to which I will be showcasing are as follows:

Film/TV
Steve Maihack, Stewart Talent
Peter Kaiser, The Talent House
Lisa Lawrence, Headline Talent
Diana Doussant, Leading Artists, Inc.

Theater
Ben Sands, The Mine
Cynthia Katz, Gotham Talent
B. Lynn Jebens, The Krasny Office

Commercial
Julien Bouscarel, Innovative Artists
Fatima Wilson, Bloc NYC
Michele Biancolli, Stewart Talent


These are representatives from some very well-established and prestigious offices. The praying and working continues!

Monologues on youtube

I have posted two different monologue videos of me on youtube. Here are the links. Check 'em out!

Amanda from The Food Chain (Nicky Silver)
http://tinyurl.com/eb-amandafoodchain

Marge from Split (Michael Weller)
http://tinyurl.com/eb-margesplit

Accepted to NY Connection!

I have been offered one of the 20 spots in Actors Connection's NY Connection, taking place next month from March 20-24. The event will be an intensive 5 days (10a-10p each day) spent working with and showcasing to agents and casting directors.

I plan to bring my A game! I just finished Jandiz Estrada's (Mackey Sandrich Casting) film class at Actors Connection last night, and I plan to use her spot-on feedback to prep my monologues...as well as a lot of prayer.

Three Auditions + Grace & Race

Just a quick update on my recent auditions:

-This last weekend, I auditioned by video submission for a student film entitled Finding the Words. The casting person was very happy with the submission and passed it on to the director.

-On Friday, I will audition for one of the twenty spots for actors at the NY Connection taking place in March, which would put me in front of agents and casting directors and give me the opportunity to learn from them for 5 days straight, 10am to 10pm! Wowzers. I have a goal to get an agent by June 1, and I would plan to use this to try and open that door.

-On Sunday, I have an audition for a movie musical called Picture Perfect. I am going out for the role of the rebellious daughter who is immersed in her struggle with an eating disorder.



And on Friday, I will join some other actors who are part of Redeemer Presbyterian's Actors Group to present an evening called The Drama of Grace & Race. Come out and see it! 7:30pm at the Redeemer Offices (1359 Broadway 4th Floor New York, NY 10018). I have not seen the piece I am performing yet, so it might be an exercise in cold reading!

The vision for the event is "to see the Redeemer Body embrace the Gospel call to redeemed relationships where the ethnic/racial other is pursued." There will be a discussion after the readings, which is the main focus of the evening.

Coming Into My Own

I am currently taking the Feature Film Boot Camp class at Actors Connection, taught by Jandiz Estrada, casting director for Mackey/Sandrich Casting. The class is working to push me to the next level of my acting ability, and it is both scary and exciting! Baz Luhrmann's Sunscreen Song was right: it is worth it to "do one thing every day that scares you."

The first week, Jandiz got me on indicating. If you are not an actor, that means showing the audience what you are doing instead of actually doing it. I was pretty bummed after that, but with the help of friends (shout out to Boggie, Virginia, and Neil) and time spent in prayer (shout out to Jesus), I came back strong and faced my fears with the scene for the second week. This time, I found a new kind of freedom that I've been looking for in my acting. The big thing I learned: If I remember that acting is not everything, and I don't take myself or acting too seriously, then, ironically, I can act to the best of my ability, the way I have it in me to act.

Jandiz has been saying that in this class, we will work on developing our own system of preparation for roles. Here's how I prepared last week before class in order to not take things too seriously: I ate unabashedly in front of everyone on the subway, made sure to drink the Dr. Pepper that came with my Chinese taco stand meal (knowing that it would produce burps and that this would fit the scene, which I thought of as taking place after dinner), and decidedly did not walk down the streets of Manhattan to get to class as though I was a beautiful, aloof actress/goddess on the pages of People magazine, but rather just as myself, as Elizabeth, messiness, imperfect posture, and all.

And it worked! I am learning so many life lessons from acting. Very grateful to have the chance to pursue this calling.