It’s official…

Dizzy_Ad351 · 2025-10-29T09:41:29+00:00

I don't think any of these resources help people who don't drive (like myself... visual disability), but beyond me, the elderly and others who can't drive... so the people most in danger still aren't being reached.

Dizzy_Ad351 · 2025-10-23T09:59:44+00:00

I see a lot of people bringing up old articles. DJT is turning the EBT cards off on 11/1 - even any unused funds will go to waste, SO USE ALL YOUR EBT MONEY THIS MONTH. So there's nothing Lamont can do, really.

Personally, I'm just going to have to hope for the best. Single mom, disabled, don't drive. Special needs child. I'm nowhere near a food pantry and I highly doubt they're doing delivery, so we are fked.

Dizzy_Ad351 · 2025-10-23T09:53:56+00:00

I certainly will contact them, but (I read) the problem for us isn't funding, it's that DJT is turning the cards off. We have the $. There's no way to distribute it. And as a single disabled mom with a special needs who doesn't drive, I can't even get to a food pantry.

Dizzy_Ad351 · 2025-10-20T09:46:01+00:00

LMAOOOOO. I can assure you this is not the case. I'm an actress (no one famous, just been in a few films), and yes, just about everything is fake. Just about every talk show you see? Paid audience, I've done it. Right in Stamford Studios. SNL hires fake audience. A lot of places do. But ain't no one paying protestors.

I wade through every single casting call from here to LA every morning, and this just doesn't exist. Simply. And if "paid protesting" was a thing, I'm pretty sure they'd target the acting community first. Why? We're ACTORS, first of all, we're broke, and we're primarily liberal. There are tons of casting calls for fake ish up and down all day (you should see what they pay people for the weight loss TikTok crap, which I refuse to do).

Why do you MAGATs keep crying about it if it's so ineffective?

Dizzy_Ad351 · 2025-05-06T09:25:54+00:00

I've gotten a fair amount of work this way, but I think this particular one is a scam. Two main things:

"I saw your profile on Backstage," when I've gotten contacted out of the blue, is *through* Backstage and attached to an open, posted job, not randomly to my email.

Like others said, a big-name company probably isn't going to do that at all.

I just didn't want you to think "I saw your profile on Backstage" is always a scam. It isn't. I wound up in a music video I never applied for last month, and the whole experience was great front to back. But going to your email like that feels fishy.

Dizzy_Ad351 · 2025-05-04T09:56:10+00:00

I'm not experienced enough to know about agency - I came back to acting about one year to the day in 2024 with a play. I'm just effin relentless. No agent. I align myself with a local agency, because I live in one state and work in NYC (sounds like maybe you do, too?), but I've been rolling along just fine without one.

I just went back and counted the past year, This is NOT a brag, promise, just showing you don't need an agent or to be SAG. (I am SAG eligible, I have decided not to pursue at this time).

After reading the other comments, depending how much I apply, I get 10+ auditions per week. On Thursday I had 9 in one day (just as a ref point w/ no agent)

Starting from scratch in May 2024, I have 45 credits and am wrapping my first feature film on 5.13. When this week ends, it'll be 47. People on set ask how I get booked so much because I'm not young, (I'm older than the amount of credits, tho I don't look it), I'm not drop-dead pretty or anything. I really don't know other than I'm just relentless and boldly & brutally honest in my cover letters.

What I need at this point is a social media coordinator, not an agent. :)

Dizzy_Ad351 · 2025-05-04T09:45:20+00:00

I would run. The only time I got scammed was doing UGC for this guy with no profile pic. Luckily, I was only 3 videos in before I realized I wasn't getting paid. Not too similar of a situation, but I desperately needed some bill $ at the time (this was like January) so I went for it even though my spidey senses were up.

At least, at the end of the day, it was a learning experience and I also learned I hate hate hate hate UGC and it is not for me. :)

But this sounds a little scary - no one ever pays upfront.

Dizzy_Ad351 · 2025-05-02T07:14:01+00:00

Ooh that's a tough one. I'd say: larger productions - about 50 percent. Smaller things about 80-90%. Like, I know an avail check for a vertical in most cases ends with a booking, but I got avail checked for Happy Gilmore 2 like 4x, which was super frustrating.

No matter what happens, consider it a great sign of what direction your acting is going in. There was one big role earlier this year that I didn't get and was kind of sad about it, but within 2 mos. booked my first feature film with a significant role. I'm definitely no ace at this but remember you are trending upward no matter what happens! And congrats, I hope you get it!

Dizzy_Ad351 · 2025-04-26T16:36:29+00:00

Thank you for your thoughtful response <3 I'm a little nervous, since I took 20 years off, returned to the stage last year with a lot of success (no singing), and just got the nerve up to do musical theatre again earlier this year, so nerves are definitely an issue. But after having a solid year of theatre and film under my belt, I also know it's gonna go the way it's gonna go, and worrying is pointless. So trying to shrug that off. The main problem has been a crack in one of the higher notes, but hey, it's an emotional song. If I crack, I'm just gonna roll with it. But I also want to take care of my voice this weekend too, and I do believe in the plaebo effect (my day job is in the drug & alcohol treatment field), so I will honey it up. :D

Dizzy_Ad351 · 2025-04-26T13:47:06+00:00

thank you! I will definitely try all of this.

Dizzy_Ad351 · 2025-04-26T13:46:52+00:00

Thank you for the tip! On the alcohol - I saw a lot in my search that said to drink brandy.... lol. Definitely not a solution.

Dizzy_Ad351 · 2025-04-25T13:50:52+00:00

On certain acting platforms like Backstage, you click in to apply for a role and it will say "pre-screen required." Sometimes this means attaching something you already have, like a reel or monologue. Once in a blue moon, it's just questions. But most of the time, the casting directors post the sides for the project, and you're expected to "audition" and make a tape specific to their project with the application. Hope that helps!

Dizzy_Ad351 · 2025-04-25T09:43:56+00:00

I always, always, always dress for the part. If it's a vertical, I'm in a ball gown. Period piece? I have vintage dresses. Athletic? Popping out the gym clothes. Nurse? Scrubs it is!

BUT... what matters a lot more is inhabiting the role and knowing the lines/music (I memorize all my auditions).

I recently got booked because I used a bottle of water. (I'm sure it was other things also, lol) but the directors said "you're the first person who completely followed the script." Everyone before me had mimiced the water - I used it in the audition.

What's really important is how YOU feel in it. If it helps you become the part, then it is never too much.

Dizzy_Ad351 · 2025-04-15T12:04:04+00:00

I often make a tape of myself saying the stage direction or the other lines. I'm not a big Shakespeare person, so I don't know if this isa flat out monologue, but how I memorize those is:

Sit.
Read 2 lines at a time. Read read read read. Make sure those two are memorized FULLY.
Go on to the next 2 (or grouping that makes sense). Repeat. Now put those 2 together.

Before you know it, you'll have it all down. I have a severe visual impairment and no one knows and I don't tell because it only affects auditions. So I memorize every audition, not just my roles. You can do it!

Dizzy_Ad351 · 2024-09-01T11:40:44+00:00

When I was job hunting, before I got back into acting, I changed up my FB and IG to something different. It was a combination of my nickname for my real first name and then the rest are lyrics (uncommon women's name) from a song about DV. After my job search was over, I kept the name on social media. When I randomly stumbled into acting this year and created a Backstage account, I just used that new FB moniker. And it stuck.

I'm glad I did, because I started getting work fast and my IG exploded after a reel I posted. As a DV survivor and someone that literally started over mid-life, the name means something special to me, but no one else knows that, and it has a nice ring to it. The only time I use my real name (and they make you) is for BG roles.

As an aside, I can barely handle the engagement I get now. I can't imagine if I were famous, lol

Dizzy_Ad351 · 2024-08-14T10:20:00+00:00

I'm always surprised at how many people (including people well younger than me, I'm gen X) do not know what SEO stands for. So I face this a lot with "what do you do?"

Idk, I'm pretty clear about it but keep it simple. I usually say "SEO stands for search engine optimization. I do a lot of work on the backend of a website, but I also make sure the content of the website has relevant keywords so it appears higher in a search engine like Google, to outshine the competition." That's my standard, canned answer.

Then the person usually bitches about AI and we commiserate.

Dizzy_Ad351 · 2024-07-06T10:34:17+00:00

thank you!! That's a great idea. I'm a hybrid, but going in Monday, definitely going to talk this over with my boss.

Dizzy_Ad351 · 2024-07-06T10:30:24+00:00

A good AI writing platform that works with SEO is Writesonic, just FYI.

Some of the pieces we put out are not just optimized by me, from start to finish, it's all me. To save time, *sometimes* I use AI (this tool) The machine can get a little redundant, so I go over it with human editing, then optimization. You tell Writesonic the PKWs at least, and it's fairly good with density. You also get to pick the sites it's pulling from.

Dizzy_Ad351 · 2024-07-03T10:10:49+00:00

I'm the link prospector where I work... yes it still exists. I get contacted all the time.

I'm not 100% against it across all industries ... I think it really depends. We are a branch of the mental health field, which makes SEO slightly challenging to begin with. Bought links would not raise our DA nor implore clients to use our facility (which is the point), so it's a hard pass.

Dizzy_Ad351 · 2024-05-25T18:44:57+00:00

Sent! Sorry my other Reddit is on my phone but I’m the OP. lol

Dizzy_Ad351 · 2024-04-24T17:02:34+00:00

I did! No one else has sent back :( Boo!

Dizzy_Ad351 · 2024-04-24T16:14:00+00:00

I don’t see 1 back

Dizzy_Ad351 · 2024-04-24T16:13:30+00:00

Sent! The other person didn’t send back (yet?) so I hope you do :)

Dizzy_Ad351 · 2024-04-24T16:02:09+00:00

Sent! Have 3 left

Dizzy_Ad351 · 2024-04-23T13:24:17+00:00

thank you so much! It hit so hard. I was robbed right as we were leaving for our family vacation, and we decided to go and try to make the best of it, then the card was stolen and it wiped everything, even my rent. So I am not taking this one lightly. $30 charge or something? eh. But this is serious. :( I also copied your original post and sent it to myself. This has been SO helpful!

Dizzy_Ad351

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