FODDER FOR CHARACTER BUILDING, DON'T BE SCARED TO TRAVEL AS AN ACTOR - ERIN

Travel. for the last 20 years of pursuing acting, I’ve always been scared to leave my home base for fear of missing out on an opportunity.  This is a true actor struggle… Our job is to build relationships with Casting Directors and inevitably, as soon as we book a trip somewhere, we get that potentially career-changing audition. The catalyst for me was last summer… I drove down to Florida to spend a few days with my sister and nieces and nephew at the beach. This is the first time we’d all been at the beach together for a family vacation and it was going to be great. On the way down, I got an audition for a SAG commercial that was written for me. I literally had worked for the company before! I thought, “I’ve got this in the bag, I have to go back.” So after driving all day, I left at 10:30 PM that night, drove back to Atlanta, got in at 3:30 AM and was the last actor called in that morning. The casting director gave me that “you nailed it” look, and I knew I’d probably booked it.  As it were, I didn’t even get a callback... It was in that moment that I made the decision, “I will BOOK OUT with my agent EVERY TIME I want to travel.” My family and life experiences MUST become more important than each individual audition.  I believe to my core that if we look at auditioning as a long-term experience, we won’t put so much weight on each individual one, and we certainly won’t resent the industry for keeping us from what really matters — People, relationships, experiences, memories. So if you are the actor who is scared to leave because you’re scared they’re going to miss an opportunity, I’m here to cheer you on! 🙋🏻 Just do it like Shia LaBeouf says!  👍🏼 You will learn so much about yourself, what you can & can’t handle, and the people you meet along the way… 💃🏻 Well, that’s just more fodder for character building 🎭 Much love, Erin