Terri's LA E-Mails





Terri took a bold step towards furthering her acting career this summer by moving to Los Angeles for three months during the television's industries episodic season. She sent the following e-mails and pictures detailing her stay activities in great detail of an actresses view of the competitive world of acting.

Below is her story. . .

LA Letter #1 - Jul 24, 2005 LA Letter #2 - Aug 01, 2005 LA Letter #3 - Aug 11, 2005 LA Letter #4 - Aug 15, 2005
LA Letter #5 - Aug 22, 2005 LA Letter #6 - Aug 29, 2005 LA Letter #7 - Sep 06, 2005 LA Letter #8 - Sep 12, 2005
LA Letter #9 - Sep 29, 2005 LA Letter #10- Oct 05, 2005 LA Letter #11- Oct 12, 2005 LA Letter #12- Nov 04, 2005




Letter from LA #1 - 1st official email from LA- we arrived! July 24, 2005 Hello all, Well it was a LONG drive from Houston to LA. When we finally hit the coast, we thought something didn't look quite right. (look at attachments now). "I knew we should have made a left in Katy (Texas) on I-10!"

At first Terri & Bret thought they were in Florida! Oh No! Relieved when they realized it was Miami in ARIZONA! Whew!

( Bret and Terri in Miami, AZ, July 14, 2005 )

Bret was the only sucker, I mean gracious person that volunteered to help me drive the 1570 mile (longer if you go through Miami) route to LA through deserts in July. The car was completely packed (and I didn't even bring that many shoes). We stopped in Las Cruces, NM the first night and Phoenix, AZ the second night where we had dinner with my friend, Walter. I met him on Friday Night Lights. It was only 117 in Phoenix. But they say it's a dry heat. But it's still sticking your head in the oven whether you're sweating or not! Anyway, so we arrived on Friday the 15th. I saw my apartment for the first time. I love it! Great location, great parking (secure and underground), great room (I have my own room and bath) and a great roommate, Missy. There's only 15 apartments in this complex and they all surround this cute courtyard (think Melrose Place without the pool, sex, murder, drama, etc) Bret helped me unpack the car (up 2 flights of stairs and 30 steps total from the garage to my 2nd floor apartment), set up the tv, dvd, computer, printer, internet, etc. Then we found an In-N-Out burger! The best 1200 calories you could ever eat. And... I've already been on tv! If you count the back of my head (along with Bret's head) from a rear audience shot on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. I plan to go back this Monday because Alanis is the musical guest. Then Bret left on Wednesday to go back to Houston. He leaves this week for his little desert adventure. He should be able to email updates from his location. If not, I will keep you updated after I talk/email him. Well, this email is long enough. I'll talk about the traffic in the next update. And the cost of gas. And the traffic. And the weather. And my acting adventures. And the traffic. Thank you and please feel free to call/email me with updates on the happenings in your life.





Letter from LA #2 August 1, 2005 Hello Friends and Family, I’m on week number 3 here in LA. First let me update you on Bret. He left Houston very early Thursday morning and arrived safely at his base only 53 hours later. That’s 53 travel hours in full uniform and military boots. And I thought the drive to LA was bad. Bret was able to call me this morning at the lovely hour of 3am. It was 2pm for him. He said it’s hotter than Phoenix and he has to wear long sleeves, but the food is great. I’ll pretend not to take offense to the food comment. I’ll let you know his email and mailing address in my next email. Thank you to everyone who has emailed me and mailed me cards and care packages. It’s fun to see my mail box and my inbox filled with love. And thanks to everyone else just for reading my emails. I’ve wasted no time immersing myself completely in acting. I’m in weekly classes for cold reading, scene workout, and improv, as well as taking private lessons twice a week. I plan to start taking casting director workshops regularly as well. This will give me a chance to be seen in front of a variety of casting directors, performing cold reading scenes, and getting feedback from the people who have seen it all. This past week, I sent off 100 postcards to agencies, 50 postcards to episodic/tv casting directors, and 50 headshots/resumes to feature film casting directors. As well as countless electronic submissions to independent films and shorts online. An acting postcard usually consists of a picture or two with our name and contact info. I’ve attached what mine looks like. Then I address it, stamp it, and personalize it on the back. Casting directors like post cards because they don’t have to open an envelope. But it doesn’t include the resume, so it’s good to alternate between the two. It’s recommended to do these mailouts every 3 weeks, or whenever there’s a new project. I probably go to the Post Office more than any place else between the mailings and buying stamps. I have done a couple of fun things. Sunday, a week ago, I went to the beach with my roommate and several of her friends to celebrate her birthday. We went to Marina del Rey beach, just south of Santa Monica and Venice beaches. Then this past Sunday, I went to the Hollywood Improv to see a friend of mine do stand-up. It was a great line-up of people and Marie did awesome. I know Marie Pettit from a few years ago when she used to live in Houston. One last thing… I very much appreciate all the well wishes for my success. I just want to define success for me. My short term goals for this current LA trip are to get as much training as possible, audition for everything under the sun (shorts, students, indies, features, and episodic), and network and make as many LA connections as I can. Now if all this work can result in a guest star role on a tv show or a small rold in a feature film or a lead role in an independent film or something even more long-term, wonderful!!! If I could get an agent, even better! I will leave LA very happy if my goals are met without being ‘rich and famous’. I’m being very realistic. Most ‘overnight successes’ are actually years, if not decades, in the making. My long-term goal is to get some really good roles in feature films. Being a series regular wouldn’t be bad either. Of course, all this wouldn’t even be possible without the most supportive husband a girl could ask for. Besides, as my horoscope said today, “You are coming to work from a place of strength, and shouldn't have any serious obstacles in your way. If you can visualize it, you can achieve it.” and ” This is well within your reach. So go ahead and keep stretching toward the stars.” Really, just good advice for anyone. Well, that’s probably enough for this update. I didn’t even touch on the traffic. Something to look forward to next time. I’m sure you’ll be waiting with bated breath. I’m also attaching a picture of the courtyard in my apartment for your viewing pleasure. Thank you! Terri

( Terri in her apartment courtyard in Burbank, CA )




Letter from LA #3 August 11, 2005 Hello all, First an update on Bret. I’ve actually been able to talk to him a few minutes almost everyday. He works the night shift- 6pm to 6am. That is 7am to 7 pm LA time. So our work/sleep schedules are very similar, which has made it easier for phone calls. He said it is VERY hot during the day and cools down a lot at night. The rest of his unit (which made big news in Houston) finally joined the initial group Bret was in. I also heard that The Today Show did a little segment about Bret’s base he’s staying at. It’s supposed to air on August 17th, 2005. Set your VCRs and Tivos. If you send Bret an email, you can reach him at Bretford.Brogoitti@blab.centaf.af.mil. If you want to actually put something in the mail for him (like for his birthday on August 22) then you can send it to: Capt. Bret Brogoitti XXX XXX XXXXXX
XXXXXX. XX XXXXX I think it takes around 7-10 days to receive it. If you need my address to mail me something, I’d be happy to give it out again. It should only take 2 or 3 days to get to me. Okay, I know it’s been about 10 days since my last LA update, but I’ve been so busy. “But you don’t have a job, or friends, or family. What could possibly keep you so busy?” Glad you asked. I created my daily and weekly schedule to help me visualize my daily goals, which I am happy to share with you. LA Daily Schedule: 1-2 hours: workout- LA Fitness- classes, weights, and/or cardio 1 hour: cold reading practice 1 hour: preparing scenes for lesson or audition 1-2 hours: reading acting books 2-3 hours: reading acting emails, searching and submitting online for auditions 1 hour: printing/mailing submissions, writing/labeling postcards 1 hour: networking- email/phone/lunch with connections 2 hours: movie from Netflix .5-1 hour: personal (non-acting) reading to keep sanity 2 hours: traffic 8-9 hours: sleep LA Weekly Schedule: 1- 2 hours: library- reading Backstage West, Variety, Hollywood Reporter- mandatory trade reading 1 movie at the theater 2 private lessons with my acting coach (1 hour each) 3 acting classes- cold reading, under 5, improv (2 hours each) 1-3 casting director workshops (2 hours each) Organize office files/ pay bills online Mass email to friends/family Now if I have an audition, then a lot of this gets thrown out the window. For example today, I had 2 auditions- one in Torrance and one in Santa Monica. It was a 65-70 mile roundtrip. Add to that about 15 minutes for each audition, and I should only have been gone a couple hours. But it took 5 hours. 1 hour just to go the first 20 miles. That’s how traffic is here. So with this much traffic, my gas mileage sucks. And gas has reached $2.85 a gallon for the ‘cheap’ stuff, with no signs of slowing down. I even saw a sign for $3.99 a gallon for full serve diesel. But as much as we might complain, we’re still a lot better off compared to what Europeans have to pay for their gas. $100-$130 to fill up a tank as of 3 months ago. I keep promising great traffic updates. Next time, I promise… So in the last week I’ve taken 5 classes, 3 private lessons, 2 casting director workshops, watched 6 dvds, seen 2 movies at the theater, had 5 auditions all over town, had lunch with Rick (Angela’s pilot husband who had a layover here), made 2 new friends (Marie’s boyfriend Chris and friend Andrew, who lives in Houston) and played putt putt! I’m tired just writing this. Actually with all these different classes, auditions, workshops, lessons, etc., I’ve had quite an array of characters to study. So don’t be too surprised if I become a little schizophrenic. In the last week, I’ve been a store customer, a waiter, an 18 year old Latino, an abuse victim, a young mother with baby at a baptism, a doctor’s assistant, a reporter, a high school student, a salesperson for the disabled, a friend of a murder victim, a CSI investigator, a cop, and was befriended by a witch. All in a week’s work, right? Until next time, and I promise to write sooner, thank you for your time in reading about my adventures. Terri





Letter from LA #4 August 15, 2005 Hello everyone, I arrived here 1month ago today. I can’t believe how fast time is flying. Bret’s been ‘over there’ just over two weeks. Thinking of “Over There”, have any of you seen that new show on FX? It follows an army squad of soldiers in Iraq, as well as the families left behind. This doesn’t describe Bret’s particular situation, since he will never leave his base and is only there for a couple months. But it is still very emotional to watch, of course I cry at commercials so that isn’t necessarily saying much, but I can relate to the spouses at home. And I think it’s a good reminder to the American public what the majority of our troops deal with over there with the emotional separateness from home and the physical demands of their job and the elements of the land. How militarily accurate it may be, who knows. Only people that have been deployed can tell you that. Oh, and don't forget to watch The Today Show on Wednesday for info about Bret's base. I have to share my Sunday routine. There is a great farmer’s market about half a mile away. It’s every Sunday morning. I go there and eat breakfast or lunch. I’ve had crepes, tamales, and burritos (not all in the same visit). Then there are dozens of tents set up with farmers, bakers, and florists offering everything up for sale. I stock up on my produce and breads, especially berries, cinnamon raisin bread, pita bread and hummus. Also, on Sundays I like to get the Sunday paper (from an actual outdoor newspaper and magazine stand) to collect coupons for the overpriced groceries and gawk at the overpriced real estate. Homes in the area I live in start at about ¾ million and that’s for a 2 bedroom/1 bath. I also like to go to the movies on Sunday. I either go to a showing of shorts, which are short movies ranging from 5minutes to 30 minutes in length. It’s a great opportunity to see the high quality of films (even independent shorts) being produced here. Or I go to the theater for a current release. I’ve attended a few different churches here, trying to find one I like (no, not the ‘Church of Scientology’). When I was googling one of the churches, it directed me to a celebrity website. How did I not know about this site before?? It’s in my ‘favorites’ now. Anyway, it’s really cool because it talks about all the weddings and funerals that had taken place in a couple of these churches I had tried out. There’s a lot of history here like the funerals of Frank Sinatra or Bob Hope or one of the many weddings of Elizabeth Taylor. Good Shepherd Church (Beverly Hills) http://www.seeing-stars.com/Churches/GoodShepherd.shtml
St. Charles (North Hollywood) http://www.seeing-stars.com/Churches/StCharles.shtml
Getting Around LA The riddle of the Sphinx and the mysteries of the Great Pyramid of Cheops pale in comparison to trying to decipher the “logic” of driving in Los Angeles and it’s been that way for a long time. Just the size of this city makes driving in it intimidating! There are over 160 miles of complex freeway systems and over 5400 miles of other roadways. Los Angeles covers an area of 465 square miles. To help add confusion to the already complicated equation, Los Angeles has whole cities inside of it, and some cities you thought were cities are not. They are only regional names to areas long ago swallowed up by Greater Los Angeles. The difference is not something that can be deciphered intuitively by examining the name of each “city” alone. You would probably have greater success studying tealeaves or the entails of chickens. Beverly Hills is its own city; Bel-Air is not. West Hollywood is, but North Hollywood is not. Not is Hollywood itself for that matter. Culver City is, but Studio City isn’t. And Universal City isn’t a city at all as it has no residents (though it does have its own fire department). The corner of First and Main Street is the center of the street and house-numbering system for the City of Los Angeles. In theory, street numbers in the city are numbered according to how far they are from that downtown intersection; however, not all the cities within Los Angeles stick to this scheme, so numbers can jump around wildly when you cross city lines within Los Angeles. The same is true for street names. For example: if you are heading east on Magnolia in Los Angeles, it turns into West Magnolia once it reaches Burbank. Be really careful looking for an address on Robertson or La Cienega as they go through Beverly Hills. Not only do the numbers stop, change to new numbers for a few blocks and then switch back, but the two systems are very similar numerically, so you may think you’re close enough to your destination to park and then find you are still a mile away. Are you getting a headache yet? Now into this mix add the craziest element of all: the people. Over three-and-a-half million of them within city limits. Their most peculiar habit seems to be rushing up on red lights. No one knows why. Perhaps it gives them more time at the stop so they can admire themselves lovingly in their rear-view mirrors and marvel at what a difference those Botox injections have made. Here’s another peculiar behavior: they will often creep slowly into the intersection while the light is red, as if this action might save them a nanosecond of times. They forget that it is also Los Angeles quid pro quo to run red lights that used to be yellow. So if the last five seconds of a red light are considered pretty green and the first five seconds of the red light are seen as fairly yellow, you can see why out accident rates are sky-high. However, when Los Angeles drivers are waiting to make a left turn, they don’t creep into the intersection while the light is green, but instead only enter it once the light turns yellow, to the great annoyance of the drivers behind them also waiting to turn left. So, apparently green lights are also open to interpretation. This difficulty in making left turns in Los Angeles is exacerbated by the fact that the city has almost no left turn signal lights. Oh, and of course, no expensive cars seem to have working turn signals. So, huge city, multiple Cities within the City, and millions of insane drivers: great! “Rush hour” on weekdays is roughly 6 am to 10 am and 3 pm to 7pm. Many freeways also have “rush hours,” even on weekends that seem to fit no discernable time pattern. Think: get to work, lunch hour, leave work, run errands, out for dinner, out to a club or movie, home late. So, what’s that” Like, seven rush hours a day? That’s about right. And that’s not including the traffic composed of people trying to miss rush hour. (These are exerts from “Self Management for Actors” by Bonnie Gillespie, contributed by casting director Steve Lockhart and Robin Gwynne) I borrowed their words because they said it so perfectly. The actual article was about 10 pages long. The freeway system here is as if someone dropped some matches on a map of the city and decided to put a highway wherever they fell. There are so many interchanges, there’s always traffic before and after each one, and they are every few miles. If I want to avoid the freeways and go from the Valley (where I live) to the other side like Hollywood or Beverly Hills, I need to allow 45 minutes just to go over the hills, which is about 8 miles. The airport (20 miles away) has taken me 1 hour and 50 minutes on time, and 45 minutes another time. Thank God for my Navigation system. I have no idea how I would find anything without it. I did have to adjust the estimated time by lowering the speed limits on the different roads. For example, in Houston, I could leave it that I average 65 miles an hour when traveling on freeways. Here, I average 40 on the freeway on a good day. So for a more accurate reading on my Navigation system, I had to lower all the speeds. The traffic on the freeways really have no rhyme or reason. We will be happily traveling at 60mph then suddenly to a complete stop. Then up to 40, then down to 10, then up to 50, then stopped, then up to 30, and slowed to 5. And so on, and so on, and so on. There is no construction or lanes reduced ot accidents or person changing a tire on the shoulder. Nothing! They just slow down! Anyway, enough ranting for now. Hope you had a great weekend. I have another busy week ahead with lessons, classes, workshops, and hopefully auditions. Until next time… Thanks for sharing in my adventures! Terri p.s. You have some homework. I do need some feedback from those that know me. Based on how old I look, my physical appearance, and my personality, what ‘type’ do you see in me? Meaning, do you see me in a comedy, drama, tv, film, etc. What kind of character roles can you imagine me playing? What actress do you envision me competing with for roles? Thank you!






Letter from LA #5 August 22, 2005 Hello everyone, First of all, Happy Birthday, Bret! I think Bret and I have actually only celebrated one of his birthdays together in Houston. I go to great lengths to get out of getting him a present! All of you should have received Bret’s email and pictures last week. If you didn’t and you want me to forward it to you, let me know. It was Bret’s friend’s Craig’s birthday yesterday and my Grammy’s birthday tomorrow. And my father-in-law’s and his twin sister’s birthday is on Thursday. Did I miss anyone? Happy birthday everyone! Wow, have I been busy since my last email! *I put together and dropped off 100 headshots/resumes to a service that will hand-deliver them to commercial casting directors (for less than the price of a stamp and a lot less trouble since casting directors prefer drops to mailings so they don’t deal with opening envelopes and getting paper cuts) *I made an interview video at a production company (they shot 20 minutes of questions and answers and will edit it down to one minute and upload it to one of my websites I use for online submissions so casting directors can see and hear me better than a 2 dimensional headshot) *I did two auditions at the Art Institute of LA for student-directed scenes for an upcoming class (I got to be Erin Brokovich for one audition- very fun character) *I discovered a new mall with a 3-story Barnes & Noble *I had an audition for a graduate film at UCLA *I enjoyed my first massage and facial since I’ve been here (not the same as Lucy, but still relaxing) *I watched ‘When a Man Loves a Woman’ and rehearsed a monologue from the film for upcoming auditions. And all that was only on Saturday! The rest of the week, I took part in 2 classes, 2 private lessons, observed an advanced cold reading 6-hour class that lasted until 1am, worked out several times, had another audition, attended a seminar by a leading manager, watched several movies, submitted to 50 different feature films in the mail, as well as countless hours submitting online among other things. How anyone can actively pursue acting while working a non-acting job, I have no idea! Literally every waking hour consumes me. And I love it! I talked about cold reading in a previous email, and again today. Let me start from the beginning… My interest in acting began 5 ½ years ago in Houston. For the next 4 years, I took part in a lot of extra work to learn behind the scenes and see if I liked16 hour days on set. I got hooked. Then I took a lot of lessons and workshops on and off during this period. And even did a couple plays. When Friday Night Lights came around 1 ½ years ago, it kind of jumpstarted my interest again and got my butt in gear. I needed to stop half-assing this acting thing and do it 150% or not at all. In those three weeks on the FNL set, I made a lot of acting connections, life-long friendship. learned a lot about the business, and just got inspired overall. Not too mention, had a blast! Within 6 months, I got a Houston agent and an Austin agent, tripled my resume in training and experience, and had many speaking roles in independent projects and student films. At about this time, Bret found out he would be deployed for 2-3 months around the summer or fall of 2005. That’s when the planning began for LA. It was perfect timing for episodic season when they start filming the new season of tv shows. The fall semester for colleges have begun, and movies are always going on. In preparing to come out here, I did a lot of research. One main thing I discovered is the importance placed on cold reading. In Houston, most my training had been with scene study, where you study the same script with the same scene partner for a month or so. Cold reading deals with when you are given sides (one scene from a tv show or movie script) and 10 or 20 minutes to learn it before you have to perform or audition it. Sometimes you get 5 minutes, but if you’re really lucky you might get overnight. The goal isn’t to memorize it, but you don’t want to read it either. So you practice the cold reading technique, by looking down and quickly grabbing the sentence in your head, then looking back up and saying it. All this while being aware of your character, your scene partner, your surroundings, the subtext, the story arc, etc and looking natural with a piece of paper in your hand. So an actor needs to practice the technique of grabbing and repeating the line on their own so it becomes easier. Then the actor needs to take lessons and classes to practice the art of creating your character and subtext in a small amount of time and getting redirection from the teacher. It takes mastering cold reading in order to master the audition, and therefore getting the important callback, and finally landing the job. Where if all you know is scene study, you’ll never get the job to even use your scene study skills. That’s enough acting lesson for y’all this week. I’ll send you the bill. Enjoy your week. I know I will! Terri




Letter from LA #6 August 29, 2005 Hello everyone, I've always loved movies and tv. But it dawned on me when playing the dvd game 'Scene It' back in Houston, that I hadn't seen as many movies as I thought I had. It's quite embarrassing to be an actor and the owner of the game and not know any of the answers from questions about movies. Then I looked at AFI's top 100 movie list, and was ashamed by how few movies I had seen off of that list. So I've made it my mission to catch up. Of course I just can't watch a movie any more with the purpose of just being entertained. I'm paying close attention to the writers, directors, producers, casting directors, editing, etc. as well as actors. I'm usually on www.imdb.com afterwards seeing what other movies they were involved with. It is especially helpful in the supporting cast, when you realize you see the same person in 5 of the last 20 movies but you didn't know their name. Then you look at their resume and realize what a busy, working actor they are. Then I have to watch all the extra stuff like special features, deleted scenes, and commentaries. So really a 2 hour movie can take 5 hours. And when I watch a movie at the apartment, I usually have resumes to staple or labels to attach or envelopes to stuff. Always working. So going to the movies is a real treat because I am forced to just watch the movie (and eat popcorn). I got to see a preview of Flightplan that gets released next month. Jodie Foster is so good. I love her. I have a friend that worked 6 weeks on that film as a red-headed flight attendant and you can see her in several scenes throughout. I also have another friend that is an FBI agent at the end. I have to recommend Netflix to everyone. It is the best thing ever for movie lovers. It's an online video store that has like 50,000 videos to choose from. You pick the plan that fits you for how many videos you think you will watch. There's no contracts. I have the $17.99 a month plan. I can rent up to 3 movies at a time, keep them as long as I want, but the faster I return them, the faster they send me a new one. It's a quick turn around too. If they send you a movie on Monday, you watch it Monday night, stick it in the mail Tuesday, they receive it on Wednesday and immediately send you a new one which you receive on Thursday, and so on. So if you have the 3 movie plan, you can basically rotate them out and watch a new movie every night. You never pay for shipping. And you can pre-select all your movies and they save them in your 'queue' (you can log on to your account and change or add to it at any time), then they just automatically send you the next one on your list. In the last month I have watched Finding Neverland, Guarding Tess, American Graffiti, More American Graffiti, Garden State, Man on Fire, The Human Stain, The Postman Always Rings Twice, True Romance, All About Eve, Mulholland Drive Howard's End, Cold Mountain, Punch-Drunk Love, When a Man Loves a Woman, Erin Brokovich, Sideways, Napoleon Dynamite, etc. There are other online video stores, but this is the only one I can personally vouch for. Finally all my tv watching has been justified! I welcome anyone to challenge me if you think you watch more tv shows than me. I finally realize it wasn't a waste of time. It has really helped me in my workshops when the casting directors from these shows come with sides from them. I'm already familiar with the show, the characters, etc. And most the time I've seen the episode the sides came from. It was stressed at my last workshop that actors should have a library of every show on air. That way when we get an audition for it, we have one episode that we can watch and refer to so we can get the pacing, emotions, humor and tone of the show. My actor friend Laurie and I started doing this in May. I was ahead of the game already. Of course with the new season starting in just a few weeks, I will be busy recording samples of all the new shows and adding to my collection of tapes. Last week, I had an email from my New Orleans agent (never officially signed with, but interviewed for them and they were keeping my headshots to submit). Louisiana is very busy with film productions this year. I've heard various reports quoting something like 50 feature films being filmed there this year. Film incentives are a whole other issue that I won't get into. Anyway, so my agent emails to say I have an audition next Monday (technically today the 29th) in New Orleans and that I really need to be there since it's with an LA casting director and a great opportunity. It crossed my mind for a moment to fly down there. (side note: very glad I didn't since the hurricane arrived over night. I have been in New Orleans when they evacuated for a hurricane in 1998 (hurricane never actually came) and it took 15 hours to get home on a normally 6 hour trip. 12 hours just to get to the Texas border.) I reminded my agent I am now in LA and can I just audition for the casting director in LA. She was leaving LA the next morning but said I could mail my audition. So over the next couple days, I got my sides, met with my private lesson teacher, recorded my 3 scenes, and created and filmed a karate form. The character is very fun to play. She's actually on the bad side and it's a very physical role. There's a 6 page fight scene at the end with her arch enemy. Anyway, my tape arrived in New Orleans on time, but there's no one there to deliver it or receive it or see it since the whole city evacuated. Production for this film and all films in the area are probably put on hold. So it might be awhile before I hear anything. Since I've been in LA, I haven't complained about the weather once. Until yesterday. It was hot! Like 100 degrees hot. Since I was outside for an hour at the Farmer's Market, I tended to notice the lovely sweat. Normally the weather is perfect. In fact, I took my car to the car wash when I arrived here 6 weeks ago. Because it hasn't rained a drop since I've been here and I park underground, there's been no reason to need to wash it again. So except for the ½ inch layer of pollution on it or the scrapes on the right tires from attempts at parallel parking, it looks like it was just washed. The weather should be back down to the 80s for the high within a few days. Now remember, I am in the Valley, so the weather is always different than on the other side of the hill just a few miles away. Have another great week. I apologize for being a little slow in answering your emails. But I promise I read, enjoy, and appreciate each one. Thank you, Terri




Letter from LA #7 September 6, 2005 Hello everyone, I can’t believe it is September already! Happy Birthday Rhonda and Andy, both who have birthdays this week. Bret left LA almost 7 weeks ago. This is officially the longest we’ve gone without seeing each other. We went 6 weeks apart before when he left for Officer Candidate School on our 6 month anniversary. In our almost 6 years of marriage, we have both been in Houston together, at the same time, in the same house, maybe for 3 of those years. Work (mine in The Woodlands and now LA and his work allover the world) and travel have kept us busy and away. My poor Abby. My parents have been taking great care of my kitty. September is Thyroid awareness month. As most of you know, Chief Justice William Rehnquist lost his battle to Thyroid cancer on Saturday. Closer to home, one of my best friends just got diagnosed with thyroid cancer last week. She has one of the strongest souls I know, is in great shape, and eats really healthy. I’d like to take this opportunity to educate everyone (including myself) a little more about the thyroid. I got the following information from the website www.thyca.org. Thyroid cancer affects three times more women than men. Usually, it’s treatable. How to find it? The first step is a neck check. It’s that simple. Next time you see your doctor, ask for a neck check. Remember, early detection saves lives. So does prompt treatment plus lifelong follow-up. And, if you or someone you know has thyroid cancer, free information and support services are as close as your phone or your computer. To find out more, contact ThyCa: Thyroid Cancer Survivorsʼ Association, Inc.SM thyca@thyca.org • 1-877-588-7904 www.thyca.org About Thyroid Cancer • Thyroid cancer is the most common endocrine cancer. • It occurs in all age groups, mainly adults. It affects about three times as many women as men. • There are several types—papillary, follicular, medullary, anaplastic, and variants. • Its incidence has increased in recent years. It's the #1 cancer in incidence growth in women and #3 in men. The rate per 100,000 people has increased 3% a year. • About 25,690 people, including 19,190 women and 6,500 men, will be diagnosed with thyroid cancer in 2005 in the United States, according to the American Cancer Society. About 860 women and 630 men (1,490 total) will die of thyroid cancer in 2005. Signs to discuss with your physician • You feel a lump in your neck, or your doctor may notice a nodule in your neck during a routine checkup. Most of these thyroid nodules are benign (noncancerous). • Some people first notice lymph node swellings, fullness in the neck, voice changes, or difficulty breathing or swallowing. Not all thyroid problems result in cancer. Thyroid disease is very common. Did you know that 1 in 10 Americans - more than the number of Americans with diabetes and cancer combined - suffer from thyroid disease, yet half remain undiagnosed? In order to counteract this lack of awareness and educate the public about the prevalence of thyroid disease, diagnosis, and treatment, the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE) continues its annual thyroid awareness campaign. The 2003 campaign, Hiding in Plain Sight: Thyroid Undercover, launched in conjunction with AACE's annual sponsorship of Thyroid Awareness Month. Thyroid Screening Questionnaire in Black and White Thyroid Screening Questionnaire in Color 2003 Neck Check Card in Color 2003 Neck Check Card in Black and White TSH Test Wallet Card Thyroid Awareness Month Slide Show Thyroid Awareness Month Teleconference with Slides Please make sure your speaker volume is turned up high Anyway, this has already been a heavy, emotional week for most people with the hurricane and all. But this topic is too important to not discuss. I promise next week, I’ll go back to the struggles of acting in LA. Thank you for your time. Terri




Letter from LA #8 September 12, 2005 Hello everyone, First, a Happy Birthday to my friend Marty, who was a BridesMan in my wedding. And Happy 30th Anniversary to my parents’ company. They celebrated yesterday with a dinner for the employees at the same place as my wedding reception. Second, you won’t be getting a “Letter from LA” next week, because I will be in Houston! There were a few things requiring my attention that I need to go home to attend to. Nikko Nikkos Restaurant with Laurie, the birth of Angela’s son, and the arrival of Bret from Iraq! I have to see my partners in crime. Laurie’s been my acting and travel buddy the last couple years, and my stomach is craving food other than oatmeal, eggs, and hot dogs. So I have to have some of my favorite Greek food. Hopefully Laurie can accompany me on my next adventure to LA. (Bret- did I mention I want to come back here?) Angela and I met and worked together in an ice cream store when we were 16, then started a faux finishing company 10 years later. She is due to deliver her second child any day now. Since I was in the delivery room for the first, I’m trying to perfectly time this visit. (Saturday works well for me). And finally Bret told me last week that he should arrive home on the 19th. Now with the military, you need to be flexible and know that things always, always change. So I won’t believe it until I see the wheels touch down on the runway. But I’m excited with the possibility to be able to welcome him home. (Then turn around, head back to LA, and leave him again). I’ve had many requests to share my experience with star sightings in LA. As far as on the street, freeway, restaurants, etc., I’ve seen no one! I only just saw the Hollywood sign a few days ago. I saw “ollywo” about a month ago, but I couldn’t be sure. I also saw paparazzi that same day, but I couldn’t tell what celebrity they were stalking. But that is how you spot a celeb in this town, just follow the cameras. I was on my way to an audition, so I just drove past the dozen photographers standing just outside the open door to an eyewear shop. Now I did see Mariska Hargitay, Gary Busey, and Alanis Morissette on a taping of Jay Leno along with Jennifer Tilly at a taping of World Poker Tour. But these don’t count as true celebrity sightings since they were forced. But in LA, everyone expects that I’d be seeing people left and right. I’m sure they’re here, but I really just leave my apartment to go to the post office, lessons, classes, or workshops. I am here to work. Next time I’m at the hippest, trendiest, must be seen at club, I’ll keep my eyes open. Actually when the guy at In-n-Out Burger (the best fast food on the west coast) commented on my lack of social life, as it was Saturday 10:00pm and I was by myself, I knew I was in trouble. Now on a sad note (sad for me), I got a call from Scott and Lucy (brother and sister-in-law) from New York last week that they just got Christina Applegate’s autograph after seeing her on Broadway, and that ‘Newman’ from Seinfeld and Bette Midler were in the audience (though not together). Then they walked outside and saw Jeff Goldblum walking down the street. Apparently I’m in the wrong city. Then on an even sadder note (again, sad just for me), I get an email from Bret that includes a picture of him with Vince Vaughn! Vince went to Iraq to visit troops and show his latest movie ‘Wedding Crashers’. So Bret’s on the other side of the world from LA and seeing and talking and taking pictures with more celebrities than me. Then I told him if I was already an accomplished actress, then I could have gone to Iraq to visit him on someone else’s dime and show my latest movie. I’d say maybe next time, but hopefully there’s not a next time or need for him to go back. Well as busy as this week will be trying to get stuff done before I leave, it will be even busier when I get back trying to catch up. I will be in Houston the 16th-22nd. I hope to go to Life Teen Mass Sunday night and see a lot of people there, and I also really miss the music. Otherwise I will probably catch up with most people in November. (Unless LA offers me a paid job to stay longer!) Take care, Terri





Letter from LA#9 September 29, 2005 Hello everyone, Wow! What a couple of weeks! As stated in my last letter, I had planned a 6 day trip to Houston to see Laurie, Angela and her due-any-day baby, and to welcome home Bret from his tour in Iraq. (insert family uproar here since I didn’t list them each by name, even though it should have been a given) If I had flown back to LA as scheduled, then I would have missed Bret’s arrival (he was delayed as I predicted) and missed Angela’s baby (he was holding on as long as possible). Though I did get in some quality time with family, lunch at Nikos with Laurie, and a weekend with Angela, it felt a little incomplete without the new baby and Bret. So along came Rita. As everyone in Houston or anyone near a tv, radio, or newspaper knows, Rita basically shut everything down before she even made landfall. Originally aimed at Houston, everyone stocked up on food, water, gas, and cash. I have pictures to prove the empty shelves at Kroger. My mother-in-law withdrew $100 from the bank to only receive a hundred single dollar bills. My brother Robert attempted to evacuate to Lufkin, a normal couple hour drive, only to give up and turn around after several hours of sitting on the beltway and never even reaching I-10. I already had my evacuation plan set. My already-purchased preplanned flight back to LA. Strangely, no one was volunteering to drop me off at the airport. Since there were estimates of 12-15 hours to get to the airport and that half of airport workers didn’t/couldn’t show up to work, I was forced to reschedule my flight until Tuesday and stick it out in Houston. With no one living at my house for awhile and my lack of intention to ride out the hurricane, the house wasn’t exactly full of food. The restaurants started closing on Wednesday and the grocery store shelves were bare. My family all got together at my parents’ work with more secure walls and fewer windows than our homes. I t was like a camping trip with our blow up mattresses and games, except we really never lost air conditioning or power. We were the lucky ones. We even got to see the most beautiful rainbow over Sugar Land, protecting it from the storm. On the southwest side of Houston, we got less than ½ inch of rain and some leaves blown around. This was going to be my first hurricane, since we were visiting family in New Jersey during Alicia in 1983. I was there for Tropical Storm Alison, but it didn’t really affect my neighborhood, not even reaching the curb. I’m still waiting for my first earthquake here in LA. I’m not requesting the ‘big one’. Just a couple little tremors to make the ground move, but nothing falling off the walls. Then Saturday was exhausting just packing up and getting the house back in order. Good thing I could go to sleep early. Oh wait, I can’t. Bret is finally arriving at 1:00am Sunday morning at Ellington. Mary and I drive out there and await his arrival. He left Iraq a week earlier, had a 4 day layover in Qatar, then stopped in Kuwait, Germany, Ireland, New York, then finally landing in Houston. The worst part is that he didn’t even get any miles for it since it was a chartered plane. After a welcome home speech by Tom DeLay and some checking-in, we finally got home at 4:00am. We got to see a few friends at Mass Sunday night and we had the whole family (eleven of us) over for dinner Monday night where Bret showed pictures and told unclassified stories of his deployment. Thank you for everybody’s prayers during Bret’s deployment and please keep them coming for all the brave people still stationed there and all over the world. Bret volunteered (wise decision) to take me to the airport on Tuesday. We were able to have breakfast with Laurie, then go to The Woodlands to see Angela and her new baby boy! Samuel Andrew (Sam or Sammy) was born on September 26, 2005 at 2:20pm weighing in at 8 pounds 3 ounces. Now my trip was complete with extended family and friend time, holding a 21 hour newborn (and he didn’t even cry), lots of time with Abby (she still knows who her Mama is) and having 60 hours with my husband. So then I returned to LA with a slightly larger LAX parking bill than I expected. Ouch! Now I’m trying to catch up on a lot of missed classes, appointments and 400 acting emails. Some quick notes: I saw Jason Priestly and Eddie Murphy my last day in LA before Houston. They were at two different restaurants, I was within a few feet of each, made contact with each, and pretended not to recognize either. Of course I did my little “I just saw…” dance when I was out of their eye line. Laurie and her husband were in town for the OU game. So we knew where to hang out to celebrity spot. We did see one freaky looking paparazzi stalker guy waiting for Jason Priestly. It’s a shame paparazzi get paid so much to do what I would do for free. Also a happy 19th birthday to my cousin Ashley on Tuesday and a happy birthday to my sister-in-law Rachel whose birthday was Wednesday. Hopefully I’ll have more exciting acting stories next week. Terri





Letter from LA#10
October 5, 2005

Hello everyone,

***Warning!!! This letter may deter you from ever considering a career as an actor.***

We all know about the catch-22. Like in small business, you have to advertise to get business, but you need money to advertise, so you need business to get money so you can advertise to get business. Anyway, acting is the ultimate catch-22. To get a part on a tv show or Hollywood feature film, you need to be SAG (the actor’s union) and an agent needs to submit you. To get an agent, you need to already have recognizable tv or film credits and be SAG. To become SAG, you need a role on a tv show or Hollywood feature film. It almost seems impossible. It obviously does happen, because everybody was non-union and unrepresented at one point.

Focusing on television, you have your regular cast. Let’s say Friends for example. The regular cast are the 6 main characters. Then you have recurring characters. They are usually neighbors or related to the main characters and make appearances on the show several times a year. Or if it’s a new girlfriend, they might have an 8 episode story arc. So for Friends, the recurring could be Julie, Ross’s girlfriend, or Gunther in the coffee shop. Then in each episode you have guest stars. If the show only ever had the regulars, you’d be bored of watching, so guest stars are added each week to spice things up and add conflict. Depending on the show, drama or sitcom, the number of guest stars varies. They have a pretty big part and the episode usually centers on them. They have 1st billing after the first commercial break. If it’s a crime show, they are usually the murderer. On Friends, Reese Witherspoon or Christina Applegate, who played Rachel’s sisters were guest stars. Of course that was during sweeps so they brought in celebrities. Then you have costars. These are also called under 5s, because they normally have under 5 lines. They are there to help move the story along. They could be a waiter or receptionist or a coworker. It’s often said that this role is the hardest to book, because you have so little information and lines to work with but you still have to bring so much to the character without taking away from the series regulars or guest stars who the show is actually about.

So what I’ve been doing is blindly submitting myself to tv and feature film, meaning it’s unsolicited and not for a specific role. The agents are the only ones that get the actual breakdowns for each role in every episode. Breakdown Services is a company that takes a script and literally breaks it down for every character in their name, age, race, attributes, personality, etc. Then they give this information to all the agents and managers that subscribe to it. Actors only have access to a leftovers version of it, usually hard to cast roles. So agents might receive the fax that morning, submit their 5 best actors’ headshots/resumes for each role via messenger to the casting office within a couple hours. Then by late afternoon, the casting director has already set up the first round of auditions with selected actors. Then the role is narrowed down to about 4-6 actors and sent to a producer’s session for the final audition and cast the next day. Of course this can vary especially with film where they have a lot more time to cast. A tv show may have 5-10 guest spots and 10-20 co-stars (crime shows have a lot) to cast each week. They can easily get 1000 submissions from actual agents for each role and have to whittle it down to the 20-30 that might actually pre-read or audition. So my unsolicited submission that arrives 2 days later for no role in particular doesn’t have much chance. But you never know. You can’t win the lottery if you don’t buy a ticket.

The three ingredients to making ‘it’ happen here are skill, opportunity, and timing. They’ll never know I’m even here unless I try to get my face in front of them. Which leads me to casting director workshops. There are about 8 acting groups in town that you audition to get into, and then pay your monthly fee to take their classes, workshops, website forums, etc. I was fortunate to have gotten involved with a really good one from the beginning. I actually joined the website portion of it about 2 months before I came out here, which allowed me access to this wealth of information and advice on the forum where all actors share tidbits and ask questions, etc. So through this acting group, Actorsite, I take 3 classes a week, working on auditioning, cold reading, under 5s, and improv, as well as taking 1-3 casting director workshops every week. (All this is in addition to other classes and lessons I participate in outside of Actorsite.) A casting director workshop is when a casting director (but usually the associate or assistant) comes to an acting group and has 20-30 actors sign up to attend. Then the CD does a Q&A session, talks about the show they are casting, the audition process, etc. Then passes out scenes and pairs us up. Then we come back in and perform the scene in front of them. They often give some feedback, redirect us, and have us do it again. So we learn what they look for both from our scene and from watching others. It’s not a paid audition and they legally can only use scenes from shows that are already cast, but they do keep our headshots on file, and have been known to call people in after meeting them in workshops. It’s just another opportunity to be seen. Then maybe the next time I send them a headshot, they might recognize me.

Guest star roles are usually reserved for already established guest stars. You have to have a really good resume to even be considered so they know you’ve already proven yourself. A lot of actors make good careers out of being guest stars. If you watch a lot of tv, like me, you recognize the same actors in a lot of different shows as the guest star. This is where www.imdb.com comes in handy, because you can look them up and see why they are familiar to you. Of course it sometimes ruins it for me, because I always know they are the ones that did it no matter how many red herrings they throw at me.

So back to my catch-22 dilemma. Most shows are SAG (Screen Actors Guild) and some are AFTRA (American Federation of Television and Radio Artists). SAG is the one that’s so difficult to join. To be able to join SAG, you have to become SAG eligible. To become SAG eligible, you have to work on a SAG project- film or television. For a non-union actor to get hired on a SAG show, you have to get a Taft-Hartley. Basically, the casting director has to prove that you were the only person for this role, and they first tried getting a union actor. It requires some paper work and a fine about equivalent to the amount of money you would get paid as a costar. So it doesn’t make any sense for them to do all that paperwork and stretch their budget when there are so many other white 20-something looking females to choose from. As one CD said, in the 5 years her show had been on, they only Taft-Hartleyed 3 people, and 2 were children and the adult was an actual news reporter they needed.

There are CD’s that are more likely to Taft-Hartley than others, but you have to do your research to find out who. And feature film CDs are more likely to hire non-union since they aren’t in the same time constraint. Of course the top 2 or 3 names are already attached to the project before it reaches breakdown services. Then you have well knowns vying to be in the same project as so-and-so. That leaves the under 5s. So an unknown may have a chance for an under 5 part, but will have to be able to work locally (Production doesn’t have to pay to fly you to location or put you up). So my best chance for that is while in LA. While I do submit myself to feature film CDs, it is just a general submission, so it would be better to have an agent to submit me for a specific role.

So agents already want you to be SAG so they can submit you for roles you actually have a chance of getting. I’ve been working on getting an agent, but I know it will be easier with some recognizable credits so I haven’t been overly aggressive about it yet as not to waste too many stamps. The student films here, especially at the graduate level like at Chapman or USC are pretty well respected, especially with Robert Zemeckis on the board at USC. Even though I did a fair amount of stuff in Texas, it’s almost as if none of it counts here and I’ve started over.

Now don’t quote me on any of this. I didn’t get this verified or checked, but this is what I have gathered in my short time here. I just look at this catch-22 as a fun and creative challenge that’s begging me to conquer it.

Thank you for joining me on this week’s in depth lesson on the actor’s catch-22. You’ll probably never view tv the same again.

Terri




Letter from LA #11 October 12, 2005 Hello everyone, First, a Happy Birthday to my niece, Rose, who turned 2 on Saturday. I heard I missed a great party. My cousin Sue also celebrated a birthday on Saturday. And my Uncle Tom’s birthday is this coming Sunday. Happy Birthday! Also, Happy 3rd anniversary to brother Scott and sister-in-law Lucy today. The greatest thing about Actorsite, the acting group I mentioned last week, is that I get to train with working actors. In this business, auditioning is our job. But when we get the call back, or better yet, the part, it’s even better of course. I love being around, meeting, and making friends with so many actors that are proactive in their career. You can’t just sit around waiting for someone to call you. You have to be constantly marketing yourself, submitting yourself, and taking classes to grow as an actor. A lot of times actors get a bad rap. There are a very select few that make mega salaries. It’s just not realistic for the majority of us. We just want to work. It really is a selfless job. We train and push ourselves for years, paying a lot of money in the process for classes, lessons, workshops, headshots, etc., just to give all our hard work away. To entertain millions of strangers. So please don’t confuse a few greedy, selfish, overpaid, outspoken, should-move-to-Canada-when-they-threaten-to celebrities with the thousands of actors that only want to work and do a good job. An added note just to make you feel more sorry for the $20 million paycheck. Along with Uncle Sam taking his big chunk, the agent takes 10%, the manager gets 15%, the lawyer and publicist get paid well, along with the stylist that lands them on the worst dressed list. So they actually only take home maybe 5-6 million. But most of these at this level took a couple decades of very hard work, a lot of training and free films to get there. At my acting group, we really celebrate each other’s successes. We share information about who is on what tv show, movie, or commercial. I’ve had the chance to see many of my new friends on national commercials and as guest and co-stars on many sitcoms and dramas every week. It’s so cool to say ‘I know her’. Someday you’ll be able to say that about me. Hopefully not on the cover of a tabloid but on a really great role in a tv show or movie. I just finished up an 8 week cold reading technique class last night. This will graduate me to the advance level class for my next stay in LA. Cough cough Was that out loud? I will be going back to Houston through at least the holidays and teaching a couple of my acting friends- Lee and Laurie- all this cool stuff I have learned, and we will commit to getting together a couple days a week to work on our craft. I am already on my 3rd note-taking spiral in LA. It took me 5 years in Houston to fill 2 spirals. Just a side note of how intense my training has been here. One quick, funny story. About a year ago I was telling Scott about how many films actors will do for free (student and indie) just for experience, credit, and clips for our reel. He then asked if he could do a film about lawn care and get a bunch of actors to mow, weed, edge, and water his yard for free as long as he set up a tripod and video camera to ‘film’ it. Sadly, the answer is probably yes. Take care, Terri





Letter from LA #12 (final one this year) November 4, 2005 Hello everyone, Well, it’s been a few weeks since my last email. I’m back in Texas now. About a week before Bret got to LA, I signed with an agent across the board- theatrically and commercially. Then I had to tell them I needed to go back to Houston for a couple months. Hopefully they won’t drop me and I can keep them upon my return in January. I even interned there for a day, which was very educational. I got to see the submission process from their side and even got to call some of their clients (LA term for actors who they represent) to tell them about an audition. It was fun to hear the excitement in their voices as I gave them the details. The day Bret flew in to LA, I attended a Sunday Morning Shootout session. It airs on Sunday mornings on AMC and takes place in a coffee shop set where the 2 hosts interview a writer/producer/director/actor about movies. There are about 5 or 6 people sitting in the background to help with the coffee shop atmosphere. That day’s guest was Ralph Fiennes (Schindler’s List, Quiz Show, Constant Gardener, newest Harry Potter). He walked right up to me, smiled, looked deep into my eyes, and said hello. Bret texted me to stop flirting. How does he know?? Meanwhile Bret, brother Robert, and a couple of friends went to Seattle to watch the Texans lose to the Seahawks and then saw Julia Roberts at the fish market. Pictures of her Seattle trip made the Enquirer this week. So Bret and I spent a week doing the touristy things, which was fine because I spent 3 months either at the apartment or in class, and not going out much. We went to a bar in Hollywood and saw some friends of friends’ band play. They were very good. But the follow-on band was a little strange as the lead singer was bare-chested wearing a kilt with his face painted blue singing about, well I can’t really say as my grandmother will be reading this. Let’s just say we left after that. Anyway, Bret and I also went to Universal Studios (highly recommend Orlando over LA, though the studio tour was fun). We attended a taping of ‘According to Jim’. It took 6 hours to film a ½ hour sitcom in front of live audience. They did feed us sandwiches and cookies, which is rare for tapings. I got a copy of the script afterwards from the audience entertainer. I tried to get an autographed copy to go along with my signed pilot scripts of Ally McBeal and Boston Public. Maybe next time. We played putt putt golf. We visited with Rick the Continental pilot, who had another layover at LAX. We also were on The Price is Right. As many of you know, that is my favorite game show and I even play it at some of my parties. So it was a dream to be on it. We even had t-shirts made. Of course it would have been better if one of us had been picked as a contestant. Maybe next time. At least I can say I got rejected by Bob Barker. During commercials, he talks to the audience and answers questions. I asked for a hug. He told me to hug the guy next to me. Thanks Bob! Next time our shirts will say “I was on The Price is Right and all I got was this lousy yellow name tag.” The ride home from LA was fun. We were upgraded to 1A and 1B (only funny for airline frequent flier junkies). Though I was stuck in 1B and therefore couldn’t help drive any. We left LA at 3pm Wednesday arrived in Las Cruces, NM at 5:15am Thursday to check in to our reserved hotel. We did call ahead to alert them of our late check-in so they wouldn’t give away our room. When she looked up our reservation, she clarified, “you’re only staying one night?” “Yes.” “You realize check-out is at noon, like in less than 7 hours?” “Yes. And oh, can we have a late check-out?” “That would be 1pm.” “That’s fine. Can we have a wake-up call?” “What time?” “12:50.” So after our 7 hours of sleep and a breakfast/lunch at Cracker Barrel we were on the road again by 2pm, arriving in Houston at 4:30 am Friday morning. Thank you to my parents for watching Abby for the last 3 ½ months. Thank you to all my friends and family for their words of encouragement and support during my adventure. Thank you especially to Bret for believing in me and allowing me to follow this dream. Let’s start a “Send Terri back to LA” campaign. Send those letters to Bret to get me back there in January for another 3 months. Coming home is bitter sweet. Of course I love being in my own house and getting to see everyone, but it’s sad to leave LA. As Bret describes it, I left my fingernail impressions on the wall of my apartment as he had to drag me away from it. Then on the way home I found out I missed out on 3 things last Friday, including an audition, a speaking part on Sunday Morning Shootout as a movie goer, and a private concert for 250 of Billy Bob’s friends and I had an invite! Oh well. Maybe next time. I’m looking forward to catching up with everyone. For those in Houston, let me know when you can have lunch or dinner. Though I did come home to a 100 hours of tv recorded on my DVR from just the last 6 weeks. So I may be stuck in the house for a couple weeks catching up. Here’s a wrap-up of what I’ve accomplished in LA: - Jay Leno shows attended: 2 (aired in July) - According to Jim shows attended: 1 (episode #509 ‘The Dream, airs Nov ?15? ABC) - Sunday Morning Shootout shows attended: 1 (episode 82, guest Ralph Fiennes, airs Sunday, Nov 13 AMC) - World Poker Tour shows attended: 1 (Ladies Night with Jennifer Tilly, airs ?? Travel Channel) - The Price is Right shows attended: 1 (airs Dec 6 CBS, we are in far left, back corner) - Nip/Tuck show involved: 1 (episode #3.8 ‘Tommy Bolton’ airs Nov 8 FX, unseen patron in Tango bar) - Untold Stories of the ER involved: 1 (episode “Severed Leg” airs ?? TLC, OR Nurse) - Movies seen at theater: 11 - Movies seen through Netflix: 35 - Audition workout classes: 11 - Under 5 workout classes: 10 - Improv classes: 10 - Private lessons: 16 - 8 week cold reading technique course: 1 session - Advanced cold reading class observations: 5 (I’m now eligible to take the advanced level upon my return) - Misc one time lectures/classes: 14 - Casting director workshops: 22 - Notebooks filled: 3 - Postcards mailed: 150 - Headshots mailed: 300 - Headshots dropped off: 410 - Online submissions: countless - Auditions: 16 - Agents interviewed: 4 - Agents signed with: 1 - LA experience: Priceless!!! (unless you ask Bret) Take care, Terri _____________ p.s. my last birthday/anniversary announcements. Happy 7th anniversary to Becca and Danny who celebrated on October 17th. Liz, my mom, had a birthday on October 18th. Susie had a birthday on October 21st. Suzette celebrated her birthday on October 24th and … November 06- Happy 99th Birthday Bea (Bret’s grandmother)! November 08- Happy 2nd Anniversary Jen & Craig! November 10- Happy 85th Birthday Pauline (relative in England)! November 14- Happy Birthday Terri! And Happy Birthday Mike! November 16- Happy Birthday Gavin! November 17- Happy 4th Anniversary Angela and Rick! November 19- Happy Birthday Scott! And Happy Birthday Si’Mone! November 20- Happy 6th Anniversary Terri and Bret! And Happy 12th Anniversary Cindy and Brendan! November 22- Happy Birthday Angela!







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