Well to start with, it’s been an effort to try and get myself to write this blog this week! But I’ll get to that later.
Ah, effort. I use so much of it. People often think that actors have it easy. They only think of the lucky few that have their faces all over televisions and cinema screens across the world, but they don’t think about the rest of us, who stumble on every day, hoping that we’ll get seen and might get a paid job one day.
I’m not going to lie, one of the reasons I started blogging was in the vain hope that someone might notice my need to act and hire me! I’ve tried most things, Facebook pages, Twitter, profiles on various casting websites and anything remotely linked to the acting profession, and so far… not a sausage.
I’ve been lucky in the fact that I’ve done enough work now to knock up a reasonable acting CV (compare it to my normal person CV and you’d think I was a global megastar!), but it’s still a daily struggle with a gargantuan amount of effort to get anywhere.
Due to my poor finances, I still live at home with my parents. My dad comments almost daily on how little I’ve done with my day. He has no idea. To him, I’m just sitting on my laptop browsing the internet. In reality, yes I am doing that, but I’m spending hours on casting websites, looking for an agent, and trying to promote myself to people who have no idea I exist. If I’m lucky, there might be a handful of jobs that I’m suitable for that I will apply for, only to never hear back from them.
I have three email accounts linked to my phone, each with its own distinctive ringtone, depending on what type of email I am receiving. Every now and again, the glorious tone of my second email account will sound, and I eagerly snatch up my phone hoping that I will have had some response to a job, only to find that it’s some spam email, or the latest update from Ebay. But every so often, I’m treated to a response from a company, and sometimes it’s even good news!
This happened to me a couple of weeks ago. I had applied for a musical in London, and I had been selected for an audition. I nearly fell off my bed. The first audition of 2013! Bring it on! However, even before I’d got to the audition, it was a real effort…
I had to be in London and at my audition for 10.45am, meaning the train I would have to catch would be at peak time, costing me almost £70. I spent a good hour online, trying to find cheap tickets to no avail. In the end, I found that I could do it for just over £25 if I travelled from Bedford. It was the exact same train from Kettering, but it left Bedford after peak time. Perfect. The day rolled around, and I left the house at an obscene time of the morning and made the familiar route across the county border. After a slight hold-up on the way, I reached Bedford with 45 minutes to spare before my train departed. I foolishly thought that I would be able to park in a side street somewhere not too far from the station, but I was very wrong. I’d never noticed before, but practically every street in Bedford requires paying to park! I drove around for nearly half an hour in frustration before relenting, and making my way to the multi-storey car park in town. Thankfully I made it to my train with minutes to spare.
Of course with it being an early morning train to London, I found myself without a seat, and had to stand at the end of the carriage, next to the bike racks. Glamorous. We reached the capital without any fuss, and as I had planned my route on the Tube, I made my way to Leicester Square with no problems. It was only when I made my way to the exit that I had issues. I had no idea where the theatre was. I made my way in around 4 different directions before deciding to head in the direction of M&M World and hope for the best. Thankfully I found a map and located where I needed to be. I arrived ten minutes early. Phew.
That wasn’t the only effort I had gone through before entering the audition room. The audition required me to bring along sheet music for two contrasting songs. I don’t own much sheet music, I rarely go to auditions where I need it, it’s mostly backing tracks these days, of which I have plenty. I had the sheet music for one of my choices, but was still unsure of what to sing for my second choice, and time was running out fast. I found a song that I wanted to sing, but there was no way of downloading the music anywhere, I had to purchase the whole book of the musical. Ugh. I found it on ebay, bought it and hoped that it would arrive in time. It didn’t. I then had to go back to a previous choice of song, which thankfully I was able to download, and off I went. I was only asked to sing one song in the end, and I chose the song that I had hastily picked. It actually went very well and I was pleased with my audition… I didn’t get a recall. All that effort for nothing. Oh well.
Of course there’s always another side to it, and I’ve just received a text message asking me if I’d be interested in a student’s final major project short film. I’ve worked with them before, so it’s nice to be appreciated and thought of as good enough to work with them again. If only all work was like this!
As I said right at the start of this entry, it’s been an effort to get myself to write this. I normally write on a Sunday evening, but I was in no fit state to do anything of the sort last weekend. I ran the Silverstone Half Marathon for Cancer Research UK. I completed it in 2 hours, 29 minutes and 44 seconds, 15 seconds under my target time! I’m not going to lie, it was the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life, and required so much effort. My legs still hurt and it’s now Thursday!
There were times when I thought that I’d never complete it, but knowing that people with cancer would benefit from the money I was raising spurred me on. What was 2 and a half hours of pain compared to that? It was a huge effort to even walk on Monday but I’m up and about now and feeling fine!
If anyone would like to donate to my JustGiving page, the link is this: http://www.justgiving.com/Natalie-Castka or you can text the code NATC85 followed by the amount you wish to donate to 70070. Thank you!
(That's my brother Rob by the way, he ran faster than me!)
Right, back to job hunting!
Nxxx
Facebook: Natalie Castka Actor
Twitter: @nataliecastka
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