Progress in 2010?

In 2010:

I went to Actors Connection 8 times.

I went to One on One 21 times.

I went to the Network 11 times.

I had 25 appointments with my therapist.

I shot 2 on-camera projects.

I had 2 independent improv groups.

I got new headshots.

I overhauled my resume.

And I added 37 new industry contacts to my address book.

I began this year in an independent improv group formed at UCB. We were practicing pretty regularly and performing frequently up until we indefinitely took a break for the summer. I took 1 improv class at UCB in the spring, after which I was invited to join a different independent improv group. We practice regularly but have yet to perform. This will hopefully happen in January. I'm beginning 2011 by immersing myself in improv 3 times a week! I'll be practicing with my team, taking my first ever class at the Magnet, and starting a new class at UCB.

I also began 2010 wanting to focus on commercial work, meeting as many agents and casting directors as I could. I was happily using copy that in subsequent months would prove to be painfully wrong for me. I took classes with both Barry Shapiro and David Cady. Nothing came of my 5 months of efforts. Or shall I say, nothing has come from it yet. What I did take from these sessions was the urgent need to update my headshots and give my resume a professional new makeover. In retrospect, I think I probably seemed very green and oblivious to these industry folks. I'm not sure what my commercial direction will be in 2011. I think I may have to reintroduce my current self to these potentially valuable contacts. Just like with my resume, I need to scrap my current website and start from scratch.

For the last few months I've been focusing my attention on television, mostly sitcom and comedy work. I feel much better about these later auditions than the commercial ones earlier in the year. I think people took me more seriously when I had the appropriate professional materials. I also rapid-fire bombarded myself with classes so I was forced to learn and forced to learn fast! In just 3 months I went from being insecure and ill prepared to getting virtually no notes. It could be a coincidence or mean nothing at all, but I'm willing to accept that as progress.

I did a super crappy job at auditioning this year. I am shocked at how few I attended. This absolutely needs to change in the upcoming year. Considering I barely auditioned, it's pretty impressive that I got to be on set twice in the last 12 months for 2 separate projects. I would love to drastically inflate that number as well. For some reason auditioning was not high on my list this year. I think I was really into taking classes, making industry connections, and doing improv that I just didn't allocate enough time to looking for auditions. In that respect this past year was not at all a waste of time, but I have to get back into the auditioning groove.

As Marci Phillips said recently in class: Trust that you are exactly who you are supposed to be right now. We can think that we are talented enough and experienced enough but not be mature enough yet or have personal issues that need to be sorted out. I am exactly who I am supposed to be right now. I think at the beginning of this year I thought I was ready. I was not. But the work I did this year on my auditioning skills, being professional, and healing of my mind and body have brought me closer than I ever have been to ready. Will I be ready in 2011? Maybe. To a certain extent I can't control when I actually am ready, but I can control being readier every single day of 2011 and into 2012.