Image Development

This past Thursday my dad and I drove up to Thousand Oaks to meet with a talent promotional company called, Image Development. Image is basically the middle man between getting an agent. They are a Christian based company run by two very nice Christian ladies. Nicole Sutton is the President of Image and Barbara Cameron (who happens to be the mother successful actors Kirk Cameron and Candace Cameron Bure) is the Talent Executive Advisor.

I found out about Image Development when I was back home in Virgina, its actually kind of funny. I love reading biographies and autobiographies of/by actors. I just love reading about their lives, struggles and careers it intrigues me. Anyway, it was late last year - right about the time that Kirk Cameron's autobiography "Still Growing" came out. Being the fan I am, I went to a store to by it. While I was there I happened to find another one that interested me too.."A Full House of Growing Pains" by Barbara Cameron - the mother of Kirk Cameron and Candace Cameron Bure. I thought it looked good too, so I bought both of them. I took them home and began reading Barbara Cameron's book first. (Both were amazing and I highly recommend them to everyone!) At the end of the book there was a page with website links. Image Development's happened to be on the list. I went to it and read up on the company and become excited. I thought they would be a good place to help get my acting career going.

I e-mailed Nicole Sutton about the company and if they could work with me. She asked my experience and for me to send some pictures to her. I told her my experience and sent her my resume and a couple of pictures. She said they couldn't do anything to help me until I was in Los Angeles (since they are located right near by) but that I have a good look and that they could probably work with me if I moved. Believe it or not this is actually what got my plans for moving to LA started. I mean I have wanted to move to CA and get into acting pretty much my whole life but this agreement to work with me is what got my plans officially going. This was back in October of 2008.

Since then I e-mailed back and forth with Nicole for a little while - giving her updates - as I started getting the OK with the family and worked towards moving. Once I arrived in California I called them and set up an appointment. I got one booked for Thursday.

When I arrived for my appointment in Thousand Oaks I was given a form to fill out and a commercial to read through. It was a Gap commercial about jeans and only a couple sentences long. I had to memorize it and audition it for Barbara Cameron - talk about nerve wracking! lol. There were two others in front of me and I ended up waiting for about an hour before it was my turn to go in. It was ok with me though. It gave me a chance to relax and get my commercial just how I wanted it.

Once I went in, I did my commercial audition for Barbara. She said I had a lot of energy and potential but that I needed work. Which is what I expected - the needing work part. She said I was doing a lot of things right but that I probably didn't know I was doing them right or even why I was doing them. She then went on to discuss classes she teaches and a little bit about the company. She seemed really surprised that I had never had any kind of acting classes before - I told her everything I've learned has been by reading and studying other actors in movies and stuff. She seemed really surprised and said that I have a lot of natural talent and instincts. She said that normally most people they work with they recommend take a couple of acting classes but that she thought I would only need one and then be fine. That was a big (but pleasant) shock to me.

After meeting with Barbara, I met with Nicole. We discussed all of what they can do for me and I signed a contract with them that day. So now I am officially a client of Image Development (YAY!). I am taking a 6-week on-camera acting class with Barbara Cameron starting August 20th. It will be on Thursday's. Nicole said that Barbara is tough but very good because she knows what the agents want to see. I am so excited! After my first class then I am going to get head shots done. Once I get my head shots back then I will meet with Image and pick out my head shot for their marketing. Once that is done then I will be marketed by Image Development to all of the licensed LA agencies to try and get signed. I will be going out in their poster for September to agencies. The neat thing is Nicole said that if I don't get any response then they will keep pushing and putting me on posters if necessary to try and get signed to an agency. So that is exciting as well.

I had a choice of going out on their September poster or waiting. Nicole said that January-April is called Pilot Season - basically it is when all of the pilots for new TV shows get filmed and try to get picked up to networks. Because of this she said that most agencies slow down and stop taking people (until the next year) starting November because they are so busy getting all of their clients and submissions ready for pilots. So I decided to go ahead and go on the September poster so that hopefully I am get an agent before pilot season begins. We'll see but basically that is the deal.

Nicole recommended until the class starts (since it is still a couple weeks away) that I register with an extra/background company in LA for extra work on movies and shows. She said that she never recommends clients do that but since I had some time to kill that it may be good so that I can get familiar with how movie sets work. I am going to register with them on Friday.

I can't wait to begin my acting class and get everything going. Hopefully I can get some extra work to familiarize myself with life on movie and TV sets. We'll see. As time continues to pass I am still going to be looking for any job really. That is pretty much what is up right now. In short - things are going really well so far and I am loving Cali!

Yesterday was a day of firsts for me in California. First, I woke up at 3:30am and left at 4:00am to take my dad to LAX for his flight back to VA. It took us about an hour to get there but traffic wasn't bad at all. I wonder why HAHA. Second, I had my first In-N-Out burger and it was amazing! I also visited my first frozen yogurt place yesterday, which I was told is the biggest new thing in California right now. It was also amazing. I have a feeling I will become addicted in no time haha.

I'm still unpacking my things in my room but the majority of it is done. I have met some really cool new friends and continue to enjoy life on the West Coast. I still have a lot of sights to see. Seeing as how I haven't seen hardly any yet lol. I still have yet to visit a beach, Hollywood, and Disneyland but there is plenty of time for it. I will keep you updated as things develop. God bless! xoxoxo