Sunday, November 18, 2007

Joette Waters

Years ago I went to a Christmas party hosted at Ann Sather's. They had hired a musical trio, called Stardust, who performed 1940's girl-band songs. They wore floral dresses and '40's hats, and I remember them tearing the place up.

Fast forward to last week when I was contacted by Joette Waters. Joette was one of those original Stardust Girls and has always been an active performer. Lately she's discovered her niche market and she's decided to aggressively target it. This is the kind of professional we love to work with!

In real life Joette is a vibrant, sexy woman with a knock-out figure and not a single gray hair. She also happens to be over forty, and as such the industry doesn't seem to know how to creatively use her as an attractive, vibrant woman of a certain age. But Joette is the real deal when it comes to being an actor; she recognizes that she's working in a business, and is subject to the fundamental law of supply and demand. When agents call her, its for "Grandma," and she is continually asked to come in a gray wig. Joette came to me needing a shot of her in a gray wig to corner the Grandma market.

This is a great shot because it keys into an archetype frequently used in the industry, and yet there isn't a lot of acting going on. This is a real woman, not a character, yet this picture represents a focused fragment of who Joette is. It's the part of her that is in demand in the marketplace right now.


And when you call Joette, she doesn't mind that you want her to play Grandma. She might even bring a plate of cookies to the audition.

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