Author: Sarah J Eagen

On Tuesday, March 22nd I sat down in a very comfy chair in a swanky screening room in Santa Monica to enjoy the fanfic Once Upon A Time – The Rock Opera … for the SECOND time. Yes, that’s right. After attending a screening of the film last fall, I once again found myself about to experience the magical silliness that is OUAT-TRO. The Rock Opera takes characters and relationships from the ABC hit series Once Upon A Time and adapts it to create a new story – complete with hilarious and well done musical numbers. The creator Erin Stegeman,…

What if I told you, dear actor, that you have a huge last minute audition tomorrow morning, and if you book it, you will go straight to set that afternoon? However, you’re not going to get the audition notification until 8pm tonight. What if you knew that tomorrow was the day you were going to meet one of the people who become the biggest influencers and champions of your career? The fact of the matter is that either of these scenarios are entirely possible in this career that we’ve chosen. We may have months of radio silence – no auditions,…

The holidays are over, and it is a new year. Hopefully you had a relaxing and rejuvenating holiday, and you’re ready to dive back in. We’re coming up on one of the craziest times in the industry – Pilot Season. Although pilots are now being produced all year round, this is still the busiest time of the year for most actors. Pilot Season traditionally runs from the 3rd week of January (or Sundance) to the end of April. That is a LONG time to be plowing ahead full steam. Are you ready for it? Here are some ways you can…

Ahh, the holidays. For many, it is a special time of year for spending with family and taking some time off. Perhaps it includes eating too much, catching up on sleep, and vegging out. Or maybe it is full of stressful travel plans, blizzards, and getting asked by your Aunt Mildred for the 100th time when you’re going to get a real job (or when she’s going to get to watch you on her favorite TV show…or why you couldn’t stay in your hometown to pursue your acting career. You get the idea). Whatever the holidays mean for you, it…

Tucked up on a hill at Barnsdall Art Park, I had the great pleasure of attending the No Budget Film Festival on Sunday October 18th. The festival focuses on fostering community and screens films that have been created with virtually no budget. The NBFF is in its 6th year, and it began in a tiny black box theater in Westwood in 2010 where they screened all 16 submissions. “There was a spark of something there that I was really excited about,” shared Rachel Walker, the Festival Director. She spoke enthusiastically about creating a space where you can watch great films…

Over the summer I attended, for the first time, the crazy awesomeness that is SDCC. I was excited and overwhelmed to be at the largest geek fest of the year, and it was quite an experience. There were a lot of people. There were tons of amazing panels. And there was incredible exclusive merchandise. And throughout the incredible 3 full days I spent at the convention center, here are some of the things I learned… Do Your Research Now, I love research (a you may recall, I have a Neuroscience degree). And I did a LOT of research before attending…

The entertainment industry is a very difficult business to break into. There are sensational success stories about individuals who had never worked an acting job before getting cast as a lead in a TV show or movie, but those are incredibly rare occurrences. Often the “overnight success” stories are covering up a decade or more of diligent hard work. There is common advice given to actors that if you can do ANYTHING else, do it. Meaning, if your soul isn’t telling you that this is the only path that can make you happy, you’d be better off doing something else.…

I remember all of the negative things I heard about L.A. from family and friends before I moved here — that the traffic was unbearable, the heat was draining, the city was full of vapid and shallow people who would only talk to you if you could advance their career, and that it would take me at least ten years to even start to make a splash here. I came here expecting to feel like I didn’t belong, that the city that wouldn’t welcome me because I hadn’t already achieved fame and notoriety. That I wouldn’t find people that I…

Although I generally stay positive in life, I had a really rough March a few months back. There were a slew of unexpected deaths, I felt stagnant in my career, and I was in a vicious cycle of not taking time to let myself grieve while also scolding myself for being unproductive. (If you want to know more, you can read the specifics in this article.) I decided that I needed to step back, so I took the month of April to focus on my health. Things like drinking water, doing yoga, and window-shopping took priority over forcing myself to…

I have always believed that if I worked hard, anything was possible. I got straight A’s in school. I excelled in my extracurricular activities of dance, fast-pitch softball, and theatre. And when I decided I would pursue acting full time, it seemed logical that as long as I worked hard and did X, Y, & Z, I would have a successful career. I stayed laser focused on acting for years before I realized that I needed to be more than an actor. Now, I’m not talking about the advice you often hear, that you need to live your life while…

In my online community of actors and filmmakers, a brand new app has recently blown up. It’s called Periscope, and it was acquired by Twitter (so the two are linked). It basically allows anyone with an iPhone (sorry, it isn’t available on other operating systems yet, but I’ve heard it is coming SOON!) to use their camera to LIVE broadcast whatever they are doing and wherever they are! I love their tagline- Explore the World Through Someone Else’s Eyes. I got to watch a live broadcast from the board room of the Ellen show, I’ve seen people walking down streets…

To follow up from my last article Social Media- What’s the Big Deal, I’ve decided to share my top 7 tricks for effectively using my favorite social media platform: Twitter. I’ve had so many conversations with artists about social media, many of whom have a frustrating relationship with it because they feel like they “have” to be on it, yet don’t understand how to use it. I am always a fan of finding the platforms and tools that work for you, but that can be difficult to discover if you don’t understand how to use them in the first place! I love…

I was recently in a room full of actors, waiting for our latest opportunity to read for a casting director, when I was floored by the conversation happening in regard to social media. Now, I know some industry folks HATE social media and deliberately choose not to use it. I get it — it has that time-suck effect, some (at times) awful herd mentality issues, and they keep coming up with new platforms that are not always intuitive. Really, I get it, and I am firm believer of finding the things that work for YOU. But when people refuse to…

It happens before some auditions, when I’m not sure what to expect. It happens before I go to events by myself that I’ve never been to before. It happens when I think about undertaking something totally new. I always get that crazy fear. The excuses start coming. Reasons I shouldn’t. Reasons I should be doing other things. Reasons I need to do X, Y, and Z to prep BEFORE actually taking this on. Reasons I’m not ready. The funny thing is that during the event, there is no resistance. It doesn’t feel like work. And without fail, I ALWAYS feel…