Thanksgiving Angels -- and Demons

That's right, Angels & Demons, the movie in which I had my first SAG principal role (albeit a small one) is out on DVD and Blu Ray this week.  As such, it is also my first shot at residuals.  So if you buy a copy, not only are you getting a decently-better-than-average big Hollywood whodunit, you'll be helping to line my pockets :)  Well, ok, I'm not likely to get rich from residuals for my couple weeks on set, but any little bit helps! 

Now, I just have to wait until those checks start flowing -- er, I mean
trickling -- in.

Feeling Full of Thanks

I have many things to be thankful for this year: a supportive family and group of friends, my health, the opportunity to be pursuing work in this crazy industry, just to name a few.  While I don't have the chance to go home to my family this year, I get to do the next best thing:  spend the day watching football and hanging out with my two favorite four-legged friends: Art and Moofy. 

We all would like to wish you and yours a very happy Thanksgiving!

Go Packers!

Shorts & Stubs

After helping out on the set of a short that Paul Kampf wrote last week, this week I had the pleasure of shooting a short scene for another of his films.  (From Grace, the film that I did this summer that he wrote/directed is in the final stages of post-production.)  This particular scene was only a couple minutes, an improvised 'interview' of sorts.  My part of the shoot was short and sweet, but it's always inspiring to be around Paul and the creative team that he's put together. 

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Wow, do I have some creative and enterprising friends!  Looking for a good Christmas gift for that sports fan?  My buddy from college, Tim, and his friend recently came out with the "Ticket Journal" -- a place to store all those ticket stubs from games and events, and a place to remember why each of those games was special.  I've been to hundreds of games, concerts, premieres, and events and have the pile of ticket stubs in a box to prove it; but unfortunately, after so many years, most of the specific memories of those games have faded.  On some of them, I have tiny notes and phrases about the events, but even most of those are smudged, illegible, or unintelligible...   

But, with the Ticket Journal, you can keep your stubs and jot down specifics (scores, who you attended with, what was memorable about the experience, etc.), and the memories can live on!  Anyway, I think this is a great idea; frankly I can't believe anyone hasn't thought of it before -- but kudos, Tim! 

HERE is the Ticket Journal website if you're interested in checking it out.

Up in the Air

Saw a screening of Jason Reitman's new film, Up in the Air, recently and really enjoyed it.  It's always refreshing around this time of year to see fun and engaging adult dramas.  It is moving and thoughtful, but not too heavy.  In fact, there is actually quite a bit of humor injected into the story, both by the actors and the writer.  The direction is spot-on and the performances are very solid; Clooney is great as usual (though this time, unlike in Men Who Stare at Goats, he actually has a decent script to work with), and there are a lot of nice cameos. 

It's not perfect, but pretty darn good.  I would expect this one to be in the conversation when awards time rolls around.  It almost makes me want to fly...

Honda Audition & Set Pics

Note: My blog posting has been a bit inconsistent of late since I no longer have internet at my place (my former neighbor, Rebecca, graciously let me use hers before she moved away...), but I hope to have that remedied soon.

Audition at Joe Blake casting today in Santa Monica for a Honda car commercial.  The wait was pretty long since there were so many dudes auditioning (about eighty minutes), but it seems like a fun spot.  I think I did pretty well and callbacks are before the holiday, so I hope to hear!

Here are a few pics from a set I've worked on for a few days the last couple weeks.  (It's an untitled TV movie -- Hallmark or Lifetime, maybe?)  These shots are from a beautiful spot in Moorpark that doubled as a mall for purposes of the film.  The location was like a gorgeous little oasis in the middle of the desert. 

The Best Laid Plans...

One of the perks of being a SAG Film Society member is that come awards season (i.e. now), I get invitations to free screenings put on by the studios/ production companies to promote their awards-bait films.  We RSVP'd and went to such a screening of 'Nine' this week -- complete with post-screening Q&A with most of the star-studded cast!  Great, right? They always warn that they overbook to ensure capacity, so arrive early.  We got to the theater at 6 for a 7 pm weekday show.  There was a pretty long line, but the line went on behind us even longer.  So, we assumed we would get in.  Wrong.  We made it to the front of the line and were the 3rd and 4th people NOT to make it in.  There were at least a couple dozen people who went ahead in line during the wait to 'be with their friends' and another 20 or so people who were on the SAG Nominating Committee who were allowed to skip ahead.  So, if it wasn't for all that crap, we would have gotten in easily.  And there were hundreds of people still in line behind us who were not happy.  Why they would overbook such an event by HUNDREDS of people is beyond any rational person's thinking.  It is a horrible, horrible system that could be corrected pretty easily, but given the low priority that we masses in the line rate,  I doubt there are any changes imminent.

Dairyland Greyhound Park Closing - 900 Dogs Need Homes!

With the closing of Dairyland Greyhound Park in Kenosha, WI on December 31, 900 dogs need to be adopted or the poor things will be euthanized.  I've heard nothing but wonderful things about adopted greyhounds.  If you're looking for a family dog or just a companion, check out this site:

Dairyland Adoption Website

"900 Greyhounds will need to be adopted otherwise they will be euthanized, now is a great time to consider adopting a Greyhound. They are very loving and laid back. They don't need the space people think they need. They are great for an active family because they have been crated almost all their lives and they sleep about 18 out of the 24 hours a day. They are just looking for someone to love them and supply them with a warm bed!!!!

They test the dogs to see if they are cat friendly and or small dog friendly. They also know if a dog should be a single dog or if they would be great in a 2, 3, or 4 dog house!!!"  

The Adoption Center is open seven days a week, please call for an appointment.
Contact the Diaryland Greyhound Adoption Office at (262) 612-8256

5522 - 104 th Avenue
Kenosha, Wisconsin 53144-7450
Located at the intersection of I-94 and HWY 158 in Kenosha, WI

Redundancy Department of Redundancy

For at least the 4th or 5th time since I've been here, I went to a casting/audition for a Wells Fargo print job -- at the same photographer's studio.  One would think that they would just keep the pictures of the oh, 500 or so actors for the next time instead of setting up another entire shoot day.

Anyway, it was a quick 5-6 pictures, and luckily for me the studio was very close to my place, so it wasn't too much of a time investment.  And, it would be nice to get the gig one of these castings...

Whew!

Over the past week I have: gotten over my cold (finally!), had two softball games (both wins), seen two screenings (The Road - brilliant! and Brothers, followed by a Q/A with the lovely Natalie Portman, a few days of extra work, a print audition, a commercial audition, lunch with a friend in town from London, a couple CD workshops and two weekends of my show, "The Play of the Dead."  Whew. 

Just trying to keep busy!

Useful Down Time

Well, I finally got the cold/sick thing that's been going around.  So, while I was sitting on my couch yesterday with a plugged-up head -- pretty useless -- I decided that between sneezing fits, it'd be a good time to write out some postcards.  Postcards are a good way of staying in touch with industry folk: for me mainly casting directors that I have auditioned for or taken workshops with.

So, I wrote out some two dozen postcards with updates on what I've been up to -- my play, the various projects I've been working on -- and lumbered over to the post office to mail them.  The hope is that my postcard (with my headshot and website address on, of course) will find its way onto a casting director's desk just as they happen to be looking for someone of my type.  While possible, that is something of a long shot.  Still, if that doesn't happen, I think it's useful just to have my face in front of them -- even if it's only for two seconds before the postcard finds the trash can -- and remind them that I am still out here and keeping busy.

There is no real quantifiable way to know if this plan works (unless a CD calls you in and tells you it's because if your postcard), but I think it's worthwhile nonetheless.  And no doubt writing and sending postcards is a better use of this downtime than watching Judge Judy and Jerry Springer...

Way to Go, Chicago!

According to yesterday's Variety, construction is already underway in Chicago (5 miles southwest of the Loop) for one of the largest studio complexes outside of L.A.  That could mean big time work for Chicago actors and crew -- the article suggests that, when completed, the complex could employ as many as 6,000 folks. 

"Cinespace Chicago," a state of the art studio will also go a long way towards luring big-budget films -- and even TV shows -- to the Windy City.

HERE is the full article.

Dairylanders in L.A.

I finally convinced my parents to come visit the City of Angels.  My dad has been here before, but my mom took some work :)  Finally, after promises that the traffic isn't always bad and that the weather would be great, my mom was in.  They came for a few days last week, and we had a lot of fun.  Much walking, hiking, eating, and relaxing -- even got my mom to see a movie, Where the Wild Things Are!

With the exception of being awakened at 5:00 a.m. by a SWAT team banging on their hotel door and then herded downstairs with the rest of the hotel's customers (long story, you'll have to ask them...), I think they had a good time.  Come back soon!  Here are some pics:

Play of the Dead @ Psychic Visions

Opening night was a bit bumpy last evening, but now that it's under our belt, I expect the show to get better and better ;)  We run for 5 more Saturdays in case you want to check it out.  The show features all original short plays in easy-to-manage one-act form (about 80 min. run time.) You can usually get half-price tickets on www.stubdog.com.