The First Send-Out…
Part of why we’re doing this blog is to chronicle the actor’s process, both creatively and logistically, as we move to LA and make a go of Hollywood. So here we go… our first “send-out”.
Doing a show in San Diego might seem like practically acting in LA, but it’s not. While performing in a great show at a professional theatre company is one of the best ways to get people to see your work and thus make contacts with casting directors, agents, managers and producers, it’s sometimes like pulling teeth getting people to come to something in LA… let alone 2 hours south.
Still, it’s our best shot at the moment to generate interest. So last week we developed a targeted list of people to invite and prepared packages to send. Because Room Service is a broad, “madcap comedy”, we decided to limit our focus this time on casting directors who work on sitcoms.
So our first dozen or so headshots and resumes are out, accompanied by cordial invitations for comps in Coronado, show pics, and information on hotels and restaurants near the theatre. Hopefully someone will think, “that sounds like a fun afternoon!”
A dozen down, many hundreds to come, I’m sure. It’s an interesting psychological ritual. There’s definitely something exciting about actually printing off the cover letters and sealing the envelopes with the headshots and resumes and dropping them in the mail. Something that says, “wow, we’re finally here. We’re finally doing it!”… Then again, you start to realize just how small fish in a big pond we are… Well, we’re stepping out faithfully!
Next we’ll start focusing on agents and managers. There must be well over 1000 agents, managers and casting directors (combined) in the LA area. Of course, after hours of meticulous research, we’ll only be contacting a fraction of them… to start. We’ve worked out the rough, per submission cost to approx. $3.
California’s unemployment rate went up last month to above 10%. The numbers appear to be adding up against us.
Whew. Deep breath. If we were playing the numbers we never would have come.
