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...

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...

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...

Ok, Maybe AFTRA Isn't SO Bad...

The day after I went to the AFTRA office and was told I had to pay the whole initiation fee before working yesterday's job, I got a call from the membership office - Turns out, I didn't have to pay the entire membership fee in advance, and could have just signed over my session fee towards membership.

It makes me a little embarrassed that I forwarded my last entry, in its entirety, to AFTRA.

(Kids, let this be a lesson to you - DON'T EMAIL ANGRY.)

Anyway, I had some email back and forth with Vince Albrigo, who apparently runs the "membership" end of things at AFTRA, and I think where we left it was that they're going to refund the difference between my session fee and the $1300-and-change I shelled out.

(I'm going to email Mr A. and make sure what I think happened actually happened. But long story short, it would seem that yesterday's gig, in financial terms, was a wash. Which is at least better than taking a financial hit for doing a gig.)

Sunday, October 12, 2008

AFTRA Tells Me To Bend Over And Grab My Ankles

I don't like AFTRA.

I didn't like them before I went down to the AFTRA office on Friday - You might say I've "drank the SAG Kool-Aid", but I truly believe they've sold the actors they supposedly work for down the river by consistently undercutting SAG on contracts - and I liked them even less afterward.

One of the few things actors like about AFTRA (And it's "one of the few things" because, after all, what struggling actor wants to work and make less than they'd make under a SAG contract?), is that "at least you don't have to pay the full initiation fee up-front" (When you book your second AFTRA job); if you don't have the money to pay the $1300 (And many actors don't), they'll take it out of your session fees.

That's what I'd heard, anyway.

Now granted, I was hoping to hold even that off for awhile, since things are "tight" (and getting tighter by the day), and I could really use the "session fee" for this job on Tuesday. But if pressed, I would have seen having to sign it over as an unpleasant, but not completely unreasonable, reality.

But no, the option to "pay as you go", so to speak, is only available on certain contracts (Like with Soap Operas, for example), and not on the type of job I'm doing - the agreement the producers of this infomercial had to sign with AFTRA stated that they will only hire AFTRA actors who are "paid in full".

No humanity. No "wiggle room". No compromise. No acknowledgment that most actors are lucky to make a couple thousand dollars from acting in any given year.

Just "pay up".

The struggles of actors are really of no importance to the producers (It's not like they couldn't find someone else to do what I'm going to do on Tuesday), and AFTRA couldn't care less - It just wants its money (As I said to them while I was at the office, feeling more than a little bitter about the whole business, "To me, you're just another big organization designed to separate me from my money").

The only person that gets hurt here is Yours Truly, who is in the crazy position of either being a struggling actor and turning down work (Because it doesn't make financial sense to accept it), or else taking the job...for an $800 loss. A loss that makes difficult times just that much more difficult.

(I'm going to net about $500 for the job; AFTRA membership and six-month dues cost me $1363.)

And for the poisoned cherry on top - I had to pay the six-month dues, but since we're at the end of a dues cycle, I'll have to pay it all over again next month.

(Cut me a break under the circumstances? Pro-rate the dues, which seems, again, like a reasonable compromise? Of course not - It's just about getting their money.)

If you sense I'm fuming here, you sense correctly. Getting work is supposed to be a happy thing for an actor - Being a professional actor is mostly about getting rejected, about being an also-ran. But every so often, you win the prize.

Who knew this prize was going to mean going $800+ into the hole?

Friday, October 10, 2008

Representin'

Well, this isn't as clearly a positive development as booking the John Cleese thing (More on that in a moment), but it still feels like a "step in the right direction" (And it could be a much bigger deal in the long run) - On Wednesday, I signed with a new theatrical agency.

Long story short, I'm just not getting out enough. And auditions are the name of the game - I've confident that, if you get me out often enough, I'll book.

But I've gotta get out Pure and simple.

And Brett, my Manager, was still securing more auditions for me than Vicki L./Direct Talent (My Agent).

The goal is to find an agent that gets me out so much I don't need Brett, who's functioned more as a quasi-agent, submitting me for things, than an actual manager (Which begs the question - Why am I paying him 15% for doing the work of an agent who would get 10%?).

(What makes that last bit - the desire to kick Brett to the curb - a little "awkward", is that the meeting with this new agency - Actors LA - came about as a result of the "Manager-Palooza" thing Brett attended a couple weeks ago; they looked over his "stable", and I was one of the people they wanted to call in.)

Anyway, I had the meeting Wednesday afternoon, in North Hollywood.

They liked me, I liked them, and most importantly, they seemed very confident they'd be able to get me out (Did I mention earlier how that's "the name of the game"?).

They wanted me to sign "across the board" (Meaning commercially and theatrically), but I've had a fair amount of success with JS (My commercial agent), so I wasn't up for that (Which seemed to give them pause, but they didn't argue the point too hard).

They also debated with themselves about signing me when they've got "Frank", an actor who's apparently like-me-but-not-exactly-like-me, before determining that they've been a little disappointed with old Frank anyway (Apparently, he's not booking as much as they'd hoped).

They'd already seen my reel, but I guess to make sure they weren't buying a pig-in-a-poke, they asked if I had a monologue I could show them (I did part of the opening bit from The Good Doctor, and they were satisfied).

I actually signed a one-year contract with them, which is a new thing for me - I don't have written contracts with anyone else on my "team" - but I'm okay with that; they're SAG-Franchised, so it's a standard contract, and it has a four-month "out clause" (Which I assume goes both ways) in case things don't work out.

Anyway, I feel hopeful about it.

And right now, hope is "the name of the game".
_________________________

A short time ago, I was recharging my cell, and when I finished, I saw I had a couple voicemails.

There's mild trouble in John Cleese Informercial Land.

Basically, I need to sign up with AFTRA, to be signed up with AFTRA, before the shoot on Tuesday.

My understanding - backed up by Brett - is that typically you can do the AFTRA paperwork on the set; you fill it out along with the normal W-2 stuff (Which is why Brett told me I could just go, fill out my paperwork, and just not fill out the form signing over my paycheck to AFTRA).

But apparently this production company is new or new-ish, hasn't had a lot of dealing with AFTRA, and doesn't know the drill.

So now I'm going to have to go down to AFTRA and sign up with them directly.

I talked to Brett, and he told me not to pay them anything when I do, but I don't know how I'll proceed if they tell me I have to, or they won't let me do the gig.

In a word? Fuck...!

(But let us assume we are all reasonable people here, and that there'll will be a way things can work out to satisfy all parties. Yes, let us assume that.)

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Booked It!

Got a call late yesterday afternoon from my manager - I booked the infomercial with John Cleese.

It was a lovely surprise, because I'd reached the point where I was, while still trying to "hold out hope", pretty sure that ship had sailed.

Turned out it had not.

It shoots this coming Tuesday, and right now, that's pretty much all I know.

As I've said before, it's an AFTRA gig, so the money is not great - we're definitely not talking about a "game-changer" here - but it's money I didn't have before, it allows me to "get the ball a little further down-field", and that's good enough for now.

And beyond the most immediate issue of "the money", who knows what positive effect this could have on my career? Maybe none...but I have to believe starting to get work involving famous people like John Cleese is a step in the right direction.

Feels good to win one!

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Call Me Pollyanna

When I started this blog, I hoped for a couple things:

1. To be reporting on lots of auditions and bookings.

2. To be making some money (From the ad thing).

Now money is off the table (I know - I've got the little Paypal "donate" thing up, but I'm not expecting anything from that), and auditions and bookings have been so rare this year, I'm wondering if I'm still actually an actor.

And I haven't worked since May, I have a job (With Weight Watchers) that it turns out doesn't come with regular shifts or hours (At this point, I'm a "sub")...and the money just keeps draining away.

And I'm having pain in my lower abdomen; nothing serious (At this point, it's more "discomfort" than actual pain), but since the first time I felt "discomfort" like this (In the 80s) I had a hernia, and the second time (A couple years ago), I had to have a bowel resection and spent a week in the hospital...well, let's just say I'm a little concerned.

(Called earlier this afternoon to make a Doctor's appointment; I'm waiting to hear back, to see if he can "fit me in" this week. Otherwise, I'll have to wait till sometime next week.)

In short, there have been better times to be me.

But, to be fair, there have also been worse times to be me.

But "keeping my sunny-side up", I'm not out of funds yet.

And there's every reason to hope Weight Watchers will pan out better than I'm imagining right now

And there's always the hope of "getting a check in the mail" - Either from JS (For the AT&T spot, or for a renewal of the Comcast promos), From SAG (a residual check from one of my co-star spots), or from Coldstone (I filed a claim with SAG because Coldstone ran my commercial on their website past my contract's expiration date).

And even though the pickings have been sparse, there's still always a shot at getting more auditions, or booking something from the dribs and drabs I'm getting now (Booking anything would be helpful, to be sure. But in pure financial terms, a national commercial would be "just what the doctor ordered").

And regarding my mystery abdominal pain?

Well, I can always hope it's "nothing".

And if it isn't?

At least I have insurance(Till this coming July).

And that, my friends, is how a struggling actor holds off panic and fear for another day...

Thursday, October 2, 2008

A Strike? Now? Really?

Just got an email from my commercial agent about the SAG negotiating committee calling for a strike authorization vote.

My first response was, "Now...?".

I am not at all well-versed in how to negotiate, but I just can't see how a strike would be successful right now - with the WGA strike, and the SAG/AMPTP uncertainty, and the economy, and whatever else has been going on, I've had a dismal year (in terms of auditions and bookings), and I'm pretty sure I'm not alone here.

So how are you going to get the rank-and-file to even go for a strike vote? What do you expect them to say - "Yeah, it's been an awful year, and I'm really hurting, but sure - I'll vote to assure I won't make any money from acting for who-knows-how-long"?

I actually agree with SAG on the issues, as I understand them. But when all the AMPTP has to do is say "Look at the economy - it's as bad as it's ever been, and these rich, greedy actors still want more money...", and SAG won't have a friend in the world, how exactly does a strike succeed?
_________________________

While it could still happen - the "hold" is for the 13th-17th of the month - hope wanes that the infomercial with John Cleese is going to turn into an actual gig.

And even if it did, it would just be a band-aid over what's becoming the gaping wound of my finances.
_________________________

I tried yesterday, on a whim (And without success), to look at a cheaper apartment about a 40-minute walk from where I live (It was the first day on the job for the apartment manager, and she apparently didn't have keys for the apartments yet. Which seemed odd, but whatever).

It's a crappier building, in a sketchier area, and undoubtedly, an apartment I'd be much less comfortable in (A "bachelor", as opposed to the comparatively spacious "single" I've lived in for the past six years or so), but the price would be right - almost $190 a month less than I'm paying now (Under those circumstances, what I'm now paying for rent alone would cover all my monthly bills, except for food).

And what's this have to do with acting, you're wondering?

From my perspective, it feels like an object lesson about how an acting career can wax and wane, and how there are just no guarantees; last year I was, in relative terms, "on top", and now...I'm having to consider moving from an apartment I'm very comfortable and happy with, to someplace that will definitely be a step (or three) down, just to be able to "stay in the fight".
_________________________

I emailed my commercial agent a response to his FYI about the SAG thing, pretty much expressing the sentiments about a possible strike that I just shared with you.

He just emailed me back:

I HEAR YA AND I'M RIGHT THERE WITH YA!

On one hand, I believe that the actors deserve what they're asking for but on the other hand, I think it's just the wrong time to strike.

Things are not great in our industry. The "big guns" continue to get wealthier and everyone else gets to scramble for the scraps.

You're a good type and a talented actor so I do hope you work things out to your personal satisfaction and continue pursuing your acting career. There are many actors that I would encourage to pack-it-in and head outta dodge but you're most definitely not one of them!

I hope to keep JS afloat by keeping my roster lean and my overhead even leaner!

Jon

(I like my commercial agent.)

There's really nothing to do here but hang on, hope for the best, and do what I gotta do till the storm blows over.

Wish me luck. Cause I could use some right about now.