Terri's LA E-Mail 2

Letter from LA #2 (Spring 06)
February 20, 2006

Hello all,

Another busy week of classes and auditions. One of the biggest differences between my stay in LA this time and last time is my social life. Last time I almost had tunnel vision with only focusing on acting, I mean that is why I came out to LA. One of my goals this time is to establish and maintain relationships here, professionally and personally. Not only are friends good as an acting resource, but just to keep your sanity and have fun. Along with a great friendship I’m building with my roommate, Shawna, I’m also hanging out a lot with Caroline, who I met last fall, and Marie, who I knew from Houston and moved out to LA several years ago. I’ve enjoyed having someone with which to go to the theater, watch dvds, have dinner, go to the farmers market, and go to The Improv to watch Marie perform stand-up. This past Sunday, Caroline and I drove up almost to Big Bear (about 100 miles east). The plan was to go sledding. We got stopped at around 5500 ft for not having chains on our tires and were made to turn around. Being from Houston, I think this was the first time I ever even saw tire chains, so of course I didn’t have them or snow tires. One guy was even pulled over on the side of the rode squatting in the snow wearing flip flops and shorts putting the chains on his tires. Only in LA! We at least got a couple pictures in the snow, which I’ve attached. So it wasn’t a total loss. Though I did have to borrow a coat and gloves. I didn’t come to LA prepared for cold.

Also on Sunday night, I went to a taping of AMC’s Movies 101 with NYU Professor Richard Brown speaking with special guest Jon Voight. Not only did I sit on the front row, but Jon winked at me before the taping when he looked out at the audience from back stage and I was the only one who noticed him and I lit up, smiling really big. Then he smiled back and winked. Then after the two-hour discussion, I talked to Jon (we’re on a first name basis now) and got his autograph. I’ve enclosed a picture of the autograph. Notice is says ’Terri- love to you! Jon Voight’. I’ll let you know when it airs- probably this summer. You can click here to see his expansive resume. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000685/

Here’s my homework for you. Send me a short, clean joke. In an acting workout class, the teacher said she was just asked that in an audition and was speechless. She said we should all know one good joke in case we were ever asked. Even a stand-up comic was stumped in class to come up with a joke when surprised with this question. So any help you can give me will be appreciated. I’ll share the ‘winning’ joke with you next week. Next week I’ll also talk about what exactly is pilot season.

Thank you for all the mail and email I got last week!

Terri

Well today is technically the 1st day of spring, but LA has been cold and rainy for several weeks. I’m so glad Bret mailed me my winter coat and rain boots. I never expected to need them here. I did escape to San Diego a couple weeks ago for some beautiful weather and a visit with my father. Which brings me to traffic. I haven’t complained about it this trip yet. So San Diego is like 130 miles from here. It took me 4 hours to drive there on a Saturday evening- over 2 ½ hours just to get out of LA. But then it took only 2 hours total on the return trip on a Monday night. Go figure. Then for a 1:00pm audition the other day, I gave myself an hour to go 22 miles- 19 of those miles being highway. It took over 2 hours to get there. For those of you who are math-challenged, that is only 10 miles per hour on the highway! I considered getting an inflatable friend to ride with me everywhere. But then I saw on the news they caught someone riding in the carpool lane with a dummy and fined him severely as well as community service making him advertise that “carpool lanes aren’t for dummies”. I could always rent an out-of-work actor to ride with me. Wa it a second, maybe I’m on to a great business idea here…

I’ve been living in LA for almost 6 months (between last visit and this visit), and I finally saw the Hollywood sign really close up. I went with my roommate, Shawna, to a dog park right underneath the sign. Yes, I went to a dog park. I didn’t think it through that there would be dozens of dogs without leashes running all around me. Whenever another dog started to bother me, I would call Dozer or Duncan over to protect me. They’ve really grown on me, and I even let them stay in my room when I’m here. I’ve even walked them, and now I went with them to a dog park. Anyone that has known me for awhile knows that dogs and I don’t get along (with the only exception of Angela’s Hank). So living with two dogs was huge for me. But Dozer and Duncan are really lovable and they know not to jump on me or lick me. Even with this breakthrough, it still doesn’t mean I like dogs, but now I may be more open-minded on an individual basis.

I am loving my Saturday acting class. My teacher, Amy Lyndon (www.coldreadingclasses.com) chooses a scene specifically for me, as well as the other 23 students. Then Amy gives a 20 minute talk on some aspect of the business or on her technique. Then we take our assigned scene and work on it by ourselves, breaking it down the way she taught us. Then we are given our number order to perform the scene. We never rehearse the scene with our scene partner. She expects us to nail it the first time. She may let us do it again, if we almost have it, or she’ll send us back to the end of the line (several hours later) if we bombed. I love how she knows each one of her students, what we are capable of, where we need to grow, and how to push us to get there. And my weekly private lesson is a great complement to this class since they teach the same technique but have their own style and flavor for teaching me. Plus I get to practice one on one, as well as with a partner in class and I learn from all the other groups. I can’t believe how much I’ve grown.

I had a great 3 days in Houston last week. I got to spend a lot of time with Bret, see Beauty and the Beast (the touring show), visit with my parents, Angela and Sammy, Laurie, Kathy (my neighbor), my Grandma, Robert and Rachel, and I got to meet RJ (he was just 13 days old). Abby (my kitty) was also very happy to see me. I missed Scott and Lucy, since they are vacationing in Israel right now. When I had arrived in Houston, Bret had fresh milk and bananas waiting for me (my daily food staples). When I got back to LA, my roommate had bought me milk, bananas, avocados, strawberries, and made me rice crispy treats! I’m surrounded by the best, most caring people. Thank you!

I had lunch last week with my friend, Amanda. She and her husband just moved here from Houston. She and I were both in “Read On” http://www.sevenandahalfseals.com, along with my friends Laurie and Tom. My plans are to stay in LA until May 9th when I will join Bret in Vegas for a few days and then drive back to Texas. So for the next 5 weeks, I will continue with my intense training, taking as many casting directors workshops as I can that apply to me, and submitting for independent and studio features, soaps, and any cable shows that are still casting (since the network episodic season is basically finished, as well as the casting for pilots).

I probably won’t be doing training and workshops while in Texas, because I love the techniques I’m learning here and don’t want to distract from that. Also, the cost is a lot more in Texas for some things. An example is I took a 3 hour workshop a few weeks ago from a busy feature casting director. It cost me $15. I performed one scene, got redirection, and performed it again, as well as watching and learning 20 other actors do the same. This same casting director will be coming to Texas to do a 12 hour weekend workshop soon. I would get to work maybe 2 or 3 times, but for a cost of $225. Bringing LA people to Texas costs airfare and hotel which of course hikes up my price to attend the workshop. So I would rather save my money and only do the classes and workshops during my intense stays in LA. I will however, get with my acting buddies and work on scenes using the techniques I’ve learned. Also, Laurie and I will continue working on writing our scripts.

I keep hearing it takes at least 3 years of living in LA to even make a dent in making a name for yourself. I plan to speed up that average for myself. Most people who move to LA devote 40 hours a week to a day job that usually doesn’t relate to this industry. That’s 40 hours I have that they don’t to take classes, workshops, and to self-submit. I estimate that I can easily spend 70 hours a week working to find acting work. Also, a lot of people might take awhile to find their training groove, to find a teacher whose technique works well for them, and to find an acting group offering a good variety of acting workout classes, seminars, and cd workshops. I had all this set in place within my first 2 weeks here last July. So I’d like to consider myself on the accelerated program. Of course, if I were here full time, it would be a different story. But without the distraction of family, friends, job, basically a life, I can devote all my time to acting. Obviously there is no formula for success in this business. It is an unpredictable combination of training and talent, the right look, knowing the right people, and luck. But above all I think you have to have persistence and determination. So if I can keep coming to LA for 3 or so intense months at a time, I’d like to prove it’s possible to find some success in less time. There’s a saying in this business that ‘no one ever fails at acting, they just give up too early.’

Celebrity sightings: Okay this was an unusual week for celebrity sightings, but I kind of cheated. I attended a taping of “Gameshow Marathon”, a six episode special that will be airing on CBS sometime. It’s where celebrities compete on 6 popular gameshows of the past to win money for their favorite charity. I saw “Match Game” with Ricki Lake as the host, Lance Bass and Kathy Najimy as contestants, Rich Owens (from TPIR) as the announcer, and George Foreman, Kathy Griffin, Bruce Vilanch, Adrianne Curry, Adam Corolla, and Betty White as the celebrity panelists. I said hi to Ricki and Rich. The rest were from a small distance. If you don’t know who any of these people are and you care, just ask me, and I’ll explain what made them famous or the latest reality show they were on.

In LA, we are now moving into the ‘movie season’. So let’s review, approximately July through February is episodic season where the majority of taping for all the shows you see on network tv happens. February through April is pilot season where hundreds of hopeful tv shows shoot an episode in hopes of getting picked up to actually air on tv in the fall. And now movie season from April to July, when a huge bulk of movies are shot to accommodate tv cast and crew’s off season schedule. They aren’t all necessarily shot in LA, let alone the US, so as a beginning LA actor, I am targeting the movies made in LA (or Texas) where I can work as a local, as most smaller parts require. This means transportation and lodging is up to the actor. When you’re Jennifer Aniston, they’ll fly you First Class to Chicago, put you up in The Peninsula suite, give you a huge private trailer, and pay for you to fly home on the weekends. So maybe in 10 years, someone will rewrite that same sentence, but replacing Jennifer’s name with my name. Though, I’d like a lot less paparazzi.

Without me at home, Bret suddenly has a lot of free time, which he has been putting to good use. Besides a lot of racquetball, he has updated so many pages on our personal web page, www.brogoitti.com So check it out, especially under ‘Recent Events’ which chronicles our life for the last couple years. There’s even all of these LA emails archived in case you missed any or want to reminisce.

So a few emails ago, I asked for a clean, short joke so I would have available if ever asked at an audition. Another thing I was told I could be asked was if they made a movie about my life, who would play me and why. Any suggestions?? So here’s a couple of the jokes that were sent to me. Thank you!

There was a farmer who had 3 daughters. They each had a date on Saturday night. The first boy arrives and knocks on the door and the farmer answers the door holding a shotgun. "Who are you?" "Hi, I'm Eddie, I'm here for Betty. We're gonna eat some spaghetti. Is she ready?" The farmer calls, "Betty, your date's here," and the two left. The second boy comes to the door and again the farmer opens the door with his shotgun. "Who're you?" "My name is Joe, I'm here for Flo. We're gonna boogie on the dance flo'. Is she ready to go?" The farmer calls, "Flo, your date's here," and the two left. The third boy comes to the door and the farmer answers. "Who're you?" "Hi, my name is Chuck." And the farmer shot him.

Hello all,

Celebrity sightings: I talked to Ed Begley Jr. at the Farmers Market. He has a regular booth selling environment-friendly soaps and cleaners. He’s very nice and down to earth. Also Suzanne Rogers (Maggie Horton on Days of our Lives) goes to the same Mass as me, so I see her every week and we’ve said hello several times. My roommate had breakfast at the next table away from Larry David. But that’s stretching it, because everybody here has seen someone. So I’ll stick to my direct sightings.

A couple weeks ago, I had a beautiful experience. I had a free afternoon after a meeting in Encino (the west side of the Valley I live in), so I headed south over the hills to the coast to Pacific Palisades and Malibu. It was my first trek to that area in the 6 plus months I’ve lived in LA since last July. Very beautiful area. I loved the scenic drive through the canyons and hills. It really was a world away from the hustle and bustle of LA. It was great to escape for a few hours and enjoy the beach.

So for the last 3 weeks, I was the sole caregiver for the puppies for about 10 days. Shawna (my roommate) went out of town 3 times and left me in charge. I walked them twice a day, scooped their poop, fed them, and even let them sleep in my room. I did so well. Don’t worry, I’m still a cat person and Abby will always be #1, but I love Duncan and Dozer too. One of the weekends she was gone was Easter weekend. This was the first major holiday I ever spent alone. It was weird not being at my parents’ house for dinner.

Over the last couple weeks, I had to greatly reduce what I submit to, since the audition or shoot date conflicted with departure. I’m still submitting for all feature films. Another actor shared the requirements he uses when he decides submit to a project, and that made me re-examine my own wish list. I would like to submit for acting jobs that would be good for my reel (where I actually receive a quality copy of my completed work to be compiled with other clips to eventually make a demo reel), would get me IMDb credit (it’s really become the go-to guide for everybody, and there are specific requirements to qualify for it), something to make me SAG eligible (Taft Hartley or principal job in an AFTRA show), it pays, and it’s a character or story t hat I’m really passionate about and I’m completely drawn to. So if I do an undergraduate student film from a school that’s not one of the more well-respected film schools, I won’t get a high quality copy (if one at all), it most likely will never go to a festival or get any type of distribution leading to no IMDb credit, it won’t get me a Taft Hartley, and it definitely won’t pay, even for gas. So that wouldn’t meet any of my 5 goals. If I do a larger budget independent film in Texas, chances are good I may get a copy, it will be submitted to festivals which could lead to an IMDb credit, possibly a Taft Hartley in LA, but probably not Texas (a right to work state and a lot of non union), and probably deferred pay (meaning I might get pay if the film ever makes money, but it’s rare) or below scale, which is better than nothing. Gone are the days when you do something just for resume credit. Unless it’s recognizable or you work with a well-known director, IMDb credit is more important. So I’m trying to focus my energy and time on auditions in LA and Texas that can meet at least two or three of the five project goals.

So speaking of projects, finally one of my films will have a premiere when I can make it. I’m extending the invite to all of you. Let me know asap if you can make it so I can add you to the evite list. “Read On” will be shown May 25th, Thursday at 7:00pm at Alamo Drafthouse near West Oaks. Same place we all watched Friday Night Lights, but this time you are guaranteed to see and hear me in several scenes. I have many friends in the movie as well, including, Tom, Laurie, and Amanda. So come out, enjoy a free movie, and you can order a meal and a beer (I’ll get root beer). You can see more about it at www.sevenandahalfseals.com.

So I had an exciting surprise this past week. When I was talking to Angela (my best friend of 15 years) on the phone on Tuesday afternoon, we made a very impromptu decision for her to visit me. Three hours later she’s on a plane from Houston to LA. I picked her up at 9:30pm and we went to dinner at Saddle Ranch, equipped with a mechanical bull and karaoke. Neither of which we participated, but had fun watching everyone else. The next morning, we got really close to the Hollywood sign, got a massage, and went to the movies. Then I dropped her back at LAX early Thursday morning. She was here less than 36 hours, but we had a blast. On another day, I joined my friend Caroline on an hour hike through one of the canyons. It’s amazing that these hikes are only a mile from a major highway. Shawna and I have been enjoying a variety of meals at home, hanging out, and watching idol. If anyone in Houston is addicted, let me know so we can watch the finale together.

Terri

Hello all,

Celebrity sightings: Well it was a slow week. Celebrities included Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes, Prince, David Duchovny, and Bruce Willis. Okay, let me start from the beginning…

Laurie arrived in town Monday morning. She had a couple meetings scheduled in LA, and we filled the rest of the time with trouble. Just kidding. I arranged for her to have some private lessons with my acting coach. It’s a great technique, and with both of us familiar with it, we can use it for scenes in Texas. We also did a couple acting classes. So here’s our exciting week. Monday night we met Lawrence Bender for drinks. (imdb him to see all the movies he’s produced- like Good Will Hunting and all Quentin Tarintino’s films). Laurie had met him on a previous trip to LA. We saw one of the creators of MySpace there (apparently 75 million people have a MySpace account. Do you?), and we are pretty sure we saw James Woods, but it was from a distance. As we were leaving there, there’s secret service outside announcing that Secretary Rumsfeld was two minutes out. We wanted to wait, but we had to get to acting class. On Thursday, we met a few of Laurie’s friends for lunch on the roof of Barneys. If you look really close in the picture, you’ll see the Hollywood sign in the background. That evening, we attended the Mission: Impossible: III premiere. Thank you Caroline for the heads up about that. We were a few feet away from the red carpet where everyone entered Grauman’s Chinese theater. I could identify a lot of people. Though, towards the end, they were rushing everyone in, and I couldn’t see as well. So I missed a few people I was really hoping to see, like Laurence Fishburne, Ving Rhames, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Keri Russell, Billy Crudup, Greg Grunberg, Jonathan Rhys Meyers. With so many premieres in the last couple weeks, who knows who even showed up to which one. Oh well, but I did see Tom and Katie (really close up) and the rest were about 10 feet away including J.J. Abrams (writer and director of M:I:III, as we ll as creator of Felicity, Alias, and Lost- so you know I’m a huge fan), Maggie Q (from the movie), Jon Cryer, Kirstie Alley, Antonio Sabato, Jr., Cameron Crowe, Miguel Ferrer (Dr. Macy from Crossing Jordan), Sumner Redstone (Chairman/CEO of Viacom), Michelle Stafford (Young and the Restless), Ray Park (Toad from X-Men and Darth Maul), Patrick Swayze, Jenna Elfman, Catherine Bell (JAG), and Ricardo Chaviro (Carlos from Desperate Housewives). Now whatever you think of Tom personally from the last year, it doesn’t change his box office draw and how much he cares for his fans. He spent an hour and a half signing autographs and taking pictures with the fans with Katie at his side (first outing since baby was born) smiling the whole time.

On Friday, we went to Virgin records and the cashier told me how Jewel was there 3 days earlier buying 20 of her new cds, which I bought too. I know that’s a celebrity through someone else, but I love Jewel so I wanted to include that. Then we met with a couple of Laurie’s contacts, Cindy and Monte, for Cinco de Mayo dinner at a Mexican restaurant hosted by Petron Tequila and Vodka. They introduced us to Joey Avalon (Frankie’s son). More on that later. Then on Saturday, we went to the cd release party of Prince’s latest album ‘3121’ at Prince’s house. Yes, let me say that again.&nbs p; I went to Prince’s house and was one of 150 invited guests who watched him play for 3 hours in his ‘ballroom’. WOW!!! All this was arranged by Laurie’s friend, Bill (who also put together the Cinco de Mayo plans). He chauffeured us there in a black, beautiful 57 Chevy, complete with fuzzy dice hanging from the mirror. Then we arrive at Prince’s house, check in with security, then are driven up the steep driveway to the house. We are then shown to the ballroom/ music stage where the band begins the concert. The band consisted of Támar, who was an incredible singer and sang her own songs from her just-released cd with Prince singing back-up and g uitar, Sheila E on drums, and awesome bass and keyboard musicians. Then there were these two twins dancing on either side of Támar with incredible energy and this great dance routine, who also sang back-up. Then after a break, Prince had his turn with his songs. He sang many from his new album, which I highly, highly recommend and some old classics, ending with Purple Rain. Once there, we meet several of Bill’s associates and his brother, Chris. We also meet up with David Duchovny, whom Laurie had met the day before at a meeting. So the three of us Laurie, David, and me) hung out for most the evening. Well I say evening, but we didn’t even arrive until 11pm and stayed until 2:30am when the music stopped and the security team kicked us out. After Laurie and David stepped out of the concert for some air (because it was HOT and LOUD), I eventually joined them to find them talking to Bruce Willis. So there’s the five of us, Laurie, David, Bruce and his date, and me, in Prince’s foyer hanging out. Yep, that’s not a sentence you hear everyday. When Prince finished his last song, he was escorted by his security outside, down the stairs, into the house foyer- where we were standing- then he went upstairs past the purple velvet rope by himself. As he passed within two feet of me, I said, “Great party. Thanks for having us.” (Along with everyone else shouting thank you’s and goodnights.) Then he turned to us (me specifically) and said “You’re welcome. Good night.” This party was in connection to a Willy Wonka kind of contest where he put a purple ticket into seven of his latest cds. Those who found it were flown to LA to attend this private party. More info about that and his house is at http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/0320063prince1.html. On the ride home, Bill asked if we saw Sharon, as in Sharon Stone. Man! I missed her?!? Oh, well. Next time. But it was an unbelievable party. I can still hear the music. No, literally in my ears, I can still hear it. What? And David is so down to earth and so nice, not to mention very easy on the eyes. Now for all those critics out there, he told me not to listen to you and to follow my heart with acting. Since he has a graduate level Ivy league education, his parents thought he was nuts to pursue acting.

So I am in LA for acting, not hobnobbing with the celebs. So in between all that, I met Monte, who is interested in me hosting for him. He has a company that does interviews and streamlines them on the web live. I was talking about how my head was filled with ‘useless celebrity knowledge’ according to my friends and family, and he asked me if I wanted to do red carpet events. So we exchanged business cards, and I’ll contact him my next trip out. He also mentioned it would be great for me and Joey Avalon to co-host something. So who knows what will come of all that, but it’s still pretty exciting. Okay, so that wasn’t exactly acting, but it’s exposure. The other big acting thing is an audition I had on Thursday. I’ve had lots of auditions I haven’t bothered mentioning in these emails, because with actors, auditioning is basically the majority of our job. You need to just be prepared, go to the audition and do your best, and hope that the physical look they want matches you. Then you just have to forget about it. So if an actor tells people about every audition they have, then they will continually get asked if they got the role. Everyone always means well, but it’s not fun to explain ‘no’ all the time. Since actually booking a role is nev er in our favor (basic odds, especially when they easily get a thousand submissions per small role). Believe me, if we get the role, you will know. So actors tend not to advertise the auditions they have. But now, I’m making an exception because I need your help. My getting any real shot at this role depends solely on my physicality matching the younger version of my character. Meaning the casting director auditioning me, along with a slew of other girls, is now in Texas (where it will be filmed) looking for a 10 year old for the character earlier in the film. So I need you to send out good thoughts, energy, prayers that she will find a 10 year old that looks like me to increase my odds. I’ve already done all I can in my audition. So it will probably be several weeks before she even does callbacks. So the role is for the character Mary in the film “There Will Be Blood”. It will be released by Paramount (where my audition was) and currently has Daniel Day Lewis attached. This would get me my Taft-Hartley, which is what I need to get into SAG, and will be the 1st Hollywood film I’d have a part in. Why I was called in (in case you’re wondering) is that the character needs to know sign language since her fiancé is deaf. I consider myself more conversational in sign language, but I need to make it my goal to become more fluent, with or without this role.

Well, I leave for Vegas tomorrow (Monday), where I will meet up with Bret for several days while he has a convention there. Then he has to fly home Thursday night and Bob will fly out Friday to help with the drive home. Thanks Bob!!!

And thanks to all of you who are reading this sentence, because that means you took time out of your day to read a long email that was hopefully very entertaining. Don’t forget to look at the pictures. Some are a little blurry, since my camera sucks, especially as the sun was setting and everyone was walking fast.

Terri

Letter from LA #9 (Spring 06)

May 15, 2006

Hello all,

Well, I made it back to Houston after a 7-day journey. Packing up and loading the car without Bret’s help was a challenge. My roommate was a big help. Thank you Shawna! She even made me rice krispie treats and brownies for the road and to share with Bret. I noticed while driving from LA to Vegas, the temperature increased (about 30 degrees) and the gas price decreased (about 60 cents). That helps with an 1800-mile road trip. So I arrive in Vegas, where Bret has a convention from Monday through Thursday, about 4 hours before Bret arrives.& nbsp; I basically check in and crash. When he arrives, we get In-and-Out burgers for dinner, and I crash again. I slept over 14 hours. The previous week with Laurie, along with the physicality of packing the car, and the emotionality of leaving LA, really wreaked havoc on my body. So it took me until Tuesday to recover. Then I spent all day Tuesday in the room working on the pictures that hopefully you took the time to enjoy in the last email.

So Monday night, I heard on the news they were imploding the old Boardwalk Casino. From our room window at the Flamingo (where we stayed because the convention was there), we had a perfect view of the Boardwalk. Bret called the front desk and asked what time that was going to happen. “2:30? Like 2:30AM?? Yeah, can we have a wake-up call for 2:28? Thank you.” So we wake up, get out the video camera, and record it from our room. Man! Was it loud!! If we didn’t know it was happening, it would have surely woken us up. That was the second hotel Vegas imploded this year.

On Tuesday night, we saw Avenue Q at the Wynn hotel. It’s kind of a politically incorrect musical puppet show. It’s really quite funny. Shawna had just seen it a couple weeks before and recommended it. I actually didn’t even make it to the casino until Wednesday. Roulette is my game of choice. I usually always win at least a little something. Unfortunately, this was not one of those times. But I was able to make up my losses with this ‘watch an unaired tv show and give your opinion’ thing. Wednesday night, Bret and I walked f rom the Flamingo down to New York and rode the Manhattan Express roller coaster. A very exciting, and expensive, two minute ride that twists, turns, and throws you upside down. We also walked through the Paris Hotel and watched a Bellagio fountains show. Then Bret had to fly back to Houston on Thursday evening.

Bob arrived Friday around lunchtime. I took him to Caesar’s, Venetian, a fountains show, and some 25 cent slot machines. Our celebrity sighting was Pete Rose in Caesar’s who was signing autographs. I went to a bar to buy him a beer, and I got carded. Bob thanked me for giving him a mini tour of Vegas by waking me up at 4am to begin our 1500 mile road trip. Though he claims he let me sleep in an extra 2 hours. We drove 13 hours on Saturday and spent that night in Amarillo. Then Sunday, we drove another 11 hours to get back home. Thank you Bob for helping me drive home. Actually he drove 75% of the way. And while he made me observe every train engine we passed (his hobby), I made him listen to me sing for a thousand miles. And on top of that, I gave him a 4 hour Evita lesson, including movie soundtrack, backstory in between each song, and a life comparison of Eva Peron and Madonna. I think Bob will think twice about ever getting in a car with me again. Not to discourage the rest of you from volunteering on future cross-country trips.

LA Summary:

I’ve been in LA for 7 of the last 10 months. I’m very happy with the training I’ve received, especially with Amy Lyndon (my Saturday class) and Tom Garner (my private lesson teacher). I had a great variety of audition experience, from print to student films to a documentary to a Hollywood movie. I would have actually liked to have booked something. But that’s this business. I know people who have been in LA for years and they can easily go 6 months to a year without a booking anything. Then BAM! They get one role, which leads to the next, which leads to the next, which gets them a recurring role, etc. Everyone is just one audition away from their big break. I hope to use all my training and audition experience to help me book in Texas. I’ve also experienced Episodic Season, Pilot Season, and the start of the Film Season. So depending on my SAG status, availability, and Bret’s schedule, I can better plan future trips that would most benefit me. I’ve also made some really good friends who I will surely miss while in Texas. I do look forward to being a full-time wife, sister, daughter, and friend again. I hope to catch up with most of you in the near future. I also look forward to many massages f rom Lucy, my sister-in-law, who is a massage therapist. I need to earn my #1 client title back. As well as learning to play racquetball and golf, as I hear my husband had lots of practice while I was gone.

Thank you for all of your support. The feedback you gave me via email, phone calls, and regular email means so much to me and I appreciate it very much. It takes me hours to compile these emails and pictures, and I hope to educate and entertain you with them. So I’m happy to hear you enjoy it.

Terri

P.S. Don’t forget to RSVP to me if you can make it to the free premiere of my movie “Read On” next Thursday, May 25th at 7pm at Alamo Drafthouse.