Working with the old gang...

This month, I've been sending CV's like mad off to various peeps looking for actors. Not all successful, but them's the breaks... I've also been trying to gather in the last few bits and pieces of short films etc. that I've done recently so I can work on editing and finalising my showreel... at which point every agent/casting director/theatre company will be carpet bombed with my headshot, CV, and a DVD. It may get me nowhere, OR, it could get me more work, which would be lovely.

I've also been working on something for Whiplash... This time I'm not opening my mouth until it's all in the bag, but it's a producer role again. I'm liking this turn of events... I've been on the producing end of things a lot more in the last couple of months and I'm really enjoying it.

I might be getting a couple of days of work as purely an extra on the set of the film 'Leap Year' which is currently filming in Dublin and across Ireland starring Amy Adams from 'Enchanted' and Matthew Goode from 'Watchmen'. Good sized budget US production, and even though it's extra work and you can't put it on your CV, it would be better paid than a lot of the 'real' acting gigs I've been getting lately. Oh, the irony! It's not lost on me, trust me!

In the last couple of weeks, I've worked doing Fight Directing for Tabs Theatre Company's current production 'Never After' which is playing this week in Smock Alley Theatre. In a nutshell, it's about sex trafficking, but it's much more complex than that and it's based on true stories of women all around the world. If you're around until Saturday, go see it. Fight Directing was very enjoyable, another new thing I'm branching into. I also taught one beginners class in some of the basics of Stage Combat for one of the Directors of Tabs. Great craic! Loved it and would definitely consider doing it again.

I also filmed a short film for a director, Kathy Raftery of Cinnte Productions, whom I worked with last year doing 'Extremities'. It was nice to be back working with her again, and with Keith Ward, my co-star from that play. She's entering this short film into a Human Rights Film Competition for a chance to win a place on a three week workshop of film making for social change which will run alongside the Venice Film Festival. Kathy is really interested in making Humans Right films so this would be a dream oppurtunity for her.

Her piece is entitled 'Love Me, Love Not. In it, my character Kim is date raped by a guy who unfortunately did not take NO for an answer at the end of the night, and it's essentially about the fallout for her from this incident as the guy gets off scott free because he's an 'upstanding citizen', people saw them flirting at dinner and there were no witnesses to the actual rape. My interpretation of the crux of the film is, therefor, that the justice system in this country repeatedly fails the victims (and of course that a woman has a right not to be raped).

Difficult subject matter to perform, I won't lie, but it wasn't graphic and it was good to have a team of people around that I trusted. I just hope I did a good job for her and I look forward to watching it (bizarrely, because normally I HATE watching myself). Here's hoping Kathy does well in the competition!

Hopefully I'll have some more photos and clips from what I've been doing soon and I'll update when I do.

Enjoy xxx
Nicole