My first SAG movie!

After a pretty slow month in acting, I received a few interesting phone calls over the past couple of weeks.

The movie I auditioned for back in June, the one I had given up on, even though the director seemed to really like me and said I would "definitely" hear from him, finally called! I assumed I hadn't been cast, since it had been about three and a half months with no call. But I did in fact hear from them. Unfortunately, the call was to see if I would have an interest in doing a couple of days of background work for the film. I was disappointed of course, because I had been called back for a speaking role. And the pay was quite a bit lower than the usual background work I do. But I figured it could still be a positive experience, and at least the director was honest about hearing from them, so I decided to do it.

Here is where the story gets more interesting. About a week later, they called again asking if I would play an actual role in the film. Of course I said yes right away. They said they would get back to me soon with more details, but to plan on a one day shoot next week sometime. The best news was still to come. As it turns out, this is an actual SAG film, not a non-union film like I originally thought. Now, it's still a low budget indie film, so there is a different pay scale than there would be for a regular SAG project, but it's still very good money. But more important than the pay even, is the fact that I have now taken a huge step toward joining the Screen Actors Guild! A non-union actor must work three days under SAG contracts and then they are eligible to join. I am on contract for two days with this film (even though they originally said one. The good fortune seems to keep coming with this project!) So I will be one day away from joining! I'm hoping to somehow get one more day added to the shoot, but it's probably not very likely. Shooting schedules are very strict. If not though, hopefully I can get a waiver on SVU or some other TV show for my last day.

I'll blog again soon about the actual film experience. I shoot tomorrow and Tuesday.

If there is a lesson in this I think it's to take all the work you can, even if it doesn't pay much. You never know what it could lead to. I don't know if I would or wouldn't have gotten this role if I turned down the background work, but I believe I made the right decision, and I think it lead to this great opportunity!