The manager I met with said a lot of interesting things on his end about how he likes to manage his clients. And he's also the first person to tell me in a long time that I need new pictures, which I know I need, and can never understand why agent after agent says, no no! keep them! Whatevs.
He asked me who has my resume, meaning, what actress out there is doing my roles, and gosh darn you, strange but almost pretty Alyson Hannigan, YOU have the career I want. You're in weird movies, you were on a huge cult series ( i guess it being huge and cult is an oxymoron, yes?) and now you're strong supporting on a great hit show. AND you had a baby! Arrrgh! So want that woman's life....
And so when the manager was looking at my headshots spread out in front of him, he said I had no pictures to show that. And it's true, I don't.
One time, at band camp, oops, college, a professor had lined us all up and typed us. He went around all us ladies and pointed at Jen, "Leading lady," at Kristy "Best friend," at Julie "best friend," at the other Jen "best friend," and then he stopped at me. He took a deep breath, because, as an acting professor, even he got to be dramatic when the moment called for it. "You're both."
I exhaled. "Great," I said, not at all happy with that.
"No, this is a very good thing. You can be the leading lady or you can be the best friend. It's up to you on how you present yourself for each role." And as much as my very awkward adolescence wants me to believe I will forever be that less attractive "best friend," I play leading ladies more often than not. I mean, hey, I seem to have good bone structure in my face, and photoshop does wonders to make me look all awesome and modelesque, but it's almost startling to have all my pictures in front of someone who wants to sell my brand and talent to casting directors and producers to say, you don't have any pictures to get the career you want. He's right.
He typed my age to be 19-25, which is funny, because my agent believes I'm 25-35, which I have more trouble seeing.
What do you think? What's my age range?(And this photo has not been retouched.)
My God you're gorgeous (I already knew this but seeing this photo reminds me just how much) so that is why you play leading lady. And you can play the best friend because you're so damn funny and quirky. I would say your age would be mid twenties exactly. However, since all the 30 year olds play high school age in tv land then you're perfect for early 20's too. As far as 30-35, not so much.
ReplyDeletehmmm... I think you can be 19 - 35, honestly. You can be young mom or if you have your hair super curly and you look all wounded and emo (you know you can!) you could do sophomore in college in pain.
ReplyDeleteGet down with your unique, quirky self!
You clean up pretty good. Just saw you in Home at Last. Good job. You just need some breaks. (unfortunately, you don't need just one break, you need your first break, and then multiple breaks after that) You could probably play older teens to 30-ish. You definitely look better with long hair like in the photo above. Nudity will get you noticed faster by a male fan base. (and beauty like yours really should be shared with the world) Just keep working hard and hope for the best. You do make your own luck to a degree. You are lucky in that we have web series and the like now. (although SAG will screw that up for you if you let them) I know you need money and to be paid, but there are indie people out there who would kill to have you in their shorts and feature-length films and web series. Throw them a bone if you can. Don't let "the system" stifle your creativity and passion and career. The more your face is "out there" the better, pretty much no matter what it is you do to achieve that. There is almost literally no such thing as "bad press". (as a female, and especially an attractive female, you would pretty much have to kill someone or something like that for it to have a negative affect on your 'career') Also, be careful listening to your agent and/or manager, as they can be stiflers, as well, even if it's unintentional. Good luck. (you're going to need it) Hope to see you in increasingly more stuff.
ReplyDeleteLira Kellerman, I'm not sure when that picture was taken, but from my angle you look 19-20. And you in this pic are one of the cutest girls I've seen.
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