First Contact

Last week I registered with Central Casting. For those of you who may have never heard of it, Central Casting is the main source for extras, or "background" actors, in the film and television industry. As a non-union performer, I would receive $64.00 for 8 hours of work, and $126.00 for 8 hours of Union work. Right now as a non-union actor, I really cannot afford to spend many days doing this work instead of massage. I did want to register, however, thinking that if I had a day or two off, I could try to get some extra work, and start spending some time on sets. I plan to try to get my first day of background work this week. As always, I'll keep you posted.

Something interesting happened, though, when I was leaving. I had to stand in line to get registered, and it was a long line. There are designated days for union "talent", and then for non-union talent. There must be hundreds or maybe even thousands of people filing through that place each week. So, I went outside, and there were two ladies handing out fliers for acting workshops. Or, I should say, one handing out fliers and the other doing a survey of some kind. I did not think much of this at first, because everybody and their brother has an acting class or workshop out here. It is how people getting started network, and usually there are showcases at the end of the class at which, theoretically, there will be casting directors and agents just waiting to discover you. So, I thought this was just another one of these.

Then, though, I happened to notice as I was looking over the flier that the very small print had L. Ron Hubbard's name in it. Of course, I know what that means- Scientology. Then I saw that the $17.00 fee for this workshop, pretty cheap for such a workshop usually, included a copy of one of Hubbard's books.

So, I asked one of the ladies if this class was associated with any particular group, and SHE DENIED IT!!! I guess they hang out there because of the mass of people who file through there all the time- a numbers game, maybe. And I have the copy of the survey but have not looked at it carefully yet. If it's interesting, I'll try to share some of it with you later. So, there you go. First contact with Central Casting, and with creepy Scientologists. It was quite an eventful week.

BTW, IF YOU ARE READING THIS AND ARE A SCIENTOLOGIST, I HOPE YOU DO NOT TAKE OFFENSE TO BEING CALLED CREEPY, BUT COME ON...