The Green Room

Started class at The Green Room this evening, taught by Dave Murphy. What a great start to an 8 week commitment. There are 10 of us in class, a good mix of backgrounds, a few SAG, some brand new, several with theater backgrounds.

The requirement at the Green Room is that you all must start at level one, no matter your background or experience. Initially I balked at that, after all, I've been doing this for years!...but I'm very glad they have this policy. There are always things one has forgotten or simply never learned, depending on how you got into the business. Murphy put us all on tape, did a small interview which will be posted online so we can view & critique.We are a mismatched bunch, with one thing in common, the desire to act; mostly in film, some theater, and hopefully get paid for it!

Sort of a long night, left the house at 4:30, got back at 10:30, but after tonight I know it will be well worth it, we will all be at a significant advantage both in terms of ability, confidence, and creativity at auditions and running our business like a business! Chatted about every topic, and sensitive issues will remain behind closed doors, trust me when I say it was enlightening! Heck I may even post my work to get add'l input! One more brick for the foundation, great choice I made to sign up!

More on A Christmas Snow!

In addition to the Casting info from yesterday, here is where you can send an email with your area of expertise if you are interested in other positions!

"Crew@trostmovingpictures.com Or. volunteer@trostmovingpictures.com. Please send resume or any past experience. If you have none, then list area of interest.
Break a leg guys! What a great opportunity!

Casting Opportunity!

We're having an open on-line casting call for actors/actresses for our next feature film, "A Christmas Snow." There are 2 lead parts, 1 supporting part, and 4 day player parts for which the casting call is open.

Production Details:
Filming Location: Tulsa, OK
Prep Dates: January 28-29, 2010
Shoot Dates: February 1-20, 2010

Actor Details:
Actor Union Status: Union or Non-Union
Compensation: Paid
Rate: SAG - Modified Low Budget
Benefits/Credit: Travel, Lodging, Meals, Hard Copy of Completed Project, & IMDb Credit

Watch this video of Director - Tracy J Trost as he shares his vision for our casting call and gives you a brief overview of the process:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzRG6STVqt4

Then Follow these simple steps to try out:

1. Read the character description and see if it's the part you want to audition for.

2. Download the script pages from our website:

http://www.AChristmasSnow.com

3. Watch the video of Director - Tracy J Trost as he shares his vision for the character and the pages you will be reading.

4. Record yourself reading for the part and upload the video using the following guidelines:

A. We need to be able to see and hear you. Take your time to make sure we can.
B. Start the video by giving us your take on the character.
C. Have someone else read the other character’s parts to you.
D. Focus on staying in character and not on the person reading to you.
E. Title the video: TMP's - A Christmas Snow, "Character Name"
F. Add your name to the description & anything else you want us to know.
G. Tag yourself in the video, so we can find you on facebook for a call back.
H. Upload the video to: facebook.com/TMPics for us and our fans to see:
Use the "Video Camera" icon under the status update box on our wall to upload
your video to: facebook.com/TMPics and remember to "Tag" yourself.
I. Email your resume and head shot to: casting@trostmovingpictures.com

Thanks and be sure to let everyone know about our casting call and check back often for important updates and more news.

Joe Jestus
Trost Moving Pictures

A Christmas Snow-Casting Call!

Christmas is around the corner, and what could be a better gift than a fantastic casting opportunity? There are 2 leads, a supporting & several day players-1 woman, men & a young girl. The best part is this is a real opportunity, not one of those online auditions that you post & then get everyone you know to vote for you multiple times. A real casting, great folks, a redemptive story, it gives me chills to see this happening! Click!

http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=215058710378



Hope to see you there!

Thanksgiving day after

Thanksgiving, a fantastic day of giving thanks. A wonderful day, lots of hard work, but so much to be thankful for, and now that the planning and feasting is over, there is time to be still & be thankful!

I have been blessed with a terrific, albeit somewhat dysfunctional family (who hasn't!) and even tried to tell them so last night. Talk about having a tough audience! My parents cannot handle, well actually my mom, cannot handle nice words, makes her very uncomfortable so she teases & makes faces. Sheesh! My heartfelt & little tears (sorry) and she is crossing her eyes at Clay! She would have scolded him if he had done the same as a young child....which he reminded her of! 

Anyway, to my dad, thanks for making me think, figure things out. That doesn't always work out for the best, but the process is fun & challenging! Like when I dismantled every piece of my mom's crystal clock, but when I put it back together I had a couple extra pieces! Oh well! And I reminded him of the time he assumed I had gotten the car into an accident, because "someone" had taken it upon themselves to remove the 1/4 panel, pound out the ding & repaint it, I was the only one in the family that would have done that! Hah, wasn't me! Anyway, thanks Dad.

Then there is my mom, she is something, always helping, teaching me so much. She is creative, full of common sense, takes on way too much, always helping others, compassionate, caring. She was always there, every day. We (sister and I) used to wonder why she didn't do more for herself, even scolded her for that. Finally, as a single mom, I understood. She has a sense of adventure (like when we got lost in China, jumped off the boat in Yalapa to swim to shore, or found our way around Lithuanian back roads), is curious about life, yours and mine, takes an authentic interest in other people. She loves nature, all Gods' creation, animals, it's tough to love your fellow-man, but she does her best at that too.

My son Clay, grew up with no dad, I did the best I could, with mom as the other parent. He is charming, strong willed, loving, fun to be around. The best gift God could have given me. We have our differences, mostly because we are so much alike, and I am just so blessed that God chose to give him to me to raise. I cannot imagine life without him, he was my anchor, had incredible insight as a child, and gave me direction.

And my loving husband Jim. I cannot imagine where we would be without him. He is my support, my encourager. He came into our lives 7 years ago & willingly & faithfully took on the role of father, husband & supporter. I never knew a man to shoulder the burdens he has & I am so grateful for that. He has taught Clay so much, how to be a good father, warts & all (no he doesn't really have warts, just a figure of speech!), a man of integrity, a good husband & best of all, he does it all with God. We are together by God's grace & no other reason, neither of us were where we would have considered a relationship 7 years ago, but God had other plans!

And finally my sister & her family, although they were not with us last night, they are enjoying God's creation at the Grand Canyon. My sister has always been there, she is devoted to those she loves & I am lucky she has forgiven me all my dumb things over the years! I wish she could have been there with us, but I am so glad they were having a great family togetherness time instead, they so deserve it! I just missed them!

I just had to share, my family is like no other, makes me crazy sometime, but how blessed we were to be able to spend a relaxing evening together, talking, laughing & even playing pool! My dad the shark! I do believe he let me win!

A wonderful day, Thanksgiving. Let us all give thanks!

Late, but still here!

Well, I've lots of interesting news, a new film studio is set to open, I've attended a couple Meet ups here in Chicago, one for film makers, the other for working actors.

First, as to the studio, it was announced 2 weeks ago that a person with 3 studios in Toronto had bought a property on the south west side of the city, the old Ryerson steel mill. He has considerable connections & experience so the news was received with great joy.....however, a week later, it was announced that the deal hadn't actually closed, the grant hadn't gone through, the buyer was merely acting as broker for a local group who was purchasing the property....questions.

I'm guessing the property was probably slated for the Olympic village that we didn't get (gee I wonder why not?), and at this point any buyer will be given some great incentives. Now I may sound a bit negative, it's just that my concern is for the way this deal seems to be coming about, Chicago style politics at work? Let's hop NOT!

Of course all Chicago will be thrilled at a film studio, said to be second in size only to Hollywood. Especially as it would seem likely that Oprah will be moving out soon & with her, many jobs will be lost, all the infrastructure she has kept busy will now be scrambling for work. She bought a home out in CA quite a while back & now seems pretty inevitable that she would go where she can continue to grow.

So, on to personal & professional things, local Meet ups! What  great networking & learning experience. the Film Meet up was about incorporating sound into your project & I learned much that I didn't know....of course I really don't know too much about sound, so now at least I have a foundation to build upon.

And the other was a private Meet up for working actors. 'There were 2 guest speakers, Sharon King who used to work for Oprah ( when she had two names) and Chris Charles of Beverly Ridge Pictures. Grace was the moderator, asked all kinds of pertinent questions, all in a safe environment. What gets said there stays there! Nice! This is a really vibrant group, has been growing consistently & is pretty much bursting at the seams. How great that folks are taking it upon themselves to get us & keep us all connected.

I have my 2 demos, one for dramatic, one commercial/industrial. Can you believe the trend is to shorten them to one minute! I was so pleased with my 4 minute film demo, I had tried to create a cohesive story with my clips, now to add acouple new pieces & chop it all down to 60 seconds! Gives me something to work on!

So now it is time to do like my Little Bits, the  "Frappe-Cat" is doing....how is it he makes everything seem comfortable?!?