- THE Anna Wintour from Vogue Magazine
“Gloria” is the worst song ever by Laura Branigan. That is all I think about when Gloria answers the phone at my management company. My second meeting was with Jim and Gloria. I mostly spoke with Gloria. Wait. Let me clarify. Gloria spoke about Gloria while I sat there. She was dressed all in white and has a blond bob haircut. She reminded me of Anna Wintour from Vogue magazine: very confident, opinionated and I could tell I didn’t want to get on her bad side. Her whole office area was all in white and very tidy. She talked about actors and how actors’ minds work, and what actors need to do mentally in this business and blah blah blah. No disrespect to Gloria, but wasn’t I interviewing her? I mean, my new managers work for me, right? I found my mind drifting to whether I’d put enough money in the parking meter. Once in a while she would start talking about “so-and-so actress, the one that was in that movie about the girl getting married with that star from ‘SNL'”. After I filled in the blanks of Melissa McCarthy, Bridesmaids and Kristen Wiig I thought: Geez, they should know this stuff. However, they definitely knew the credits of the biggest actor they represented. They kept referring to him over and over as if they’d MADE his career; they were the Swifty Lazar and Michael Ovitz of this BIG actor. He was in Mad Max 2. Yep. I looked him up on IMDB and truth be told, he works a lot _ on projects that are B-movies, but he works. That’s more than I was doing. Gloria said she would like to “give me a try” (like a new flavor of ice cream) and said she would email me my contract. Jim didn’t say much that day. At all really. After 45 minutes and Gloria saying she wanted to sign me, I finally spoke up and said I had some questions for THEM. Were they going to get me a commercial agent? A theatrical agent? Were there a lot of auditions for my age range and look? Did they represent anyone similar to my type? No word from Jim. I was beginning to realize he was afraid to say anything. Gloria’s answer was stern and direct: “We will get you representation and no, we don’t have anyone like you and pilot season is around the corner.” My specific questions were answered very vaguely. I decided to trust them, give them a chance and see what would happen. At this time, they said my pictures were “OK” and that they could work with them and see what happens next. I didn’t hear from anyone for 22 days _ no email, no nothin’. Granted, it was during the holidays, but we weren’t dead. They’d just signed me! I picked up the phone and Gloria answered. I said “Hi Gloria, it’s Tracy.” Pause. Pause. Her reply: “Tracy. Tracy? What company are you from?” (I’m thinking: “You have got to be kidding me.”) “This is Tracy. You signed me 22 days ago, remember?” “Tracy, of course. Sorry, dear. I am on the other line. I need to call you back.” Three days later, no call back. Please God, don’t tell me I made another mistake.