Lydia's Journey BEYOND Hollywood

Hey everyone, So much has happened this year!  Let me catch you up! January, we decided to move out of our 3 bedroom rental house, giveaway most of our stuff and put into storage the things we couldn't part with.  We moved in with my parents for a few months while we shopped around for an RV.  We had done some research on traveling in an RV fulltime for about a year and had decided to just go for it.  The kids were a good age to where we didn't need to change any diapers, but didn't have to worry about school.  They are Pre-K and Kinder this year and we are "homeschooling" them for now. We bought our Travel Trailer in May and set off on our journey mid June.  It has taken us all the way to the west coast and back and now to the east coast.  We plan to see as much of this country as possible!  I am still running my talent agency:  www.theblancoagency.com and my husband is now hopping around to different companies with his fitness equipm...

First of all, let me just say this blog was correctly titled! My journey has been quite an interesting one!  Definitely not "uneventful" - that's for sure... I left LA about 6 1/6 years ago, not knowing why I was leaving a pretty stable acting career in an industry where stable acting careers are hard to find.  I came back home to Texas, not sure what I was looking for, but open to the adventure that was to be found. Three years later, I left Austin and found myself back in my hometown of Corpus Christi Texas, with two kids and a husband.  That was January, 2 years ago.  My initial plan was to open up a casting office in town, and continue casting.  What I found was a city that didn't have much of an entertainment business community.  No talent agencies, no acting schools, aside from high school theatre and the college and university.  That makes casting very difficult. That's when I decided to start teaching.  I found Aurora Arts Theatre,...

So...I'm having one of those moments where I am extremely proud of the talent I represent. No really - I have some amazingly talented actors on my roster.   Yes - here in South Texas.  Corpus Christi to be exact.   A city which has NEVER had a talent agency submitting actors for these opportunities! I had the pleasure of seeing the opening night performance of the musical RENT at the University last week.  Three of the leads are with my agency, and the others, I would love to sign on!  The show was SOOOOO freakin good.  I had seen some of these actors in other shows and never knew some of them can sing like that!  And to see my actors, the ones with the agency, push and stretch their acting limits for these roles, it was the coolest thing to witness!  I think because of my background, and knowing the hard work an acting career takes, it makes me a special kind of agent - one who appreciates the work my actors do - on stage, an...

Acting is fun.  And for the most part, those who have been bitten by the acting bug will find a way to ACT.  Whether its in their school's play production, community theatre, independent films, or their own youtube channels.  I have seen a ton of talent in my life.  Both at the small town level, and on Hollywood sets.  And I often wonder about the actor onstage in the local community theatre and wonder what their plans and dreams are...  When I started as an actor, I absolutely loved it.  I couldn't get enough of it, actually.  I would audition for plays back to back, participate in student films whenever I could, and dreamt about the day when I could actually do it for a living.  That was my goal.  To make a living doing what I loved to do - so that "work" wouldn't feel like "work". And so I busted my ass to make it happen.  I was focused on a goal and made sure I achieved it. I'm pretty proud of myself.. But I realized that...

No - I have not forgotten about this blog.  I have not moved on to more important things in my life.  No - I have not lost my love of journaling my experiences....  Let's see - what is my excuse?  Well, Last I left you, I was having an open call in Corpus Christi for my casting office. Well, that casting office has turned into a full blown TALENT AGENCY.  The first talent agency EVER to land in this part of Texas.  As if that won't keep me busy enough, I opened the acting studio Spotlight Talent Studios where we offer acting classes for all ages as well as on camera and business of acting classes. We have had an INCREDIBLE first year.  2015 has marked the milestones of first bookings like national commercials, feature and short films and local commercials for our talent!  I now represent actors for TV and Film, Commercials and Print and have actors from LA to NY on my roster! I do have a local level of talent who is just trying to gain experi...

I've been SUPER busy these past few months! I won't give the many excuses for why I haven't updated lately…  I'll just try and catch you up and be better in the future (fingers crossed). We landed back in Corpus over the holidays and it's been a lot better than I anticipated.  First of all, I didn't expect to be working this much!  I figured I'd take on a few casting jobs and do it part time, like I did in Austin.  But a small snowball has built into a giant one that I'm trying to keep up with! I've had back to back casting jobs for local commercials and print which is AWESOME!  I've called on a few actors I've known, as well as the new ones I've found along the way since I've been back.  I'm now getting around to finally having an open call. I've partnered up with Aurora Arts Theatre who has given me a home for my Business of Acting Workshops that I have developed.  I've had a few now on Headshots and Talent Represent...