Alchemy

Well.  I've now been here two weeks.  Half a month.  Yup.  Everyone keeps asking me if I've been getting auditions yet.  Really?  Is that how people seriously think this business works?  Two weeks?  If I were a surgeon and had been working at a new hospital for two weeks, would people be asking me if I had performed open-heart surgery yet?  Well, probably yes...people probably have just as limited experience with what surgeons do.  That didn't really help my case at all.



Well in case any of you out there were wondering, I've been spending most of my time and energy working on getting a paying job first, so I can get some sort of cash flow.  Once I do that, I'm going to start really looking at finding an apartment/roommate.  Then it'll really be time to get into this acting thing.  Not that I'm not looking for roles or gigs at this point, but it's not my main focus right now.  I can only really focus on one thing at a time.  I know, I know, I should learn to multitask.  But I think this is a case where doing one thing at a time has some serious merit. 


So.  Jobs.  As you all may know (if you've been keeping up with my other posts) I got a couple job interviews last week.  First I interviewed for this AfterCare Program at a private elementary school in Santa Monica.  It's a really super-schweet place.  Lots of rich kids.  And apparently a few famous parents to boot.  So who knows?  Maybe a parent will see me putting on a musical with their son or daughter and say "You!  You've got it!" (but probably not).  I heard back from them on Thursday, and while I was informed that they didn't have time to go over all the candidates before going on spring break, I am "an extremely strong candidate on a very short list".  So that's encouraging.  Hopefully I'll have more on this in about a week.


I also interviewed to watch a couple teens while their parents are out of town for a few days.  The father got over 70 responses from his post and ended up interviewing 4 people, one of whom was me.  He didn't end up going with me, but asked me to be his backup in case anything goes awry.  So there's that.  I guess it's back to the old drawing board.


In other news, I'm going to submit my headshot and resume to the people who are casting the Feature Film adaptation of The Hunger Games.  Apparently they're doing a NATIONWIDE TALENT SEARCH for the next Harry Potter or Whatever-His-Name-Is from the sparkly vampire movies.  I figure I've got as good a chance as any, if they want some unknown talent.  Because that's exactly what I am right now!  More on that later, if there ends up being more news.


Now on to the title of this posting.  


For those of you who have read The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho(if you haven't, leave your computer, find a copy of it, and read it.  Now.), you know that "When someone is following their Personal Legend, the entire Universe conspires to help them achieve it".  I recently re-read the book, and have seen some striking similarities between Santiago's journey and my own.  On his first day traveling, everything seems to be going his way.  He sells his sheep and moves across the Mediterranean to Africa.  He has a lot of money and is ready to find his treasure.  


In my two weeks here, I managed to P.A. on two short indie films, and while I didn't get paid for them, I met a lot of people in the biz and started some great connections.  On the second film, last weekend, I was supposed to be an extra, but they ended up not needing me.  However, I was then unofficially promoted to 2nd AD. I still didn't get paid, but I got a fair bit of responsibility onset, and the director, producers, and everyone else involved learned that I'm someone who can be relied upon.  So it would seem that I'm getting quite a bit of Beginner's Luck right now.  

Also, since there were several people there from the first film I worked on, I got to have fun exchanges like this:

Brandon: Hi, I'm Brandon, the 1st AD

Me: Hi, I'm Eric.  The, whatever.

Brandon: Cool.  So what do you do here?

Me: Well, I'm trying to get into acting, but to be honest, I've only been here a week.

Brandon: Really?

Me: Yeah.  Actually a week as of yesterday.

Teddy: Hey Eric, how are you doing?

Me: Hey Teddy!  Great man, how are you?  Did you get back to your car alright last week? *awesome high five*

Teddy: Oh yeah, it was fine.  We just took Eddie's car for a bit of a joy ride.

Brandon: *stares*

Me: Oh yeah, Teddy's great.*

Brandon: ...So, a week, huh?

Me: Yeah, just trying to get settled and everything.

Turns out that kind of thing kind of messes with people's minds.

However, that is not the end of it.  Santiago is informed that while at the beginning of his quest, everything will go his way, it will get progressively harder, and just as he is about to achieve his Personal Legend, he will be tested ultimately to prove  that he is worthy.  So I guess I'm going to have to prepare myself for some difficulties coming my way.  It's good to have some signposts along the way, and to be able to have a text with which to interpret all the things I'm going through.  Hopefully I'll be able read the omens and learn from my setbacks as much as Santiago did.


And if I can learn to turn myself into the wind, well that's just gravy.










*Editor's Note: Teddy IS great.