I'm an actor. I moved to LA. What have I gotten myself into?

So this entry isn’t entirely about Acting, but who says it has to be. I came across this article on Relevant Magazine dot com. It’s called 11 Things To Know At 25(ish). Most likely you’ll have to read it or else you’ll have no idea what I’m talking about, but trust me, it’s a great read. The one number that challenged me the most and is why I’m writing this, was Number 11: Don’t Get Stuck. So I guess for the purposes of this blog, all you need to read is that one, hahah!

I’m going to post it here to make it easier, I apologize for all the reading, but I’ll leave you with some cool pics at the end, I promise! Here it is:

11. Don’t Get Stuck

This is the thing: When you hit 28 or 30, everything begins to divide. You can see very clearly two kinds of people. On one side, people who have used their 20s to learn and grow, to find God and themselves and their dreams, people who know what works and what doesn’t, who have pushed through to become real live adults. Then there’s the other kind, who are hanging onto college, or high school even, with all their might. They’ve stayed in jobs they hate, because they’re too scared to get another one. They’ve stayed with men or women who are good but not great, because they don’t want to be lonely. They mean to find a church, they mean to develop intimate friendships, they mean to stop drinking like life is one big frat party. But they don’t do those things, so they live in an extended adolescence, no closer to adulthood than when they graduated.

Don’t be like that. Don’t get stuck. Move, travel, take a class, take a risk. There is a season for wildness and a season for settledness, and this is neither. This season is about becoming. Don’t lose yourself at happy hour, but don’t lose yourself on the corporate ladder either. Stop every once in a while and go out to coffee or climb in bed with your journal.

Ask yourself some good questions like: “Am I proud of the life I’m living? What have I tried this month? What have I learned about God this year? What parts of my childhood faith am I leaving behind, and what parts am I choosing to keep? Do the people I’m spending time with give me life, or make me feel small? Is there any brokenness in my life that’s keeping me from moving forward?”

Now is your time. Walk closely with people you love, and with people who believe God is good and life is a grand adventure. Don’t get stuck in the past, and don’t try to fast-forward yourself into a future you haven’t yet earned.
Give today all the love and intensity and courage you can, and keep traveling honestly along life’s path.

So I read this and I asked honestly (which can sometimes be hard to do), “Which kind of person am I?” Those who know me might agree with my answer. At this point, I think I am the first type, among the group who’s learning and growing and searching for themselves and answers, becoming adults. With that said, I think I got a late start and found myself stuck in safety and comfort and that frat party thing they mentioned. So until recently, I think I was the second type of person. Stuck in the mix. This article was pretty cool because I’ve been noticing all the stuff they’re talking about on my own. I’m noticing the different types of people, who I want to become and who can help with that. I’ve been noticing the days I like staying in because I’m living in a new city and I notice the days I like going out for the same reason. I’ve been noticing how I’ve used the last 2 years of my life (where I feel I’ve had some tests and grew and matured a bit and learned some hard lessons) to guide me in the journey ahead.

I guess all in all, this entry isn’t about me. It’s about a great article that challenged me, and I just hope it’ll do the same for you. Sit down with yourself, read it and then be honest.

In acting news, if you haven’t already you should check out this pretty cool interview I had the pleasure of partaking in after I wrapped Backwater. It’s on an indie horror website called HorrorSociety and written by a very talented Mike DeFellipo.

Shot by Ruben Domingo

I’m looking into some new headshots soon with photographer Ruben Domingo now that my hair’s pretty much back to normal. Here’s a shot we took about 5 weeks ago. It was spur of the moment during a totally different shoot and I think it came out great, even though my hair looks gold. Just imagine if we actually tried, haha!

I’ve also shot around with some other very talented local photographers. Shout outs to Molly Hauge and Jenny Ducharme. More soon from Jenny, but for now, here’s a sneak peek at what I got from Molly:

That’s gonna wrap it up. For those that actually read the whole thing, thank you. Your support is what keep me doing this. Please feel free to post some comments, maybe other cool articles that have challenged you in some way! Thanks, Readers, talk to you soon!

So I’m about 2 months into it. Got my place: a 230 sq ft box; that is just perfect. Got my job: the best job I could ever ask for; enhancing people’s lives through fitness. And I’ve got an amazing [acting] manager, Caleb White, who set me up with a great agency, Gar Lester at GLA. I literally let out a sigh of relief just writing that, thinking how fortunate I am.

Surprisingly, these are the things I worried about the most before I moved out here. And they’ve basically just fallen into place, which I think tells me 2 things. One, I couldn’t have done this on my own. Not one thing I mentioned I acquired by myself. I either knew a guy or I knew a guy who knew a guy. Even my bed-couch! (Which I like to claim as my first piece of “on-my-own-furniture.”) That thing wouldn’t be here without the friend’s truck I borrowed to pick it up and the other friend who helped me carry it up a flight of stairs and then play real-life TETRIS to get it into my room. And the second thing it tells me…is that I belong here.

Life has been busy. And yes, I know, that’s my cop-out excuse when I’m late on a blog, but honestly when I’m not at work…I’m runnin’. (a line from Forrest Gump just popped into my head hahaha!) I mean, I knew I wanted to get out here and hit the ground running. Hit it hard. Pound the pavement, whatever you wanna say. What I hadn’t counted on was that that’s pretty much the average speed out here. But hey, adjusting has been easy. You and I grow from new experiences. And making new friends. And doing your laundry on Sundays at the laundromat around the corner instead of whenever you feel like it in your huge house in Virginia Beach. And getting parking tickets because what the heck is a driveway anyway. Man, I love it out here. Here’re some pictures before I get too carried away.

So yeah, sat down and discussed my career path and goals with my agent and since I haven’t joined the Union yet (it’s $2200 out here by the way. BLAH.) he’s focusing on getting me non-union work theatrically so I can save the money. Why do a $600 Union gig, if I have to shell out the remaining $1600 just to work on it? Commercially, though, we’re goin’ for gold and I couldn’t be happier! I want to do commercials so bad! A Diet Coke commercial, a beer commercial (preferably Bud Light), a liquor commercial (preferably Ciroc…SIKE! Nah, but any type of classic liquor like Crown or Johnnie), and a clothing designer are just some of my commercial goals. I mean why not? And in the meantime, until I start auditioning on a regular basis, I keep myself busy with work. You can’t learn too much in this field. I’m going for my second personal training certification these next few weeks. It’ll help me as a trainer and I’ll make more money, so win-win.

Cool, well I think that’ll wrap it up. Until next time. Be good everyone.

So, I’m doing it. Los Angeles. I think about everything I want to do in my life, what I want to accomplish and who I want to be and  without a doubt LA offers that.

I’m moving in mid-January, just as the east coast is at its coldest. I’m definitely looking forward to the change in climate and the journey across the US again. I’d like to document it this time, though. I’m also looking forward to being on my own. Exploring the world. Starting new journeys. Getting back into Berg’s classes. Enjoying time with new friends. Becoming my own person and making my mark on this world. Man, I couldn’t be happier or more excited right now.

Thanks to my family, friends and supporters that have helped get me to where I am today. Big things in store! Please continue the journey with me in 2011!

Take care!

Justin Tully is BACK in a NISSAN! My first Love was my first car, a 1991 Nissan 240sx. She was perfect, she understood me, we complimented each other nicely; oh, and she was bright red. And so yesterday marks the day I found Love again, at least in a car. Presenting my new whip: (until I move to NYC mind you) my ’07 Altima.

So yeah, anyway, onto the good stuff. By now many of you know New York City is in my sights. Well how does one go about picking up and leaving some place that’s so comfortable for a new place that’s so uncertain? The answer: I’m not sure. But I can easily say that the more information I receive and the more I search the different areas of NYC for housing, the more it becomes apparent that you just pick up and leave. My agent from Modelogic, Stacie Vanchieri, once told me, set a date not a sum of money in your bank account or you’ll never be ready to go. There’s truth to that. Currently, I’m saving as much as I can because every little bit will help, but in setting an actual date, it’s helping me to make the moves I need to make in order for the physical move to happen.

So what are those moves? Well, (for me) I thought about what I really need in order to get situated: a room and a job. So I contacted my buds already living in the City and asked their advice, and many of them went beyond their call of duty! [Shout outs to Eugene Kelly, Zoe Sloane, Dee Sams, Kirsten Grumney, Katie Foster, Van Hughes, Leyla Sandler, Ashley Anderson, Audrey Battah, Ashley Skidmore, Carlos Martillo, Tom Daniel, Andrew Roth, Mimi Eisman, Ethan Meyer and my manager Rosella. I'm sure I'm missing one or two of ya, and I apologize for that, but you all have been great! Thanks for the amazing info and for helping me stay motivated!] Through these friends, I’ve learned the ins and outs of where to look for my place and how to potentially score a job quickly. So bam, there’s step one. Step two, I guess, is to become mentally and financially prepared. I’d like to have a few months rent ready in case it takes longer than expected to find a job, but like I said, the date is what matters. Also, when things settle down here, I’d like to plan a trip up to meet with friends and drop off applications. I’ll of course let you know what happens!

Thanks for reading, hope you got something out of this entry!

What’s been goin’ on? Opportunities have been abundant lately and I’ve been feeling very blessed! While my sights are set to NYC and I’ve been getting more and more opportunities in that market, I’ve been working locally as well, which is a good feeling to be doing what you love in your hometown. At the beginning of the month I went out in Pungo with local photographer Dustin Lewis to update our portfolios and to catch up and have some fun! Here’s a sneak peak at what we got:

For more pictures, check out the Featured gallery at Dustin’s BLOG. I love doing shoots like this because it’s another creative outlet for me, plus they allow me to meet new people or hang with old friends and keep current pictures of myself that I can use for marketing purposes or on my website.  At any rate, more pictures will come soon, I’m sure! Be on the lookout!

I’d also like to thank and give a shout out to Jay Gates! He offers a really cool and efficient service to actors by putting them on tape for an audition, editing the tape, adding background, condensing and emailing to the desired CD’s. Or he’ll give you a disc or email the file to you so you can forward it on how you like. I’ve used him twice in the past 2 days to submit for work in NYC that my manager’s gotten me and I’ll hopefully be able to use him again on Monday for another submission! I highly recommend him! Check him out on Facebook for more info or to contact him.

Oh, so some big news! Got a callback for a feature film shooting in and around VA titled Alone Yet Not Alone. I bring it up because it’s set in the 1700′s and I had to use a British-Colonial dialect at the audition. Really weird because it was my first audition using a dialect and I wasn’t very confident with it. I knew in advance that I was being called back, so I dug through some old acting materials and found my dialect cds to review everyday. If I can offer any advice, I’d say really make the time to work on little resume-builders like this. I’m also learning guitar, harmonica and basketball finger-spinning (Yes, for real) and I’m finding it very important to not cheat myself and spend 20 minutes a day on each of these things. So stay motivated!

On the horizon: I have a photo shoot with a new photographer friend from Fairfax, Julian Vankim. I’m working on a secret project with MD-based producer Tom Townsend. I say secret project because I have absolutely no idea what it’s about or based on, but I know a ton of the talent and I trust Tom’s judgement and he says it’s worth it! Also, shooting a commercial in September with local director Richmond Felton. So stay tuned!