VO Audition - 4/20/06 - WALMART

Starbucks Frappucino Jingle

VO Audition - 4/19/06 - STARBUCKS

This audition was a little different in that it was a VO for a TV Commercial, which I've yet to experience. We were asked to sing a "Starbucks Frappucino Jingle" of sorts, which they played for us a million times before we went into the booth. Singing at auditions is a rarity for me, in that I'm usually never asked to do it...although I can...:)...

My husband says I should definitely play up that area a little more, but I guess I'm just not ready to shout it from the rooftops. "Hey, I can sing! No, really, I can!" (I just don't have as much confidence in my singing as I do in my acting I guess.) Anyway, hopefully I'll book this job, because I can see them playing the heck out of this commercial. It would certainly be a nice chunk of change for a few minutes of my time.

While at the audition, I ran into my co-star, Jossie Thacker, from the film BROOKLYN'S BRIDGE TO JORDAN. Turns out she's pregnant too!...We didn't have a chance to talk, but we were able to wish each other good luck.

My husband and I never heard from the BRINGING HOME BABY folks last week. I'm sure they are still waiting for us to send in our tape and pictures. I told my husband it's all on him, but I know one thing, he'd better hurry up because at my Dr's appt this past Tuesday, I was told the baby was head down and ready to go!...

6 more weeks!...

VO Audition - 4/13/06 - WACHOVIA

The "Reality" of Reality.

I had to call in sick yesterday morning because I woke up with a headache. After helping my husband and daughter out the door at around 7:00am, I crashed on the couch, and slept uninterrupted until 10:00am. Yes! Talk about luxury. I can’t remember the last time I slept until 10:00am. I’m sure it was back in the early 00’s, when I was still single, and not yet a mother.

At any rate it was much needed. I lounged, and got tons of stuff done around my house. I was just out of the shower early yesterday afternoon when my sister-in-law called to tell me that the BRINGING HOME BABY film crew had ushered them home from the hospital, with my new niece. She was calling to find out when we’d be stopping by. I told her we’d be by as soon as my husband got off work, and we had a chance to swing by and pick up my little one from preschool.

Cut to 5:00pm...

Reality TV is definitely a far cry from being on a tv/commercial/film set. Natural and organic, I guess you can say are the key words. Although, if they don’t get the right “angle” or “response from a question,” they are certainly not shy about asking you to do it again; and quite possible again, so that they can get the shot they need. My family and I were at my in-laws house until about 9:00pm, chatting, eating, and greeting visitor after visitor that stopped by with food, and gifts for the baby. It’s definitely true that after about an hour or so, you tend to forget the cameras are even there. SO HERE IS MY DISCLAIMER: There is NO TELLING what will end up in the final product. My family and friends are crazy!...:)...So, be prepared should you watch the show.

At one point during the course of the evening, the crew (there were about 5 of them) took my husband and I aside to ask us questions about my brother-in-law and sister-in-law. (i.e. What types of parents they are? Did we plan our pregnancies to coincide? How close are our children? etc, etc.) After we wrapped our mini interview, the crew told us how great of a job we’d done, and asked why we hadn’t submitted an application to be on the show ourselves. I told them that we had, but with so many other things going on, we were slow in sending in the pictures and video that was necessary to start the screening process, so we just kinda dismissed the whole thought of it all.

One of the producer’s, who I’d struck up a quick rapport with when we’d first arrived, quickly responded by saying it wasn’t too late, and that he was going to call us on Thursday (4/13), because they’d really like to try to get us on the show.

I’m torn. See, I thought, at the time, when I submitted the application, that it would be fun to do something like this, but now since it’s become a “possibility” I’m nervous about letting the world into my home, and personal space. It’s a completely different thing to go be another person, in another world, on a set somewhere. But when you’re letting people in your house, and around your loved one’s, that’s really different, it’s a very different feeling. My husband is psyched though, so if they call, I will do it for him.

So, when we left last night, the crew was still filming. They were preparing to stay overnight so that they could be up early to continue filming today. They'll be there today until late this afternoon, and in four weeks or so, they'll come back to get "updated" footage of the baby.

Quite an interesting experience, to say the least.

Shenita.

Bringing Home Baby - Update...

Looks like the show wants to go ahead as planned, I'll let you all know what becomes of it, and if I will be a part of it.

S.

Rainbows and Baby Dust

Not to sound like a broken record, but boy, life is chewing me up and spitting me out! I’m exhausted. I’ve had a lot of things going on lately, and I definitely haven’t been the same since the time change last Sunday. I will try to recap the past week as best I can.

Okay, so if you’ve never had the opportunity to see the play FOR COLORED GIRLS WHO HAVE CONSIDERED SUICIDE WHEN THE RAINBOW IS ENUF, then you’re in luck! As I mentioned in my last post, my husband and I were going to opening night of this play in Hollywood on 3/31. The show turned out to be phenomenal! (If you get the chance, please go show your support.) The play runs through the end of April, and features some celebrities, including RaeVen Larrymore Kelly and Charnele Brown.

The head teacher at my daughter’s preschool asked me some time ago if I would write an article on how children can get started in the entertainment industry for the school’s quarterly newsletter, which is due out this week. Since I get asked this question all the time anyway, as I’m sure many of you actors do, I thought it was well worth my time and effort to put my thoughts on paper for her. I tried not to sound too harsh, but it irks me beyond compare, that there's still so much naivete out there when it comes to this industry. I decided to break the article up into several parts. The first being: THE REALITY. CLICK HERE if you’d like to read what I wrote, and please, offer up your opinions and thoughts on the subject.

Just before the weekend, my friend Tann and I got an e-mail from AFTRA about the Pam Dixon CD Workshop we wanted to participate in last month. Pam decided to return this month (very nice gesture on her part), and AFTRA contacted the people who weren’t able to get into the workshop last month, to see if we wanted to come this time around. Although I would LOOOOVVVE to meet, and read for Ms. Dixon, I am too pregnant to do much of anything now-a-days, and Tann will be at rehearsal for her show that night, so we couldn't make it work.

I’m an auntie, again! My sister-in-law gave birth yesterday (4/9). I’m not sure if I mentioned this, but she was also pregnant. (Our oldest children are three months apart and are the best of friends, and these two, depending on when my little one decides to come, will be even closer in age.) Being at the hospital yesterday made me overly anxious about the arrival of my baby, and made me realize how I have less than two months to finish preparing for her big entry into the world. I’m also nervous, and on edge, about whether or not I will be a good mom to two little girls, instead of just one. I guess I'll just have to wait and find out...:)...

My sister-in-law and her family had just found out this past Friday (4/7) that they were accepted to tape an episode of BRINGING HOME BABY, a show on TLC, that documents the first days home with your newborn. But since the opening of the show is taped DURING the pregnancy, it’s unlikely that they’ll be able to go forward with the taping. It’s definitely a bummer, because I know it would have been fun for them, and I’m sure I would have gotten a few seconds of camera time, (as I plan to spend a lot of time at her house over the next few weeks) but the baby had her own agenda.

Oh well, maybe next time!