Hurry up and Wait!!!

The tough thing about being an actor in LA is not all the auditions, the scenes in your movies where you have to cry on cue or all the smoking hot competing actresses with perky breast implants, fake contacts and a serious eating disorder. No. It’s LA it self and all the waiting that’s going on in The City of Angels.

Everybody out here knows the ‘hurry up and wait-syndrome’. It’s a syndrome that keeps you on your toes, stressed out, and very often waiting for somebody to get back to you with either a yes or no. ‘Yes’ for lets work together or ‘no’ for have a good life, now; get lost! People in LA seem to be on a constant hold on a busy line. But when asked, they are not on hold. They are involved in tons of projects. And that’s not a lie; They are most likely very very busy waiting for other people to make up their minds about something. Either a budget, a synopsis, a script, a part, a relationship, plastic surgery or a divorce settlement.

That is also why people in LA are nuts – more or less. I’m convinced that if you spend most of your life waiting you will go insane at some point. However, I’ve met a lot of Los Angelinos who have managed to cope completely with the ‘hurry up and wait-syndrome’. They have given up the stressful waiting and decided one of two alternatives: 1. get busy with their own business or 2. get high all the time.

I’m still relatively new in town and have been very lucky to book movies pretty much back to back since I got here. But after I got back form my long European adventure in June and July I’m feeling hungry for more. I need inspiration and LA is not doing it for me. I can’t meet up with my girls and have lunch in heels, discuss Habermass, Shaw and the meaning of life, get besoffen on a random afternoon and not make it home till way past midnight. It’ just not happening here.

So instead of trying to squeeze myself into a shoe that won’t fit I have decided to create a new pair of shoes and take a stroll down a different path; I’ve grown more and more passionate about auditioning to get into Actors Studio here in LA. No matter how many movies, plays or commercials you shoot and no matter how successful you become as an actor you can never get good enough. After 1,5 years out of school I’m craving time with fellow actors that wish to work, develop and refine their craft. The AS seems like the perfect place; each Tuesday and Friday at 11 am, come rain, shine or snow, you work or watch other actors work. It’s not like a school with homework and boring rules. However, you need to get an invitation to join this Studio. And that is not easy. It’s probably the hardest acting studio in The World to get into.

And today when I called the secretary at the AS the polite lady told me the wait list for the audition is at least 10 months…..hmmmmm that kind of threw me. So I went for coffee with my literary manager and good friend to bitch about LA and life in general. It helped a bit and tomorrow I’m going to research on other possibilities to work with a good master until I can do the audition. I already have a couple of names that I want to check out.

But now I have to go. The movie The September Issue is playing down in Arc Light in Hollywood and I’m definitely feeling some Anne Wintour tonight 🙂

xxx K