debor009

In this era of digital marketing and social media, why send paper postcards you may well ask.  Here's why: A photo postcard puts your name and face in front of casting agents repeatedly, keeps them up to date on what kinds of projects you're booking, and is more likely to be successful than other kinds of contact. Send in an 8" by 10" glossy and a resume and it goes on the "Intern pile" for filing.  Send an email and it gets lost among correspondence more important to agency business and may be deleted without being opened. Telephone? (NO PHONE CALLS!!!) A postcard is brought in and put with the casting agent's personal mail. The agent will read it when time permits and they're not distracted by other business (during coffee breaks, for example). If you're tracking the agent's projects, a postcard gives you an opportunity to make a positive personal comment and build a relationship. Not all casting agents like receiving postcards, but most do...

About 3,500 films are made each year, not all of them great obviously. Is it my imagination or were more great movies really made back in the 1930s and 1940s, during Hollywood's Golden Age?  Certainly they had a system down for identifying plots that appealed to the public and maybe that made all the difference. I just finished Thomas Schatz’ book The Genius of the System: Hollywood Filmmaking in the Studio Era ,  which was a fascinating read.  Schatz says that in any given year in the early 1930s, MGM staff readers alone filed reports on more than 1,000 novels and original scripts, 500 short stories, 1,500 plays, and 1,300 works in foreign languages...all in the pursuit of stories the studio could turn into hit movies.  One assumes a similar output was seen at all of the other major studios as well. At MGM they followed “The Ten Commandments for Studio Readers” laid down by head of production Irving Thalberg , and most of it sounds like good advice for struggling f...

Just back from shooting my role as the Grandmother in "The Book of Birdie." Wonderful cast and crew. It's going to be a terrific film. Plus, Saturday night, British actress Suzan Crowley and I were treated to a delightful evening at the Hob Nob Supper Club in Racine. What an experience! Wisconsin has some 350 supper clubs, many of which began as roadhouses during Prohibition and then continued as establishments "outside the city limits" that serve alcohol. Public TV even did a special on them . Hob Nob has these amazing white diamond-upholstered booths that look like a setting for the Frank Sinatra/Dean Martin "Rat Pack." Food was amazing and a pianist added to the atmosphere by playing the theme song from Billy Wilder's "The Apartment," which I've never heard played except in the film. Felt like I'd gone to Heaven. Many thanks to our hosts. It was such fun. The decor looks like a movie set.  I love the upholstery. Our table was ...

As the New Year begins I am inundated with new film projects and feeling happy and fortunate. This week I'm heading out to Wisconsin to film my scenes for "The Book of Birdie," a feature-length psychological thriller from the London-based production and special effects house Melancholy Star . Wonderful locations. Terrific cast, including British actress Suzan Crowley .

Actors not only love performing in film but we love watching and studying them. In fact, many of us develop an almost encyclopedic knowledge of classic films and the technique of directors, cinematographers, and our fellow performers. Fortunately for me my husband is also a cinephile and each week, as our schedules permit, we view one or two films in theaters and stream several more. Recently we stumbled into a couple of Indian films that really impressed us. I say "stumbled" because the first - Bajrangi Bhaijaan - was posted at the theater with only its Hindi title; no poster, no screen shots, no plot summary. We took a chance on it because we 'd been impressed by such actors as  Irrfan Khan and his story-driven films  The Namesake and The Lunchbox . (Also, we rather like the energetic dancing and singing so characteristic of the Bollywood films coming out of Mumbai.) Bajrangi Bhaijaan, with Indian mega-star Salman Khan , turned out to be one of the best films we'...

This past summer I had the pleasure of appearing in "Witches," a fantasy comedy by talented actor/playwright Scott Courlander for the Capital Fringe Festival. Fringe Festivals present a wonderful opportunity to premier new works with minimalist staging, and each summer more than a hundred plays and other kinds of performances, involving more than 500 actors and entertainers, get a sneak preview here in the nation's capital. It is worth noting that   Hugh Laurie , Emma Thompson , and Stephen Fry got their start in 1981 in just such a festival - albeit a somewhat larger one, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival - and the rest is history. "Witches," a play about a sleepy princess found in an enchanted wood and awakened by three witches with hilarious results, is one of many Courlander has produced through his company, Red Knight Productions . It was not only great fun to do (I earned "Favorite Performance" honors from DC Metro Theater Arts for my portrayal o...

I remember, years ago, reading an article where a woman said she had found this dress that, when she wore it to a special event, the crowd literally parted in awe. One day I will find such a dress. Certainly before I attend the Oscars! These are from Indian designer Manish Malhotra, all hand embroidered. Gorgeous. Manish Malhotra, 2015 Couture Collection Manish Malhotra, 2015 Couture Collection