It's been about fifteen months since I've updated my Blog. A lot has changed in my personal and professional life. I've learned a lot about myself, life in general and the human condition. My acting career continues to grow and I have discovered that by not trying so hard and being myself; it's easy to make friends.
Too often struggling actors get stuck in the rut of promoting themselves because when you're first starting out, there is no one to do it for you. Take it from me, your real friends don't care that you're an actor. As an extrovert it took me a little longer to realize this. Your friends like you for who you are and aside from being supportive of you, it doesn't matter as long as your success doesn't change you.
Acting is just something I do. It doesn't define who I am as a person. I'm at the point where I no longer have to promote myself. Instead I can now relax and let my work speak for me instead. With time and experience my skill and talent will grow until my dream reaches its full potential.
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Friday, November 26, 2010
Jupiter has farted once again...
Jupiter has farted once again...
In science news... Jupiter has farted once again. Astronomers are excited to be offered a rare opportunity to study the brown stripe in more detail. Earlier analysis by remote atmospheric sniffer satellite, seemed to indicate an abundance of Methane and Hydrogen Sulfide in the gasses surrounding the Great Red Spot.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Friends in the biz - NOT!!
If anyone thinks that it's easy to make friends in the acting community. Let me speak from experience. It's not. Building friendships with fellow actors is very difficult.
I'm still trying to figure out why. When I gain some insight as to why that is I'll let you know. In the meantime I'm going to stop trying.
I'm still trying to figure out why. When I gain some insight as to why that is I'll let you know. In the meantime I'm going to stop trying.
Miss January
It's been a little over a month since I've updated my blog. My wife and I separated recently and it's been a tough time for me personally. I remain optimistic that everything will be ok in the long run.
Last Friday I spent another $160 in gas to make the pilgrimage to Detroit. This time it was for an audition for the movie "Miss January". A movie based on the 1970's porn industry starring Kim Cattrell and Brian Dennehy.
How did I do? Well, I didn't do as well as I would have liked to. I had the two lines memorized as I walked into the audition room. I only had five minutes to do so as I was the second person to be called.
Somehow between talking to the casting director and introducing myself and my character to the camera. The second line I was supposed to read decided to take a ten second hiatus from my memory. Ten seconds doesn't seem like a very long time, but when you're on the spot it seems to take an eternity.
They also didn't tell me where they wanted me to look as I read my lines. So in hindsight I may have looked too far away from the camera. Not my fault since the casting director should have given me direction.
Well it's over now. "Back to reality" as Eminem says in "8 Mile". That song played over and over in my head as I endured the long drive home. Discouraging.... Yes. Am I giving up my dream of being a successful actor? Not a chance.
Callbacks are going to be by the end of this week. Whether I get the part or not they will let me know. I'm setting my expectations very low.
On a brighter note I drove through my old hometown on the way back to my place. I stopped in to see an old friend Travis Miller from highschool. He runs a large farm and feedstore. It was great seeing him after all these years. We're getting old. He's just as grey as I am. He said he had been having a bad day. I hope my visit cheered him up a bit.
I like to think that everything that happens to us in life. Happens for a reason.
Last Friday I spent another $160 in gas to make the pilgrimage to Detroit. This time it was for an audition for the movie "Miss January". A movie based on the 1970's porn industry starring Kim Cattrell and Brian Dennehy.
How did I do? Well, I didn't do as well as I would have liked to. I had the two lines memorized as I walked into the audition room. I only had five minutes to do so as I was the second person to be called.
Somehow between talking to the casting director and introducing myself and my character to the camera. The second line I was supposed to read decided to take a ten second hiatus from my memory. Ten seconds doesn't seem like a very long time, but when you're on the spot it seems to take an eternity.
They also didn't tell me where they wanted me to look as I read my lines. So in hindsight I may have looked too far away from the camera. Not my fault since the casting director should have given me direction.
Well it's over now. "Back to reality" as Eminem says in "8 Mile". That song played over and over in my head as I endured the long drive home. Discouraging.... Yes. Am I giving up my dream of being a successful actor? Not a chance.
Callbacks are going to be by the end of this week. Whether I get the part or not they will let me know. I'm setting my expectations very low.
On a brighter note I drove through my old hometown on the way back to my place. I stopped in to see an old friend Travis Miller from highschool. He runs a large farm and feedstore. It was great seeing him after all these years. We're getting old. He's just as grey as I am. He said he had been having a bad day. I hope my visit cheered him up a bit.
I like to think that everything that happens to us in life. Happens for a reason.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
My First Movie - Post Production
So on Thursday June 12th the final scenes for "Harmless Thoughts" were filmed in downtown Utica. These required many extras. I posted the info beforehand at Actorspages.org for anyone interested. I haven't asked, but I'm assuming they had a great turnout considering they had the blessing of the Mayor of Utica, Michigan where it was filmed.
Within days they had the trailer finished and posted on their Myspace Film page.
As independent films go. I have to say that the trailer was quite impressive. There are a few scenes in the trailer that really caught my eye artistically. I can't say for sure but I'd wager some money on this film winning at least some film festival awards.
Two frames and some audio from my fight scene made it into the trailer. You have to go frame by frame to see it. There is a scene where David, played by Randy Stetson, walks ahead of the group and takes off his glasses. Then you see Hailey, played by Mary Gibbs, running. Stop the trailer there. The next two frames after the white screen shows me tussling with Jeff Priskorn who plays Young Dale in the film. If you play the scene you can hear the audio of that fight.
My scenes are a bit more lengthly than that but it's a teaser trailer after all. I'm happy with it and as I've already said. It's quite impressive.
Now comes the hard part of waiting for premier night and hoping it does well. Unless something major happens, my next post on the film will be this fall after premier night.
Within days they had the trailer finished and posted on their Myspace Film page.
As independent films go. I have to say that the trailer was quite impressive. There are a few scenes in the trailer that really caught my eye artistically. I can't say for sure but I'd wager some money on this film winning at least some film festival awards.
Two frames and some audio from my fight scene made it into the trailer. You have to go frame by frame to see it. There is a scene where David, played by Randy Stetson, walks ahead of the group and takes off his glasses. Then you see Hailey, played by Mary Gibbs, running. Stop the trailer there. The next two frames after the white screen shows me tussling with Jeff Priskorn who plays Young Dale in the film. If you play the scene you can hear the audio of that fight.
My scenes are a bit more lengthly than that but it's a teaser trailer after all. I'm happy with it and as I've already said. It's quite impressive.
Now comes the hard part of waiting for premier night and hoping it does well. Unless something major happens, my next post on the film will be this fall after premier night.
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Lottery and Roulette
There is some information floating around on the internet about me and my past interest in creating gaming systems. Namely the "Sedertree Matrix Wheeling System™" and the "Reika Roulette System™".
In short. The personal, professional and financial reasons to leave the lottery community. Far outweighed my reasons for staying. I'm much happier without all of that drama in my life.
I'm not going into any more detail than that.
In short. The personal, professional and financial reasons to leave the lottery community. Far outweighed my reasons for staying. I'm much happier without all of that drama in my life.
I'm not going into any more detail than that.
Friday, June 6, 2008
My First Movie - Production
I was pretty concerned that for weeks before shooting started. A location for my fight scene wasn't nailed down yet. Voicing my concerns first to Gary, and then Megan, the 2nd Assistant Director, once filming began. Only brought reassurances everything was going to be alright.
So I waited, and waited..... Twenty-four hours before shooting comes and goes with still no word on the location. An email to my scene co-star, Kate Mcglynn, reveals she hasn't heard anything either.
What no one is aware of, is that I live five hours away from Detroit. I recently switched to third shift at work and had to take two vacation days instead of one. I have spent $400 in gas at this point for the audition and pre-production meeting. I've got a lot invested here and am prepared to invest more to be in this film.
I begin to prepare myself for the worst case scenario. That possible scenario being that they decided to cut my scene from the movie.
One final email to Megan. "I have to know the location for our shoot by close of business today." I said. Knowing that if I don't hear anything I will be canceling my vacation and going to work instead.
I am relieved and apprehensive to get an email from Gary with the message to call him ASAP. When I do reach him it is good news. We have a location (his house) and he gives me the address. The filming is pushed back two hours because, so far, they have been shooting ahead of schedule. Sweet!!
Even after getting a little lost. I still find the location an hour and a half early. I do a drive by and turn around at the end of the street. I drive by once again before heading out to the main road to find somewhere to kill some time.
A half hour of sitting in my truck at the gas station reading the script and I'm like, "Screw This!"
I pull in and Gary is there bringing out equipment. We talk while he is setting up the camera. He was going to film on the back porch but decided instead to shoot our scene at the front door and yard.
He wants to use my truck in the scenes because it "Looks like a vehicle my character would drive." He has a point given the other vehicles that show up driven by other cast and crew.
Cast and crew arrive on time. We all know that the script will be played pretty loose. There will be a lot of emotion and anger so there will be a lot of improv to "keep it real". Just remember to stay in character and "just go with it."
The one line, and the first one uttered by my character, that is insisted on reads "How's it going chief?" I'm surprised to find out that my character says this in an extremely agitated and angry state. Reading the script, I envisioned a buildup up anger leading to the eventual fight scene.
In my experience, that line "How's it going chief?". In real life is never spoken in anger. It is usually reserved as a friendly greeting between strangers of the male persuasion.
They wanted me to come to the door ready to kick ass and take names. So I tried, and tried, and tried to get that line to come out like they wanted. After some coaching I think I nailed it and the scene was wrapped. We'll see how it looks on film.
The next scene was the actual fight scene.
Already pumped up from the first scene. I knew what was to be expected. A quick rehearsal had the neighbors dogs howling. Several angles, A motion cam, some closeups and an audio take later and my scenes were filmed.
I stayed around partly because my truck was still needed for continuity. I also wanted to watch them film the rest of the scenes. They mentioned watching the playback later. I forgot about it and left before getting to watch.
Gary told me in an email shortly afterwards that the scenes came out better than expected. No pickups (re-shoots) were necessary for any of the scenes I was involved in.
Cool, now I can get my yearly haircut.
In hindsight there were ideas floating around on set that didn't make it onto film. Everything went so fast that no one ever stopped to say, "Let's try it doing this or saying that." I guess it just "worked" the way it went down.
So I waited, and waited..... Twenty-four hours before shooting comes and goes with still no word on the location. An email to my scene co-star, Kate Mcglynn, reveals she hasn't heard anything either.
What no one is aware of, is that I live five hours away from Detroit. I recently switched to third shift at work and had to take two vacation days instead of one. I have spent $400 in gas at this point for the audition and pre-production meeting. I've got a lot invested here and am prepared to invest more to be in this film.
I begin to prepare myself for the worst case scenario. That possible scenario being that they decided to cut my scene from the movie.
One final email to Megan. "I have to know the location for our shoot by close of business today." I said. Knowing that if I don't hear anything I will be canceling my vacation and going to work instead.
I am relieved and apprehensive to get an email from Gary with the message to call him ASAP. When I do reach him it is good news. We have a location (his house) and he gives me the address. The filming is pushed back two hours because, so far, they have been shooting ahead of schedule. Sweet!!
Even after getting a little lost. I still find the location an hour and a half early. I do a drive by and turn around at the end of the street. I drive by once again before heading out to the main road to find somewhere to kill some time.
A half hour of sitting in my truck at the gas station reading the script and I'm like, "Screw This!"
I pull in and Gary is there bringing out equipment. We talk while he is setting up the camera. He was going to film on the back porch but decided instead to shoot our scene at the front door and yard.
He wants to use my truck in the scenes because it "Looks like a vehicle my character would drive." He has a point given the other vehicles that show up driven by other cast and crew.
Cast and crew arrive on time. We all know that the script will be played pretty loose. There will be a lot of emotion and anger so there will be a lot of improv to "keep it real". Just remember to stay in character and "just go with it."
The one line, and the first one uttered by my character, that is insisted on reads "How's it going chief?" I'm surprised to find out that my character says this in an extremely agitated and angry state. Reading the script, I envisioned a buildup up anger leading to the eventual fight scene.
In my experience, that line "How's it going chief?". In real life is never spoken in anger. It is usually reserved as a friendly greeting between strangers of the male persuasion.
They wanted me to come to the door ready to kick ass and take names. So I tried, and tried, and tried to get that line to come out like they wanted. After some coaching I think I nailed it and the scene was wrapped. We'll see how it looks on film.
The next scene was the actual fight scene.
Already pumped up from the first scene. I knew what was to be expected. A quick rehearsal had the neighbors dogs howling. Several angles, A motion cam, some closeups and an audio take later and my scenes were filmed.
I stayed around partly because my truck was still needed for continuity. I also wanted to watch them film the rest of the scenes. They mentioned watching the playback later. I forgot about it and left before getting to watch.
Gary told me in an email shortly afterwards that the scenes came out better than expected. No pickups (re-shoots) were necessary for any of the scenes I was involved in.
Cool, now I can get my yearly haircut.
In hindsight there were ideas floating around on set that didn't make it onto film. Everything went so fast that no one ever stopped to say, "Let's try it doing this or saying that." I guess it just "worked" the way it went down.
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