Robots in Disguise

Posted on November 27, 2008

I was so excited about booking Monster.com that I forgot to mention that I auditioned for Transformers 2 yesterday.  A Voice-over at I7.  How freakin’ cool would that be?  It was for two different parts, both with English accents.  They’ll probably get authentic Brits for the parts, and I’m up against a buncha other dudes, but still, this 80’s child was pretty stoked to even get the opportunity to read for it.  I had a VO at I7 today as well for an Old Navy commercial.  I would use all of the money to stop the sweatshops that they use to make their products…well, some of it, anyway.

I just want to say how thankful I am for this website and the blogging.  I am so glad that you guys are journeying down this path with me.  It is my hope that you will be joyful with me in the good times and remain hopeful for me during rejections.  Successes, failures, ups, downs, and all-arounds.  It’s a tough road at times, but a great one, and I am so blessed not to be going down it alone.  Thanks for taking the time to read, and again, have a great Thanksgiving!

I BOOKED IT!!!

Posted on November 26, 2008

I booked the Monster.com spot!!!  I can’t wait to shoot it.  Wardrobe is Dec. 2nd and we shoot Dec. 6th.  Thanks to all of you who were thinking good thoughts and saying prayers for me.  I really appreciate it.

To be honest, the last few days have been grueling.  I had hope, but was losing it by the hour.  I have this idea in my head that after you get put on avail, you find out the next day whether or not you booked it.  Obviously, that is not the case.

It kinda sucks to be blogging and not know what to say, but here I am.  I am very thankful…which I suppose is the order of the week.  Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

AVAIL!!!…and William H. Macy

Posted on November 22, 2008

I got put on avail for the monster.com job!  Hooray!!!  I hope I book it.  It’s a great national spot and it would be a shot in the arm for the ongoing debt battle.  I had the callback today, too.  It went pretty well.  I was the last guy that they saw for my part.  I did it once and then the director gave me some pretty awesome direction, and I did it again.  ”Thanks a lot,” he said in a British accent.  And that was that.

I never know.  I felt so good about the LG callback last week and then nuthin’.  Today I felt okay and then whammo!  Mom said she was gonna pray for me so I guess that did it.

Later this afternoon, my phone rang during a VO audition for the new Dead to Rights video game (which I would LOVE to work on, by the way) at I7.  It was on vibrate…I’m a professional, you know.  I checked it later, and one of the lovely ladies at Independent Artists said that monster.com wanted to put me on avail!!!  Pretty crazy having the callback and then getting an avail within hours.  Let’s hope that’s a good sign!

However, something almost as awesome occurred at I7 this afternoon.  I met William H. Macy!!!!  This is a dream come true for me on a number of levels.  The Coen brothers are probably my favorite filmmakers (he was in Fargo), his versatile work with David Mamet (a playwright who has altered the landscape of American acting and theatre) has been an inspiration to me, and I did background (fancy for extra) work and got into SAG on Spartan, a Mamet film that Macy worked on.

He was REALLY friendly, whistling a tune when he came in.  I didn’t speak to him while I waited to record my audition.  My damn nerves.  I thought, “He’s a colleague, I’m a professional.  I can’t just gush over this guy whose career I admire and talent I hope to emulate.”  After my audition, I had to pee cause, well, it’s a long drive back to Pasadena on a Friday at 4 p.m.  When I dropped the restroom key back in the office he was coming out of the booth having finished recording his audition.

Thankfully, the elevators at my agency take eons to arrive, so I thrust out a sweaty palm and introduced myself.  ”Bill Macy, nice to meet you,” he replied.  I told him that I was a big fan of his work, and that I loved the stuff that Mamet had done (most of which he was a part of).  I named dropped a couple of Chicago guys, and as the elevator began it’s descent, we chit chatted about films and Mamet.  A great 2 1/2 minutes!

It is an awkward situation, though.  Maybe, God willing, someday I’ll see it from his perspective, but I had to say SOMETHING.  I would have HATED myself later, and this entry would be remorseful.  See, you don’t wanna be some tool that he probably runs into every day that can’t remember his name and, while drooling, says, “Hey, you’re that guy from that movie!”  But you don’t want to be this young douchebag who yaks up his afternoon and makes him totally uncomfortable.  Respect and humility are called for.  I expressed them, and though I wasn’t invited over to dinner, I think I handled it well.  I hope that he was encouraged.  Maybe he was kind of blue (I doubt it because of the whistling) and my little comments and conversation lifted his step a bit.  It certainly did mine.  Ah well.

Monster.com who you gonna Callback

Posted on November 21, 2008

I got a callback tomorrow for montser.com.  Yowzah!  I hope I can knock their socks off and act as a beacon to the unemployed during these harsh economic times.  There’s 6 shoot days, too, which would make Christmas a little extra special indeed.

I also had a VO today for 21st Century insurance.  Ernie Hudson (AKA Winston from Ghostbuster’s) is repped by my VO agent (I7) and was in the office today.  Being an 80’s baby, I just like it when he’s in the room.  Gives me this sense that even if there’s something weird, and it don’t look good, I’d be able to call out and he’d make it right, you know?

Monster.com

Posted on November 17, 2008

Last Friday I had an audition for monster.com at 200 S. La Brea.  I played a construction worker who is walking a beam and is scared to death.

I felt okay about my audition.  Just okay.  I love physical comedy and it had some of that in there.  You had to say before the slate (SLATE (n.) When you say your name for the camera before an audition and turn to the right and left for profile shots.) if you were a stuntman or not.  That sounds cool.  I’m not a stuntman, and they will most likely cast one for insurance purposes or cost effectiveness, I’m thinking.

But feeling okay about a commercial audition is not a bad thing.  I’ve booked quite a few feeling okay or even badly about the first audition.  What sucks is when you feel great through the whole process and then don’t get it. (LG last week, for instance) That’s when you forget that this is basically a lottery.  Even though you’ve got incredible acting chops and are trained to the nines, in the end, some ad agency chunch can ax you because you look like the dude who stole his girlfriend back in high school.

I also had a VO audition at I7.  It was for a Cartoon network animated short.  Man, I want to be a cartoon so badly!  I freakin’ love coming up with the voices and auditioning for these projects.  I’m just up against a ton of other guys, I think.  Not to mention that they say voice-over is the 2nd hardest area of the biz to break into.  Jingle singers are 1st believe it or not.  They don’t let ANY outsiders in there.  It’s like the mafia.  These 5 families have been doing it since the old radio days.

Feeling pretty good, though.  My dad saw my commercial on Sunday and texted me how proud he was.  Yea, my dad rocks…he texts.  It also makes a son feel pretty great to make his dad proud.

The waiting is the hardest part

Posted on November 11, 2008

So, you’ve had a good audition, a great callback…now what?  You wait.

Much of the life of an actor depends on hearing the ring of a trusty cell phone.  In this respect, ringtones are crucial.  Today I have a voice-over at I7 (my agency) and then one at Voicecasters this afternoon.  In the meantime I am led to preoccupy my time with just about anything other than checking my cell to see if my agent calls to put me on avail.

AVAIL: (n.) short for availability. The actor must clear his/her schedule on the day of the shoot.  Chances are, it is between you and one other person.

So, you get a call putting you on avail, and then you wait some more.  Then your agent calls and says you rock! In a downward spiral of an economy, you’ve got work.  Hopefully that happens.  When it does it is bliss.

Pull up a chair and grab a bag of popcorn.  We’ll see if I get put on avail.  I would probably hear today or tomorrow.  If you don’t hear back on it…my cell phone probably didn’t ring.  As for now, I’m eating a hope-cream cone with wishful sprinkles.

Only in L.A.

Posted on November 11, 2008

I forgot to mention that when I came out of the audition, before I got my ticket (and this plays into the grand humor of it all) I was waved down by this Indian dude with a turban sitting at the bus stop.  He stopped me and said, “You are very lucky, my friend.  I can tell by your forehead.”  I was like what in the world….  Then he said the the past 2 years have been slow, though.  Then he asked for my hand and said that he could show me more.

Immediately my southern Bible belt slapped me and said that tarot card and palm readers are from Lucifer or whatever so I shook him off and said, “No thanks, have a good day,” or whatever.  But it got me to thinking.  I bet at some point he was gonna ask for money for reading my palm.  That’s a pretty good gig.  Standing outside a casting studio, telling all these actors that they’re lucky, and that the past 2 years have been slow, but things will change.  Pretty genius if you asked me.  He even had a little protege there.  About my age, learnin’ the grift.

Funny, I just heard how lucky I was, and then I saw the ticket.  How’s that for irony.

LG Callback

Posted on November 10, 2008

So, I got a callback for that LG commercial!  I had the callback today and it went great.  I was a little miffed when I went to put my contacts in (I normally wear glasses for those of you that don’t know) and one of them was ripped.  But one was good.  So I did it with one contact.  And I’m pretty blind.  I even started getting a queasy stomach after a bit from the weird unbalanced depth perception thing.

I blame this mishap for a parking ticket as well.  Yup.  I got one.  That little red devil under my wiper when I got back.  Feels so violating.  Gambling is a tax for people not good at math and parking tickets are a tax for actor’s who are blind in one eye.  Sheesh.

The waiting room was pretty heavy.  Tons of guys my type that I have seen a million times before.  In commercials I went out for, or just at auditions.  All awesome commercial dudes that I bet any one of you would recognize.  We would all be best friend’s in any other circumstance, but sizing each other up in the waiting room is torture.  Thoughts come up like, “Oh, he’ll get it, he wore a tie,” or “oh, he’ll get it, his hair looks so cool,” or “he’s laughing with the casting director, I bet he gets it.”  Yea, it sucks.  I feel like a teenage girl thinking about who’s fat and why.  I usually try to start conversation with them just to throw the human element in there.  Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.

The audition itself went pretty well.  The director was very into it and gave me a lot of direction.  I had her laughing from time to time, and all of her feedback was pretty great.  We’ll see.  Say a couple of prayers for me.

Launch

Posted on November 7, 2008

Welcome again to my site!  I am glad to finally have some real estate here in cyberspace.  It is my hope that this site will be a promotional tool for my career and also a place where those that wish to, can check my blog and see what’s going on.  I am going to attempt to post a new blog on Fridays, but if I feel the need to rant or rave, it may be more frequent or less.  I am so blessed to have had such a successful run at it up until this point, and I hope it continues.

Currently, I am seeking management representation.  So, if you are a manager, or know of a good one, I would love to set up a meeting.  I have great agency representation for commercials, theatrical, and voice-over, but I would love to take it to the next level by bringing a manager to the team.  I also need assistance organizing auditions which can sometimes overlap.  You can email me through the contact page on this site.  I look forward to hearing from you!

On Wednesday, I had 3 auditions!  A voiceover for Honda at Elaine Craig, an on-camera commercial audition for LG at Liz Paulson, and a Co-star audition for “Surviving Suburbia” the new Bob Sagat sitcom on the CW at GO Casting.  I felt pretty good about all of them.  All were comedic and played to my strengths.  Let’s hope for call-backs and bookings.  Yesterday, I had a voiceover audition for Burger King at I7.

I would like to thank my good friend Luke Gschwend for his unending help in building the site.  It wouldn’t have been possible without him.

Again, I’m so excited for this new opportunity with the site.  Check back in anytime and shoot me an email from the contact page.  Have a great weekend!!!

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