Lydia's Journey BEYOND Hollywood

Hanna Montana , Airing on Disney Channel, April 1 at 7pm. Well, production from HOLIDAY called me last night to say that since it's scheduled to rain all day Tuesday (today), then they will have me in on Thursday to shoot my scenes. And for me to look on the bright side, since I've been on HOLD all this time I'm making all kinds of money. hmmmm.....I did not know that! Apparently, since they've pushed me back until Thursday of this week, all these days that I've been ON HOLD, I'm getting paid. I believe it's my daily rate. So I'm very happy to hear that news!!!! YAY!!!! Also, I sent congratulation cards to Howard Meltzer (CD) and Cornelia Frame (Dir. of Casting) of Disney for the great ratings and reviews for Hanna Montana's premiere. I saw Cornelia again this past Sunday when I helped out with the kids workshops at Actorsite. And of course, I saw Howard at SAG's CAP event this past Saturday. So maybe they'll keep me in mind for future Hann...

Congratulations to my buddy Robert Wu for landing a series regular role on a new pilot called Alpha Mom ! You deserve it Robert - now rub some of that off on me! :-) Today was a pretty busy day for me. I started off taking a CAP (Casting Access Project) workshop at SAG. It's a workshop where actors can meet and work with casting directors FOR FREE! Go figure! What an idea!!! It's basically what I do at Actorsite, except the class was much smaller and I didn't have to pay. Today I saw Howard Meltzer from Goldwasser/Meltzer Casting - the same office that brought me in for Hanna Montana. He's so cool. I really like him. He remembered me from my audition and I asked him who ended up getting cast for my role of Coach Sanchez. I was SURE he was going to say Maria Costa, the actress who made me nervous at producers when she walked in because she was so well known. But SHE didn't get the part either! It went to an African American actress - so I was very happy to hear that...

Hollywood never fails to keep me wondering... A new word was introduced to me today from the entertainment industry. My manager at Central Artists http://www.centralartists.com/ called me today to let me know that I was "pinned" for the pilot A Day in the Life . I replied with "That's great! um...isn't it? Tell me again what 'pinned' means." Apparently it means they liked me and want to know if I'm available the week of April 4th thru the 12th. I guess pinning means the same as putting someone "on avail". Just checking to see if I'm in town and available to shoot if they offered me the role. According to my manager it's "pretty much a booking" - but in my eyes, it's not a booking until they call me to offer me the role. Being "pinned" is nice - but being booked is better! :-) Hopefully I will know if I'm booked sometime next week - but it looks really good for me.

Finally, after over 3 weeks - I finally get another audition. This time I'm going in to read for Megan Branman for a pilot called " A Day in the Life ". I went in to read for the recurring role of Lupe, a woman who is hired to help a bride prepare for the big day. It's a very funny part - and yes, the role is aLatina woman who speaks broken English. But at least she's not the MAID, right? The audition went well. I was put on tape for the producers, I believe, and they will cast from the tape. I had all three women in the room laughing at my performance (good thing it was a comedy!) and Megan said "I liked that a lot. What's your name again? Lydia Blanco? I really liked that - " and she started jotting down notes. So hopefully that will all work out in my favor! I walked out of the room feeling pretty good about that audition...so we'll see. Time to forget about it now. Hopefully my next audition won't be another month down the r...

1st pic: My first trailer in Jan. :-) 2nd pic: Here I am trying to rest in my hopefully temporary trailer. The picture shows the entire room from left to right. That was it. :-( Am I overreacting? Ok, I never thought I was a DIVA until today! Let me explain... I was not scheduled to work again on Holiday until Tuesday and I got a call Sunday night at 10:30pm saying Kate Winslet was sick and they had to rearrange some scenes to work on Monday without her. I cancelled my appointments and said "Sure! I'll be there!". I show up and I had my mom with me from out of town. (I cleared it with the AD that she would be my guest for the day and mainly hang out in my trailer.) I show up and they had put me in a honey wagon. A honeywagon is a TINY trailer that consists of 4 separate rooms in one big truck. When I worked last I was NOT in a honeywagon. I was in a "two-banger" - which is 2 rooms in one truck. The differences are HUGE! When I worked in January on this same f...

Me and Mekhi Phifer at the Curb Your Enthusiam Wrap Party. I saw myself on The Unit last night. It went by really quick. And I was barely audible - but it aired - so that's good! And if the show does well - then there's residuals! Yay!!!! I got a call from my manager at Central Artists saying she wants to nominate me for an ALMA Award for my turn on Curb Your Enthusiasm . Wow...that's pretty crazy. My "first nomination" for an award on tv! heehee - I'll keep you updated on what happens with that. STILL no auditions as of yet. And when Friday rolls around - then that will make 3 weeks since my last one! Yikes! Hopefully something will come in for me!

ok, on the CBS website - it SAYS that my episode of The Unit - which is titled STRESS (how fitting!) is airing tonight, Tuesday, March 14, 2006! If you watch carefully, you may catch me as one of the army wives consoling another wife who just lost her husband. I have a feeling that my part is cut to very little - but I think I'll be seen and heard just a bit - since I did do looping (rerecorded my voice) in November for it. It will be tough for me to tear myself away from America Idol to watch myself on this show - but maybe I can switch back and forth! :)

me and Ashlyn Sanchez, the little girl from the "Academy Award winning" CRASH. We were on set of the Carlos Mencia show playing his family members for a promo. I'm second guessing that whole idea of taking March off for pilot season. I'm just sitting here - with NO auditions at all. I could've been subbing at least - making some money. It's so frustrating! I'm doing drops, submissions, and workshops, and still my last theatrical audition (or any audition for that matter) was 2 weeks ago! And that's because I have a pretty reputable agent and a good manager. Go figure! It always works that way, doesn't it? If I was subbing every day, I'd probably be frustrated trying to figure out how to get out of work because I have so many auditions! And now that my schedule is clear - it's SO dead for me! Maybe I should just book a flight! I always get called in for a great audition once I book a flight somewhere!

Ok, I got ahead of myself. My epsiode did not air last night, as some of you may already know if you tried to tune in. The series premeired, but my episode will not air until later. Not sure of the exact airdate - but the episode I'm in is titled "Stress". What an appropriate title for MY episode! Hahaha! I did drops yesterday at different offices but I haven't gotten a call yet to audition for any of them. :-( I'm doing more drops today and I have a workshop tonight for Deborah Barlyski's office who usually casts 1/2 hour sitcoms. Trying to stay busy and positive, but yes, it is challenging. The good news is I got a call from production, letting me know I'm back working on the set of Holiday the week of March 21st! Yay!!!

1st pic: Very bad pic of me - but the only one I have of me on set! Yikes! 2nd pic: the "wives" of The Unit Tune in to CBS tonight and catch me on The Unit. I play an "army wife" who is consoling another wife who just lost her husband. I shot this at the end of last summer and it's a midseason replacement, that is airing tonight! My part is tiny - but maybe they'll bring me back in another episode! Let's keep our fingers crossed! :-)

Me (center) and the cast of Real Women Have Curves in Santa Barbara last year. I gained 20 pounds for this role - I'm STILL trying to get rid of them all! Yikes! LOL My first couple of days without a day job weren't as busy with the industry as I imagined. I went to the gym, shopped for shoes :-), and came home to get ready to teach the kids class at Actorsite. That was both Thursday and Friday. The good thing is I did manage to update my addresses with the new pilots that were casting, and I sent postcards to some people I met the past couple of weeks at workshops or auditions. So all was not lost those two days! Saturday I was a bit busier! I had 2 workshops back to back - one with Donna Rosenstein's office who casts Ghost Whisperer , and one with Leslie Litt's office who used to cast Friends and now casts pilots. I thought I did well in both of them, so I will send a "nice to have met you" postcard! I also saw a friend of mine in a play Saturday night ...

Well, today starts my FIRST official day as just a "working actor"...meaning I do not have a day job for the next 30 days! Hopefully longer if things go well. Even when I'm working and making pretty good money, it's been hard for me to let go of my day job - subbing. But sinceI have a whole week of working on Holiday this month, I figure this would be a great time to "test the waters". Yikes! Wish me luck! So far I have nothing lined up for today - audition wise. Which means I have to hit the pavement and drop off pictures and postcards to casting offices. First things first though - it's 8am and I plan to hit the gym and clean my apartment. Do a little organizing. Then get my things together and start dropping! I'm a little nervous - but excited. I hope it all works out! :-)