Now, That's a Journal

I accidentally found this actor's blog who's also documenting his journey in the business (www.davidchiu.net).  He seems to have done the stand-up comedy route first and is now starting to become more serious with his acting career.  His blog really delves into the "everyday-ness" of getting a career started. 

I've publicly shared a lot but admittedly, I've left out the daily details of every audition, fleeting strategy ideas I get for my career, my insecurities, etc. 

But in here, it's no holds-barred:  The critiques he gets.  Failed auditions (when they do come around, he admits),working on set , his  breakthroughs, and his breakdowns.

I totally empathize with him on his latest audition entries.  I've been steadily going out on a bunch of pilot auditions in the past few weeks, doing some of the best stuff I've ever done but have heard nada.  I'm getting a bit worn out having to constantly memorize and break down 10 + pages of dialogue every night and have nothing to show for it.  The routine has become: Tossing the previous script into the recycling bin and start the same process all over for the next day's audition.  I almost miss the days when I started out and my booking ratio was 1 job for every 8 auditions -- but then again, the roles I went up for back in the day were a lot smaller, hence less cooks in the kitchen (producers/network involved in the decision making).

David even does what all actors must eventually do: Honestly pinpointing one's innermost insecurities/weaknesses so they can be worked upon -- only David publicly reveals them!  The dude's got a pair of brass ones.   

But what I really like about his blog is that he has a positive outlook and is extremely proactive -- thinking out of the box and not waiting for things to come to him; treating his career like a business: 

-Analyzing his audition ratio with his agency. 

-Auctioning his services on E-Bay to get some work and free press (very clever but probably a bit too pre-mature at this stage -- but still thinking out of the box nonetheless). 

-Creating his own projects to showcase his acting and production talents (that's him in both roles!)

With that combination of attitude, innovation and work ethic -- I think it's only a matter of time his current state of unemployment as an actor will start to change.  A good read for aspiring actors.

I should be this guy's publicist.

Also for those actors interested, on March 25, AIA Studios is hosting a free Industry Panel.  You can pick the minds of the top casting people in attendence: April Webster ("Lost", "MI:3"), Deborah Aquila ("Flightplan","Eight Below"), Chemin Bernard ("Fat Albert"), Mindy Marin ("The Family Stone", "Face/Off"), Peggy Kennedy ("24"), Wendy O’Brien ("Batman Begins", "Memento").   Even I wanna go but I just auditioned for most of them in the past couple of weeks and the event might be awkward having me interrupt the entire time, "You know that project you're currently casting?  Yeah, why didn't you hire me for that?"

You can register for it here.  First come, first served.