Well, here we are - Christmas Eve Day, 2008.
While I could get another audition before the year's over (The town's pretty much shut down at this point, but JS - my commercial agent - says there's always a few casting people still at work), I've gotta believe 2008 - good, bad, or indifferent - is basically over.
Going into this past year, I had serious concerns - The Writer's strike was going on, and SAG's contracts (in both Theatrical and Television, and Commercials) were set to expire - and while I remember hoping against hope I'd somehow be able to build on the success of the previous year, I was more worried going into a new year than I've ever been before.
So I guess the good thing I can say about 2008 is that there were still auditions to go out on, and I still booked some jobs.
And I'm still here.
But while I haven't actually counted yet, I can say with almost 100% certainty that I had fewer auditions than in the past two or three years.
And I booked fewer gigs (Four this year, versus six last year), and made substantially less money than in 2007.
(And that in a year where I, somewhat inexplicably. decided to try to go totally "freelance"; I haven't worked a full-time, regular job since the end of May.)
And honestly? With the exception of doing the infomercial with John Cleese (My first real "brush with greatness" out here), none of the jobs this year turned me on - Not the Yellow Pages commercial (My most lucrative gig this year, but that's not saying much), or the "Principal" role in the low-budget feature film that was really an extra role, or the Wimax print job.
It all, frankly, felt like junk. And it certainly didn't involve much that you could call "acting".
On the whole, very hard not to see this as a very lackluster, disappointing year.
And who knew, early in 2008, that SAG and the AMPTP would still be snapping at each other at this point, with no deal having been made and SAG trying to get its members to go for a strike vote?
And who knew the economy was going to go belly-up? (Probably a number of people, really, but I didn't.)
So here I am, at the start of another new year, feeling pretty much the same way I did last year at this time - hoping, praying (In my atheistic way), that I'll somehow be able to "swim against the tide" and have some decent success, but deeply worried about what the coming year has in store for me.
But my look has changed pretty radically in the past year - I've lost around 80 lbs, and am sporting a clean-shaven look for the first time since I was eight or nine - and I'm hoping that'll create new interest in the "Character Man" brand.
And while things look potentially grim in a couple regards, I have to believe that good things are going to happen for me.
Who knows? Maybe even great things.
What's the point of my giving over to doubt and fear? No matter what, the tv and film industry isn't going to be shutting its doors, and if there's anything going on, why can't I be part of it?
I have to believe that good fortune can happen to me (Which is a reasonable thing to believe, because it has happened to me). But maybe more importantly, I have to start believing that I can draw good things to myself, that I can effect my surrounding and my circumstances by the things I do.
I have to go into the new year with hope. I have to.
This is what I want - Not to just "get by", not to just "survive", but to thrive as an actor.
And that can happen in the coming year.
I'll get my chances, and I have to be prepared to make the most of them.
Cause I don't want to go through 2009 afraid and unhappy. I refuse to.
Instead, I think I'm going to have my best year yet.
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Just. One. More. Job.
This is always a "challenging" time of the year for me.
And one of the biggest "challenges" is that, as the year draws to a close, I always want to "end on a high note" (i.e. by booking "just one more job").
So I bounce between hoping-against-hope that "the year isn't over yet", and having to to reconcile myself to the fact that, at some point, if "the year isn't over yet", it might as well be.
Things traditionally slow down this time of year, and I doubt it helped that I had to book out twice in the past month or so - first for my head injury, and this past week for hernia surgery (My second hernia, by the by) - so while it's possible I could sneak in an audition or two over the next few weeks, 2008 is probably all but over.
And it was, career-wise, a disappointing year. I didn't book as many gigs as the previous year (Four this year, versus six the year before), and with the exception of the infomercial with John Cleese, the gigs this year, in a word, kinda sucked.
But I did still go out, and I did still book. I made money as an actor, as I believe I have every year since I came out here.
And that's nothing to sneeze at.
I got a check recently for the Yellow Pages commercial - for $391 and change - and the Coldstone settlement (For $1700) is waiting in the wings. And I periodically get small residual checks as well (Mostly for my Monk episode, but also sometimes for Nip/Tuck), so it's not as if acting isn't bringing in any money.
Just not what it had the year before...and by a substantial amount.
But more important than the money - ! - is the fact that, once again, I didn't do anything this year that really felt like "acting", and none of the things I booked were things that anyone's really dying to see.
And the point of all this, in my mind, in addition to making money, is to do stuff that actually entertains someone.
Well, maybe next year...
_________________________
On Tuesday, the day before my surgery, I went to a place on Olympic Blvd that advertised "Instant Headshots", had a mini photo-session (The photographer took a total of 23 pictures), paid the guy about $80...and am happy to say, got some pictures I can actually use.
(I wasn't happy initially - first and foremost, because I'm an ugly motherfucker, which can't really be helped - but the more I've "lived with them", the happier I've become; headshots basically just have to look like you, and have some personality to them, and as it turns out, I don't need to spend $400 and have a photographer take hundreds of shots to make that happen.)
I showed them to my commercial agent yesterday, and he picked out a couple he thought worked for our purposes (And I trust his judgment on this sort of thing more than I do my own).
And the fact that he didn't say "Congratulation Asshole! - You just blew $80, cause these pictures suck" made me pretty damned happy - I'm glad I have a cheap place to do decent headshots. That's a pretty invaluable resource.
It's something I've needed to do for a long time, and when I had to shave for the print shoot, it seemed a good time to take the leap (Since not only am I many lbs heavier in my current headshots, I also have a mustache).
When my agent saw me, in person, without the 'stash, he said it made me look substantially younger. Which to me, are pretty much "the magic words" - I'm very concerned about "aging out of my category", so anything that keeps me looking generically "middle aged" longer is a good thing.
It's a challenging period of time. The economy's gone belly-up, SAG and the AMPTP are still fucking with each other, and it's hard to know how I'm going to get from "here" to "there".
But that, my friends, is the goal.
Bigger and better in 2009.
(More to come...)
And one of the biggest "challenges" is that, as the year draws to a close, I always want to "end on a high note" (i.e. by booking "just one more job").
So I bounce between hoping-against-hope that "the year isn't over yet", and having to to reconcile myself to the fact that, at some point, if "the year isn't over yet", it might as well be.
Things traditionally slow down this time of year, and I doubt it helped that I had to book out twice in the past month or so - first for my head injury, and this past week for hernia surgery (My second hernia, by the by) - so while it's possible I could sneak in an audition or two over the next few weeks, 2008 is probably all but over.
And it was, career-wise, a disappointing year. I didn't book as many gigs as the previous year (Four this year, versus six the year before), and with the exception of the infomercial with John Cleese, the gigs this year, in a word, kinda sucked.
But I did still go out, and I did still book. I made money as an actor, as I believe I have every year since I came out here.
And that's nothing to sneeze at.
I got a check recently for the Yellow Pages commercial - for $391 and change - and the Coldstone settlement (For $1700) is waiting in the wings. And I periodically get small residual checks as well (Mostly for my Monk episode, but also sometimes for Nip/Tuck), so it's not as if acting isn't bringing in any money.
Just not what it had the year before...and by a substantial amount.
But more important than the money - ! - is the fact that, once again, I didn't do anything this year that really felt like "acting", and none of the things I booked were things that anyone's really dying to see.
And the point of all this, in my mind, in addition to making money, is to do stuff that actually entertains someone.
Well, maybe next year...
On Tuesday, the day before my surgery, I went to a place on Olympic Blvd that advertised "Instant Headshots", had a mini photo-session (The photographer took a total of 23 pictures), paid the guy about $80...and am happy to say, got some pictures I can actually use.
(I wasn't happy initially - first and foremost, because I'm an ugly motherfucker, which can't really be helped - but the more I've "lived with them", the happier I've become; headshots basically just have to look like you, and have some personality to them, and as it turns out, I don't need to spend $400 and have a photographer take hundreds of shots to make that happen.)
I showed them to my commercial agent yesterday, and he picked out a couple he thought worked for our purposes (And I trust his judgment on this sort of thing more than I do my own).
And the fact that he didn't say "Congratulation Asshole! - You just blew $80, cause these pictures suck" made me pretty damned happy - I'm glad I have a cheap place to do decent headshots. That's a pretty invaluable resource.
It's something I've needed to do for a long time, and when I had to shave for the print shoot, it seemed a good time to take the leap (Since not only am I many lbs heavier in my current headshots, I also have a mustache).
When my agent saw me, in person, without the 'stash, he said it made me look substantially younger. Which to me, are pretty much "the magic words" - I'm very concerned about "aging out of my category", so anything that keeps me looking generically "middle aged" longer is a good thing.
It's a challenging period of time. The economy's gone belly-up, SAG and the AMPTP are still fucking with each other, and it's hard to know how I'm going to get from "here" to "there".
But that, my friends, is the goal.
Bigger and better in 2009.
(More to come...)
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
One For The "Win" Column
Shot my first print job yesterday (In spite of laying my forehead open less than two weeks ago), for something I've never heard of called Wimax (A new Internet service - I guess the "new" part is why I've never heard of it).
They were shooting a series of print ads, with a bad/better/best theme (Basically saying "Wifi is like this, and 3G is like this. But with Wimax, it's like this").
So three of us were in the ad I shot - a guy completely bald on top, a guy fitted with a bad comb-over, and a guy with a massive afro.
Demonstrating, I guess, that Wimax is the hairiest Internet provider.
I was "Comb-over Guy" (or "3G Guy", if you want to think of it that way).
My call time was 9:00 a.m., at a location off Sunset I could easily have rode my bike to, which would have been my preference (We went from a first location to a second location, which is why the production person told me I should drive, but the two locations were maybe a mile apart, if that. But anyway...).
My spot didn't shoot till after lunch (chicken taco, rice, salad, and a sliver of pumpkin pie with a teaspoon of Cool Whip), and it was pretty tedious going - no acting/interacting with each other, but just the three of us standing in a row, looking this way and that, smiling and not smiling, as per the director's instructions.
Kind of weird, that the least-fun part of the day involved actually doing what I was there to do.
It was tedious, and thanks to my as-yet-unrepaired hernia, it started to become pretty uncomfortable just standing up for the length of time it took to shoot the three of us (We were basically just standing on the sidewalk on Sunset, in front of an interesting stone wall, so we had to periodically stop for passerby).
After we were done with that, they took pictures of each of us individually (I don't remember if I was the second or third one up for that, but in any case, I'd had a chance to sit down for a few minutes, and happily, it didn't take long).
The shoot was boring and uncomfortable. But unlike the boredom and discomfort I typically experience (in my "civilian" work life), I was very well-compensated for my troubles; the job paid $1000 (Which, after taxes and JS's cut, will still pay my rent for a month, with enough left over for a trip to Subway), so I'm not going to bitch too much about it.
And there were other...compensations; in addition to getting paid, and getting fed, I enjoyed the ministrations of Jenni, my attractive - and I think age-appropriate - English makeup woman (Who, between applying my "comb-over" and dealing with my forehead, had to spend a fair amount of time on me).
So, while I still long for the day I'll be "well-compensated" to actually act, any day where I make $1000 to have my picture taken belongs in the "win" column.
They were shooting a series of print ads, with a bad/better/best theme (Basically saying "Wifi is like this, and 3G is like this. But with Wimax, it's like this").
So three of us were in the ad I shot - a guy completely bald on top, a guy fitted with a bad comb-over, and a guy with a massive afro.
Demonstrating, I guess, that Wimax is the hairiest Internet provider.
I was "Comb-over Guy" (or "3G Guy", if you want to think of it that way).
My call time was 9:00 a.m., at a location off Sunset I could easily have rode my bike to, which would have been my preference (We went from a first location to a second location, which is why the production person told me I should drive, but the two locations were maybe a mile apart, if that. But anyway...).
My spot didn't shoot till after lunch (chicken taco, rice, salad, and a sliver of pumpkin pie with a teaspoon of Cool Whip), and it was pretty tedious going - no acting/interacting with each other, but just the three of us standing in a row, looking this way and that, smiling and not smiling, as per the director's instructions.
Kind of weird, that the least-fun part of the day involved actually doing what I was there to do.
It was tedious, and thanks to my as-yet-unrepaired hernia, it started to become pretty uncomfortable just standing up for the length of time it took to shoot the three of us (We were basically just standing on the sidewalk on Sunset, in front of an interesting stone wall, so we had to periodically stop for passerby).
After we were done with that, they took pictures of each of us individually (I don't remember if I was the second or third one up for that, but in any case, I'd had a chance to sit down for a few minutes, and happily, it didn't take long).
The shoot was boring and uncomfortable. But unlike the boredom and discomfort I typically experience (in my "civilian" work life), I was very well-compensated for my troubles; the job paid $1000 (Which, after taxes and JS's cut, will still pay my rent for a month, with enough left over for a trip to Subway), so I'm not going to bitch too much about it.
And there were other...compensations; in addition to getting paid, and getting fed, I enjoyed the ministrations of Jenni, my attractive - and I think age-appropriate - English makeup woman (Who, between applying my "comb-over" and dealing with my forehead, had to spend a fair amount of time on me).
So, while I still long for the day I'll be "well-compensated" to actually act, any day where I make $1000 to have my picture taken belongs in the "win" column.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
The Wolfman Takes A Dip
Seems my desire to write in here has been blunted substantially now that there's no longer the lure of easy money...
Blunted, but not eliminated altogether.
Not too much going on in my "career" (Ooooh...putting "career" in quotes suggests I'm not feeling too positive about the state of things, doesn't it?). Though I was happy to get a second day of work out of the infomercial; seems they ran substantially short on their running time for the spot, so they needed to write some more pages to "stretch things out".
And Yours Truly was part of the stretching process.
(My initial un-happiness when I got the call about shooting some "pick-ups" had to do with an instant, irrational feeling that I "had done something wrong", that I hadn't been good enough, somehow. Which is stupid - needing to get "pick-ups" is on the director, not the actor - but there it was, hanging out in the stupid part of my brain.)
This second day of shooting was at the Director's house, just off Coldwater Canyon in Beverly Hills (Not a mansion or anything, but spacious and nicely appointed - impeccably decorated, with a pool and a view - representing a lifestyle to which I could easily become accustomed).
My bits were shot in and around the pool, which meant I had to do much of my work shirtless, a prospect I was pretty unhappy about going in (I'm a very hairy guy, something I've been sensitive about every since puberty struck, early and hard, when I was five or six years old).
But I did it, because that's what you do - I'm an actor (A middle aged, funny-looking, and yes, hairy actor), and vanity/insecurity/whatever you want to call it, doesn't really serve you well in that role.
Anyway, shooting the new stuff went very quickly - from call time to wrap, I was there for just two hours - and now I get to look forward to another check for another day's work.
So three cheers for "pick-ups"...!
Blunted, but not eliminated altogether.
Not too much going on in my "career" (Ooooh...putting "career" in quotes suggests I'm not feeling too positive about the state of things, doesn't it?). Though I was happy to get a second day of work out of the infomercial; seems they ran substantially short on their running time for the spot, so they needed to write some more pages to "stretch things out".
And Yours Truly was part of the stretching process.
(My initial un-happiness when I got the call about shooting some "pick-ups" had to do with an instant, irrational feeling that I "had done something wrong", that I hadn't been good enough, somehow. Which is stupid - needing to get "pick-ups" is on the director, not the actor - but there it was, hanging out in the stupid part of my brain.)
This second day of shooting was at the Director's house, just off Coldwater Canyon in Beverly Hills (Not a mansion or anything, but spacious and nicely appointed - impeccably decorated, with a pool and a view - representing a lifestyle to which I could easily become accustomed).
My bits were shot in and around the pool, which meant I had to do much of my work shirtless, a prospect I was pretty unhappy about going in (I'm a very hairy guy, something I've been sensitive about every since puberty struck, early and hard, when I was five or six years old).
But I did it, because that's what you do - I'm an actor (A middle aged, funny-looking, and yes, hairy actor), and vanity/insecurity/whatever you want to call it, doesn't really serve you well in that role.
Anyway, shooting the new stuff went very quickly - from call time to wrap, I was there for just two hours - and now I get to look forward to another check for another day's work.
So three cheers for "pick-ups"...!
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Television - Only My SECOND Biggest Addiction
I have no idea if anyone's still reading this blog - I'm guessing not - but it hardly matters: I journaled for years with no one reading what I wrote (long before the word "blog" was invented), so while a readership is nice, it's not strictly necessary.
As I write this, I'm looking at an envelope on which I've written the titles of everything I'm regularly watching on tv right now.
On Monday, I watch Terminator, Chuck, and Heroes (I tried My Own Worst Enemy, but don't feel the need to "put it in the rotation").
On Tuesday, I watch The Shield (For now - There's only three episodes left till the series finale).
On Wednesday, I watch Bones and Pushing Daisies.
On Thursday, I watch My Name Is Earl, Kath and Kim (I watched the pilot- which was terrible - then fast-forwarded through it last week - easier to do that than skip it when programming my dvr), The Office, 30 Rock, Ugly Betty, Grey's Anatomy, and Life On Mars. Big night.
On Friday I was watching The Ex-List...but it just got canceled
On Saturday I watch...nothing
And on Sunday I watch Desperate Housewives, Brothers & Sisters, and Mad Men (I also watch Dexter, but since I don't have Showtime, I watch it after the fact on the Internet).
I also watch Lost, Psych, Burn Notice, The Closer, Saving Grace, and In Plain Sight, none of which are on right now (I'm assuming the cable shows, which are all of them but Lost, will be back in January; I'm not sure when Lost is back).
Outside of those shows, I will watch House now and again (I just watched the most recent episode on Hulu), Monk, Jon and Kate plus 8, Family Guy, and - if I can stay awake for it - Robot Chicken.
I'm also a big fan of So You Think You Can Dance (But not Dancing With The Stars - I lost interest when John O'Hurley got robbed the first season).
I was watching Boston Legal till just this year, but it got too dumb for me, so I dropped it (Which I might do with Heroes as well, for pretty much the same reason).
Looking over this list of shows, the first thing I notice is that I don't seem to be a big fan of straight procedurals - No CSI's or Law & Order's on the list.
Also not a lot of "reality" (Other than Jon & Kate) - I gave it a try (I used to be a fan of The Real World years back, watched the first seasons of Survivor and Big Brother, and saw a season or two of Project Runway when a friend from Michigan used to send it to me on video before I got cable), but for the most part, "reality" doesn't give me what I need.
But the biggest thing of all I notice? Is that, while the shows I've listed represent hours and hours of tv watching (Not to mention all the "grazing" I do, and all the movies I watch on tv), I spend nowhere near as much time watching tv as I do on the Internet.
If you'd ever told me, back in the day, "You know what? Someday you'll spend more time playing on a computer than watching television", I would never have believed you.
Not in a million years.
Live and learn...
As I write this, I'm looking at an envelope on which I've written the titles of everything I'm regularly watching on tv right now.
On Monday, I watch Terminator, Chuck, and Heroes (I tried My Own Worst Enemy, but don't feel the need to "put it in the rotation").
On Tuesday, I watch The Shield (For now - There's only three episodes left till the series finale).
On Wednesday, I watch Bones and Pushing Daisies.
On Thursday, I watch My Name Is Earl, Kath and Kim (I watched the pilot- which was terrible - then fast-forwarded through it last week - easier to do that than skip it when programming my dvr), The Office, 30 Rock, Ugly Betty, Grey's Anatomy, and Life On Mars. Big night.
On Friday I was watching The Ex-List...but it just got canceled
On Saturday I watch...nothing
And on Sunday I watch Desperate Housewives, Brothers & Sisters, and Mad Men (I also watch Dexter, but since I don't have Showtime, I watch it after the fact on the Internet).
I also watch Lost, Psych, Burn Notice, The Closer, Saving Grace, and In Plain Sight, none of which are on right now (I'm assuming the cable shows, which are all of them but Lost, will be back in January; I'm not sure when Lost is back).
Outside of those shows, I will watch House now and again (I just watched the most recent episode on Hulu), Monk, Jon and Kate plus 8, Family Guy, and - if I can stay awake for it - Robot Chicken.
I'm also a big fan of So You Think You Can Dance (But not Dancing With The Stars - I lost interest when John O'Hurley got robbed the first season).
I was watching Boston Legal till just this year, but it got too dumb for me, so I dropped it (Which I might do with Heroes as well, for pretty much the same reason).
Looking over this list of shows, the first thing I notice is that I don't seem to be a big fan of straight procedurals - No CSI's or Law & Order's on the list.
Also not a lot of "reality" (Other than Jon & Kate) - I gave it a try (I used to be a fan of The Real World years back, watched the first seasons of Survivor and Big Brother, and saw a season or two of Project Runway when a friend from Michigan used to send it to me on video before I got cable), but for the most part, "reality" doesn't give me what I need.
But the biggest thing of all I notice? Is that, while the shows I've listed represent hours and hours of tv watching (Not to mention all the "grazing" I do, and all the movies I watch on tv), I spend nowhere near as much time watching tv as I do on the Internet.
If you'd ever told me, back in the day, "You know what? Someday you'll spend more time playing on a computer than watching television", I would never have believed you.
Not in a million years.
Live and learn...
Thursday, October 23, 2008
The Clock's Ticking...But This Year Ain't Over Yet
Since the infomercial shoot, things are slower than I'd like them to be here in Actor-land.
Granted, it's been less than a week-and-a-half since that happy experience.
But while you might think I'd still be "buzzed" over "that happy experience", I'm kind of over it at this point.
Cause life goes on, Jimmy needs cash, and I'm on a tight schedule - I've only booked three gigs so far this year, I want to do better than last year (when I booked six gigs), and I'm running out of year to work with - which means I need auditions raining down from the heavens, so I can book...
1) The national commercial that will keep me afloat for the next year or two.
2) That really nice co-star role on a hit show that will impress my friends and make casting directors take notice (Cause before next year's out, I want to start being in consideration for guest-star roles).
3) My first movie role, in something that will, again, "make casting directors take notice" when they look at my resume.
4) That elusive job, whatever it may be, that will be fun (i.e. something that would actually involve me acting), provide a great payday, and allow me to work with an actor (Or actors) I know and respect (I still haven't had all three of those things come together yet...but a man can dream, can't he?).
I had a commercial audition last Thursday (for Budweiser), and one for Time Warner Cable yesterday.
In acting terms, they're nothing. But as I've said a number of times before, "If you're looking to commercials to satisfy your acting itch, you're an idiot" (Well, I don't know think I've put it quite that way before...but that's what I meant).
So sue me - I'm still an idiot, almost eight years down the road, because I always hope, going into any given commercial audition, that I'll be the "hero" in the spot, that it'll involve me playing some kind of "character", perhaps to humorous effect, and that I'll get that nice, "getting well-paid for doing something really fun" feeling I've been seeking since Day One.
Neither spot is that spot...but that doesn't mean I don't want to book them (Especially Budweiser, since that's a national).
Cause if I book then, they'll pay me.
And money is cool.
But beyond the making of money - and keeping homelessness at bay and all that - I really do want something to happen before the year is out that makes me feel like I really did something (Working with John Cleese was cool; working with John Cleese, or someone like him, in something people would actually want to see, and making a profit off it, would be cooler still).
It feels as if the year is coming to an end.
But I don't want to write the year off just yet.
I just want a few more good things to happen. I want to end on a high note, a hopeful note, a note that tells me, "Things are looking up".
Don't let me down, 2008...
Granted, it's been less than a week-and-a-half since that happy experience.
But while you might think I'd still be "buzzed" over "that happy experience", I'm kind of over it at this point.
Cause life goes on, Jimmy needs cash, and I'm on a tight schedule - I've only booked three gigs so far this year, I want to do better than last year (when I booked six gigs), and I'm running out of year to work with - which means I need auditions raining down from the heavens, so I can book...
1) The national commercial that will keep me afloat for the next year or two.
2) That really nice co-star role on a hit show that will impress my friends and make casting directors take notice (Cause before next year's out, I want to start being in consideration for guest-star roles).
3) My first movie role, in something that will, again, "make casting directors take notice" when they look at my resume.
4) That elusive job, whatever it may be, that will be fun (i.e. something that would actually involve me acting), provide a great payday, and allow me to work with an actor (Or actors) I know and respect (I still haven't had all three of those things come together yet...but a man can dream, can't he?).
I had a commercial audition last Thursday (for Budweiser), and one for Time Warner Cable yesterday.
In acting terms, they're nothing. But as I've said a number of times before, "If you're looking to commercials to satisfy your acting itch, you're an idiot" (Well, I don't know think I've put it quite that way before...but that's what I meant).
So sue me - I'm still an idiot, almost eight years down the road, because I always hope, going into any given commercial audition, that I'll be the "hero" in the spot, that it'll involve me playing some kind of "character", perhaps to humorous effect, and that I'll get that nice, "getting well-paid for doing something really fun" feeling I've been seeking since Day One.
Neither spot is that spot...but that doesn't mean I don't want to book them (Especially Budweiser, since that's a national).
Cause if I book then, they'll pay me.
And money is cool.
But beyond the making of money - and keeping homelessness at bay and all that - I really do want something to happen before the year is out that makes me feel like I really did something (Working with John Cleese was cool; working with John Cleese, or someone like him, in something people would actually want to see, and making a profit off it, would be cooler still).
It feels as if the year is coming to an end.
But I don't want to write the year off just yet.
I just want a few more good things to happen. I want to end on a high note, a hopeful note, a note that tells me, "Things are looking up".
Don't let me down, 2008...
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Slapping John Cleese
My infomercial shoot with John Cleese was yesterday, in Pasadena (The product we were infomercial-ing for, for those of you interested in such things, was The Book Of Inside Information. But we could have been selling Crack For Kids, for all I cared - I was just psyched to be working with John Cleese.).
My call time was 10:30 a.m. And as I like to do for these things, I gave myself a lot of travel time - So much so that I got there a half-hour early, even after missing an exit and driving around Pasadena for a time.
(I often have some "directional drama" in getting to shoots - I'm a man badly in need of a GPS. But this time, the drama was due to a flaw in the directions and not the flaw in my brain; a fellow actor told me a number of people made the same mistake I did - following the directions we'd been given - with the same exit-missing, driving-around-Pasadena result).
Once I arrived at "base camp", there really wasn't anything for me to do - my scene as "Gas Station Manager" didn't shoot till after lunch - so I basically just "hung out", drinking Diet Coke, writing in my "book journal", and chatting at length with "Chriss" (And yes, I'm spelling his name correctly), the actor playing the "Bookstore Manager", in a scene that shot right after mine.
I'm not sure exactly what time it was, but maybe an hour-and-a-half or so after I got there, a van pulled into base camp, and John Cleese emerged (They'd just finished shooting a scene at a nearby grocery store).
When we made eye-contact at one point, I smiled at him, clearly recognizing him, and he gave me a wink.
He came over to where Chriss and I and a group of extras were gathered, but no formal introductions were made - We just made small talk about, honestly, I don't remember what (Except I do remember he was annoyed with the clasp on his watch band, and how badly it was designed).
When he retired to his trailer (He was the only one who had one), Chriss and I giggled like little girls over the fact that we were actually working with John Cleese.
Intellectually, I'd known I was "excited" to be working with someone like John Cleese. But it's one thing to know it, and quite another to actually be on the set, and "there he is...and I just talked with him, like we were just a couple actors on a shoot....!" (It was all I could do afterward not to squeal with delight).
Then we had lunch (I had salad, chicken, and more Diet Coke; I really wanted dessert - pumpkin pie - but I refrained).
My scene was the first thing up after lunch, so in short order, I was made-up, put in wardrobe, then driven to the location (a nearby Shell station).
It took a little while for them to set things up, but not that long - after they figured out how they wanted to block the scene for camera, they had me run through it with John's stand-in, and when the Director was happy with it, they called John to the set.
When he got out of the van, he approached me, we shook hands, and that was when I actually introduced myself.
He said, in a haughty tone, "Well, I certainly hope you're quaking in your boots, working with a big international superstar like me" (Or words very much to that effect).
I smiled at him and said, "I sure am".
Then he said, "Now I want you to slap my face".
Which threw me a bit (I wanted to be agreeable, but at the same time, I didn't want to break the star), so I gave him the very lightest pat on the cheek I could manage.
To which he responded, "Harder than that...".
I said, "What is this, Raging Bull?". But I patted his cheek, a little more firmly this time, and he was satisfied - "I just wanted you to know that you can knock me about...".
(I thought about it afterward; What would it be like, to be so famous, so beloved, that part of your job on a set is to calm down the other actors you're working with, because they're that excited to be working with you?)
At one point, he conferred with the director, then came back to me to tell me they were changing the script - He'd decided one of my lines was redundant, too much like stuff in other scenes (Which it was). He was also changing my first cue (Instead of asking me "Are your prices up or down?", he was changing the line to "Are your prices up...or are they up?". Which I actually thought didn't make sense in the context of the scene...but I certainly wasn't going to argue the point, since he's John Cleese and I'm not).
They walked him through what he was supposed to do a couple times (At one point, there was a bit of tension, because he was using a teleprompter, and he wasn't happy that it was mounted on top of the camera - He was concerned about the "eyeline" and thought he'd look as if he were reading), we did one or two run-throughs together, then we started shooting.
I wasn't keeping count, but beyond having to stop a couple times for technical issues (Extraneous noise and such), and once because John blew a line, I don't think we did more than three complete takes before they'd gotten what they wanted (As the director and crew were conferring as to whether the last take had been the take, John looked over at me and nodded his head, as if to say, "Yeah, that was the one". Which, frankly, made me want to break into song).
They briefly debated whether or not they needed to get any single shots of me, but decided it wasn't necessary, that the funny stuff was us being in the shot together...and we were done.
All told, the actual filming had taken maybe twenty minutes or so. It was over much too soon (Even John joked afterward, "That's it...?").
Everybody seemed very happy with me - I got lots of pats-on-the-back - and that made me very happy with me.
So my bit was done, and they were done with that location, so we got in the van to go back to base camp.
I was in the front seat, when to everyone's surprise, John came over, to ride back in the van with the rest of us.
(I got out to give him the front seat, but he piled in the back, and we were off.)
Back at base camp, we were kind of milling about - I was waiting to be checked out - and I told John I'd just watched the YouTube video of him talking about Sarah Palin (He's not a fan), which led to him doing a performance, just for Yours Truly, of the poem he'd recently written about Sean Hannity (Afterward he said, "Pretty good, huh? Rhymes and everything").
And that was the end of my time with John Cleese.
In very short order, I was signed out, and winging my way homeward (Happily, without directional incident).
All-in-all, a very good day.
I'll probably write more about this tomorrow - I actually want to write about "Chriss", who recently played a major role in An American Carol (He played JFK) - but for now, I think I'm going to see what's on the tee-vee...
My call time was 10:30 a.m. And as I like to do for these things, I gave myself a lot of travel time - So much so that I got there a half-hour early, even after missing an exit and driving around Pasadena for a time.
(I often have some "directional drama" in getting to shoots - I'm a man badly in need of a GPS. But this time, the drama was due to a flaw in the directions and not the flaw in my brain; a fellow actor told me a number of people made the same mistake I did - following the directions we'd been given - with the same exit-missing, driving-around-Pasadena result).
Once I arrived at "base camp", there really wasn't anything for me to do - my scene as "Gas Station Manager" didn't shoot till after lunch - so I basically just "hung out", drinking Diet Coke, writing in my "book journal", and chatting at length with "Chriss" (And yes, I'm spelling his name correctly), the actor playing the "Bookstore Manager", in a scene that shot right after mine.
I'm not sure exactly what time it was, but maybe an hour-and-a-half or so after I got there, a van pulled into base camp, and John Cleese emerged (They'd just finished shooting a scene at a nearby grocery store).
When we made eye-contact at one point, I smiled at him, clearly recognizing him, and he gave me a wink.
He came over to where Chriss and I and a group of extras were gathered, but no formal introductions were made - We just made small talk about, honestly, I don't remember what (Except I do remember he was annoyed with the clasp on his watch band, and how badly it was designed).
When he retired to his trailer (He was the only one who had one), Chriss and I giggled like little girls over the fact that we were actually working with John Cleese.
Intellectually, I'd known I was "excited" to be working with someone like John Cleese. But it's one thing to know it, and quite another to actually be on the set, and "there he is...and I just talked with him, like we were just a couple actors on a shoot....!" (It was all I could do afterward not to squeal with delight).
Then we had lunch (I had salad, chicken, and more Diet Coke; I really wanted dessert - pumpkin pie - but I refrained).
My scene was the first thing up after lunch, so in short order, I was made-up, put in wardrobe, then driven to the location (a nearby Shell station).
It took a little while for them to set things up, but not that long - after they figured out how they wanted to block the scene for camera, they had me run through it with John's stand-in, and when the Director was happy with it, they called John to the set.
When he got out of the van, he approached me, we shook hands, and that was when I actually introduced myself.
He said, in a haughty tone, "Well, I certainly hope you're quaking in your boots, working with a big international superstar like me" (Or words very much to that effect).
I smiled at him and said, "I sure am".
Then he said, "Now I want you to slap my face".
Which threw me a bit (I wanted to be agreeable, but at the same time, I didn't want to break the star), so I gave him the very lightest pat on the cheek I could manage.
To which he responded, "Harder than that...".
I said, "What is this, Raging Bull?". But I patted his cheek, a little more firmly this time, and he was satisfied - "I just wanted you to know that you can knock me about...".
(I thought about it afterward; What would it be like, to be so famous, so beloved, that part of your job on a set is to calm down the other actors you're working with, because they're that excited to be working with you?)
At one point, he conferred with the director, then came back to me to tell me they were changing the script - He'd decided one of my lines was redundant, too much like stuff in other scenes (Which it was). He was also changing my first cue (Instead of asking me "Are your prices up or down?", he was changing the line to "Are your prices up...or are they up?". Which I actually thought didn't make sense in the context of the scene...but I certainly wasn't going to argue the point, since he's John Cleese and I'm not).
They walked him through what he was supposed to do a couple times (At one point, there was a bit of tension, because he was using a teleprompter, and he wasn't happy that it was mounted on top of the camera - He was concerned about the "eyeline" and thought he'd look as if he were reading), we did one or two run-throughs together, then we started shooting.
I wasn't keeping count, but beyond having to stop a couple times for technical issues (Extraneous noise and such), and once because John blew a line, I don't think we did more than three complete takes before they'd gotten what they wanted (As the director and crew were conferring as to whether the last take had been the take, John looked over at me and nodded his head, as if to say, "Yeah, that was the one". Which, frankly, made me want to break into song).
They briefly debated whether or not they needed to get any single shots of me, but decided it wasn't necessary, that the funny stuff was us being in the shot together...and we were done.
All told, the actual filming had taken maybe twenty minutes or so. It was over much too soon (Even John joked afterward, "That's it...?").
Everybody seemed very happy with me - I got lots of pats-on-the-back - and that made me very happy with me.
So my bit was done, and they were done with that location, so we got in the van to go back to base camp.
I was in the front seat, when to everyone's surprise, John came over, to ride back in the van with the rest of us.
(I got out to give him the front seat, but he piled in the back, and we were off.)
Back at base camp, we were kind of milling about - I was waiting to be checked out - and I told John I'd just watched the YouTube video of him talking about Sarah Palin (He's not a fan), which led to him doing a performance, just for Yours Truly, of the poem he'd recently written about Sean Hannity (Afterward he said, "Pretty good, huh? Rhymes and everything").
And that was the end of my time with John Cleese.
In very short order, I was signed out, and winging my way homeward (Happily, without directional incident).
All-in-all, a very good day.
I'll probably write more about this tomorrow - I actually want to write about "Chriss", who recently played a major role in An American Carol (He played JFK) - but for now, I think I'm going to see what's on the tee-vee...
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