Chronicles of a Working Actress: Ashlyn's audition

I absolutely LOVE working with kids. I have such a soft spot in my heart for them. If I could, I'd adopt a small tribe of my own, and maybe one day I will. But until then, I enjoy working with them in front of and behind the camera.

This weekend, I had another opportunity to work with a lovely little actress named Ashlyn Burrus. Ashlyn and I met last year when my production team auditioned her for a role in a short form music video I was producing with LeAnna Hallman.

LeA and I instantly fell in love with Ashlyn and cast her as the role of "Maya" in our project. I was playing Ashlyn's mom-a drug addicted single parent who was separated from Maya's dad. Maya takes off into the city with her best friend to escape the tensions at home, and ends up going on exciting and sometimes dangerous adventures. Ashlyn did a fantastic job as Maya. So I was thrilled when her mother, Dina, called and asked me to help Ashlyn with a film audition.

Sometimes, directors will request an on-camera audition be sent in if an actor can't make it to an in-person audition. This was the case with Ashlyn. So her mom, Dina, and I organized an audition shoot.

I called up a director friend named Steve Smith to help us with the project. (Check out his reel on vimeo. It's fantastic! http://vimeo.com/31941014) Thankfully-Steven was on board and helped to bring the script to life. I also put in a call to my good friend, Josh Davis, to play Ashlyn's dad in the audition scene. He really looks like he be her dad, right! And he's a dream to work with, as I knew from many other projects Josh and I acted in together. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3067344/

Once Josh gave the thumbs up and my friend, Edo allowed us to shoot at his house-we were all set!

The day went off without a hitch. We knocked out two scenes in a matter of hours. Now, our director/cinematographer Steve is busy editing it. I'll share it as soon as it's done. But until then, here's a quick video about our day.



After we completed shooting for the day, Ashlyn announced that we need to shoot a feature film together immediately. Hey-the kid knows what she wants & puts it out there. After pitching me her idea, I encouraged her to sit down and start writing it. And she did. I proudly introduce..."Summer Adventures!"