Screen Actors Guild

My 6 month adventure in Hollywood has reached another milestone as I've joined SAG - the Screen Actors Guild. Down the road, this will hopefully mean I will be covered under their health insurance ;) But, for now this is a big step for me, as many TV shows and films are filmed under union contracts, which means they must hire union actors. Also, most theatrical (TV/Film) agents will only look at actors who are already members of the union, so from that standpoint being SAG should help as I begin my search. But, it is certainly not a given that having union status will allow me to get a good theatrical agent. It is extremely tough to get one -- most want to see some good TV/film credits. Of course, it's hard to get such credits without an agent getting you those elusive auditions. A true Catch-22...

Also, there is the potential union work stoppage, as SAG tries to get a new contract done with the studios/producers before the current contract expires at the end of the month. A strike would not be so good for me right now, but I do hope the union holds out for a fair deal. So, please keep your fingers crossed as both sides return to the negotiating table next week...

The Cutting Room Floor & Carson Daly

So, as those of you who tuned in to Amazing Sports Stories last night already know, 95% of my part was left on the cutting room floor. You may have caught glimpses of me in the dugout or on second base behind "Jackie," but my sweet base-hit will have to wait for the outtakes on the Special Edition DVD ;) Oh well, I got to be out in the sun for two days, got paid, met some cool people, got a credit, and got to hit live pitching -- so it was still worth it!

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A friend of mine, JD, invited me to attend a taping of "Last Call with Carson Daly" over at the NBC lot in Burbank this evening since his friends' band, Flo-bots, was playing -- their national TV debut, actually. I've never been to one of these tapings (this was actually 2 since they taped two shows in about 2 hours), but it was really a lot of fun. I don't watch much late night TV as it usually seems boring, but it was a lot better in person. The guests were Joshua Gomez from Chuck and Lonny Ross from 30 Rock, who was quite amusing. The Flo-bots really rocked and I suspect you'll be hearing more about them in the future. You can check them out on the Tuesday night, May 20th Last Call show if you're interested.

The Week That Was

I worked on a Nescafe commercial. As it is only for Europe, there was no dialogue. The concept of the commercial is that Nescafe makes so many types of instant coffee, everyone can find one they like. So, the whole commercial is people walking around (first downtown on the way to work, then at a fancy party in this beautiful mansion) trading mugs with each other until they find a flavor they like. It should be interesting though I doubt I'll ever see the finished product, unless I happen to be floating around Paris sometime soon...

Audition: Memorex - another bizarre audition. The setup is that it is a bunch of coworkers watching someone give birth. Everybody is sufficiently weirded out, and someone asks to 'stop it.' We then cut to a different businessman popping a DVD out of a player. So, Memorex DVD media is so close to reality, that you can't tell if you are watching something on TV or if you are actually there. Hmm...

Young @ Heart - I urge you all to seek out this little documentary! It is about a senior citizens choir that sings rock 'n roll songs. It is poignant and inspiring and a lot of fun.

3,454% !!!

Thanks to you guys checking out my Internet Movie Database (IMDB) page, my "starmeter" went up an absurd 3,454% last week. My rank went from about 1.7 million to 79,863 - not sure what that really means (besides that my first rank was really, really low ;), but I know higher is good. So please continue to visit often, as more searches/clicks mean better(?) things for me. I know there isn't much on there now, but a few of my credits have appeared and there are a couple pictures. Hopefully, in the months and years to come there will be more to see. Until then, thanks once again for hanging in there with me!

Jeff's IMDb Page

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Today's audition: Sealy Mattresses - It was a fun spot, I played a 30-something trust fund baby who can sleep all day (I fell asleep eating, playing video games, etc...) The gist of the campaign is that for those of us who can't sleep all day deserve better sleep on a Sealy.

The Week's Auditions & SAG Strike Update

Auditions:
Badcock Furniture - Florida Regional Commercial: A spoof of the eharmony.com ads. While it seems like me and 'my wife' are telling why we are a perfect match, in reality we are extolling the virtues of our Badcock furniture. Pretty funny actually.

Latta Margarine - European Commercial: I had to say "You already had breakfast?" in four languages: English, Swedish, German & French. Luckily they played a looped tape while we were waiting that kept repeating the lines. I felt like I did pretty well, all things considered.

First Tech Credit Union - Northwest Regional Commercial: I had to simulate that I was skydiving and my parachute didn't open. Then, the 'Hero' guy - think Puddy from Seinfeld - rescues me by offering his parachute. A comedic spot, the final commercial will actually be shot on green screen with the actors hanging 10 feet in the air. That would be fun!

BMW - Europe & Japan: No lines, I just had to stand in line at a checkout place, and react to the people in front of me and to the cashier. Nothing fancy.

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This week, the SAG contract negotiations screeched to a halt, and the word is that both sides are very far apart. A strike at the end of June is looking more and more likely. Sigh...

Dog Jack & IMDb

As some of you may know, I worked on the Civil War film, Dog Jack, awhile back. It has been in post-production ever since. However, last week I got an update from the director/producer Mr. Ed McDougal which said that significant progress is being made -- especially on the sound design front, and they are trying to get a Hollywood star to do the narration which is the last big thing.

Since it is close to being finished, the filmmakers got it to be registered on IMDb (Internet Movie Database) which is something of an authority on all things film/tv. That is no small feat since the rules for having movies listed on there, especially those not yet released, have become more rigorous. The upshot for me individually is that means I am now listed on IMDb. It is a very bare-looking listing, though hopefully I will soon be adding to the credit list! If you want to check it out (and thereby help raise my mythic "starmeter" - I am currently ranked 1, 686, 566 ;) here is a link: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2993084/

For more information about Dog Jack, please visit the official website: http://dogjackmovie.com/SiteFiles/photos.aspx

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Audition: Look-see today for a Canon cameras print job, though the photographer is also working on other projects.