Extra Work

On Sunday evening I sat online chatting with my friend Ashna, who is currently gallivanting through various cities and countries in Europe, about life and unemployment. She, unlike me, has this thing called common sense that I never seem to fully grasp, although I do often get bits and pieces of it.

Ashna reminded me that there are lots of small gigs that I can do, assuring me that I'm multi-talented and suggested I do anything from tutoring to headshots and then I came across an ad on craigslist for extras. I thought that it wouldn't be a bad thing to do, since any sort of incoming cashflow is a good thing, so I applied and disappeared to my basement for two hours to take my own headshot (thank you Nikon D200). The following is the result of my efforts:

You know, I'd like to think it came out pretty well. Anyway, I had a meeting with the people that placed the add today but before I got there I was feeling relatively apprehensive about the entire thing, something didn't seem right about them. However, I became relaxed as I realized that I was just meeting with them, I hadn't committed to anything, and honestly, what was the worse thing they could do to me? Offer me a bad deal?

Long story short, they didn't seem legit at all and the did offer me a bad deal, which I told them "I'd think about it,". Here's what they were offering: I pay them $75 (they offered to lower it to $50) to be put on their website for as long as I want (one time fee) and from there I could look at and apply for jobs. Then they would, I guess somewhere along the lines, put me in touch with an agent who, if I signed with, would find me jobs but take 10% commission. I was just looking for work as an extra, I don't want an agent.

Luckily I had talked to my friend and star of my movie "Big Brother," Carl Li before doing anything. He advised me not to bother with an agent since I don't need one to do background work. I should, instead, just pay like 5 dollars a month to put my name on NYCasting.com and NYCastings.com (yes, they're different sites) and one gig would more than pay for the subscription for the month. Then I don't have to go through an agent and then I have all the money for myself. It's not a bad idea and I might just do that. However, for the time being, I think I might sell my services as a headshot photographer. I offered the two stars of my films Carl Li and Steve Chan free headshots as a thank you since they acted for free and headshots can get expensive. I think that's not a bad trade off, honestly.