THE OCCAW REPORT

News & Notes From Ron:

       The 2012 Schedule of Classes is now on the site!!!

          Dates to Remember: Mondays, March 5th - April 9th

        Acting Techniques for TV/Film $195 for OCCAW alums

In the last newsletter I mentioned that we were getting closer to a vote on the merger of Screen Actor's Guild and AFTRA. A committee was formed to work out the details and their report to the board of each union will be presented sometime after the first of the year. Once it is tinkered with and approved by both boards it will be sent to the membership for a vote. It must get a 60% super majority by both unions for it to happen. I'll continue to fill you in as the details and development come out. Just remember though, you'll hear rumors in the upcoming months that merger is inevitable and that if you rush up and join AFTRA (an open union) you'll automatically be part of SAG when the merger goes through. THIS IS NOT TRUE! You will still need to qualify the usual way so don't fall for this as many thousands have over the last 25 years.

OCCAW Alumni News:

Here's the latest and greatest happenings with current and former students. Jeannette Shelton recently shot a commercial for the fruit snack "Sharkies". She's also been background in several tv/film projects. Jeffrey Gorman is recording radio programs for the blind. He was also in a play where he played a lawyer. Scott Stewart's "What's Up Orange County" is just getting bigger and bigger. Besides the major cable networks it can also now be seen on ION television. Erin MacDavid was background for the feature film "Bad Teacher" as well as on the tv series "No Ordinary Family". Meanwhile her sister Kelly MacDavid was on Icarly. Dianne Manaster had a commercial running on Animal Planet and was in "Richard III" at the Geer theatre in Los Angeles. If you go to comedy clubs you've probably been entertained by Jonny Loquasto who is a stand up comedian. Rachel Mauer was a contestant on that crazy show called "Wipeout". Yep, she got wiped out good! Christian Mesaros was recently seen in the play "Dracula" at Villa Park High School. Xandra Long was also seen in the musical "Wizard of Oz". Claudia Romero signed with Trio Agency then turned right around and booked a Mercury Insurance spot. She's also just been cast in the "General" as a Latin Dancer. The hardest working woman in show business Alice De Leon has been working like crazy. She's been in commercials for "Caremore", "AB Medical", "Seneca Farms", "INQ", "Memorial Care", "ICYTE.com", and the "University of Phoenix." Hot off the presses, Zedrick Restauro become SAG Eligible for filming a Hewlett Packard spot. Congrats Zed. On the Agent front Alan Mireles and Matthew Moore just got repped. On the background front be looking for the next "The General" auto insurance commercial for the following: Darya Harris, Kristen Stone, Samantha Speed, Breanna Peirce, Ileana Garcia, Nadia Franco, Tiffany Yu, Whitney Youmans, Chelsea Thurman, Alan Mireles, Kerry Hyatt, Norman Cleary, Kymm Carter, Lucas Schultz, Kyler Kaufman, Kameron Owens, Otto Prillwitz, Derek Dillon, and Keegan Condon. You guys did great!!! Both Jacqueline Joseph and Gil Hayes recently some extra work for NCIS.

Words of Wisdom from casting director Mariko Ballentine:

Mariko Ballentine, who is a commercial casting director, teacher, and long time friend sent me her newsletter giving the following advice to actors and was kind enough to allow me to reprint it for you.

IT CAN BE DEPRESSING...     My Actor friend, Art (not his real name of course) wrote this as his Face Book status one day last week:   "Can't believe I'm typing out a resume (not an acting resume)...this is depressing."     I have known Art probably for 16 years, and I have always thought he had a terrific "look", that he was likable, and very much an "every-man". He is also a good actor and very directable.   99% Of All Actors Need That Other Gig!   Even back in the "good old days" most Actors have always needed that other gig, that "survival" job that would allow them to pursue their chosen career. These days it's even more true, and not just for Actors!   There is no shame in having multiple jobs. Having these jobs allows you to audition without the fear of economic insecurity. There is nothing worse than feeling desperate, that you "have" to get this gig. The CD can feel the desperation walking towards them at the audition. Auditioning without "needing" the job gives you much more freedom. This freedom allows you the courage to take more risks and ultimately allows you to be more of yourself. Ironically, these other "jobs", these other experiences, can give you more material for subtext in your acting. No one said it was gonna be easy...just worth it!   "An actor must interpret life, and in order to do so must be willing to accept all the experiences life has to offer. In fact, he must seek out more of life than life puts at his feet." ~ James Dean   Art heard what I was saying, but he was tired of the routine. He felt that juggling multiple jobs didn't allow him to truly give acting everything it needed, in order to succeed. Even under the best circumstances he felt that after a full day of work he didn't have the energy to do casting director workshops, or classes and be the Actor he needed to be in order to be noticed and move forward.   He felt it was either find a full-time/higher paying job that stressed him and his agent out because he wasn't always sure that he would make his auditions...or find night-time work that wouldn't allow him to do Casting Director workshops (which he felt was essential to climbing this ladder).   I saw his point, I'm not sure I could do this myself, but that's why I'm not an Actor! The truth is, Art was "frustrated, scared, angry and depressed by it all". Art had been around this town for quite sometime. He felt that there were a lot of Actors in this town that were just "talkers and posers and real bad actors clogging up the whole system". I know a lot of people who feel this way, and I truly understand this feeling of resentment.   All I can say about the inequity of it all, is that with everything else in life, you can't judge someone else's insides by their outsides. Yes, you and I might not think that particular "Actor" is very talented...but this business often times has little to do with talent. It's the same frustration that many people feel about "Reality TV"...does it have value? Some might argue that it has absolutely no value, and yet I must admit I have a few guilty pleasures in the genre of "Reality TV".   And so, the bottom line becomes this: If there is no guarantee of financial success as an Actor, and you have to juggle two or three jobs in order to get that one audition that might lead to that one job (paid or not!)...then why do you do it?   TAKE A BREAK!   Perhaps for Art, and many other Actors, it's time to take a break. Some Actors are forced to take breaks for various personal reasons, even though they don't want to. Other's simply have had enough. Perhaps these breaks will lead the Actor to other paths, which will bring enormous fulfillment...which by the way may or may not include being an Actor! One never knows.   I think there are certain people, who cannot help but to identify as an Actor. There may be plenty of people who identify as an Actor simply because they act on occasion or simply because they happen to be "acting" at this time in their lives, some might even be those "talkers and posers" as mentioned above. But I also see some people as being an Actor from deep inside, whether they are making money as an Actor or not.   Perhaps it's the Actors "Perceptions", perhaps their "Perfectionism", perhaps their "Expectations" of themselves interfere with the simple joy of accepting who they are and where they are in their life. Perhaps "letting it go" will allow some kind of "flow" to occur that hasn't occurred before.   Try not to judge the "others", they have their own struggles. Do what you love to do, for the sake of doing it. Once you let it all go...though you still might not make a living as an Actor, you WILL have a joyful life.   So I encourage myself to not give up my own identity... of being a CD, or a Teacher, or a Theater Director, or a Writer...just because I don't Teach, Cast, Direct or Write often enough. I am still all those things within this package I call "me". My entire LIFE is my Career.   I want to thank Art, for inspiring this Blog. I'm not sure what he is feeling today, but it doesn't matter because I suspect that he is one of those who will always be an Actor from the inside out.

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Ron Michaelson