Archive for 2013

In the busy holiday season we are all booked solid with shopping, decorating, and —of course— parties! We book ourselves without a moment to spare; not leaving much time—if any— for transitioning our look from day to evening. Not to fear, there are some super fast and easy ways to transition with a little planning and a few spare minutes. Altering your basic day time makeup to a dramatic night time look is easier then is seems. With just a couple extra items, you can enhance your makeup with a few sweeps of a makeup brush!

Day to play makeup (holidays) by jmariediet featuring a lip gloss

After a long work day your face may be feeling tired and dull. You can easily perk it up by misting on a skin refresher, such as Make Up Forever’s Mist & Fix, MAC’s Fix+, or for dry skin, Evian’s Mineral Water Spray. This will help refresh your makeup and perk up your weary skin.For a fun dramatic look, using a liquid liner, create a dramatic winged line on your top eyelids. You can do this right over the top of your day eye makeup (no need to start your makeup from scratch). Then sweep on a luscious red or berry lipstick or gloss to your lips to add that POP of color.

Day to night (Holiday) by jmariediet featuring clear glasses

Plan your outfit for the day. Choose pieces that are layer-able, such as a simple dress (or classic skirt) that you can add a sweater or cardigan to. This can be your “base” that you keep on both day and night. Choose comfortable yet stylish shoes- you’ll be in them for a long time! By simply swapping a few things you can transition your outfit from professional to glamourous. Trade that conservative sweater for a cute little peplum top or a shimmery cardigan. Swap out that simple necklace for some chunky bangles and a bling ring! Thats it, its easy! In just minutes, you’ve successfully transformed yourself from day a time classic beauty to a night time leading lady! Happy Holidays!

Julie Dietrich
Hair & Makeup Artist, TP Universal Exclusive

St. Louis Magazine recently celebrated their 10 year anniversary of Best Dressed with the Fashion Soirée. Runway shows, cocktails, hors d’oeuvres and TP exclusive DJ Raven Fox , St. Louis Magazine's Pick for the 2010 A-List Best DJ, all embellished the evening for les habitués.

Since 1941, when Eleanor Lambert introduced the International Best Dressed Poll, America has been on the fashion map and St. Louis has been a shareholder to our country’s geographical chicness. During this same era, St. Louis had become the second largest manufacturer of women’s clothing in the United States. As World War II raged across the great Atlantic, the fashion capital moved from Paris to New York. Women’s clothing became a product of function, textile rationing and smaller waistlines. Less became more: less fabric, more legs; less skirts, more pants; less waist, more sex appeal.
As fashionistas' needs were changing, St. Louis was there. Just a few years prior in 1934, Irving Sorger, owner of St. Louis department store Kline’s Inc., had launched a whole new repertoire of women’s clothing: Junior Misses. This new look created a leaner silhouette for women; it reflected everything that women were looking for and “Between 1934 and 1949, the number of women’s clothing manufacturers in St. Louis tripled, and total sales volume went from $20 million to more than $85 million.” With New York as the epicenter of the international fashion industry and St. Louis at the forefront of the new look, America had made an everlasting impression on the industry.

So it was no surprise that when Eleanor Lambert passed the Best Dressed list honor onto Vanity Fair in 2003 before she passed away, St. Louis Magazine had coincidentally started their own Best Dressed list to keep us informed. This year marks the 10th anniversary of St. Louis Magazine’s Best Dressed List, and the Fashion Soirée was a success. True to form, local designers East + West, Esther, Mister Guy, and Paisley Boutique were showcased in the runway show with a special segment dedicated to St. Louis Rams attire.

Check out photos from the Soirée, courtesy of DJ Raven Fox:

Chlorine have you green?

Shampoo your hair with a combination of clarifying shampoo and lemon juice. Wrap in a warm towel (heat it in the dryer) and leave on for 15 minutes. Repeat if necessary.

Flat/limp hair?

Spray sea salt spray on the roots of your hair (dry or wet) then blast with your blow dryer.

TOP SEA SALT SPRAYS:

Tigi Catwalk Session Series Sea Salt Spray Oribe Dry Texturizing Spray

Bumble and Bumble Surf Spray
Dry locs?
Turn your water temperature down! HOT WATER DEPLETES your hair of it’s moisture. Shampoo your hair with warm water. Apply conditioner, comb through, and toss up in a clip. While you shower, the steam will help open up the cuticle and allow the conditioner to penetrate the cuticle. When you’re finished, rinse your hair with warm water (cool water is better). Cool water seals the cuticle and locks in moisture.

Flyaways?

This is generally just new hair that is growing in that are different lengths that aren’t quite as long as the majority of your hair. To smooth, just spray a little hairspray on your hand and graze over these hairs. This prevents the heavy build up from spraying hairspray directly on the hair.

For Maximum body or volume…

Toss the wooden round brush and pick up a ceramic round brush. A ceramic round brush dries the hair faster, and acts as a curling iron as the blow dryer heats up the ceramic therefore creating more body and volume. As well as a ceramic brush, product plays an important role in this process.

FINE HAIR – lite smoothing cream or volumizing spray

NORMAL / COARSE – smoothing cream

CLIENT / STYLIST CHOICE for round brush – CHI Round Brush

Retain Moisture while you sleep!

Before you head to bed, prevent your cotton pillowcases from stealing the moisture out of your hair by smoothing on a lite serum from mid-shaft to your ends. This causes a barrier between your hair and cotton pillowcase. You will notice a silkier texture change in the morning! A serum will also act as a sunscreen if applied before you enjoy a day in the sun.

Valerie Brown
TP Exclusive

One day I got a call from a film company, and the producer asked me if I wanted to act in an industrial film for a chain of grocery stores. He knew I was a writer, and he asked me to quote him a fee to write the script. Since I was going to be acting in the video, I figured I might as well write the script, too. It would be easier for me to memorize. So I quoted him a price. Two days later, he called me back and said he got a lower quote from someone else. (It was twenty-five dollars less than my quote to write the script.) I asked who the writer was, and he said it was the director of the film who had never written a script. I asked the producer what he was paying the director, and he told me. So I responded, “I’ve never directed a film before. I’ll do it for twenty-five dollars less than the director’s quote.” That seemed fair to me. Since this was a low-budget film, the producer told the director, he found a director who offered to direct the film for less. And that is how I got to direct my first film. I figured it was time for me to direct a film. I always thought of myself as a writer and actor, and I had directed lots of stage productions, built and designed sets, and styled many photo shoots for photographers so directing a film was a logical next step for me.

This was in the 1970’s and there were many producers who shot sixteen millimeter films. Video was pretty new at the time and it didn’t look as good as film. So the director got to write his first film script, and I got to direct my first movie, and the producer saved fifty dollars of the film’s budget for his bottom line profit. This film wasn’t going to be “Gone with the Wind.” It was going to be a very low budget industrial film for a very small grocery store chain. The director wrote a nice script. I cast another actor to act in the film with me. I prepared well for the film. I had sixteen hours to shoot a twenty-two minute SAG industrial film. Since I hired an actor I worked with before, we got together the day before the shoot and ran lines like we did on other shoots. We didn’t have a teleprompter so we had to memorize the script. I was confident I could shoot the film in sixteen hours. The morning of the shoot, I met my camera man, sound man and two grips. We were going to shoot the film on a seamless sweep so we only had one lighting set-up. The producer arrived on the set and personally gave us our film stock. He was notoriously frugal. I was given three ten minute cans of sixteen millimeter film stock. He expected me to complete the film on time and on budget. My camera operator could only use a single frame of film to slate each take. We only had eight minutes of extra footage to slate and shoot any retakes if we made a mistake.

And so began my directorial debut. I was glad I was working with an actor who was a friend. We rehearsed each scene until it was perfect and in the exact time that was allotted to say the words. We shot each scene only once. We didn’t even have enough raw footage to shoot a single cut-away. Each line was read once. The day after the shoot I personally delivered the developed footage to the editor. He asked why each slate was only one frame. I told him our predicament. The producer booked him to edit the film. He gave the producer an estimate of three days, but the producer said he doubted it would take that long, and he was right. Needless to say, all the editor could do was cut the takes together, and that took less than six hours. So by working together, we created a film that came in under budget. The producer called me after the client saw the film and said the client loved the film. As I look back on this experience, I was put under a lot of pressure to deliver a good film. And maybe that is why that producer hired me. And it taught me a valuable lesson. Sometimes you have to make something out of nothing. If he had not given me a chance, I might never have directed my first film.

JoBe Cerny

When you decide to enter into the world of professional acting, you become a small business owner. Switching hats between an actor and a business-person can be exhausting, which is why many actors choose to work with an Agent and/or Manager to help orchestrate their ventures. As the Talent, you are the CEO of your enterprise. Entering into a partnership with an Agent or Manager can help you to more effectively operate your business, so that you can focus more on development and practice of your skills. There are a few distinct differences between the roles of these partnerships:

Agent

(n) A person or company who acts on behalf of another to provide a particular service. Typically one that involves organizing transactions between two other parties involving business, financial, or contractual matters for an actor, performer, or writer.

Manager

(n) A person responsible for controlling or administering all or part of a company or similar organization. A person who controls the activities, business dealings, and other aspects of the career of an entertainer, athlete, group of musicians, etc.

As you make the transition from actor to professional actor, there are many nuances to be aware of and consider in building your business. "I Could Have Been a Cabdriver... but I Became an Actor Instead: A Practical Guide to the Business of Professional Acting" is about the business of acting. It explains in detail how an actor makes money and creates a career. We have found this book to be a key resource for our talent.

This is not a basic introduction to the business, but an advanced business book that helps the actor create and sustain a career. The book covers several important topics: finding acting jobs, long term career management, agent relations, developing a sell-able image, advertising, marketing, public relations, money management, continuing education, physical training, business expansion, health insurance, pension plans, union involvement, and dealing with the everyday personal problems every working actor faces.

This book was developed over a thirty year period and tested in college classroom situations in an effort to answer questions aspiring actors had about the acting business. This book goes beyond the college classroom into the real world of the business of acting. It answers the question that troubles every actor the most: “How do I make money as an actor?”

While the book offers very sound business advice, it is written in a humorous and inspirational way that gives the reader a very realistic idea of what it takes to be a professional actor.

What’s the biggest change in the audition scene for on camera film projects?

Casting directors nationwide are willing, and now almost requesting , to first view pre-taped auditions of actors reading for select roles.

How does my local agent know about the national castings for TV pilots, shows, webisodes, commercials and campaigns? How does that affect actors?

As an agency, we use two main resources for casting opportunities in the local and national marketplace:

Breakdown Services is an LA-based casting service that spans the gamut of national opportunities in commercial, TV and film. Once you register on Actor's Access, you will become live in the Breakdown Services database which is an agent-only resource for national opportunities. Some of the openings will be posted to both sister sites: Actor's Access (talent friendly) and Breakdown Services (agent friendly). The Breakdown Services sites allows our agents to view and submit you to premium opportunities across the country.

Casting Networks is another national casting service. This network is a great resource for agents to find commercial work for talent. Primarily the jobs coming through are based in Chicago and sometimes New York.

Actors are now able to be submitted by agency for local, regional and/or national auditions by submitting actor photos and resumes through the casting services for projects that could be shooting in Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, USA or International. Casting requests submissions through the database (which means actors must sign up to be on the site – free for minimal photos and a resume). If the agency has a request to see you, the information for the audition will be sent to you by your agent.

Okay, my agent sent me sides, now what?

The actor must find a resource to tape the audition. Key word in the industry is Self-Taped. Good lighting, good sound, and of course a great read is pertinent. Videography resources are available at the agency, with costs ranging from $35 to $45, including editing and uploading. Should you decide to do-it-yourself, please note that a professional quality video is expected of you. Please see the Do's & Don'ts of Shooting a Self-Taped Audition below for guidance on a professional quality video. Lighting is one of the most important parts of obtaining a quality video, here is an inexpensive light kit you can pick up.

Editing?

Edit the piece to make it look seamless. Create a visual slate with your name, agency and date.

Sending Digital Video?

The video file needs to be sent to your agent for submissions. The best formats to use are .mov, mp4, and .m4v. Several good services area viable for free to send files up to 2G, such as hightail.com (formerly yousendit.com) OR wetransfer.com.

My agent tells me I have a call back for the project out of town. Now what?

Most callbacks happen on short notice, where the casting director is located, which is an out of pocket expense for the actor to travel. Don’t audition for out of town auditions unless you are available for the shoot dates and have enough funds to travel to the designated location for casting.

Pages

My influence in the industry is …

In my free time I …

What most people don’t know about me is that …

The piece of clothing I can’t live without is …

My words to live by are …

My guilty pleasures are …

If I had to describe myself in one word it would be …

My favorite food is …

If I was on a deserted island and could only bring one makeup tool it would be …

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