The effects of boost season

Wow, I did a fantastic job of keeping up with this thing during the festival! Well, in my defense, by the time I got home I was in no position to be thinking clearly. I have the whole experience written down, and maybe at some point I'll filter out all the BS and transfer some if it onto here.

In the meantime, it's Emmy night tonight. The awards season always falls perfectly in line with my loss of morale, which tends to happen around the fall. I use these awards as a sort of booster, because they make me want to keep pushing to break into the industry. (I shall call this: boost season.) It's not a matter of wanting fame and all that junk, but I've always liked when a room full of people get together and get excited about movies and TV. That's what the entire film fest was, so to a certain extent, I got an extra boost this year.

I've decided to not go after advertising, because I've made peace with the fact that I won't be financially stable for the early part of my life. Instead, I'm going to do freelance film jobs and auditions. It's really the only way. I had to figure out what would make me the happiest, and when the response was acting, as it always is, I figured that it was time to stop ignoring it. Now I know, I always say these things and never follow through. So hey, maybe this won't work out for me. But I plan on beating the idea to death and doing everything I can to make it work out. If it doesn't work out, no regrets. At least I tried and all.

I signed up with backstage.com to keep tabs on any auditions in the area. I signed up on a Friday, and people tend not to post things over the weekends, so hopefully there will be lots of auditions posted starting Monday. Once I complete this freelance job I think I have, I'll be able to get down to Philly and get my headshots done. Right now, my one headshot is rather week.

Oh, and also, the fest helped spawn a Keira Knightley obsession. And I'm talking obsession! After seeing her in person, a switch flipped for me. I think she's great, and I'm trying to get a hold of her movies that I haven't seen yet. I went back and watched PRIDE AND PREJUDICE and realized that Joe Wright is a complete genius, and we have the same outlook on method acting; we think it's crap. His movies are so interestingly choreographed and directed, and during the making the cast was saying how they played sardines (hide and seek) in the house they were filming in to get acquainted with it. What a cool idea. I think I may steal that. Trouble is, being in Atonement, P&P, and general Joe Wright mode, I'm back in the mindset to work on the period piece script. Bummer, because I wanted to finish Armaan. I guess that's what bothered me most about writing under pressure in school... it's impossible! Better get used to it, I say.

Boost season always makes me do unexpected things. Last time, it made me audition for David Mamet's acting class in NYC. That actually worked out. So that's where I stand: freelance film work, constant writing, and auditions. That sounds exciting to me, even if it means I better start getting comfortable living downstairs.