Hi all,
I hope your Holiday season is merry and bright. This is the first year in a while that I haven’t been in a show for Christmas, but I guess that gives me more time for Christmas fun. I will be visiting home for Christmas and my mom and I will be shopping and baking cookies. I will be coming back in time to march in the Fiesta Bowl Parade with my fellow Arizona Avengers. I attended three industry-related gatherings in a row two weeks back: one was a going away event for a producer friend of mine, one was my agency’s Holiday party, and the third was Filmstock. I really enjoyed the Filmstock Festival and I attended on the night they were doing dramatic shorts. My favorite was The Last Piper, an amazing film made by Norwegian film students. I couldn’t believe how incredible the quality and acting were. There were also two SAG-AFTRA shorts, one of which starred a few people from “Breaking Bad.” I have been really excited to see how Filmstock has grown to now have festival dates in four states and the increasing professional quality of the films.
I recently sent postcards to casting directors in New Mexico. I have been given advice to make one-sheets and there was an article about pilot season in Backstage online that said sending e-mail press releases was the best way to get casting directors to call you in. I have always heard that unsolicited e-mails are not accepted and that it’s extremely rare for someone who is non-union to be seen for a pilot. The Actors Network advice is to do “odd-size mailers,” which is a postcard in an envelope. I usually do that, but I had old stamps that I needed to use that were the right amount for sending postcards not in envelopes. Postage keeps increasing.
In the New Year, there will be a New Media project, a proposed charity concert, exciting news about the script contest, more auditions, and hopefully some major bookings. I will get myself back to LA some year soon. A buddy of mine is already well on the way to relocating.
Merry Christmas to all, may your stage lights burn bright!
Anna Sahlstrom.com 