Hopes and Dreams and Goals. Auditioning at The Actors Alliance

Last fall, 2007, I made it a goal to start using "meet-and-greet" resources (e.g., Actors Connection, The Network) to meet agents and casting directors in order to start to open doors to professional opportunities. Right off the bat, however, I knew I didn't want to be scatter-shot about it, i.e., going everywhere to everything. The more I thought about it, about how to use these types of resources, the more I realized how really clueless I was about how best to use my time and money to pursue these potential opportunities. I realized I needed some experienced, professional, expert guidance. So, I asked the Universe for help.

Enter: The Actors Alliance and One On One. Both are like Actor's Connection and The Network, i.e., they function as middlemen between actors (sellers) and casting directors, filmmakers, agents, managers and producers (buyers), but you need to audition for The Actors Alliance and One On One to be a member, and then you can take part in their agent and casting director's workshops and meet-and-greets -- and their audition process is not just a formality, i.e., last fall, I auditioned for One On One, but I was rejected for membership, so I've taken the advice and feedback I got from that audition, and I'm going to try again later this month.

However, I decided to try to kill two birds with one stone, and I took One On One's feedback and advice and today I went in and auditioned for membership in The Actors Alliance. Harry O'Reilly auditioned me (a terrific guy, a professional actor and successful businessman with a great ear and eye in terms of training and coaching actors), and he congratulated me on my audition technique and told me that Deborah Carlson's Word Of Mouth Studios had trained me well (I always knew she had, and I've worked hard, but this was terrific validation nonetheless).

I passed! I'm now a member! This has been a MAJOR goal of mine for almost a year now!

It's very good place to meet CDs and agents -- again, you need be a member, and apparently they only accept 25% of the people who audition, but once you're in, then you can sign up to meet CD and agents in meet-and-greets, 1-on-1's, workshops, and casting sessions

I've chosen to go this way, i.e., auditioning for membership in places like Actors Alliance and One on One rather than using an open resource like Actors Connection or The Network, because they purposely tell the CD's and agents they invite that their members have auditioned and the quality of auditioning they see will be higher, on average, than if they go to a place like Actors Connection. My goal -- my hope -- is that this will put me on a faster track to eventually booking professional work, mostly film and TV. It's also better then mailings, though I'm doing that too.

A secondary reason is that once I've started to use Actors Alliance (and, hopefully, One on One, when I pass their audition), I'll be much smarter and more knowledgeable about how to use open resources like Actors Connection or The Network than I otherwise would be.

So, a major piece of the puzzle has fallen into place in the Over-All Picture of my Hopes and Dreams, the Great Joy and Purpose Of My Life . . .