This entry was posted on 11/5/2006 12:26 AM and is filed under uncategorized.
So it's one week after our trip to sunny LA, and we're back in NY...and
we're freezing. Sometime during our West Coast jaunt, winter
decided to make its arrival in NY. And while I know I'll always
be a New Yorker...I'm really missing the 70-degree LA weather right now.
But that's okay, because it's time for us to get cracking on our next
book. As we mentioned in our last post, our next novel is going
to be about Lin's younger sister Sarah, who dreams about becoming a
soap opera actress on her favorite soap General Hospital. So far,
it's been great researching the book - but hey, what's not to like
about hanging out on the set of GH?
As we said in our last post, it was great talking to Mark and Minae
about the casting process because they're such fun, amazing
people. Aside from how great they are though, we also learned a
lot about the process of becoming an actor/actress on a soap opera, and
you know what? It's HARD. While it's not exactly easy to become a
lawyer or a journalist or a writer, it's even harder to become an
actress. Why? Because the odds are so completely against
you. Sitting in Mark's office, we saw the daily piles of actor
postcards, the stacks of head shots/resumes, the lists of auditions
every day (none of which last more than ten minutes) - and we realized
what a truly competitive business this is.
A good example is the story of how Mark cast Vanessa Marcil on General
Hospital. For those of you who don't already know, Vanessa first
became famous as the sultry vixen/heroine Brenda Barrett on General
Hospital. These days, she's Sam on the primetime TV show "Las
Vegas." Back when Vanessa first tried out for GH though, she was
an unknown and she came in to audition for the role of Brenda.
Apparently, she was so intimidated when she walked into the audition -
because all of the other actresses were so gorgeous - that she almost
walked out. Just as she was about to leave though, Mark called
her name and the minute she read for him, he knew she was going to be a
star, and the rest is history. For those of you who have seen
Vanessa though, you know how stunningly beautiful she is. And
yet, she almost didn't get her big break because she thought she
couldn't measure up to the other actresses. Which just goes to
show...it ain't easy making it in show biz.
At any rate, we're looking forward to writing this next book. Our
trip to LA really inspired us. Besides visiting GH, we also had
some great bookseller meetings, spent some time with our CAA agent, and
met our West Coast reps. We also met Naomi Hirahara, a great
Asian-American mystery writer (www.naomihirahara.com), who was so sweet
to give us some good advice about the book business. All in all,
the trip was way too short - but never fear: we'll be back soon enough
for our West Coast tour!
