ARTICLES:
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A New Look, or An Actor Presents
By Laura Eckstrand
November 1999Recently I met with...
Jessica Donovan from Ortlip-Filderman at One on One, to do a general audition/ interview with her. She was very pleasant, and I did my monologue for her before we talked. She laughed at it a lot, and then looked at my headshot and resume. Then she asked, "Can I be blunt with you?" Of course, I said yes. She then told me that my presentation of myself, i.e., my clothes at the meeting, my headshot, and my initial greeting of her, were inconsistent with the fact that my "thing" was comedy.
She said, "What do you have that all those other girls out there don't have?" I said, "Uh...comedy?" She said, "Yes, and intelligence. And you have to let me know that from the minute you walk down the hall and into the room. She said she had no idea I was going to be funny until I started my monologue, and that was a problem. "You have to help us out here. Wear bright colors, put your hair in a pony-tail, whatever! I know this is some stupid shit, but it works!"And she went on to say that until I'm known as being a funny person (like Ellen Degeneres, or Helen Hunt), I have to signal it loud and clear to the people I'm meeting. She also asked if I'd lost weight since my headshot was taken, and I told her a few pounds. She asked, "Like, twenty?" Jessica said that not only was the picture too brooding and serious, I looked fat in it, so get another headshot! Luckily, I had just had them done and had a lot of other shots to choose from, which I did the day after our meeting.
In general, the meeting was a huge breath of fresh air, not only because I had really been SEEN by someone in a real sense, but because she had taken the time to educate me on how my presentation and my product were not in sync, and what I should do about it. It's nothing Penelope hasn't told me approximately a million times, and it related to other comments I'd gotten in a less coherent way from various people over the years, but it took this direct and positive approach from someone I had just met, true, but who also instantly really seemed to know what I was about, to move me to reevaluate my material and personal presentation. It also gave me the freedom to have a lot more fun in getting to know business people and having them get to know me faster and better. I'm currently working on revamping all this stuff. It's not easy, but I know it's going to be a positive and productive change!
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