How the West was Won

Another week down, and another week closer to reaching my goal. I didn't have any auditions, call backs, or meet anyone cool. But I did have a full week of work and I am still alive to see another day to get an audition, get a call back, and meet the right people. It has been one of those weeks where when it rains it pours. Every day that I worked went late into the night and started at an odd time of the day to where you gotta sit in a lot of traffic or you can't get any errands done because you get done so late at night.

I worked on the show HOUSE the other day and they were on location in Redondo Beach. Which is about 30 miles from my home, so a 60 mile round trip. This was inconvenient in more ways than one. First of all when I booked myself they didn't tell me it was in Redondo. If I had known, I would have done another show. Second of all my call time was 11 am. Which doesn't sound too bad, but you gotta think: 30 miles = 45 mins of travel in no traffic. 30 miles to arrive at 11am = leave at 9:30 or earlier. I was happy to get work, so I took it. Except on this day I made a rookie mistake. I didn't pay too much attention to the street signs and overshot an important street by 3 MIILES!!! What a DOPE! And I didn't fill up my gas tank the day before when I knew I should have. So once I realized I went too far, I was running late and had to stop to get gas. It was the first time I was late in 4 years.

This job provides with enough stress that the last you need is a call from the agency asking you why you're late to a 11am call time. Although, my day did provide me with entertainment. As I was sitting in my chair reading my book, there was a cute girl sitting across from me and this guy had come over to make conversation. I thought to myself, "alright, this should be good." He started out pretty good, but then he started to slip. She was reading 'Anything' by Ernest Hemingway and he thought he should pull the "Twilight" card and say the phrase "i'm team Jacob." Which was AWESOME. Because I know his thought process went like this: She's reading a book, which means she's read Twilight, and that's popular, chicks like Twilight, I should say something witty/funny, then BOOM GOES THE DYNAMITE. She didn't even give him a sympathy laugh, just a polite way to letting him know she was enjoying her book and would like to be left alone. BURN! He left with his tail in between his legs. She shook her head and I said "Team Jacob huh? Team Edward is way cooler." We had a good laugh and went back to reading.

"Life is hard; it's harder if you're stupid." - John Wayne

Lean on Me

Last Friday was my last day on the set of the feature film. It was a fun day for the most part until I found out that my other lines were cut and learned that I might not be getting paid. So I asked a producer to fill out my tax forms because I hadn't done so yet and I didn't want to mail it to them since I was on set with them. I was told that because they spent a lot of their money on a better camera, film, and better location that a lot of the actors would not get paid. I had them repeat it so I knew I wasn't hearing things. They went on to tell me actors that will be paid depending on how many days they were on set. Since some of my scenes were cut and some of my lines were given away, my week of work went down to 2 days. Talk about literally "acting for food."

So, I have an email to write to another producer. I'm not really so mad, as I am disappointed. I would have done the production regardless, but I was told I would be getting paid. In doing so, I turned down other paid jobs to do it. The upside to all this is, I do get a credit for my resume and met some people that could use me in their next production. It wasn't a waste of time, just kinda planned on paying my rent this month. Like I've said time and time again, it's part of the game, and this is just how this industry goes. It's over now, I filmed my scenes, got a credit, met good people, had a full stomach at the end of the day. Time to move on and stay on top of getting work and moving forward.

I worked on the show 'Entourage' yesterday. I try to dodge working this show for a couple reasons. The wardrobe people are really anal about the look of the show. So it takes you about an hour to get that all settled. Next you are surrounded by probably the most uptight women you will cross. Although they are beautiful, don't let this fool you. They are under the impression that if they bang one of the cast members it will be smooth sailing from here on out. Not the case, but they are right about one thing. If they are attracted enough, then yes, you will be noticed and be shown the back room. But I highly doubt they will be doing any of the work. To top it all off, you will be flagged and will not be able to work that show again. Why? Because you're used goods. So pick up your dignity ladies and stick with the game, or you can go back to answering phones at Macaroni Grill.

"Acting means living, it's all I do and all I'm good at. If I weren't getting paid well, I would still be acting in a small troupe somewhere. As you grow in this business, you learn how to do more with less." - Morgan Freeman

The Iceman Cometh

Yesterday was my first day as an actual paid actor on set. The night before I was sent my call sheet for the next day. A call sheet has all the information to what will be going on that day. It has the names of the actors that will be on set, what time they will arrive and which scenes will be shot for the day. It also tells Other misc. info would include lunch time, how many background extras and the crew call. There was a sense of accomplishment when I saw my name on the call sheet, rather than a random number that is apart of group of background. Everyone was really cool. I didn't take me long to figure out that everyone, including the crew, had worked on other projects. So I was the odd man out for the most part. But on the other hand, I told myself that I was chosen from many others to join this cast. They must have seen something in me that made them think that I would be great to work with.

So I started my day going through hair and make up and running through the scenes with the other actors in my scene before we went and camera blocked the scene. The other actors had been apart of commercials and other projects, so it was humbling to be around talent that was my age to learn from. It was refreshing to have the director talk directly to me and tell me what she wanted. On the flip side, it was also nice to ask questions and receive good feedback. The scenes we shot were of me and two other bully's picking on this nerd. A lot of my lines were stepped on, or given to another actor, which was a total bummer, but I didn't let that ruin the experience I was enjoying. But I think what made me the most happy was the fact people knew me by name and not as "hey you" or "who did that cross by the table?"

This experience couldn't have come at a better time. With a lot of the shows on hiatus I have downtime that makes me second guess what I'm doing. Not to mention that the last couple days I have worked background the people have really done me in.

I had a guy follow me around the other day on set that got on my nerves. I'm all for meeting new people and all, but this guy made me want to do a swan dive off Mt. Rushmore. I made the mistake of saying hello. From there all I heard about was how he loves to skate and to act. But he doesn't want to be a pro skater or just an actor. He wants to be skating on camera with a little acting thrown in. . . WHAT?!? He kept telling me how his agent hasn't done much for him. Over and OVER. Which made me believe had a little something going for him. UNTIL, he started to complain how it was "so hard to get SAG Vouchers and THAT'S ALL he wanted to do. Was get SAG Vouchers. Right there, he basically blew his cover and something he could have worked off of to get a little further. But he basically straight up told me really didn't have anything going for him. He was just another person that is limiting themselves, in his case, to skateboarding/acting and NOTHING ELSE.

The greatest thing you must realize is to be open to anything and everything. Still have some boundaries. I'm not saying you gotta do porn or eat a cow's intestine to be recognized. Just don't limit yourself right out of the gate.

"As an actor and as a person you come together with being in familiar territory although that has not been my whole life. That's been a part of it. I think a lot of people associate me with the west because of Sundance." - Robert Redford

Courage Under Fire

Well, last week was pretty successful overall. Even though I only worked for one day, that day lasted over 12 hours provided me with overtime pay that really helps in the long run. On Monday night I had a table read with the entire cast, producers, and director for the feature film I start this week. For those who don't know, a table read is pretty much what it sounds. Everyone sits around a table and reads through the entire script to see how it sounds and what changes could be made. So that was nice to see who I would be working with and working for. The only bummer was that the finalized script had cut out a lot of my dialog, which means, A: I have a few less days of work on it and B: less camera time. The bright side is I made this far and know that I am making progress.

On Wednesday I had an audition for the part of an assassin in a feature film. It's not a big part, but vital to the story. I'm not going to lie, this was a live and learn audition. I definitely could have done a lot better. Not only did I forget a couple lines, but I had something break my concentration before going in. I let another person in the waiting room take my focus off what I came there to do. Which was get a job. The place where the auditions where being held was in a house turned studio. So from the outside it looked like it was someone's home. So I am sitting in the waiting room, and I hear the doorbell ring. Which I'm pretty sure screwed up the guy that was auditioning at the time. I ignored it and figured the guy would realize to turn the doorknob and come inside. Next thing I know he's banging and knocking on the door. Out of respect for the guy auditioning at that moment, I got up and answered the door.

The guy outside say's "Sup'" to me and moves right passed me to the waiting room. I just took it as a douche bag move and sat back in my chair. Then the guy starts talking to me about some babe he saw outside. Which normally I'm not going to hate on the description of a beautiful woman, but this is not the time or place. When I got to auditions, I don't talk to anyone in the room. They are my competition, so why would I want to be their friend? I'm there to get a job, I don't care if you got drunk last night or stubbed your toe on the way in. So it was my fault to let that get the best of me. Lesson learned.

"We all have big changes in our lives that are more or less a second chance." - Harrison Ford