Tuesday.
Went to a SAG seminar entitled, "Prep for Pilot Season". It was a panel discussion comprising a Casting Director (CD), an agent, a manager, an actor (who has been through the pilot season a million times as well as the pilot audition process and has booked at least a half dozen) and a producer.
It was a very interesting evening with so much useful information, it's difficult to know where to begin. Well, the main thing to say is that Pilot Season is as tough, if not more so, on these guys than the thesps who are so convinced that they are hard-done and being passed over because life is so unfair (boo hoo, that's life as an actor - if you can't get up off your arse as many times as you are pushed over by disappointment and rejection then go home to Kansas!). The CD said that they have to cast within days rather than the many weeks they used to have. The agent said that sometimes they have to mobilise everything on a Sunday evening to have people (the right people) in the office for the suits the next morning at 9am. He also mentioned that the submissions to his office climb to over one and a half thousand each week during pilot season. The manager said his level of activity was as per the agent. The producer said that it's as insane as life gets, it's unfair, the vision they had early on is never what the suits want. The bottom line is that everyone is run ragged during PS. They also said it ran for most of the year as opposed to the traditional 1st quarter. Loads more snippets of note which I'll write over the next couple of entries.
Oh, by the way, ran into the agent who I've been tracking over the last eight months. Long story short... a series of banal events led me to be face-to-face with the guy. We shook hands, he remembered me from our discussion mid-last year, I told him I'd be ready for him to see me in a few months when our scene is ready for a scene night. He said he would definitely come (excellent!). I'm also going to be volunteering to usher/check-in at future events. Much talk about the standard of reels (no picture montages, please - just your best work). Max length 4 mins (CD). Make sure your breakdown info is accurate (Mgr). Intelligently submit - only what you're absolutely sure you're right for (agent).
A great night with great people and fantastic info. A spontaneous meeting with an agent I'm interested in and a possible behind the scenes opportunity at union events. A great night.