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Meet Karla Guy of Emeraldcity Entertainment in Hollywood

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Karla Guy.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Karla. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I caught the acting bug early with my first non-paying gig as a turtle at the age of five… Long Before I knew what it was called, I was the Actor in the family… EVERYONE should have one! My friend Al Gold invited me to a free Improv class at the Star Theater owned by the comedy genius Louis Anthony Russo. I showed up for class but Al wasn’t there and strangely enough I never saw him EVER again.

I had never heard of Improv before, but I was like wow finally people just like me cause up until then I always felt kinda out of place. Louis, let me take classes for free in exchange for working the box office during his Oxymoron Improv troupe shows. He once told me after a show, “I don’t think you know how funny you are” – true! I didn’t at the time but I always knew I wanted to be on TV so I moved to LA. I was taking acting classes and saw an audition notice for a musical theater school in NYC. Yes, I can sing and dance and I always wanted to be on Broadway too. So I auditioned. I was so excited I got accepted. I sang the song “There are Worse Things I Could Do” from Grease. This was right around Sept. 11th so that was probably the worse thing I could do was move to New York City at such a crazy uncertain time in all our lives so I didn’t go. Months later, a friend who gave up on her dream of becoming a singer said to me “Don’t let this be one of your regrets in life you need to go to New York!”

I had no money saved so I sold everything I owned. I sold my car in the parking lot of the famous El Coyote Mexcian restaurant and deposited my goldfish OSCAR, EMMY and JUDY named after my fav singer Judy Garland into a fish tank at a nearby Sizzler. Then I got on a train and off I went. Three days later, I arrived in NYC. That city both terrified me and mesmerized me. I had never been on a subway. Never hailed a cab. Never seen so many people all trying to get somewhere at the same time by foot, by bus, by train. I loved that city, I became that city. It was hard at times. I worked two jobs and even cleaned the floors to take money off my tuition which sadly I was made fun of for. I cried many times in the piano practice rooms not knowing if I would have the money to pay for the next semester, but I never gave up. After graduation, I pounded the pavement for a while as they say, but eventually came back West when my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer for the third time and so I left that Broadway dream behind…. and so here I am today… in LA.

Has it been a smooth road?
Has it been easy??? Hmmmmmm. You come to LA hopeful and navigate the business as it changes around you from black n white headshots to color to digital You learn about the casting director workshops and fill your resume with the right classes so that casting hopefully calls you in. You get rejected over and over, but you don’t give up cause just one more audition could be that “BIG BREAK.” Is it talent not so much these days,… Luck yes always but also it’s being the right type for what they are looking for. You learn to let it go and not obsess about what you did in the room. Then you realize maybe I should be writing my own projects but I can talk about that in a minute.

Obstacles along the way… I will say Losing my mother was the hardest thing. You don’t really understand it until it happens to you. It’s an empty feeling. You feel lost. I remember an audition came in for a new pilot called “The Mindy Project” when I got the call I gasped cause in that moment I realized oh I’m an Actor, I’m an Actor! I had completely forgotten why I was here. They say you will book something when you don’t care. I walked into that audition still numb. I remember the casting director was super nice and let me do the scene how I thought the character should be played. Probably the most calm I ever was at an audition and I didn’t care so I played it without the thoughts of is this what they want?, am I doing this right? You know the usual Actor thoughts lol. It was a very fun audition and as I walked out of the casting office It made me feel more of myself again. I was pinned for the project and then I wasn’t…. but That’s the biz! … until the next audition!

So, as you know, we’re impressed with Emeraldcity Entertainment – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of and what sets you apart from others.
So I’m good at comedy. I do standup but I also write. Like I mentioned I should be writing my own projects and I did. I wrote a very funny feature film called ” Tales from Fat City” with my friend Kathy Byron about the stories of my life. It’s quirky with a lot of fun characters and It touches on the social consciousness of Fat Shaming. We shopped it around and then decided we want to make this on our own. We raised a little bit of money on a crowdfunding site, but we still need more. We hope that maybe a producer will come along and back this project cause you know two female comedy writers and everyone at the award shows are talking about female funded projects.

Here we are ready to go with a hilarious script!!! (All arrows pointing to us)

Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
I feel at home when I’m in LA. Anytime I go out of town I can’t wait to get back to the city. There is so much diverse people, cool neighborhoods, tons of things to do, amazing food, the beach, the mountains, the freeways wait not the freeways lol I always tell people when they first move here give it a year and a half you’ll find where you belong. Lately, I’m kinda disliking the homeless situation, but I’m sure I’m not the only one.

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