5 Social Networking Sites To Think About!

Hi Everyone

Just wanted to share some info on some other sites that I have come across that you may want to use.

These are social networking sites that I have joined this year (except for Meetup.com, I've been using that site for a few years now)

Meetup.com is a great site to meet people in general but I use it to connect with others in the film industry. You can find a lot of acting and film related meetup groups that have events and/or classes where you can meet others in the industry to learn, grow and possibly collaborate together. My Meetup

These four sites are newbies (at least to me). They are great sites to connect, share videos, photos, discuss topics in the forums, get casting calls, etc.

1. Actorsville.com
2. Massify.com
3. Droppinshorts.com
4. ArtistMagnet.com

You can friend me on any of these sites!!

Stay tuned...

TOP 10 WEBSITES FOR ACTORS!!

Hi My lovely people!

This is my list of websites that I think are beneficial for actors and others in the industry to use for business purposes whether its for marketing, networking or for finding work. They are not listed in any particular order.
Before I list them I must mention that I think it is important to keep separate accounts on some of the social networking sites. My reason being: you don't want that casting director seeing any pictures of you drunk partying with your friends or seeing any status updates that are not appropriate for anyone to know that don't know you personally! :-D I have two profiles on Myspace, two on Facebook, and two YouTube video channels; one is personal and one is professional.
My personal YouTube video channel is for videos I may make that are not acting related or for subscriptions to other people's channels that are not industry related. My personal Facebook and Myspace profiles are for my friends, family, and people that I have actually met in person to share things with.

On all networking sites please use your professional name you use for acting when you customize your url.

1. Myspace I have connected with other actors as well as acting groups on Myspace. Some casting agencies also have Myspace pages where they send out bulletins or may even post info about castings on their Myspace blogs. My Myspace
2. Facebook I still have to find out what is the best way to market yourself on Facebook to decision makers in the industry as well as finding people to collaborate on projects. There are some acting groups you can join, you can import your blog to post on your facebook profile page and you can become fans of your favorite people, places or things as well as Backstage and Actor's Access. My Facebook
3. Nextcat For those that have never heard of Nextcat it is another social networking site for those in the entertainment industry. You make connections with others from anywhere. You can find jobs, post videos, photos, chat in the forums, etc. My Nextcat
4. YouTube Make sure you choose your user name carefully because this becomes your url name. This is a great place to host your videos and share with everyone easily. You can also make friends and subscribe to other people's video channels. My YouTube
5. Twitter This is a great place to keep people updated on what you are doing. I only use this for professional use. Any status updates I make are related to my career. I am following a few celebs on here and I have a few followers. You can have followers but you don't have to follow them back. My Twitter
6. Plaxo This is a site that you can use to connect with others as well as stay organized with industry contacts, friends' birthdays, important dates, etc. If you have a blog you can link your blog to your Plaxo account and your blog posts will show on your profile. My Plaxo
7. Nycastings This site is great for casting notices and resources for actors. There is a fee to submit to casting notices but it's definitely worth the price. You have the option to pay $9.95/mo, $26.85 quarterly, or $90.00 annually
8. Actors Access This site is great for casting notices, getting valuable information in the forums, and sharing your resume with industry people. There is a fee to submit to castings. You can pay $2.00 per submission or $68 annual fee.
9. Mandy This is a free site for finding jobs as well as casting notices. You create a profile with your headshot, resume and cover letter and you can submit to castings. This is the site I used that got me my first film role! YAY!!
10. Casting Networks This is also a great site for castings especially background work. There is a fee. You pay $5.00/mo for unlimited submissions or $0.99 per submission.

There may be a few other sites out there that are worth mentioning but these are the sites that I use on a regular basis!

Stay tuned!

Live With An Attitude Of Faith

Live with an attitude of faith & EXPECTANCY!!

I subscibe to www.dailygratitude.com with Wes Hopper and they send you emails every so often and I also get the daily word with Joel Osteen. Here is something that I received in my email today from Daily Gratitude that actually ties into a message I received weeks ago from Joel Osteen:

"Real faith is expectancy. You do not
receive what you want, you do not receive
what you pray for, you do not receive what
you say you have faith in. You will always
receive what you actually expect!"
Eric Butterworth

There's two kinds of faith, I've noticed. The
most common use of the word is to
describe something we want to believe in
but have no logical reason to expect.

That kind of faith is just wishful thinking and
has no real power at all.

When we drop something, we don't say we
have faith it's going to fall, we expect it to.

Why? Because we know the law of gravity.

Everything in life is subject to natural laws,
so if we take the trouble to learn them, then
we can expect things, instead of wishing.

The law of gratitude says that the real
power of gratitude is to be grateful in
advance! So instead of wishing or begging,
let's be clear about what we want, grateful in
advance and actually expect what we desire.

What a concept, eh?

When you mail order something, you don't
have to conjure up "faith" to look for it in
the mailbox. You expect it.

Try that on everything, and expect miracles!

Blessings,
Wes

And it just so happen I'm taking a free seminar tomorrow at the Actor's Connection at noon that I mentioned in an earlier post:

The Law of Attraction - How To Attract More Creative Success, led by professional actor Tyrone Jackson (a.k.a. The Wealthy Artist)

12:00 pm - If you've seen or read "The Secret" then you know what the THE SECRET is. It's The Law of Attraction. The Law says that you attract into your life whatever you think about and your dominant thoughts will find a way to manifest. At this FREE seminar, you'll learn what it takes to become a successful performer and that attracting abundance in show biz requires more than just positive thinking. With a panel of actors from the world of TV, Broadway and commercials, they'll share how they've used the Law of Attraction to create professional success. By attending you'll learn how to: Instantly change your thinking to attract success; Create specific actions that will manifest your desires; Start creating financial abundance; Create a realistic vision for your acting career; How to network with prosperous creative types 24/7 and much more.

So my people expect great things and be grateful in advance! I thank God every day and night for things I have yet to receive but I thank him for them "as if" I already have them!

Stay blessed and stay tuned!

Upcoming

As of right now this is how my week is looking:

Sunday I may go to an open call not really sure I want to go through that experience again...I much rather you just choose the people you want to audition and have us come in....if you leave it open for us to just show up...half of NY will be there! That's what happened at the last one!

But I may go and just make sure I get there early this time! I'll let you know what I decide!

Monday I shoot in White Plains the interactive video for Columbia University. I have to catch a 5:30am train that means I have to be up at 3:30am to make sure I don't miss the train. That's the last train to catch to be there on time! Lord Help Me! ha!

Wednesday I am going to a free seminar at Actor's Connection at 12pm. Details from the website:

The Law of Attraction - How To Attract More Creative Success, led by professional actor Tyrone Jackson (a.k.a. The Wealthy Artist)

12:00 pm - If you've seen or read "The Secret" then you know what the THE SECRET is. It's The Law of Attraction. The Law says that you attract into your life whatever you think about and your dominant thoughts will find a way to manifest. At this FREE seminar, you'll learn what it takes to become a successful performer and that attracting abundance in show biz requires more than just positive thinking. With a panel of actors from the world of TV, Broadway and commercials, they'll share how they've used the Law of Attraction to create professional success. By attending you'll learn how to: Instantly change your thinking to attract success; Create specific actions that will manifest your desires; Start creating financial abundance; Create a realistic vision for your acting career; How to network with prosperous creative types 24/7 and much more.

Wednesday night I'm taking a Film Intensive with Eve Battaglia from Eve Battaglia Casting at 7p. Basically it's a workshop to learn to audition for feature films on-camera. You get to perform sides for her on-camera after a Q&A and get feedback. I decided to do this because I am planning to meet 3 Indie Film Casting Directors through The Network on the 28th and this intensive could help me prepare for that!

Thursday there is another free seminar that I plan to go to starting at 7p through The Network. Details from the site:

New Media PR Secrets for Actors with Anthony David Adams
7:00PM, 312 West 36th Street, 3B, between 8th and 9th, 3rd Floor.
There are thousands of free tools online that actors can use to build their profile, fan base, and super charge their career. Discover what the top 7 websites are for actors and how savvy folks are leveraging them for amazing returns. Learn what sites you NEED to be using to advance your career.

Led by American entrepreneur, inventor, & social media expert Anthony David Adams who has generated over 2 million dollars in free PR using blogs and free websites. His most recent project, DetentionSlip.org was named a Top 25 blog for 2009 by Time Magazine. Anthony has helped his brother, Broadway star Nick Adams (Guys & Dolls, A Chorus Line, Chicago) develop an incredible web presence.

So that's what my line-up looks like SO FAR!

**Links: The Network Actor's Connection ***

What's up with Yolanda Allen?

Ok so where did I leave off the last time?

The open call....was a bust! It was from 1p-5p, I got there at 4p, they had so many people there that they couldn't see anyone else! They said that you could leave your headshot and if they are interested they would call you that night. I didn't get a call.

Tuesday I went to an interview for the dating show The Bachelorette by Hung Jury. They interviewed us and said that they were going to pick 5 girls and 20 guys out of the bunch that they interviewed that day. From that bunch they will pick 2 girls and 10 guys then they will narrow it down to the finalists for the show, 1 girl and 2 guys. I haven't heard anything as of yet.

This is the 2nd dating show I have submitted for. The first one was a few weeks ago called the 12 dollar challenge. I haven't had an interview or anything for this one. I think they both start shooting in August...so don't know what to think about that!

Anyhoo, got a call on Wednesday to meet with assistant casting director Emily Schriber for As The World Turns. I had a general interview with her on Thursday. I was so shocked to get that call. I had mailed them my headshot back in May. First time someone has called me from a headshot submission via mail. So they do look at their mail people!! ha! I read over some sides for her, she asked me some questions about myself and asked if I've ever been on a daytime tv show. I haven't so she asked if I would be interested in background work. I told her of course! Who knows, doing background work for a soap, build a strong working relationship with the casting directors, and voila! You got a chance to audition for an Under 5 role!

Baby steps people!

Got another call on Wednesday, well a voicemail (I turn my phone off when I sleep) for a student project that I submitted for this week, the lady didn't leave her number and she said that she would call back later. She didn't call back so I found her email and emailed her saying "I got your phone call you didn't leave a number but I wanted to reach out to let you know that I am interested." No word back from her.

Friday I got a voicemail (I was on the train, no signal) from a girl about a project she said I submitted for. I keep track of all my submissions and I couldn't find anything with that title, so I don't know if it was one of those craigslist ads that I may have submitted to and they didn't put the title of the project. Well she wants me to come to an audition on the 25th. She's suppose to send me an email with all the details. I couldn't really understand her because her cell was breaking up. But I did notice that the number she called from was on my caller id on my cell. I can tell how many times I get a call from a certain number. I got a call from this number 4 times but they never left a message. So from the 8th to the 16th, she's called but she didn't leave a voicemail until the 16th. What's up with that?

Anyhoo, so much was going on at the same time this weekend! Friday I get a last minute call about a short film that I submitted to this week. The dude left a voicemail saying if I was interested to call him because they were having a table read that evening! I called him back and he didn't answer. So I left a message for him saying I was interested in finding out the details...didn't hear back from him.

I was invited to audition for another role in a student project. It was scheduled for today but I couldn't go because I had a doctor's appointment I couldn't reschedule and I had an appointment at 1pm to meet with the commercial agents through The Network's Mini-Commercial Fest. Her latest appointment time was for 1:30p, so I had to pass!

The mini-commercial fest was good! I got to meet 3 agents for one low price of $69!! You have 5 minutes to meet with each agent, do your commercial copy and sit down to chat with them! Today I met Marla Haut from Innovative Artists (this was my 2nd time meeting her actually, I met her after my commercial class with David Cady, she was our guest commercial agent), Tracey Goldblum from Abrams Artist and Doug Keston from Paradigm. They were all very nice and I plan to follow-up with them via postcards so I can keep my face in their face! ha!

So I've had an interesting week!

Stay tuned...

Acting Websites: FREE HOSTING!!

Got your own personal website yet? Well don't let money be the reason you don't. I have my free personal website through www.webs.com and my domain name is hosted by 1&1.

Well I was getting ready to build another site (for a different reason outside of acting) and I was trying to use www.webs.com but kept getting an error message (I contacted them about that this morning, don't know if its their server or my computer) so that led me on a search for another site that offers the same thing as webs.com. (My acting site through webs.com is working great, just trying to create this new site I ran into problems) *update: just got word for webs.com that there was a glitch in their system and the problem should be fixed now*

I found Weebly!! www.weebly.com is a site that you can use to build your own site for free! And it host your domain name for free meaning: (From weebly.com) you can publish to your own domain name (ie. www.example.com instead of example.weebly.com) and we’ll still host your website for free.
Which is great for me since I just purchased my domain name for my new site last night through 1&1. Great thing about 1&1 its cheap! For the first year it only cost me $6.99 and the next year it will go up to $8.99.

Which is so much better than Yahoo...which for the first year to host your domain name its $9.95 and the next year it goes up to $39.95! Can we all say RIDICULOUS!!

So here's just another tip to get your quality website for free without knowing how to do HTML!

So look at both sites and compare the two! www.webs.com and www.weebly.com

Stay tuned....

TV, FILM, & THEATER...OH MY!!!

WHAT MEDIA WILL YOU WORK IN THE MOST??

I went to a free marketing seminar maybe a month ago that was hosted by Gwyn Gilliss, CEO/Founder of The Actor's Market (aka TAM) http://www.theactorsmarket.com/ and I signed up for her newsletter. Well July is find your market month! Depending on what media you want to work in you should live in LA or NY (now you can get work in other areas and be successful but we all know that these are the two main cities that people think of when it comes to acting. I guess they are considered the Big Leagues! (There's a book by Andrew Reilly "An Actor's Business: How to Market Yourself As An Actor No Matter Where You Live". So that would be a good read for anyone outside of NY or LA)

Anyhoo, I know that I want to do Film/TV mostly so I know that I need to be in LA because they have the most Film/TV work. Even though NY has some TV shows based here and some movies are made here, Broadway is NEW YORK! So theater actors that want to be big time should be here!

In the newsletter today (Gwyn sends out a marketing tip every Monday) there were questions about what media will you work in the most. There are four medias: Daytime/Primetime TV, Musical Theater, Theater, and Film. There was a neat quiz that I wanted to share. I don't have that much experience (I'm only 7 months into the game) but I know what I want my career to look like and what media I want to be working in the most, which is Film. Although I could definitely see myself being on a successful TV show. However, based on my current experience my score came out to say that I should definitely pursue work in Film.

**There was more in the newsletter you can visit the site and sign up for her newsletter she offers some great tips and if you're in the New York area she offers free seminars sometimes which are very informative about marketing yourself as an actor!**

Here is the Quiz:

To find out in which media you will be most successful, assess your training,
your greatest interest, your experience, where you feel you are most talented
AND your physical attributes, complete this simple exercise:

CIRCLE YOUR CHOICES ADD YOUR POINTS
Sex

M -2 F-1

Age range:

16-21 5
22-26 4
27-32 3
33-42 2
43-50 1
50-90 4

Physical attributes:

Tall 5
Average/short 4

Physical attributes:

Slender/in shape 5
Average 4
Overweight 3

Hair:

medium 5
dark 4
fair 3
white/gray 2
bald 1

Strongest talent:

Musical Theatre 1 Theatre 2 TV 3 Film 4

What do you love to do the most?

Musical Theatre 1 Theatre 2 TV 3 Film 4

In what area is your most experience?

Musical Theatre 1 Theatre 2 TV 3 Film 4

What is your #1 goal - to work in which media for the next 5-10 years?

Musical Theatre 1 Theatre 2 TV 3 Film 4

In what media did you work last?

Musical Theatre 1 Theatre 2 TV 3 Film 4

TOTAL POINTS _____________

Add up your TOTAL points. Which best fits your score?
Are you:
GROUP I 15-27
GROUP 2 28-36
GROUP 3 37-42

GROUP I actors are best suited to pursue Theatre and Musical theatre.
GROUP 2 are probably going to work a lot more in Primetime TV.
GROUP 3 should definitely pursue Film work.

What does all this mean in terms of WHERE YOU SHOULD BE?
If you are in Group 1- You should be in NY- for Broadway Musicals, Theatre work
and CASTING for all the major rep companies, summer stock, tours and musical
tours for jobs outside NY.

If you are in Group 2- you could be in NY or LA but there are thousands more
roles for Primetime TV in LA -(about 115 shows - give or take) compared to
NY. (15 shows)

If you are Group 3- no doubt about it, LA should be your home.

These are generalities and the quiz is based on the 5 points mentioned earlier so
you could fall outside the norm...take it a with a grain of salt. But, it might be
helpful in deciding where you should be and how best to advance your career.


Stay tuned and Many Blessings To You All!!

Lately....

Well I haven't been doing a lot lately....last Friday I went on an audition for a play....the audition was okay but I didn't really understand what the casting director was looking for....at one point she told me my character was excited but not happy to see someone from her past...I wasn't sure how to be excited yet not happy! Needless to say I didn't get the part! ha!

Thursday I auditioned for (and booked) a role in an interactive video for Columbia University (thanks to the recommendation from fellow actress/friend Danielle Faust). I start shooting July 20th.

Today I had an audition for a feature film. The director said that I did good but he didn't want to just say Thank you and have me leave, and when I didn't get the part, I would be left thinking that I did something wrong. So he was just straight up with me and said that I just looked too young to play the part. (Thanks for the compliment by the way) He said that he has a project that he's working on that I would be great for however he won't be filming that until a few years from now. I appreciated his honesty and niceness. Not everyone tells you straight up whether or not they are going to give you the part! So all in all it was still a good audition.

I am going to an open call tomorrow for a short film. I hope something great comes from this....I'll know by Monday if they like me or not since Monday they are having call backs. Not sure what to expect at the open call. But I will keep you posted.

Pre-Cut 8X10 Resume Paper!

What a god send!

I have been using this pre cut resume paper since the beginning so I didn't have to worry about buying a paper cutter and dealing with that drama of cutting the resume to fit my headshot. I have seen (recently) actors turning in headshots with the resumes stapled to the back and the resume is not cut to size....it just looks tacky and unprofessional, in my opinion.

I don't staple my resume to my headshot, I use double sided tape and just carefully place the resume on the back.

The first time I bought this paper I got it from Actor's Tips and I loved it! When I ran out of the paper I ordered from a different website, Actor Paper (I think it was cheaper than what Actor's Tips was selling theirs for). I must say that Actor Paper says that there paper is pre-cut 8X10 however it's about an inch shorter than that. So when you put it on your resume you have a little space left.

I prefer the paper from Actor's Tips because it's exactly 8X10 and it is a little thicker than the one at Actor Paper. So when I run out this time I'll be going back to Actor's Tips!

Stay Tuned...