Meanwhile, I am trying to plan this trip in Europe, but am hesitating at the nonrefundable things. Because what if this thing finally happens then?
I have two auditions sitting, waiting for my response. One of those has shoot days that overlap with this international trip. and the other one, well, who knows. I like auditioning, but these self-tape auditions are awful because for a minute-long audition, it takes an hour or longer to get it right by myself with the camera, lighting, memorizing the script, memorizing the delivery, then editing in voiceover responses for the other character responses.
Meanwhile, I feel at least a little productive if I am writing. But every time I go to a coffee shop to do that, it's a $5 cost. When you do not have an income, that adds up. So I at least need to consider donating plasma again, and possibly try to get a normal job too. Of course, if a pilot I am in gets picked up, that would solve so much. If this (hopefully) upcoming one gets picked up, I get to act on camera for it. If the comedy I am in gets picked up, I could have a chance at writing on it.
At the least, our podcast now has a trial run with a sponsor. It is a skincare company that markets to men, and since I had been dealing with dry skin for awhile now, I wanted to try something anyway. And this one fixed my issues overnight. If we get eight people to buy with our code over the course of the month that we run the ads, we get to talk about a longer term partnership. The company seems ethically sound, which has been a constraint for me. My guess is that I could have gotten a supplement sponsorship by now, but I would feel conflicted about such a thing, since most of those are a waste of money. In any case, we spent 45 minutes recording the four ads other day and I think that they are all good and funny enough to be their own social media posts. Once we have those edited and ready, I will go hard posting it around. Even if people do not listen to the podcast, they might want our discount code for a good skincare product.
Another potential source of income would of course be standup comedy. I have enough written that I should start hitting up open mics. The main reason why I had not done so in the past month is that I was without a car. Now it is because if production on this pilot finally starts up next week, I would feel pretty stupid if I caught COVID. Then again, if I wear an N95 mask at all times when not performing, that would be decently safe.
I would put the pressure on myself for standup now, but next week, unless I hear back about shooting something, I will be traveling to Arkansas to be a guest speaker for the photography class my friend teaches at our alma mater. I will be there specifically to help them learn what things are like from the model's perspective. Apart from very specific things like "move your chin up and to the left," I do not know what insight I can add. But it will at least be fun for me!
