Saturday, July 18, 2009

jobs and things

hey again!
doing my best to keep things updated. i've been submitting plays where i can. keeping an eye out for film stuff i could submit to, but things are a little slow here out on the prairies. hopefully it picks up soon, but i'm trying to keep busy and work on other stuff, so i'll at least be in a state of readiness when something starts happening.

i got a job! i'm working part time at the box office for the symphony. everyone is really nice, and for a change, understanding about needing time off to do gigs, since all the box office folk are musicians and dancers and actors. i also may have an opportunity to go back to writing video games, though it's a long shot. my previous editing work there seems to have opened a potential door for a full-time gig there. although getting the job will be another kettle of fish, because there's a huge submission that i have to put together.

i'm doing that film workshop this weekend, had the first session tonight-- kind of a weird vibe in the room, i have to say. a few negative people can really change the tone of any gathering. and, of course, there is the standard hate on for theatre actors. i have no problem discussing the difference between theatre and film acting (they are incredibly different), but when people who don't know the first thing about stage acting start dissing the entire profession... well, i had to say something about that. of course theatre acting looks terrible on film, but believe you me, film acting on stage is just grim death to watch.

i'm going to try to stay positive and forget about the negative folks in class. i mean, i can let the fear of being judged block me, but the truth is, if people are going to judge me, they'll judge me, no matter what i do. i have no control over what other people think. yet, anyway.

off to learn my scene...

Tuesday, July 07, 2009

Joe Job

So at the moment, I'm unemployed. At first it was a kind of planned unemployment, I was coming off a tour, had some money in my bank account. I intended to luxuriate in my free time, not staying in hotel rooms, not eating Tim Horton's food in the truck, and just relax for about a month. Because I have some mad office skillz, you see, so I figured it would be pretty easy to pick up some office work when I was good and ready.

Not so much, apparently.

You see, contrary to popular beliefs, most actor/writer/artist types aren't raking in the cash from government grants, we don't get paid tons of money even when we are working. We tend to live by picking up little freelance gigs piecemeal, by waiting tables, by typing memos for people and answering their phone. Hence, the Joe Job. The "Real Job" if you're feeling a little less kind.

I've had a lot of joe jobs, mostly in offices. I may be one of the only actors in the world who has never waited tables or worked in food service. Because I somehow got sucked into working in offices right after university, and I highly recommend temping to anyone who asks. No responsibility, a finite time limit that you'll be expected to be there, and people are always impressed when you know the alphabet. The way it works is pretty simple. You sign up with a temp agency. Then someone at the agency, your temp pimp as it were, sends you out on jobs. You show up, do some kind of menial work, and collect a paycheck. Easy peasy!

But not anymore. I went back to my temp agency, and my temp pimp was super excited about it, and I have worked for exactly 5 days in the past month. Things have gotten slow here in oil country. So slow that it's getting hard to get any kind of job. Jobs at malls, fast food jobs, everyone is taking anything they can, because suddenly it's looking pretty bleak.

So where does this leave me? I'd planned to get a second job to pay off some debt and some upcoming wedding debt, even though the prospect of working 7 days a week wasn't exactly thrilling. But right now I'd be happy with any income. Being a supermarket checkout girl, pouring coffee, flipping burgers. And yet, I have also been rejected by all these jobs. Because even though a ton of office jobs look impressive on the resume, people assume that I have no other skills, or they just don't believe I actually want to scoop ice cream for a living.

Actually, scooping ice cream or working at Value Village sound a lot better to me than going to office potlucks, but that could just be me.

In other news, I have been accomplishing some things. Writing some online content articles that are actually going to give me a paycheck this month. Taking the second half of that film class in a couple of weeks. Submitting plays to places. Doing some freelance-y little things. So I can't say that I don't enjoy being my own boss and having free time. I just can't help feeling more and more anxious about my dwindling finances.