Lovable Fatties on TV?!

(NOTE: I think this is possibly the show "More to Love"? Not sure if they're the same, or if this is its competition this season...)

BIG HEARTS
Reality TV
NON-UNION


Casting Director: Doron Ofir
Interview Dates: TBD
Shoot/Start Date: May
Pay Rate: none
Location: Los Angeles

SUBMIT ELECTRONICALLY

NOTE: ALSO INCLUDE PERFORMANCE VIDEOS OR ACTOR SLATES IF AVAILABLE. DO NOT SEND DEMO TAPES.

From the Executive Producers of "The Bachelor" . . .

Finally, a relationship show for real people. Real women. Real sizes. Real love. It's about time!

Are you confident, voluptuous and genuinely looking for love? Our landmark television series aims to prove that the only size that matters is the size of your heart.

In this romantic competition of love and seduction, one big and beautiful woman will become the envy of all others and attain the love of a lifetime.

A Major Television Network has heard your plea and is ready to help.

Doron Ofir Casting is currently casting REAL women who are curvy, beautiful, sexy, at least the age of 25 and appear under 33 who are ready to be introduced to their soul mate.

[ SINGLE FULL FIGURED/PLUS SIZE WOMEN ]
Lead / All Ethnicities / 21-35
Beautiful Single REAL women who are curvy, sexy, sizes 12 - 18 and and all others welcome who are ready to be introduced to their soul mate.


Synopsis: A Groundbreaking Prime-Time long-form Reality Romance Series for Beautiful Full Figured Women.


What do y'all think?

<3 Z.

My Play Needs Your Help!

Hello, zaftig, juicy readers! As previously mentioned, I am feverishly working on my one-woman play all about a.) being fat and b.) being a fat actor. What I would really like to do is infuse the play with some GREAT fat facts that debunk things, like facts posted by Kate & Co. at Shapely Prose, or on Sandy's Junk Food Science.

So....what are YOUR favorite fat-positive facts? Those that have to do with "The Obesity Crisis" (particularly bunko childhood obesity statistics) and actual health benefits will be the BEST!

<3 Zaftige

The Magical TV Debut!

Hey y'all!

So, I've been so busy popping my STARRING TV role to all my buddies, and I knew I was forgetting something...of course! The Fat-o-Sphere!

This is the job about which I spoke last summer, where I was a bride. So, very little commentary, let's get to the good stuff:

www.abcnews.go.com/whatwouldyoudo Click on "Momzilla"!

(PS- If you watched "What Would You Do?" this past Tuesday night, you're already a step ahead!)

PLEASE let me know what you think!

<3 Z.

Planned Douche-hood

Hello all my FOS lovies! My apologies for having blipped out for a while...I haven't had much news, so I stayed low-key.

However: Exciting news! My embryonic one-woman show, which I was sure I wanted to be about fat, finally came to me the other morning at asscrack-o-clock in the shower. I was so inspired that I recorded all my jumbled thoughts on a digital voice recorder and plan to start the writing post haste. It has begun!

That leads me to today...which will surely have a place in the show.

So, thankfully, no one has outright told me to lose weight since my last asshole boyfriend nearly 4 years ago. (Besides myself, of course.) No other parties have been involved.

However, 3 months ago, I started my first birth control pills...mainly because I'd had my period for 2 months straight, and I was so irregular it was ridiculous. So I bought a few packs from my local Planned Parenthood. Before doing so, I had a whole checkup (and completely traumatic pelvic exam...another story, another time), including weighing myself. It was the first time I'd stepped on a scale since...oh, probably 2006, and I was kinda surprised that the number was 219. Last time I'd been on a scale it was ~185/190, and so I assumed that I was pretty much the same, because my clothes sizes have only gone up by small increments. Anyway, thank G-d I'm now a Fat Warrior, because seeing that number would have made me duct tape my mouth shut many moons ago.

Anyway!

So, when I went to this godforsaken PP in December, I was 219. Fine. My BP has always been fantastic, and I was told (of course) that after 3 months of pills, I'd need a check-up to make sure my health wasn't taking a nosedive.

I went in today to do sed checkup. The first thing the uppity nurse did was weigh me, and lo and behold, what is it? 224. The look that that woman gave me made me want to punch her teeth out. She pulled me into another room and took my BP, where she said, "Hold on, let me get the *other* cuff for you, so you'll be more comfortable." So she brings in the Fatty-Fatty-Fat-Fat cuff for me, which is attached to the most antiquated machine I have ever seen. She takes my BP: 120/70. Last time it was 110/70, but this number is still good. (I am hoping it stays that way, because these pills are making my sexual and reproductive life MUCH more pleasant.)

Then the bitch is like, "Oh, well, 5 pounds...that's quite a bit." (O Rly?) "You'll just have to watch all that fatty stuff and junk food!" *surreptitious wink*

Excuse me? Why are you winking at me? I am in on NOTHING with you, lady.

Then, bitch sends me to a *second* nurse. I'm not sure exactly what I'll be needing from her, but apparently it's *counseling* on my fat!

Now, I don't have to explain or defend what I choose to eat to anyone. I will say, just for the sake of the story, that I usually am a very heavy grains/fruit/veg eater, with dairy coming in right afterwards. I get lots of produce and I love it. Over the past couple of months, most of what I've eaten has been restaurants and fast food, so this MAY play in as a factor. Regardless, it ain't nothin' I have to VALIDATE to ANYONE.

*ahem*

So, this second nurse sees me come in, and she says, "So. Are we dieting and exercising?"

Before I ripped her a new one for indicating that I should diet, I calmly said, "I eat well and I walk a lot." (This has not been terribly true recently, but the last thing I'm going to do is provoke her.) She looked at me dubiously and I said, rather smugly, "I'm naturally fat."

She--like Nurse 1--says, "Mmm, well, you've already gained 5 pounds. Try to really be careful, we don't want that to keep going up!" At this point, she smiles and tries to gather me into this little chick-tete-a-tete we're having. I do not smile.

Am I *happy* that I gained 5 pounds? Not particularly. Am I upset that I did? Well, only because these nurses had the nerve to indicate that it was bad for me, despite my STELLAR (yes, STELLAR) health history.

I had not weighed myself for years because I used to be consumed with it. On top of that, if my clothes fit, I assume that I'm holding steady. If they don't, I assume that I'm gaining/losing. It's pretty simple. And I try not to care either way.

Well, guess what, bitches? My clothes that fit in December still fit now. Yes, a considerable portion of my food intake is currently coming from Chili's and Zaro's, but that is none of your business and entirely mine to feel *utterly* fine with.

LORD it took so much energy to keep from wringing their necks! I would have loved to lay them out with my F.A., but I've been off the feed for a while, so my F.A. trivia is running a little low.

Anyway, this has mainly been a ramble, but yeah: the first time the medical industry has approached me about my body in years, and YES: I am MAD AS HELL.

See you in my play, motherfuckers!

-Zaftige

Booty-Grindin' Music Videos: An Improvement!

Hello FOS! I'm sorry I've been remiss. I haven't had a whole lot to write about lately. Most of what's been on my mind is undoubtedly been on everyone's mind--the election, and preparing for (what I have a hunch will be) a significant depression. The good news is that for us starving actors, our biz is booming when the rest of society's hurting. I'm not worried too much about getting work...just how I'll get by *until* I get work.

That said! I just booked a fun gig last week; my first music video. It was a pretty fun job! Considering that friends of mine have had horror stories from working on rappers' videos like 50Cent and Chingy, I was relieved to be working with the Jason Mraz of the UK, Julian Velard.

What was SUPERCOOL about this was that the premise of the video was that these women couldn't help stopping to kiss him on the street. And I as one of those women, a 'Kisser.' I was so...DELIGHTED to see that ALL the actresses were either NOT 'TV-thin' or NOT 'media-Hot.' And, of course, everyone there was lovely and beautiful (in actual real world life), and there were even a big handful of fat and chubby gals! I thought it was really, really excellent that this guy (or even his manager, I really don't care who) was choosing actual normal-looking women to court him in his video.

And his music's pretty swell, too! ;)

-Zaftige

Weighty Issues in Entertainment

The universe is desperately trying to balance out the RIDONK sexist barrage of news re: Sarah Palin (in every single manner...pro-her, anti-her, etc.), which has made me vomitous all week. I have way too much vaytik over what will be going down over the next 2 months!

Anyway! The balance is this: As per my last post, questions of weight and its role in casting are beginning to surface in the acting world. This doesn't seem to be addressed by fatties, but by middlies (in the acting world, anyway)--size 6 and 8. Bonnie Gillespie gave a GREAT feedback last week, and this week, Backstage's columnist Jackie Apodaca writes more about it: Matters of Size.

It's not shielding--it's blunt and direct, and gives a pretty sad (but truthful) look at the standards. And, while it's true that there's *not* many roles for fat chicks, when they're around, I'm a true contender. But for all the skinny roles? I'm sorry, but 6 is apparently not skinny enough.

In other good news? I'm watching "House" for the first time in my life, and it just happens to be the Season 1 episode, "Heavy," which is ALL about mis-diagnosing fat people because, um, well, they're fat. It's not perfect, but it DOES have the message that we send of: HEALTH PROBLEMS ARE NOT EQUAL TO FAT PROBLEMS! *and* it has some nice FA-stuffs thrown in by a fat patient, who is quite comfortable with her body, thankyouverymuch. And she shuts House up when he tries to make fat jokes! p0wnd.

Little vittles for y'all. :)

-Zaftige

ABC a Success!

Hi folks! I'm sorry I popped out of the 'sphere for a bit; my internet connections have been few and far-between (and CRAZY maddening).

So, last week I filmed that fantastic TV segment that I'd previously mentioned, and--as far as I know--it's airing somewhere around November/December. The production crew was fantastic, as were the women who played the thin bride and the mother.


So, basically, we did somewhere between 10-15 takes over a period of 2 days, 'takes' (in this case) equaling each time the mother and I went out into this BEAUTIFUL bridal salon to do our schpiel in front of many other to-be brides.


First of all, I was given THE most LOVELY dress:




(Which, if I may say so, looks WAY better on a fat chick than the skinny version!)


We filmed at the most incredibly upscale and famous boutique in the world--Kleinfeld, which is also where "Say Yes to the Dress!" is filmed. What would happen is that the mother and I would come out of the dressing area and proceed to the salon, at which time she would start ripping me to shreds for a.) how bad the dress looks on me and b.) it was all because I'm fat.


The idea is to see how other people respond. This is *the* place to be for Manhattanite brides (and one of the most fat-phobic cities in the world?), so the crowd would be massive and interesting.


Basically, all in all, responses were great. We had to work it so that the mother would, at some point, leave--because it was much more likely that I'd be approached alone as the victim than if the aggressor were still there. Sometimes NO ONE intervened--but we were always, always watched, by future brides and their families. (And yeah, I did kinda feel bad that I was likely stressing a LOT of people out on the day that they were trying on dresses!)


For the most part, the people who would approach me when I was Poor Crying Fat Girl were super-sweet, telling me how beautiful I looked, and not to listen to her, and that the dress looked wonderful on me. However, I'm sure you could have predicted that--thanks to the fat bias--there would be a lot of backhanded compliments that weren't meant to be unkind. Like these:


"Oh, but your face is so pretty!"
"Your wedding's in June?! Your mother's crazy--you still have so much time to lose weight."
"You look gorgeous. That dress is so slimming and forgiving."


But, frustrating as those were, everyone meant quite well. I also had PLENTY of time to get in FA points...I don't know how many (if any) will make the final cut, but I would say stuff to my mom like, "Mom! This is just the way my body is! I've tried dieting so many times, it's never worked, and those 'lifestyle changes' are no different. I'm just FAT." I frequently also said that I liked the way I looked and that I felt really pretty, so yay for me. :)


What was a really, really nice experience was talking to my skinny counterpart--who, seriously, thought the world of me and couldn't have been sweeter. I think that everyone was really worried that they'd offend me, just because the nature of the show was picking on something that (on any other non-FA fat girl) would have been extremely unnerving. She was so careful in the dressing room, telling me how "SERIOUSLY!" beautiful I looked and everything; responding to my comments on size with, "No, but you're so beautiful." I was like, "Really honey, it's okay--I am fat, and I know it, and there's nothing wrong with it. You can be fat and beautiful--not but beautiful. I'm actually super into size acceptance..." etc., telling her about FA and everything.


Anyway, the public really came through for the show. The most prevalent reason that people intervened was that the wedding was the bride's day, and that no one should try to make her feel badly about her life or body or choices. But there was one lady who really was wonderful as far as the body in general...she, too was a Jersey girl (be still my heart!) and this wonderful, incredibly warm woman. She was fat and LOVELY, in her 40s or 50s, and just so motherly. She came to me and was SO body positive, very into being comfortable in your own skin and not trying to be anything else. She had said one thing that I can't remember now that rubbed me the wrong way, but only as a general belief of teh fatz.


Anyway--all worked out pretty well. I can't wait to see it. :)



-Zaftige

ONE OF US! ONE OF US! (heeheeheeheehee)

Through a brilliant and wonderful career counselor that I am starting to work with (the quirky and lovely Erin Cronican with The Actors Enterprise), I am going through her blog's archives to catch up on all her news. I just found this from her October 2007: "Discrimination against plus-size actors."

SCORE!!!!!

It links to the glorious Jennifer Jonassen, who blogs at Plus Model Magazine, and this post. This makes me super-duper happy and excited, because she can now be another link in the chain of me, Joy, Marina and COUNTLESS other ridiculously talented fat women who deserve and DEMAND parts that defy the "shameless chowhound" role that we all get stuck in time and time again.

(Note: It might well be said that there are definitely better roles for fat character actresses as we age--and I very-much look forward to playing them when I'm older--but for now? Give me Juliet!!)

Jennifer offers a first post (very similar to my own) HERE, and I too will continue to follow her stuffs. I'm gonna post to her and try to establish a relationship; see how we can sort of be bi-coastal representatives, ya know?

Check her out--I know I will! (Maybe we can even wrangle her into the FOS ;-) )

-Zaftige

Strangely-Familiar Characters

Well, I didn't realize I was getting comments, because apparently I didn't set my blog to notify me when they were made. Oops. I thank those of you who have commented, for stopping by, connecting, and wishing me luck on my various projects. :) I am so thrilled to be an active part of the Fatosphere!

As promised, I mentioned that these is always the fat condition of being cast BECAUSE you're fat. It happens everywhere, but we're clearly the ones who are almost always the butt of the jokes or the sad sack.

Well.

It is especially difficult to be cast when you are fat, but also vibrant--with a leading lady personality and voice.

What have people decided to do in lieu of this?

Alter their scripts to CHANGE THE ROLE. No, you read me right, and yes, I wish I were kidding. I don't mean this in the positive way, either.

I was in a short film a year ago, playing a lead who was depressed and about to drown herself at sea. The producer and director loved me so much, but--oh!--I'm fat, so let's make it that she's a FAT girl whose boyfriend dumped her because she's such a shameless chowhound, and that's why she goes to drown herself. Oh! But! It gets better! After her epiphany when she's taking herself out to sea, you cut to her personal rehabilitation, and she is....running.

Oooooooooooooof COURSE.

Because CLEARLY a fat chick can't just be depressed period; she must be depressed because people won't love her because she's fat. And to fix herself and make life worth living, she runs and loses weight.

Obviously!

Now, I can't stress enough to you the HILARITY of this situation--I was irritated and annoyed that they would do this, but the director and producer LOVE me. Adore me. Do not think ill of me in any way....except that I'm fat, and they therefore needed to justify my presence on-screen.

Not only did this happen in one film, but within a few months I was involved in yet ANOTHER film which took similar steps. I was auditioning for the role of a 15-year-old girl who had been molested and was now going through major shock. I had a rock-solid audition, and the director and producer loved me. They wanted someone with darker features, but they had a role for me, they said! I got the script, and in the middle of the story, I see my name as the character's name. Uh....what? At the time, I was also in a production of Richard III, and I'm reading...and the character says, "Hey, come see me in Richard III!"

Aha, you have MORPHED me into your screenplay. Clever.

(But ohdoesit get better.)

My me-character is trying to help a transvestite stop wrestling with himself and find peace. I thought it was just going to be this empowering conversation, but I'm reading, and I SWEAR TO GOD....

HENRY

I admire you.

(ME)

What?!

Why?

HENRY

You look very happy and confident.

Being with you, makes me relaxed and comfortable.

You have magic!

How can you be so happy?

(ME)

I learned.

Look at me.

I know my body…and I know the first impression people get from me.

Is the appearance so important?

Yes…I agree…appearance is the life of some actors.

But it doesn’t mean my dream has to be stopped due to my weight.

Acting is my dream; eating is my pleasure.

I enjoy being myself, and living the way I want.

HENRY

Do you mind when people judge you?

(ME)

I don’t care how people look at me before they know me,

but I do care how people value me after they know me.

Accept it or not, it is impossible for everyone to love me.

What I did, and I am doing right now is balance the fine line

between myself and the rest of the world.

You know one of the reasons I like acting…it’s because I can become someone else for a while, thinking differently, moving differently, feeling differently.

I convert myself into the roles with my soul, my passion, and my professionalism.

That’s the way I convince people beyond my appearance.

Besides, I know I have a good personality that makes people like me.

How much ridiculousness can possibly be fit into 2 minutes of text?! Now we know. Thankfully, no one else has tried to work my weight in as a freaking plot point--yet. But I needed to share these with you. At least this second one, as laughable and irritating as it is, still portrays me as someone confident, secure and pleased with herself--and being ALLOWED to be so.

I had a brain child some time ago about starting a theatre company that's expressly for fat actors (how do I weed out thinner people who think they're fat? Prerequisite: You must write on your audition form the most painful instance of others discriminating against you based on being a fat person). It would be an outlet for fatties to play leading roles, letting the general public FINALLY view us as people worthy of wooing, excitement, romance, bravery, tenderness, accolades...it's still on my pile. I sure as hell don't have the production monies, but if any of you other NYers out there have the dime and the time, send me a line. :)

-Zaftige