WOW! My last update was June 2015. A lot has happened since then – I am an LSFM Industry mentor, and you can see my character Carly Fisher in BBC One’s Doctors THIS Thursday at 1.45. But I’m just going to do a quick overview as, looking back, I write too much lol. It’s the writer in me. The Forty Elephants film script got put into The British Urban Film Festival and Ch4 and we won BUFF Live Script Reading award (for 2015). Who’d have thought my first award would be for writing? 

I did another subjectivity event where I had to write 3 monologues to do with ‘youth and the criminal justice system.’ Where the audience was a jury and had to decide whether the young person deserved to go down or not. We had a panel of experts (lawyers and those working in the justice system) to clarify what the real verdict would be and it all happened at The Royal Festival Hall, Southbank. The monologues and acting were received so well – some people were crying thinking they were real cases, which for me as a writer was brilliant especially as they rhymed, yet still seen as that actor truth. Powerful!  The Forty Elephants was then put on at the Tavistock and POP Brixton and it went down a storm. They were my last performances and involvement with the play and Hiype productions. I have since parted ways, wanting to pursue other projects and go to LA, which has been the focus of 2016. On New Year’s Eve I sat down around a table, with two of my best friends with a notepad, pen and a glass of wine and we wrote our goals for 2016!

2016 in a nutshell

• January – Got funded to do my first acting, writing and directing workshops with young people aged 18-25yrs. Got great feedback from the young people and audience who came to see the end piece. Built my confidence up in my planning, co-ordinating and directorial skills.
• February – Just missed out on a lead regular role in Hollyoaks which was a shame, in one way, but a blessing in another as I went to LA for a location recce to see if I could see myself living there and got myself an agent!
• March – Came back to the UK, got myself a new agent here, updated my showreel and head shots.

• April – Created a voice reel and started writing a 4-part TV drama based on a guy’s real life traumatic upbringing. I also did a month’s acting course at the Actor’s Temple in repetition, which is part of the Meisner technique, to get back into the acting – as it had been a while.
• May – Did two more courses at the Actor’s Temple:
  – Casting Clinic which helps with how to cope with last minute auditions (which happens a lot)
  – American Accent: Getting to grips with the different pronunciations, doing repetition, monologues, duologues, presentations, to really make it become more natural. All in prep for making a go of it in LA.
  Also I started teaching drama to 8-15 year olds at the talented D&B performing Arts school
• June – Filmed another episode of ‘Doctors’ with my favourite director Mr Dan Wilson and you can catch it this month: Thursday Oct 20th, 1:45pm, BBC1 titled Pramface (will also be available on BBC iPlayer).
• I also began rehearsals and the tour for my usual summer touring gig with Little Fish Theatre company and got to perform at my niece’s school which was lovely to do.
• July – Did some more anti-bullying and mental health workshops in schools with UpFront Theatre Company and then did a two week summer scheme programme teaching drama.
• August – Had some time off and used that to chill with family and friends and party aka carnival, which was AWESOME this year! I got time to re-evaluate the year and where I was going and knowing that LA was definitely the next step, began collating the paperwork needed for my 01 Visa to legally work in the States.
• September – Got a modelling/acting job with MAC make-up to promote their new limited edition range of Star Trek make up line. I was flown to Dublin for a few days and dressed head to toe in Star Trek attire playing Uhura (the original character played by Nichelle Nichols) talking in an American accent all day – so the accent classes came in handy quicker than I thought. Got done up by senior make up artist in the UK & Ireland, Lesley Keane and National Artist, Anna Donegan and had to do a monologue in the store highlighting the range and the teleporting app for social media promotion (note: there’s no sound).

I impressed them enough that I got asked to do the same again in London for a couple more days and again it was great and everyone was impressed with the results (as well as believing I was actually American lol).I also started rehearsals for a mini tour of a new play by UpFront Theatre Company called ‘In Harm’s Way’ about mental health and self harm.

• October – Now on tour doing the play and its going from strength to strength. Such a heavy and misconstrued subject, but breaking barriers, which is the point and it’s great! BBC One Doctors episode titled Pramface on-air 20th Oct @1:45pm.
• November – Brothers With No Game will be filming – more news soon from BWNG. Doing another subjectivity event next month on marriage, which will be interesting as ever, with me never personally experiencing these topics they ask me to write about. But with research and good imagination, I’m able to get to the crux of the human behaviour behind it and relate to the audience which is amazing for me. Re-editing the TV drama to pitch in November, and got some charity work to help out with. I’ll be seeing some of you guys at the LSFM alumni network event Meet the Graduates on Nov 2nd. Jam packed as always!

So there you have it and I’ve still got December to go lol. Not sure that was a quick read, but hopefully it was interesting enough that you read ’til here – lol again! My major aim was to be earning 3/4 of my money through creative means and I would say I have definitely reached that target. Next Stop – LA?! Thanks for reading.