Expert: Peter Messaline - 11/20/2008

Question
Hi Peter - I'm a Canadian actor looking to head down for 2009's pilot season
in California - I have an agent in Canada and my husband has dual
citizenship, but we've never applied for me. What paperwork do I need to
submit and by when?

Thanks!


Answer
Two questions here:-

Is it a good idea to go down for the pilot season? You mention that you have a Canadian agent, which leads me to think that perhaps you don't yet have a killer résumé. Bonnie Gillespie is an LA casting director with articles all over the web and I encourage you to google her often and get a picture of her advice to people planning to try LA. In brief, unless you have sucked everything out of where you are, and been hugely successful, you'll be completely out of your league. Not wishing to rain on your parade, but going to LA seems to be like the Queen of Grade Eight going to senior high and seeing that everyone around is much cooler, more confident and smarter.
Bonnie G suggests you should have a  résumé full of credits that Americans know the value of, enough money to live and run a car for six months, excellent LA photos and introductions from at least your current agent.

Here's some excerpts from Backstage, April 18, 2008
By Nicole Kristal
""""For decades actors have traveled to Los Angeles for the January-April pilot season, during which casting directors audition talent for new network shows. But with more broadcast networks rolling out new shows year-round, the traditional practice seems poised for extinction ....

Many actors who made the trek this season met with frustration. One mother, whose daughter worked hard to graduate early from high school so she could come to Los Angeles for pilot season, said she was shocked by how few shows were casting.
....
According to an April 5 article in the Los Angeles Times, NBC has announced just 12 new series for its fall schedule and into next year, while ABC, Fox, CBS, and the CW have under consideration for their schedules only 30 dramas and 23 comedies among them -- half the number of shows the four networks developed last year. Though these diminished numbers can be attributed to the writers strike, the trend toward a year-round rollout schedule also accounts for fewer fall shows. .... The number of new one-hour dramas and sitcoms is also decreasing because reality TV and game shows are cheaper to produce.

Casting directors Collin Daniel and Brett Greenstein, who cast the pilot for NBC's Knight Rider in three weeks, said the yearlong rollout model benefits everyone in the industry, particularly actors. "I think more actors can be seen, then there's more time -- it's not rushed; you're not fighting with so many other projects," said Daniel, who noted that with so many shows being picked up for midseason, there's no reason all shows need to be cast in the hectic January to April period."""

The visa situation is thorny. Security scares have trumped NAFTA, plus Immigration's job is to protect the job opportunities of Americans. Even Equity members, who should be able to work in the American theatre because US Equity has a reciprocal agreement, find it difficult.

I am not an immigration expert, but surely your husband's citizenship is available to you? I've just Googled "spouse of US citizen", and the very first entry is from the State Department explaining what to do in exactly your situation.

If you decide that LA couldn't be deader than Canada right now, do your research, go well prepared and give yourself as good a chance as possible.

And be lucky!

PM