Diakeim is a casting associate with Liz Lewis Casting Partners in NYC. His office casts a lot of commercials, and sometimes deals with other kinds of projects (including voiceovers). A former actor, he understands the difficulties of the business, and sympathizes with the day to day ordeals we go through (many casting directors are former actors#–sometimes, as with Diakeim, this is a good thing… other times… oh, Nelly…)

Diakeim’s Comments:

I take a lot of classes… with Casting Directors, with Agents, with Directors… and I thought I might share some of the notes I’ve taken in each session. While these notes are not a replacement for actually taking the classes, they might offer some insight for actors/actresses in a place where classes are unavailable… I’ll start posting them as I can…

After a long time searching, I think I’ve found the perfect day-job. Every actor (well, not every, but most) has to have a day-job#–the steady income that allows for classes, printing headshots, and paying the bills until that elusive "I’ve made it" ship comes in to port. A lot of actors work as waiters, office temps, or barristas in order to get by, and I’ve done my share of each. But now I’ve found the perfect job for me… a consultant at TVI Actor’s Studio.

You may have heard me talk about TVI before… it’s a career resource center for actors, offering classes, seminars, showcases, and career advice for beginner and advanced actors alike. My job as a consultant will be much the same as what I’ve been doing on this blog for some time: advising actors on how best to market their abilities, and helping them to achieve their career goals.

Yesterday I ran out of my (current) day job in a blitzkreig: David called with an audition (one day after our interview#–I like him already) for a national Verizon commercial. Usually an audition doesn’t come up this last minute (I got the call at 1pm the audition was at 3:25pm), but even so I wanted to make it happen#–the only problem was that I was wearing jeans and a tee-shirt (the office I’m in right now is very laid back) and I needed to be wearing office casual for the audition. That meant a quick scram back to Queens for a clothing change. Now a quick jaunt home in most cities isn’t a big deal, but in NYC it means taking multiple trains, walking several blocks, and avoiding public transit bottlenecks#–in both directions. I was pushing it to say the least. Imagine my surprise to arrive at the audition almost 30 minutes early#–don’t ask me how it happened, I don’t know. I guess the transit Gods were smiling down on me.

The Movie Of Your Life Is An Indie Flick

You do things your own way - and it’s made for colorful times. Your life hasn’t turned out how anyone expected, thank goodness!

Your best movie matches: Clerks, Garden State, Napoleon Dynamite

If Your Life Was a Movie, What Genre Would It Be?

I had a great meeting today with David McDermott at Jordan, Gill, and Dornbaum#–he is now going to be sending me out for commercials in NYC. This is a good thing: actors make most of their industry income from commercials, and if they are successful enough, it can mean working only as an actor (no "day job"). While landing jobs without a commercial agent is possible, it is very difficult#–casting directors need access to headshots quickly, and the best way to get them is through a respected agent (ostensibly who works with respected talent). This is especially true of Union commercials, and larger national broadcast commercials. My agency in St. Louis, Talent Plus, is very good at building relationships with commercial casting people, and from my own research, JGD is good at it as well. David was very laid back#–honest, but laid back#–and seemed to get me as a person (he made a point to let me know what type he sees me as, and assured me that he will only be sending me on submissions that fit me). This is also important to me: how annying is it to go into an audition for a role that you just don’t fit?

I have a lot to be thankful for lately#–the show is going well, I’ve been getting some great audition opportunities, I’m on the verge of signing with an agent, and I just landed a new job at TVI Studios working as an actor’s consultant. It’s been a whirlwind the last few weeks and I haven’t been good about updating the blog.

We’re also making headway back in Missouri with tax credit legislation#–MFAS is encouraging the state leadership to improve incentives for filmmakers (a project I’ve been working on for some time now). We’ve had some meetings with state leaders within the last month that indicate we’ve at least sparked interest, so it’s an exciting time to be involved in Missouri filmmaking. Time will tell how convincing an argument we made…

Today I was a reader again for One Life to Live#–I’ve been going in pretty often for them, so hopefully I’ll be on the show soon. As far as other work: the episode of As the Wolrd Turns that I shot last week will air on March 7th. And, of course, I continue to take classes and work on new skills. Tomorrow I have an agent interview… more info on that when I get back.