Triple Audition Day - nailed one failed one and did ok on one.

This is a diary-like post I wrote around a year ago. WOW how times have changed! who knew there would be the coro thing...

4/28/2019
Today was a fruitful day. I had 3 auditions in a row, and I drove a total of 65 miles just running around LA. Yea I was exhausted, but happy too.

In the morning, I drove to Loyola Marymount University, which is really far for me, but thankfully it was a Sunday and I did not encounter traffic!
Their building is really nice and new! super jealous haha. (but not as nice as USC, their campuses and film department are dripping in gold)
It was a student film between a Chinese mother and daughter. I can speak Mandarin so it was easier for me. It went ok. The director wanted to do a different take, and another one, so I ended up doing 3 takes. I hope it was ok.

Next I drove to UCLA. And their film department was located at the far north corner of campus, unlike USC whose film department was basically at the center of campus. I parked really far and found parking near a school which allowed me to park because today was Sunday! yay!
I walked like a mile, in search of a cafe that is open, but all I see is fancy rich houses around the campus. Who the heck lives here??? I bet not the poor students with all the debt. I wonder how far UCLA students have to live to be able to afford rent.
Anyway, I found the main cafeteria which was the only open coffee selling place in the vicinity. And I ate Panda Express for lunch lol. I found out that I totally blend in to the student crowds. Asians never age. It is true.

So this audition was also a student film and it was about an aspiring Japanese American girl who wanted to pursue her dream as a stand up comedian, but was stuck as a coffee shop barista with a horrible boss who had chest hair. Ewww. I can relate very much. Very much.
I thought I gave it my best, first doing a comedic monologue and then the audition. What really made my day was the two directors said, that was pretty well done, and the other said "basically nailed it". I was so happy!! Even if I don't get the role, I still got something out of it. Thank you for offering me the chance! (Update: I didn't get the role even though I nailed it!)

Walk another mile to my car lol. (After walking the Camino de Santiago, I find walking up to 2 miles to my car is totally nuthin' for me)

Driving to New York Film Academy this time for the 3rd audition. This is the LA actor's life man.
Great, no traffic on a Sunday, but ewww people on the West side drive like their bums are on fire! So rude too! people chill out!! Why rush on a Sunday afternoon? Game of Thrones doesn't start until 9pm!!ha.

This audition seemed easy but turned out to be the real challenge. I did not memorize my sides and it seemed that everyone else did because they did not even print out the sides. So I just read off my phone.
Then the director, who was Chinese and seemed really serious, told me more about the character. This was an innocent girl role, and he wanted me to play the role as if I was a child. Then I did a "normal girl" take, with a little bit of a condescending air which a lot of Chinese girls had. He then said, this condescending air is not forced, this girl was born and shaped to think like that. So obscure and I could not grasp the essence. So I probably failed that one.
Last, he asked me to read for the "boss" role. I did not rehearse because it was a male boss role.  But he wanted me to do it anyway. This time his directions were even more obscure. He was like, you feel like you have these glasses on, an authoritative look.  Non existent boss glasses. OK that is going somewhere I have no idea where. So I just kinda sort did it. And he was like, I did not see anything lol. He then asked me to memorize the whole monologue on the spot! That was really a challenge. I could not do so fully. Under time constraint too. And I didn't know half of what he was talking about either. I did not know these student directors can talk so obscurely. I have encountered that before but this one was particularly hard to understand!
Still, one thing he said was very helpful - I seemed to be nervous and tightened up on camera, (well I was probably just trying to figure out the nonexistent boss glasses thingy!) He reminded me to relax. That was very helpful hint. So thanks!!

So tired after 3 consecutive auditions, so I went to Walgreens and picked up my headshots, then bought ice cream as a little treat for me. And also because they are on sale. Oh the struggling actor life!

Will be updating more often.
I have multiple auditions every week. (update: wow this is well before the corona)
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Official Review of The Farewell by an Asian American actress Sadie 1/2

www.instagram.com/s307c
Feel free to follow me, no pressure.

So last week I watched The Farewell starring Awkwafina and other buddy Asian actors. Now, as an Asian and American actress, I do have my two cents to say about this trending film. Short summary is: I liked it! My American (white) friend who went with me really loved it. And I understood where that came from as well.

First, I was born in Taiwan and raised in the US. I totally dig the family dynamics in the movie - because my family is very very similar and I can say that the movie really portrayed the concept of the Chinese family very well. Chinese families are huge, with different members who think different thoughts. But on the surface, we want to keep it looking peaceful. "he" or the word "peace" is a central concept for the Confuscius thinking Chinese people and the Chinese family. We try our best to maintain peace on the surface and most decisions are made so to maintain the peaceful surface.

But underneath, it is definitely chaos. Especially in the film, there are family members coming from all over the place such as US, Japan...etc. Each member holds a different view on life and the meaning of "family". The discussions and fights all happen in private spaces, away from the center of the family - the grandma. Even though they all try to hide the truth that grandma has cancer from grandma herself, I feel like this grandma already knew because can they be more obvious by acting so weird! Hijacking her medical exam report? A fifty year old son crying like a baby at a wedding? Yea even I would have guessed it, not to mention a wise old Chinese grandma. However, grandma still pretends to play along with them. Just to be considerate and retain the "peace". This is my objective opinion though. The film never revealed if she ever "knew" about her illness.

I love how the film looks at death. It is sad and also humorous. I have learned in my acting class that humor and sadness are basically side by side, separated only by a thin sheet of paper. In this film, many moments definitely make me teary at one point, but then my tears never has a chance to fall down because I have to laugh at the play of humor which closely follows the sad moment.

(more to follow...)

Student film school tours, I mean auditions

Week into 3/23
I had a fruitful week in auditions.
It is interesting because I had 3 auditions and basically did a film department tour of LA film schools lol.

So 3/20 I went to New York Film Academy. Someone tell me beforehand how hard parking is! because it took me seriously 30 minutes to find a spot 1 mile away! And walked 1 mile to the school.  The whole street was full and then it was WB studio next door so no parking there as well. It was a nightmare, especially for someone who cannot drive well like me.

The audition went horrible. First I shook hand with the wrong person who I thought was the director, because the assistant looked more like the director. But the young looking kid sitting in the back was the director! OMG she looked 18 and in super casual clothes.. Oh well.
And then she was not giving clear instruction as to what I should do. Very unclear. And her face was as if bird poop had just landed on her hair or something, for the whole duration of the audition. I hope I wasn't the cause....

The same night I went to USC. Their film school department looked better than a 5-star Cancun resort. It was so fancy, with water fountain and arches... Thanks to Mr. Lucas, I suppose. This one didn't go well either because they needed me to cry on cue. I couldn't at that point. But at least the director was a normal human who smiles and holds normal conversation.
Interestingly all the auditions this week were Chinese student film projects.

The third one I went to later in the week was at American Film Institute. No one told me it was on a hill! I took the metro because it was in the middle of Hollywood and must be hard to find parking. And I was right on! There was no parking or free/cheap parking! Props to me for going by metro!
It was at night too, everything was dark and it would make driving harder.

I had to walk a while to get to my destination. When I did, I almost doubted my google maps. Where was I? It was almost magical actually, walking past homeless people and empty bars and barren LA streets, and finding yourself looking at a castle among woods. Yes the school looks like a Harry Potter castle! Maybe it was the perfect weather for walking, maybe it was the stars and clear sky, but I had an enjoyable trip walking into the castle that was AFI. See how much happier not having to park has made me? lol

The audition was for a Mandarin student film. I played a speech teacher. At first they were like, you are too gentle. So the next time I showed them my inner evil side haha. And they were like oh girl you can be mad too.

I thought I did pretty well, and this time actually had a friendly conversation with the directors. They were nice people. That and the starry sky and the view overlooking Los Angeles completed the happy night for me.

Hustling on...

Suddenly turning into a sad me

3/17 and 18
Did a photoshoot with a photographer named tibi from Las Vegas.
He was pretty chill.
He was in town for a week so I met up with him twice and did 2 shoots actually.

We sneaked into a luxury apartment and went to the roof to shoot. It was fun. Then manager found us, but she was cool enough to let us be there for a little bit and shoot a few more photos.
Funny it all worked out well.

His memorable quote was "everything is about sex." Ok I better explain.
So he took a marketing course, and every commercial and marketing plan evolves around the concept of sex and sexy. That's all every and any human wants, according to this theory. So things like coca cola, car commercial, any commercial, will feature some sort of sex appeal in order to grab eyeballs.
I mean I heard that's all guys think about all day lol. But for us women, I dont think about it so much at all. Not every day at least.
But I guess if more than 50% of the population does think that way, commercials will tend to go that way as well...
So he thinks portrait photography is also about being sexy.
I dunno. I guess. Not 100% convinced but ok I did learn something today.

I look like tom sawyer??!! lol


After the shoot, I had a happening that still saddens me today, 2 months later.
So I got into final rounds of a Kate Spade commercial thing. They were casting Asian daughters, and since I am authentic Asian immigrant daughter, and my audition tape was great, I got into the last round! The director from NY would skype with me that day to talk!
I was so thrilled, but I did a bad job. I didn't know what I was talking about. I was not charming enough as a person... so she didn't like me. That must be it because I never heard back from her!
Maybe I was tired from the shoot. Maybe I looked ugly after 2 hours of running around modeling in the sun. Maybe we just didn't vibe.
I can go on forever. But I will try not to.
Fail forward, that is what I have been taught.
I can only go on.
Even though that would have been a big break for me..

Oh Well. I will get over it.

Sorry to end this blog post in a sad tone. But I gotta say nobody is happy all the time.

3/15 My first appearance on public radio

So this is a tiny milestone to break I guess.

For the local series which I auditioned and got a role (recap here)
the producer is also doing a local radio show!
And he put me on and had a short interview with me!!
OMG! I have never been on radio before! I never liked the idea of talking my whole life lol. (only now that I am acting, I need to talk all the time..)
I was so nervous. When the time comes, I received a call. Then I was on!

Good thing is, it was only very short. Maybe 10 minutes.
They only asked me how I felt when I got the role, how did I end up acting...etc.
And I was worried that I wouldn't be funny and entertaining but I thought it would be in vain to try so I didn't even "try to be funny". And it was fine. Being funny was just naturally in my blood so I didn't need to try lol.

They asked me to give a shout-out to my friends. So I just said "omg I am on radio!!" the way people say "mom I am on TV". haha.

Why was I so cool about it? Well it was a local station, and most likely not too many souls are listening anyway.

But I was glad I made it onto the radio, for the first time ever!

Life continues...

Hair Modeling into a Bob cut

3/11/2019
Today was a record-breaking busy day. I had multiple offers for work and I had to turn down some.

At 11 I went to a hair salon in Studio City, and got my hair cut by a professional stylist. Basically by being a hair model. And I am getting paid for it. So I did it.
It was cut to up to my shoulder and was a bit short, but I pleaded that it could be in a ponytail so it was long enough to be tied up.
The stylist was not too nice but it was ok. And they had refreshments. I loved that! A professional photographer took a photo of me, which turned out really nice!

Someone said I look old.
Whatever. I got paid well.

After that, I drove to somewhere near Culver City and almost to the beach. For another audition which makes you think on your feet and do an improv scene on the spot. It was great and really fun. Afterwards they led us away to sign some papers, which made me assume I got a role? But then until today, 2 months later, I still did not receive anything so I guess it is not for me :(

Drove away to the dreaded DTLA. The traffic is so busy and crazy. And there is no free parking!! Any parking costs at least $10! I am not paying that for an hour of audition! Then I was lucky to find a spot on the street with coin machine. It ended up costing like 4 dollars to park an hour. Expensive...
The audition was at a random old building. I might hesitate to go in if it was at night. But this is the bright afternoon so it was ok.

It was for a commercial calling for Japanese women. I am not but I submitted anyway and they asked me anyway. I see on the sign in list, the names were all Japanese except for me..

On the 3rd floor of this old building, I finally found the suspicious looking room. I opened the door, 3 teenager looking kids are inside, swiping away on their phones. I was barely greeted, and was told to stand on the bright side of the room. A kid took photos of me, front and side. And they said that's all. Um are you sure?
Yeah.
They told me to wait outside the door for 5 minutes, and if they didn't call me, I could leave.

That was the randomest audition so far.

So I drove home then, having been so tired out from the day. Ended this busy day.