Yes. I'm still on the hunt for a job. It's been way too long since I've written a blog. I know. But, alas, depression will do that to you. You forget about some of the important things in your life. Like, things you love to do. So instead of doing the things you love, you sink into your ass mark on the couch, and play Red Dead Redemption and Sims 3 on the xbox all fucking day, wishing your life was better, and wondering why it's not, only to realize it's your own God damn fault in the first fucking place.Other than trying to up my Gamerscore, things have sort of fallen apart lately. The reason I couldn't really do much job hunting is, my boyfriend, Jason, has had the unfortunate luck of finding cars that are lemons. The last two cars he had died on him. Since I have had no job, I let Jason take my car to work. I had no where else to be. It worked out well. Now Jason has a car. It's running decently, although it does need a few things done, and we've put a great deal of money into fixing up, but it's regular car maintenance things and lemon-involved things, so it's ok so far. Anyway, this long rant has only a little bit to do with the real story here. Now that I have my car back, I've been on the hunt for a job...
I used to be naive. Even now, I usually try to see the good in all people. Even if they don't deserve that. I've been applying for any and every job. Almost. There are certain things I won't do. I will not work at a fast food place. I'd like to keep the urge to kill myself at a minimum, so yeah, fast food is out. I will not work retail. I've had enough of it. That goes hand in hand with not wanting to kill myself. I will not prostitute or star in porn. Besides not having the body or looks for either of the two, I wouldn't want to feel completely dead inside, which, let's face it, all hookers and porn stars feel that way, haha. Yes, I laugh at my own jokes. But again, I digress.
I sent a resume to a talent agency which was looking for a receptionist. I have been sending out so many resumes and not hearing back from anyone that when I heard back from these guys, I jumped on the opportunity for an interview. It was scheduled for this past Tuesday at 12pm. You know when your brain tries to warn you that you shouldn't do something? Usually I follow along with it, but this time I didn't. I almost didn't go to my interview because when I woke up that morning, I had a splitting headache. It was so bad I felt sick to my stomach. What a great time to get a migraine sinus headache huh? I was in so much pain I could barely open my eyes. Jason wanted to help make sure I would get well enough to go to the damn interview so he gave me a bunch of pills and I took Pepto, and all that good stuff so I could start getting ready to go. I finally started feeling better, and I got all dolled up.
I arrived a few minutes early at Alliance Talent Agency in Studio City. I'm telling you the name because I want to warn you all to stay away from these scamming bastards. I walked into the TINY office. It consisted of the main office area which was smaller than my living room, and my living room ain't that big. There was a small bathroom to the left, and what I assumed was the actual agent's office behind the closed door next to the bathroom. There were quite a few waiting chairs, so I took the seat nearest the TINY desk, which no one was sitting at. On the desk there was a sign-in sheet, some business cards, and a laptop. I thought that was kind of strange. Just a laptop and not a PC? Usually, offices have real, non-portable computers on the desks, but there could be lots of reasons they didn't have it that way. The business cards had a woman's name on them, an agent I supposed. I wondered, if that was her desk and the other office had the other agent in it, where would they put a receptionist? The only things on the walls were, a poster from True Blood and one from Inception, both with barely legible scribblings saying thanks for their success and whatnot. In front of me on the other wall was a very small collection of like, three headshots? I say headshots with a question mark because they were AWFUL and cheesy, and not very professional looking. They each had some chicken-scratch writing and "autographs" on them as well. None of this deterred me yet.
As I sat waiting for the door to open, a couple more women came in and sat, waiting to have their interviews as well. Finally, the door opened and a tall, young man, who was trying very hard to look important, came out and asked who was first. I stood up and almost laughed out, "Me." I followed him into his office as he shut the door behind us. He asked me my name, and didn't even bother to introduce himself. I finally started to feel apprehensive. He didn't even say much about anything when suddenly, he asked if I was an actress. He said that I had a very professional but sweet look about me. Well, I'm not usually one to lie, especially when a fucking agent asks me if I act. Of course I told him yes, hoping I could just get an agent instead of a job at that moment. He then proceeded to tell me that if I was looking for an agent, he would love to meet with me very soon, and that would mean he couldn't hire me as a receptionist because he didn't hire actors. He gave me his card, and literally 5 minutes after I got in there, I was out the door. Wait...what the fuck happened to this being a job interview?
I admit, for a moment, I was taken in, totally flattered by the compliment. Ok, it was longer than a moment, it was like, the whole way home. I had the high hope of ending up with an agent by the end of the week. When I got home, I do what I normally do before getting into anything serious. I looked him up. I like to find reviews on anything I purchase, or places I want to go, including jobs I want before actually saying yes to them. I did a search on ATA (Alliance Talent Agency) and found some interesting and frustrating things.
I happened upon the Backstage West forums and started to read about this agency. As I read, my face went from smiling happily, to normal, to just plain pissed off. Numerous people were complaining about this joker ripping them off and of course never calling them back. Many said when they met with him, he didn't even introduce himself, which is what he did to me! He would tell people that their headshots were just ok, and that they needed new ones in order to sign with him. He would give them the number of his "brother", Moe, and expect them to pay upwards of $500 for new headshots. He would then never call these poor actors back. It's obvious he's been receiving kickbacks from this guy Moe, and they share the profits from these headshots. They claim to be a SAG franchised agency, which I've heard, just about anyone off the street can become SAG franchised these days. SAG has actually received numerous calls with complaints about Alliance Talent Agency. How does anyone like this actually stay in business without the Better Business Bureau coming after them? Every review I saw of this agency said it was obvious that this person has no idea how to be an agent, let alone run an agency.
Then, I lost it. I called Jason, and basically broke down because I was so angry. I'm tired of not having money, and not being able to take care of myself. I just want a job AND an agent. I could go on and on, but, it won't help anything. I will have to keep working hard to get what I want. I know, I have so much to be thankful for, including the fact that I'm smart enough to research things before getting screwed. I just hate getting my hopes up, and not being one to have already known about this piece of shit "agency" a long time ago. Actors beware: Alliance Talent Agency (ATA) is a bunch of fucking bullshit.
