| Peechee Neric - Diary of a STAR .... to be |
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| (Regular) JOBS There are lots of jobs here in LA, but there are HARDLY any that will understand why you are taking off half a day or part of the day for an audition. They REALLY hate that out here. You'd think they would understand more, right? They don't. You WILL need a job out here. But my best advice to you is to find a job IN the entertainment side. You can do PA work or Admin work for a production comany or agency. One job I wish I got into, which pays REALLY WELL, is make-up artists. It's an easy job - put make-up on actors and get to gossip with them, sit around and watch the filming, you get to be on the set to fix their make-ups, and a lot of times, when a film doesn't have enough extras or they have drop-outs, if you let the director know that you are also into acting, they'll call you into the film to be part of it. And did I say you get paid well? You do!! So prepare yourself out here to find a job inside the industry. Another is to have your own business so you can have flexible hours. A massage therapist is a good example. Don't come out here without a way to earn some money. There is promotional modeling which pays really well too, but you usually make a commitment to them way ahead of time. If you land a small acting gig that films on the day you do promotions, you better do the promotions if you need money because the company won't use you again if you back out. There's just too many other people out there willing to do promotions. You'll be easily replaced. I'm currently creating 2 e- books. One will list all the websites to find job, as well as addresses of promotions company that you can submit yourself to that are in LA. The other e-book will typically contain casting directors and agencies. BUT... I also plan on giving you the actual production companies addresses and e-mail addresses for marketing yourself. This way you can bypass the agencies and casting directors. Go straight to who hires you. Most of the productions companies are independent, but I do have quite a few e-mail addresses of the big guys! Contact me if you want a copy of either one when I complete it. - [email protected] WHERE TO LIVE and SCHOOLS Obviously it is best to live right in the heart of Los Angeles, but that is so pricey. If you go a little bit out, which I did - 20 minutes away - the rent goes down a greater amount. Personally I lived in the Van Nuys area - which later I found out is the porn capital of the world. Yikes! Also, I found out that I was living in what is called "The Valley area". Yes... I can now be considered a Valley Girl... like you know.... TIP: The Valley is VERY, VERY, VERY HOT. I thought I was in hell. Anyway, Van Nuys wasn't the safest place in the world or the cleanest but it was one of the cheapest. If you are looking to find a better neighborhood that has somewhat better schools, then I would suggest Burbank, Agoura Hills, and North Ridge. Burbank is the closer one to LA. The other two go up farther north - remember the traffic! If you are looking for a really nice place with excellent school (in case you have kids), I found a great place in Orange County (an hour out of LA down south). It's . A little bit pricier - about $2,000 for a 3 bedroom apartment, but the public schools are great. If you can afford it, Beverly Hills also has great public schools. Before I moved to San Diego, I decide to go a little towards the east and look there. I found a GREAT town called Victorville. It's about an hour out of LA, but it is beautiful. A small town that's really homey. It's great because only 1 hour away is the hustle and bustle, an hour up is home, quite suburbs. Victorville is going towards Nevada - near the Mojave Desert. Another great place, that is just beginning to boom with a lot of fiming is Palmdale. Also about an hour from LA and an hour up from Victorville. It's up more north-east. One last place is Frazier Park. Very little town in the mountains. It is always cool over there and you are completely surrounded by greens. So lots of fresh air. It's a beautiful drive and it's over an hour north of LA. It is it's own little community over there - but they get SNOW! For all those snow lovers out there and the prices for rent are cheap. I have a friend who got a 3 bedroom house for $750. Did you hear me... HOUSE! Not apartment. If you don't mind the drive into LA, then this is a great place to live. As far as schools go, LA isn't exactly the best place for kids to go. I've mentioned some places above to help you out. You can also consider putting your children in private school. If you do that, then you can pretty much live anywhere as a majority of private schools are always better. There also is San Diego. I've heard that most of San Diego school system is really good. That's where my kids go now. They've always been in private schools. San Diego was their first public school experience and they are loving it. Well, except for my littlest one. He's used to the 300 or less kids. Where as now there are over 1700 kids in the school. Talk about a culture shock. But he's ok now. He's actually loving it because now all his classmates know he is an actor - so it's kinda gone to his head... Mr. Popular. Before you come to LA, or right when you get here, I suggest really only one place to search for your home - westsiderentals.com They have completely saturated the market and I found that they have THE best listing for rentals apartments and homes. There is a $60 membership fee, but you can search their site which is updated everyday at 4pm. So they have the most up-to-date listings. When I first got here, I drove up from San Diego (2 hour drive one way) everday for 2 weeks looking at leads from newspapers and from driving around. Finally I gave in and paid the $60 and believe it or not, I found the Van Nuys home in less than 24 hours from the time I signed up. Yes, yes... Van Nuys wasn't all that, but the apartment I stayed at was beautiful. Newly renovated and it was tucked behind a large house. Only way to get to me was to go behind the big house. Our yard was completely fenced in - so it was safe and clean. OH! OH! Here's a quick tip... 95% of the apartment rentals and home rentals here DO NOT have refrigerators. You will have to purchase one when you get here. It'll be about $300-$500 for the cheaper ones. Also, all stoves here are gas stoves. CAR You will definitely need a car out here, and it has to be reliable. I would suggest a smaller car because parking here is hell. If you are driving a big car, you'll have a harder time finding parking. Just make sure you've got a great engine if you plan on living in Frazier Park, Palmdale, Lancaster, or Victorville. You WILL be going through some mountains. Here's a note... if you bring your car into California, you know you will have to register it here. Well, expect to pay about $800 for an out-of-state vehicle. Not only that, you also have to get a smog test done before you can register it. Smog test doesn't cost much, but if you fail, you'll be paying a lot to get it fixed up to CA standards. ACTING JOBS All I can really tell you is that you will have to really market the heck out of yourself out here and your pictures have to be excellent - THEY HAVE TO LOOK JUST LIKE YOU. I've heard so many directors/producers complain that most actors don't look anything like their headshot. If you don't look like your headshot - get a new one! If you send one that doesn't look like you, it's false advertising. Think about it! When marketing yourself, go to every acting website that I will provide you in the e-book I'm creating and submit, submit, submit. I'll tell you now, one the best places to go is nowcasting.com. There is a $15 per month but you get some of the best notices there and they are not just for independent films. That's where I got one of my commercials from. You'll also have to find an agent. Unfortunately I have no clue who is a good agent and who isn't. And what really sucks is that you have are supposed to have a 1 year commitment with them. If they don't push you out there, you are just out of luck. However, if you have a strong enough resume, you can always try to negotiate a 3 month try-out with them. I had one where I don't sing any commitments with them UNTIL they find me a job. Once I land a part, then I sign on with them. I thought that was fair. Too bad I had to move to San Diego. She had some great leads for me. When out here, you'll need to contact nobody and everybody. Hence, the e-mail addresses that I have. It's not a guarantee that you'll get a job, but you never know. I did get a few that way - as an extra. Basically they were searching for crew members. I wrote them anyway and offered my acting services to them. They contacted me and I got in as an extra. I met more actors, made more connections with the casting director and the director himself. The movie is called Bananas and stars one of the guys from NYPD Blue. Cool huh? See, marketing works. But you've really got to do it EVERYDAY!!! It's tiring and sometimes depressing when you don't get a call or response and you've spent all that money sending out headshots - that's why I like to contact people via e-mail...cheaper. Anyway, when you do get that call, it is the best feeling in the world. Remember... don't give up now, success could be right around the corner. |
| TIPS ON CALIFORNIA |