The Trials and Triumphs of Making A Short Film

There are now a lot of Actor/Writer/Directors/Producers/Anything-else-I-need-to-be because now, more than ever, the internet is in the actors favor.  Actors are a dime a dozen now a days and the one of the many ways to stand out is to create your own work.  Some do it out of love, some do it out of necessity, and some do it just to get a reel.  For me it was a bit of everything.  In addition to being an actor, along side my wife I am also a writer, producer, director, prop person, cinematographer, grip, etc.  We both decided that we wanted to take on the path of filming as our career.  To tell new and continue stories that we love.  Our first one out of the gate?  A LOST fan film, continuing a story from the TV show LOST.  I wanted to share with you the ups and downs we had making our fan film, LOST: The Arrival, in the hopes to inspire you to not have to wait for someone to hire you.  You can make the work for your self.  It is just a matter of pulling in all your resources to make it work.

About 5 years ago, I purchased some fun photo/filming attachments for my iPhone.  I took my new toys to work with me and played around with it.  I had planned on filming something with all of this as a new wave of iPhone short films and full length films were starting to hit the industry.  I was security guard at a shack at an undisclosed location where nothing was happening that day as it was a weekend.  I set up my equipment and started filming stuff.  I made a 43 second short of me typing and added some Radiohead to it and it came out really cool.  Like a post-apocalyptic search on the internet for the meaning of life.

 

I then started to shoot close ups of other things that I do daily.  I mashed them all together and happen to put the LOST end title music to it.




I came home and showed my wife the little shorts I did.  She thought the first one was cool and got ecstatic with the second one with the LOST music.  We are both fans of the show LOST and when she saw the short, she said that it got her really excited about it again.  It got her mind going a million miles a minute about LOST and the questions it raised.  When she saw this video, she thought is the Dharma Initiative starting up again?! She then had this brilliant idea of how to continue a story that was presented in LOST that felt like it needed a sense of closure for us.  She began writing all her ideas down.  She told me "We are going to make this!"

We had our first taste as film makers as I had written a separate short film and began shooting that. However, we were about to have a baby, and he came half way into it and production stopped and never continued.  A lot of things slowed or stopped for us when we had a baby (not in a bad way.  When you have a baby, they take priority no matter what.)  We agreed that we would not continue the film and we would just move on as we now had to work and take care of our baby.  My son was the best thing that ever happened to us.  All our decisions after having him was so that we can make sure we all have a happy life together.  For many reasons, we decided to quit our job and relocate to Seattle.  So in that transition, I began to write down ideas for the next film we wanted to make when we got to Seattle.  I wrote a few things, but my wife really wanted to make the LOST fan film.  So we both began writing and collaborating ideas for it.

Collaborating with my wife was awesome.  We definitely had our ups and downs on ideas that we had for the one project.  Sometimes we came up with good ideas, sometimes bad, sometimes we argued over an idea that we thought was perfect and the other did not find as perfect.  We fought and cried about how and when we should make it and of course we had to do a lot of research on the LOST show and how our story would make sense and be able to answer any of the questions that it may present (if you know anything about LOST, it brought up a lot of unanswered questions).  But what I got out of creating something with her was the fact that she was very creative, a natural writer, and understood film making more than she thought.  This is particularly important as an actor for me to have someone like this on my side because she understands it all and our end goals are the same.

We still had an incomplete project when we finally moved to Seattle.  Our goal when we moved out of CA was to give ourselves a lifestyle that would allow us to make strides forward in our perspective careers.  At the time, my wife was venturing into a catering business (she is a certified chef) and I was to give more time to acting in a smaller market.  Our second primary goal was to get this LOST project done!  We picked up on the writing again, but things still didn't seem to click or feel complete.  It started to become hard to continue when my wife started to vend at the local farmers market and we both had to work full time during that period (I was her sous chef).  It also was difficult as we had to take care of my 2 1/2 year old son with little to no help at times as we had no family and a few friends with opposite schedules.  After the farmers market was over, my wife had an epiphany.  She did not see her career in food but saw herself creating stories and telling them through film. This epiphany jump started us to continue our LOST story.

We got to a point where we had half of the story complete and the other outlined.  We kept waiting for the whole thing to be complete, but we finally said "Screw it!  If we keep waiting it will never get finished.  We have half of it complete, so lets at least film that and go from there."  So we did.  I began to story board and make props.  My wife was in charge of location scouting.

This is where pulling in all your recourses comes to play.  Lost takes place on an island.  So we needed an island setting.  There were some beaches near us, but nothing that looked tropical.  When we couldn't find what we were looking for, we changed the location of our story, while keeping the atmosphere and story the same.  We knew LOST was also set in a tropical jungle.  Our best friends mom happened to live on an a piece of land who's backyard happened to be a literal forest (it passed perfectly as a tropical jungle).

We got permission to film there, so we set it up immediately.  Our friend babysat our son the day we filmed.  But, in the fact that my son takes priority in responsibility, we had to shoot the scene before his nap time so we can keep our routine with him.  Talk about learning on the spot, we had to adapt to a lot of things while filming in the jungle.  It was only my wife and I shooting.  We had to account for sound, filming on an iPhone (that is work in and of itself), lack of equipment and use of make-shift equipment and rigs, certain props and costumes not working, and certain points of the story had to be changed due to what was provided for us at the location.  For instance, in our story we had our character go to a marked location in the jungle and start to dig.  He finds a container and walks back to his bunker.  Well, we couldn't find a good spot for the dig and we didn't have a shovel. But what we did find is a tree stump that had a hole in it that the container fit in perfectly!  And it looked better and was better action for the filming.  Another example was a track shot following the characters feet as he walks.  My wife was following behind me originally, but when we played it back you could hear her footsteps on top of mine.  So to fix that, I had to hold the monopod behind me with one hand and walk.  It came out decent enough.  Along with the stress of getting done before my son's nap time and making adjustments, we had to film pretty fast.  We actually got done a half hour early.

Next we needed a location for the main set of this characters story.  We needed a bunker looking location.  We couldn't find one for the life of us.  I had asked my storage unit place and they said yes, but the we had to think about if anyone would be moving that day and the sound.  So we didn't use that.  This was one of many points of us thinking we cannot continue.  We asked our friends and no one could come up with anything except one.  She had access to an undisclosed location that may have what we are looking for.  We went to look, but it only had offices that didn't fit the bill. Until, she stumbled upon a door to the attic and said "you can look up there if you want, it is just storage."  So I did.  IT WAS PERFECT!!  The atmosphere was creepy, lonely, and had a lot of character.  We made arrangements to film the next week.

Filming at this location presented the same challenges as the last and this time my son was being babysat at the location by our friend and her daughter.  We were more prepared this time as we had all the shots planned out.  We decorated the set and had the equipment ready in an hour and we shot for 3 hours.  It went surprisingly smooth.  It was interesting as I was more on camera and my wife was cinematographer and director.  She did an amazing job.  I am proud of her.

So we had half of our story in the can.  Now we had to complete the second.  We finally made a cohesive story for this half and were ready to shoot it.  We sent out a casting notice but because of the small acting market in WA, we only got three submissions.  We picked one and interviewed him.  He was a good fit.  But when we set up a shoot day with him, he was unable to do so because he did not have a car to get to our location and had to work that day.  UGH!  Now, what do we do?  We asked all of our friends and posted on Facebook if anyone knew someone that had some acting experience or was willing to act and fit our description.  It didn't pan out.  Another point that we thought it was over.  We kept saying we "we wish we had our friend Burt Culver near us."  He was a perfect fit and we knew he had the acting chops to pull it off.  Then we had this crazy idea; what if we flew down to CA to film this last part?  Long story short, we made a decision to completely move back to CA and we would finish our project there.

Almost the time we set our bags down we contacted Burt.  He was interested in the project and said yes!  Now for the location.  LOST was also known for its Star Wars References.  My best friend happens to living in a bachelor pad with tons cool collectibles and decor.  He agreed to let us use his apartment!  Things started to fall in place perfectly!  On film day, it was just me and my wife and Burt and things ran smoothly...a little too smoothly.  It was the last shot of the day.  I needed a close up of the character typing on the computer.  We went in my friends office where he has most of his collectibles.  His prized possession, a life sized Darth Vader bust, was next to the desk.  As I am filming, I backed up and tripped, hitting the Sith Lord and chipping his breathing apparatus.  Super glue would not be a solution for this as it was badly and unevenly chipped.  This was a $2,000 piece.  We finished filming, but with dread as I had to now fess up to the damage and was deathly worried it would ruin our friendship. I made the call.  He thought it was a joke at first; I wish it was.  After his initial shock, he understood and said to not worry about it.  But I wasn't going to let it go like that.  I agreed to buy him a new one.  It was the right thing to do.  So now our $100 budget for the film turned in to $2,000.  YIKES!

We got past that day and just began to edit.  We were working on a 2009 MacBook Pro iMovie.  After completing 2 scenes, it started to work VERY slow, almost became unworkable.  Great!  Another hurdle!  I dumped my hard drive and rebooted the computer clean and it still didn't work.  My wife and I mulled over a few ideas.  The bottom line was we needed a new computer and ASAP!  So there we go, buying a new Mac Desktop, adding to the budget another $1800.  So now we have gone from $100 to $3900.  But let me tell you, editing was a breeze! We had to do some creative editing for the first half we filmed in Seattle since it was a little rougher as we were learning.  My cousin's husband happens to be 3D artist and was able to make the title scene in the LOST style for me.  In a week we had it fully edited.  We finally put it out there for the world to see.  It was a great feeling.  In one day we got 300 views and through the month we would get over 800.  Sure it may not be a viral sensation, but that means in one month we got 800 people to watch or rewatch our fan film.  We hit all the social media outlets and contacted fan sites, pop culture sites, etc.  We got rave reviews from the hardcore LOST fans and we are proud of that.

We are very proud of our work and what me made together.  I hope that this shows you that despite the hurdles and challenges presented to us, we persevered and pushed through it.  We had a goal and we were going to do anything to make it happen.  There were a few times we thought it was over, but we had to just keeping going.  I encourage all actors, even if it is just one time, to make a project of your own.  Write a scene for yourself or for your reel.  Start filming anything!  If you have a smartphone, you have filming equipment already!  So be creative and go out there and make cool stuff and push through and adapt to the challenges!  Use all your recourses, friends, relatives, friends of friends!  You never know what help they may be able to provide for you.  You just have to ask.

I now present to you the finished project!  If your not a LOST fan, then just watch to see what a two people, an iPhone, and learning on the go can do.

***Please choose 1080i in the settings for the best quality of the Youtube video***

   

My 1st Big Gig!

Ok!  I apologize for the long delay of new posts, but life has been moving on all cylinders for me lately.  I am finally able to get back to some good ol' blogging!  I wanted to share with you what my experience was like on my first "big gig".

Back in July, I had an audition for a role on NBC's Grimm.  I was living in Seattle at the time and those auditions are about a 4 hour drive to Portland.  I asked my agent if they wanted me to just do a self taped audition (most of them were) or would they like me to drive to Portland and audition live (which I did twice before).  My agent simply said "You can do a tape but it is preferred that you go."  Now, I'll be honest.  The responsible family man in me thought just tape yourself at home and save yourself the day trip and gas and stay home with your wife and son (which isn't a bad thing and was an acceptable option for all parties involved).  But then the responsible actor in me said GO!  A live audition is always better for you as they can give you adjustments if they want to see more from you and what if they want you to stay for the callback, which is the same day. My wife was super appreciative that I wanted to be the responsible family man, but the main goal for both of us was to do everything and anything that would benefit my acting career as it effects my family in the long run as well.  So she gave no hesitation in supporting my decision to go to Portland and give a live performance.

The type of role I was auditioning for also played a role in my decision because if it had been a 1 line "Man in Coffee Shop" role, I would have stayed home and self taped it.  The role for this particular audition was for a FBI Agent that is questioning the main characters at a crime scene and had a great part with multiple lines and scenes.  So this absolutely called for a live audition.

So an early morning start and a 4 hour drive later, I was in Portland ready for my audition!  I get in there, do my thing for the casting director, and she says "ugh...ok...you might hate me for this..."  I'm thinking oh well, maybe next time.  She says "...but can you read for two other roles?  I'm afraid they are going to think of you as too young for an FBI agent."  Uh, YEAH I'll read the other roles!  Went out for five minutes and then came back in to do the other reads.  She said "Great!" And she sent me on my merry way.  A very tasty Pork Belly Cubano from Bunk Sandwiches and two hours later I received a call from my agent that I got the call back!

This time I went in front of the Casting Director, Producer, and the Director of the show.  They only had me read one of the roles.  They thanked me and I was done.

About a week later, I got the call that I had booked the show!  Let me tell you, it FELT AMAZING!  I remember what it felt like prior to the call.  In the past, I had done about 1 other live audition with a call back and 3 on tape auditions for this show.  This time it felt different.  I know after auditions, you're suppose to leave it at the door and forget about it.  Not this one.  I felt more that I would be surprised if I didn't get it.  It wasn't cockiness, it was just a feeling that was strong.  If you have booked stuff before, you know that feeling, because everything seemed to line up perfectly.  Sometimes, it all lines up and you never get the part too.

Whenever I get calls from my agent, after having good auditions or being put on hold, my wife always looks at my face to see if she can tell if I received good news or bad news.  This time, she knew it almost immediately.  We were in the car on our way to a store and we pulled over and we both were smiling ear to ear and almost crying before the phone call even ended.  I almost forgot all the info my agent gave me.  It was a feeling of "Finally, I got one!"  Prior to that point we made several life changes and sacrifices to be able to give more concentration to my acting career and up until then, it felt like maybe we took too big of a risk.  We had just made the decision to move back to CA and this was finally a credit that could carry some weight on my resume!

Now the time has come.  My first day was an early travel day to Portland with an 11am call time for a fitting.  I got to the wardrobe department and got fitted with my clothes for about an hour.  Then I got a call from the prop guy because my character is eating a sandwich in the scene and he wanted to know if I had any type of sandwich preference (that was kinda cool).  I then had to go to hair and make up on the shoot location to get a final check for anything else like my hair style or glasses or no glasses.  Signed all my paperwork and that ended my 1st day.  I checked in to my hotel and luckily my best friend was in town for a wedding.  So, we got to hang out and catch up.  That was an awesome bonus!

The second day was sort of long.  It was a night shoot which meant that it had to be after 9pm for the sun to go down.  Again, luckily my best friend was in town.  At my call time I met the production at the production trucks site.  Now here was the cool part; I was led to my very own dressing room!  It was so cool.  Hanging on the bar above my "sofa" bench was my wardrobe with a little note on a jacket from the wardrobe department saying "...in case it gets cold.  Love, Costumes".  That little note really made me feel part of the team, it was nice. They had a print out of the shoot schedule and a copy of the shooting script for me too.  Then it was to hair and make up.  After hair and make up, me and the other actors were shuttled in to the set where we did a walk through and lighting check.  As for a rehearsal, we just ran through it once with the director and that was it.  Things were moving pretty quickly.   After that, it was up to us to run the lines if we wanted to in between set ups.

There were 3 principal actors shooting that night. One in particular seemed to be a little quite, to himself, and maybe a bit nervous.  I finally engaged in a conversation about his work and come to find out that it is his first big gig too!  It was sort of the same situation for him as it was for me and the same excitement when he told his girlfriend that he won the role.  I was happy for him and congratulated him.  It was cool to be on this bigger set and be with another actor with a little bit of the same story as me.

Finally, it was time for my scene.  They walked me from the green room to the set.  Now, remember that sandwich I was asked about?  Well on the they way to the set I saw a cart with about 15 sandwich halves.  That made me a little nervous as my first thought was I don't know if I can eat all that but I sure can try.  They sat me at my set desk with three techy computers that were scrambling with techy information, computers behind me, low lit room.  I felt like I was Batman in the batcave on his bat-computer looking for the Joker.  I got a quick run down of the scene again and a quick run down from the prop girl about the sandwich.  Oh...that sandwich!  That was a fun experience.  I had to take 2 bites at the beginning of each take (about 8-9 different takes between the different angles) and then they switched them out after each take for continuity.  There was one take where I took perhaps a little too big of a bite and as it was going down (it was one of those slow and dry swallows) and I nearly choked as I was saying my line.  I wasn't gonna let that stop me!  So I tried to continue and I ended up sounding like a grumbling Christian Bale Batman holding back a cough while telling Alfred he may have found The Penguin.  It gave the crew a good laugh.  I guess it was also a good thing that I had decided not to eat a heavy dinner as I knew I would be eating a sandwich in the scene.  And then, the scene was done!  I was thanked and I thanked everyone (ALWAYS BE POLITE IN LIFE AND ON SET NO MATTER WHO YOU ARE AND WHAT YOUR JOB IS).  We were shuttled back to the production trucks where we returned the wardrobe.  I even wrote them back a little letter too saying "Thank you.  You guys are awesome!"  I checked out with one of the A.D.'s who told me approximately when it would air.  I couldn't wait to see it.

About three months later, it was premier time!  It was nice; My wife had planned a little surprise viewing party with my family.  She made a special dinner and my parents bought star balloons because I was "...finally a star!"  I was only a little nervous hoping I didn't end up on the editing room floor.  But there I was!  It was really cool.  And that darn sandwich?  It never made the cut! But I am chewing, you just never see what on.

While watching the episode, I was also curious to see who ended up booking that FBI agent I originally auditioned for.  The actor did a great job and I got to see what exactly the Casting Director may have been looking for, in terms of "look", for the role.  She was right, I may have been a little young looking for that particular role and will now help me determine what I may need to present as my "look" for those FBI/Detective/Cop roles.  You can always find something to learn from and make yourself better for it.

The whole thing was a wonderful experience and everyone from the Casting Director to the director and all the crew were amazing and nice.  As far as an intimidation factor from the size of the production is concerned, it didn't phase me because of my experience on sets.  If you get enough experience on sets, especially after student films and on industrial films and/or commercials, it shouldn't be big deal because it is all the same routine in the end.  I hope that all of you have a wonderful experience like this on all sets, especially on your first big gig!

Michael Ochoa as The Tech on NBC's Grimm, Season 4 Episode 1 "Thanks for the Memories"

Acting on a Budget

OK!  Its been a while since I have posted a new topic.  But life was a callin' and I had to answer the phone! But thank you for continuing to support The Workingman's Actor Blog.

Being an actor has a lot of rewards and a lot of heart ache.  When you finally get the ball rolling and start making money, the checks still can come far and few in between.  Balancing a mortgage, bills, and life expenses, it can be very difficult to think you can continue to persevere in an industry that most don't make a ton of money in.  As I have been trying to not spend so much money because of my finances, I realized I have come up with some money saving tips for actors.  Now, its not a revolutionary list, but it is things that have helped me and will hopefully help you.

Before I get to my frugal list, I want to stress and give a list of things that you probably shouldn't skimp on.  This is a business and you are the entrepreneur.  You must have the proper tools to sell yourself as the right person for the job.  


Splurge:

Acting Classes - It is rare that anybody is a natural.  If you are, usually you could use a class here or there to hone in on your talent.  But it is a MUST that you get the proper training.  If you don't have great credits on your resume, the next best thing is your training credits.  Some will pay the beaucoup bucks for a big name acting school.  That is fine, but, most people are paying for the name and not an ongoing study with the named school.  So, don't be intimidated by someone who has BIG NAME SCHOOL on their training because more than likely they took the intro class and ended there just to make their resume look good.  But the flip side of that is, if you do stay with them and study for the long haul, it could benefit you greatly.  But do your research.  Get word of mouth advice from your peers.  You can definitely find a very good acting teacher and class that wont break your savings account.  There are a lot of hidden treasures out there.  You can find them.  Many of those teachers have studied under the BIG NAME teachers and want to pass down their knowledge and may even have a better understanding of it and verbiage to teach you in a way that may be very nurturing and not so intimidating.  And most of them are working actors, so they can really help you out with a lot of the business side of things that are current.  Here are 2 acting classes I took that I had a great experience from and I learned so much that made me a stronger actor and their prices are very reasonable.  These two teachers are very passionate and are current working actors.  A very welcoming and fun environment that I stayed for a while and learned so much from.

The Sport of Acting taught by Vinny Guastaffero

Adler Improv taught by Rob Adler

  

Headshots - It's your calling card!  You need to have a great picture that makes you look like you.  It is often the very first impression you give to anyone that will hire you.  So you MUST have this be outstanding.  Research and you will find some hidden gems that will give you the most bang for your buck.  Again, word of mouth from your peers, actor forums, conventions, etc.  Be careful of being attracted to those that have celebrity photos on their page.  They may have taken their picture, but it certainly isn't their headshot and is used to have reason to bump up their prices.  When you go to auditions and you see someones headshot you like, ask them who took them and what the experience was like.  Sometimes you can find a photographer who wants to make a portfolio and will take your headshots for next to nothing.  But be careful about using so and so's friend who has a camera and takes good pictures.  Really do your research on photographers and spend some money with the people who have the experience.  

Home Equipment - With technology now a days, a lot of auditions can be done from home.  A lot of DIY filming, self produced reels, self made Voice Over reels and auditions, etc are being done.  You can find a lot of really good equipment for reasonable prices.  If you have a smartphone, you already have a great camera for filming in HD.  Your laptop or tablet may already come with some editing software that is pretty decent for DIY'ers.  I have an H4N Zoom Mic that is perfect for voice overs and sound, easy to use, easy to transfer files, and is relatively inexpensive for an all-in-one sound recorder. If your serious about doing some at-home-work, then invest in some good equipment.  There are a lot of excellent options for great prices out there.

Self Casting Sites - It is how you submit yourself for auditions.  If you don't have an agent this is how you do it and is a must.  Here are the top legit three:

http://www.actorsaccess.com
http://home.castingnetworks.com or http://home.lacasting.com (for Los Angeles)
https://www.nowcasting.com


Now for the money saving tips...  

Frugal

Websites - Another must have now a days.  But sometimes it may be an item you might pass on to save money or because it's to technical that you don't have time to work on it.  But there are many sites that make it easy and are free!  The best thing I recently found was about.me.  It was so simple to use, almost like a facebook or twitter account.  Here is an example of my about.me page.  Actors are also using social media sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Blogs as their acting website.  Easy to use and FREE!

Clothes - When ever I felt like I needed audition clothes I started to go look at high end stores.  Then I started looking and buying at Khol's and Target. Though less expensive than designer clothes, it still can add up very fast. May I suggest thrift stores?  Now, before you scoff at the idea, let me tell you, I have found some really nice looking clothes for really cheap that have been my go to audition clothes. Try it, you might be surprised. Also, my favorite secret that many don't really think about: shop the on set wardrobe!  I have been put in some really nice clothes with wardrobe and they usually offer to sell it at half the price they bought it for.  The best part is, is that they usually buy their clothes at a bargain.  That means you get a really nice deal!  I one time bought a pair of designer jeans at half their price for $11!  Now, always ask before hand because sometimes on bigger sets, they don't do this. But I have only ever had them tell me they don't resell once.  

Printer Ink - We are constantly printing our resumes and scripts at home. Before you know it, that darn printer blinks like crazy telling you it is low on ink.  I used to automatically go and buy the Costco pack of ink for about $60 and I would replace all the cartridges wether they were low or not. What a waste!  I finally did the ink cartridge refill service at Costco (or anywhere else that offers it) for between $6-$10 depending on the type of cartridge. I mean, usually it's only the black ink at goes empty anyway.  So instead of wasting money and cartridges, you are only filling up what you need and saving some plastic and some green!

Self Editing - If you bought a computer or laptop within the last 3 years or so, it more than likely came with a movie and sound editor.  It's kinda standard now a days since the rise of the YouTube generation. Take the time to learn the programs as at home auditions are becoming more and more.  They are pretty user friendly and offer a lot in terms of what you can do with it.  This way you can edit your reels and audition videos without having to pay an expensive editing service.  Here is a link to a free sound editing software that may seem complicated, but when you learn it, its quite easy.  I use this one more than Garage Band on my mac.

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/

Acting books - I'm all about supporting your favorite author.  But it's hard to buy every book that is recommended to you when you are a starving actor.  Get a library card and check out the books from the library.  If the library doesn't have the book, they can get it from another library within their system.  There are so many acting books that people and acting coaches tell you to get.  Check them out at the library or borrow them from your friends.  And if you really like the book, the you can buy it.  I checked out Self Management for Actors by Bonnie Gillespie ( http://www.amazon.com/Self-Management-Actors-Getting-Down-Business/dp/0972301968 ).  I found it to be a wealth of information that I ended up buying it because I knew that I would refer to it a lot.  By the way, that is a book I HIGHLY recommend for actors!

Business Cards - I gotta be honest, when I first started, I bought like a million of them from a high end printing place.  Everyone said "you must have business cards as an actor..."  And before I even gave out 5, my information changed.  And since then, I have never given out a card, nor have I often received them.  Yes, they are quick and easy to give but usually you ask if they are on Facebook and you connect that way or you exchange numbers or something.  If you get them, don't buy so many of them.

Post cards - "You need to have postcards and send them via mass mailing to Casting Directors and Agents!"  Yes, BUT, do you have anything to tell them?  When I started I bought a ton and mass mailed, but all I had on there was my name and info.  I had no news or reviews to make them have an interest. I think you can hold off on these until you start getting noticible work or reviews that you can quote.  Also, do some specific targeting of who you want to send them to so you don't fall into that heavy expenditure of mass mailings.

Paper - When I realized it, I couldn't believe how much paper and money I was wasting printing sides for auditions.  I started finding papers that where already printed on, or already used script pages that I didn't need and started to print off the backs of them.  I have a stack of used one sided paper ready for printing my sides.  

Receipts - Save them!  Parking for auditions, clothes for wardrobe, printer ink, home equipment, etc.  these are all things that are expenses for our business.  This will help come tax season.

Well that's about it.  If you have any other money saving tips for actors, please comment on this post!  I would love to here from you.

My Learning Experience/Review of Indi.com

So I happen to stumble upon an online competition site called Indi.com.  They hold competitions for artist such as film makers, singer/songwriters, and of course, actors.  What is cool is that winners get cash prizes and some sort of meeting with a "somebody" in the industry.  It was very interesting experience, ultimately for the better.

The submission process is quite easy.  You click on the contest you wish to participate in and look at all the info.  For the acting ones, you download the sides in which they want you to read from.  Then you self tape and upload your video (or song or movie) to the site.  The site is pretty straight forward and easy to navigate.  I had issues with my first two videos from my end.  The support people were very nice and took them down so that I can resubmit better quality ones.  I had an issue with the quality of video; it didn't convert right so it was very pixelated and choppy.  It wasn't that I hated my acting and asked to do it over and resubmit, I don't think that is allowed at all.  So it wasn't anything like that.

Once the voting period begins, you have a link to your video that you can post on all the social sites to tell your friends to vote.  This is the part of the whole thing that kinda bothered me.  The problem with a voter based competition like this is that it's not based on the talent of the artist.  So first prize can go to the most horrible actor/singer in the world because they had enough friends to vote them in.  However, there is usually a Judges' Pick that IS talent based.  The judges pick is usually the prize you really want to win.  For this, I guess you really don't need to have all the votes.  The most recent one I entered was for the Indi "Small Time" competition.  The judges pick winners received a meeting with top casting director Marcia Ross and "Manager to the Stars" John Carrabino.  So this was a big one!

So just like any competition (or audition for that matter) there are so many variables as to why the winners are chosen.  So, I entered these competitions with the mentality of practice.  Yeah, I want to win, but who doesn't.  Here, I got to see how I did, in a type of audition scenario (more of a home self-tape type), compared to others.  We actors almost never get to see another person's audition for the same role you auditioned for.  With these Indi.com ones, I looked at the judges pick winners and the other videos that I thought were excellent, and compared them to how I did and how I can maybe improve my auditions.  I looked at them and examined as to why they won and what I thought was better than mine.  I looked at these to see how I can do better.  When we submit a self-taped audition or for a real in room audition, we never really can compare or study the outstanding ones so that we can learn from them.  I would say this; use this as a learning tool.  Don't try to put yourself down and say "They did better than me cause I suck!"  No, learn from it.  It's not that you sucked, but maybe they were more natural, more energetic, read better, or didn't look down so much.   I didn't win any of the competitions, but I never felt that my talent was lacking and made me lose. In fact, one of my videos was awarded Best of Indi!  So that was cool.   But maybe you blinked a lot or did something that you don't realize you do on tape.  One thing I learned when I studied my self on tape was that I held my mouth in a weird-sideways-talk type way.  It was something that I didn't realize I did and it looked weird.  I made note and the next time I did a video, I didn't do it and it looked better.  When I compared mine to the Judge's pick winners, I did see some things that may have made theirs stand out more than mine and I recognized it and will note it for next time.  It's these things that we never get to see when we audition and we rarely get feedback from Casting Directors about the auditions.  Aside from an on-camera auditioning class, this can be another way you can learn about how you look and act for an audition.  And certainly don't copy what other people are doing.  ALWAYS be yourself and make things your own.  That's what makes you stand out, no matter if you win, book the part, or don't book the part.

I had fun doing these little competitions and you should too.  I would recommend this site to all aspiring artist for many reasons.  It is a way to get your work up, get seen, learn, and keeps you on your feet.  Remember that this isn't an "end all, be all" auditioning scenario.  It's mainly voter based, so hopefully you have a lot of friends or you win the Judge's prize based on the talent.  Take advantage and do a little learning about yourself and how you look and read on tape, it doesn't hurt.

You are welcome to view my Indi.com videos that I submitted, so you can have an idea of the site, here: http://indi.com/artist/703648fe-cc29-4b59-8863-ec18bf26959f

The Other Side of the Table

The casting process. For an actor, it's where our hopes of being given the chance to shine lay in other peoples hands. We practice, prepare, and perform for Casting Directors, Directors, Producers, product clients, etc.  and when we leave the room, our minds go bonkers in wondering if we nailed it.  Did I hit that mark?  Did I make the right choices?  I made them laugh, so they must like it, right?  I should have looked up instead of down. They didn't give me any other directions or feedback, so I must have totally sucked!  So, much rubbish clouds our minds when we leave the audition room because we don't know what the people sitting on the other side of the table are thinking.  Typically you get little feedback or they say "thank you" and send you on your way and even though we try not to, we continue to think about the whole event long after it's done.  Then you realize, after the shoot dates have past, you didn't get picked, and you wonder why.  It's not a self pity thing, it's just natural and hard not to do.

I wrote and produced a short film. I highly recommend doing this because you get a totally different perspective on the process and production as a whole.  One of the best things I ever got to do was hold auditions and help cast the roles. I was on the other side of the table. 

The start of the audition/casting process was with the submissions.  I posted my project breakdowns on LACasting.com and ActorsAccess.com. It's was very exciting and scary because you don't know if anyone will submit to your project or not or, for that matter, the right looking people for the part.  I gotta tell you, I got a lot of bikini, sexy-glamored "headshots" for the role of a professional couples counselor.  You were also able to tell who probably didn't read the breakdown and just submitted because they were probably mass submitting to everything and anything on the site.  We had a role for a 5 year old girl, and for her submission we got a family photo that looked like those early 90's family portraits where everyone is wearing the same knitted sweater.  This particular family also submitted themselves for the role of our thug, doctor, councilor, street vendor, and homeless man.  In their "notes to the director", they said they they are a family of performers and are all versatile actors who can play anything.  Wow.  On the positive end, I remember picking a guy to audition for me; he looked, at best, basic for the character, but he had a clever note that reminded me of Peter Venkman in Ghostbusters (one of my top 5 movies of all time). I'm not saying that everyone should have a clever note. It's just he happened to hit a note with me at the moment and I liked it.  For our thug, we had a very specific idea of what type of look we wanted; very approachable, but a hint of crazy.  It was even in the breakdown.  We got a lot of typical gangster looking to mafia types, all with very strong harsh looks.  Nothing approachable. Only one guy fit the bill perfectly.  He was the perfect candidate because his headshot, resume, demo reel, and look were all perfect (including his audition).  All these factors have made me, as an actor, aware of what I am putting forth in my submission and paying attention to what they are asking in the breakdowns.  KNOW YOURSELF, KNOW THE ROLES, AND WHAT THEY ARE ASKING FOR.

The team was the Director, the producer ( who happened to be my wife) and myself ( writer and producer), filtering out who we wanted to audition for us based on a picture, resume, and a demo reel if we were lucky.  We argued on some and agreed on others,  but the bottom line is, it was three different people with three different opinions on the actors that submitted.  This essentially played a factor on who was coming in or not for the audition.  So you see, there is already a filter before you even get called in to audition.  You not getting the audition that you thought you were perfect for, may have been for A NUMBER OF REASONS.  It may be in the hands of one person or many.  

Then the fun part; the auditions.  I was particularly excited for this because I would get a chance to see other actors work and how they prepared (or didn't) for the roles that I created.  The audition starts first and foremost with BEING ON TIME!  The playwright, David Mamet, said something like "Being early is being on time.  On time is late.  Late is unforgivable."  The majority of our actors were early or right on the dot, but we had some that were late and they called to inform us that they were.  Only one said he would be late, but never showed up and one that was scheduled and never notified us that he would not be auditioning.  

The sign in sheet was interesting as well.  Most wrote all the info we were asking for.  Others wrote just their name.  Two people just wrote a first name and nothing else.  And a few scribbled and had unreadable penmanship.  I felt that those that didn't write all the info or scribbled their stuff didn't seem to care much.  You may think, they have my info on the website or my email,  but would if we don't, for whatever reason?  The sign-in info is there for a reason.  Fill it out.  

It was impressive to see the work some of the actors put towards my little ol' short film.  I felt honored that they had their scene prepared and made choices.  It wasn't so much about having the scene memorized, but more of having done the homework.  They asked questions if needed and I wasn't offended if they did.  When I first started auditioning, I was already scared to audition, let alone ask a question.  I thought I would offend the writer or whomever, thinking that they thought I didn't get the material.  Ask any Casting Director, and they will tell you that its ok to ask about the material.  Don't be afraid to do so.  

Some actors obviously put little to no care into the material.  Sure, it was a no budget, non payed short film, but you agreed to audition for it then you should treat it like you were auditioning for the lead role in a network show.  If anything, it would be a good practice session, especially if you are just starting to audition.  One actress looked great for the part of the doctor based on her headshot and resume, but she came in looking like she had partied hard the night before, didn't know the script, apologized for not knowing the script, didn't even bother to try to do a good cold read, and basically gave up in the middle of the audition and we were done.  That was probably the worst audition of the day. 

One guy came in and was just naturally the personification of the character of the street vendor.  He was a little dry in the acting department but wasn't bad at all.  The thing that wasn't good was he wasn't keen to the audition routine.  His fault was that he positioned himself at a weird angle so we only got a profile of his acting on camera and he moved a lot and was distracting.  Moving around isn't bad, but you have to center it so everything stays within the camera's frame.  So there is another aspect of auditioning that a good Casting Director workshop or on camera auditioning class would help.  

The most eye opening of the whole experience was this: it came down to two actresses for the marriage counselor.  We will call the first one Dawn and the second one Tina.  The set up of the scene was the counselor was consoling the wife, but would feel a presence in the room that was neither of them.  Based on her headshot, Dawn was a shoe-in.  She had the perfect look, resume and demo reel.  She came in to the audition and was seemingly perfect.  Tina, on the other hand, was good, but didn't quite hit it out of the ballpark in the audition room.  She was more downplayed compared to Dawn, but very pleasant and had a good look for the part, but just didn't quite impress us in the room.  When we got home, I was excited to review the audition tape of everyone.  When we got to Dawn's, it played a lot different on the camera then we remembered in the audition room.  It seemed way over the top and cheesy.  In retrospect, we should have given her the note in the audition, but at the time it didn't seem like we needed any tweaking.  Maybe we should have gave here a note just for good measure, I don't know.  When we compared Dawn's performance to Tina, Tina played differently on camera too.  She was more natural and counselor-ish than Dawn.  The three of us debated for a while about it, but ultimately it came down to us choosing Tina, the one who we initially thought was good-not-great in the audition, because the tape showed us something totally different and better. 

Being on the other side of the table was an experience I hope that every actor can experience. It further affirmed my work ethic, promptness, and studies to be good at what I do at an audition.  I learned that there are so many factors that go into picking the right person for the job and even though you may have done a stellar job and initially impressed the audition room, there may be something else at play that may not land you the job and it was completely out of your hands.  Though I still at times ride that roller coaster of emotions and thoughts after an audition (I don't think any actor, no matter how experienced, can say they never do), I have a better understanding of the process and am more confident and better at the audition process because of this. More often than not, I can walk away feeling really good about my work and not thinking too deeply about it after.

The Audition is Running Late?

You arrive at your audition early as always.  Your appointment is 12pm and you figure you'll be there for about a half hour and you'll be able to meet the wife and son for lunch. Typically you walk in, find the closest restroom because you have been in the car for an hour or so, sign in, run your lines in the hall or at your seat, you may run in to an acquaintance and chat it up, then get called in, audition, and walk out by about 12:25pm.  Today, you walk in and you see a line of actors leading from the waiting area through the hall.  You hear whispers of "I've been here since 10am and still haven't been called in."  You can't find the sign in sheet, and the person who has it is not the assistant as there isn't one.  You sign your name under 25+ people ahead of you.  The group that is in now doesn't come out for about 15 min. Actors are ditching the audition because they can't stay any longer for whatever the reason. You find out that it is in groups of 4 for the audition.  Since there is no assistant, it's chaos as to who is to go next, thus, further slowing down the process and because people are leaving without notice, the order is getting mixed up and you have no idea when your turn is next. The Casting Director comes out once and looks stressed and the names he calls for up for next are either here or not, making the CD even more stressed, completely screwing up his process and wasting everyone's time.

I must admit, I wanted to leave too. I was already passed my typical half hour mark. At a certain point it was ridiculous and didn't seem worth it.  I assessed the situation and thought, "How will that look to my agent that I just ditched the audition."   How would that look to the Casting Director who I may audition for again?  What does that say about my work ethic?

Now, there are union rules for this type of situation where if the audition goes longer than a certain amount of time, they pay you.  It wasn't till after this particular situation that I looked up the rules.  I will post links at the bottom of 2 articles that address this issue.  The articles also give you things to consider before you make an issue of it but this is how I handled it.

So what should you do?  By all means, in my opinion, you have a right to leave and your agent would probably agree.  I definitely thought about it and almost did however, I just thought it would be the wrong thing, FOR ME, to do.  I stepped up to the plate and took charge of the situation. I knew that if someone would do something to help the process along, things would get moving and I wouldn't be too late for my lunch plans. 

I grabbed the sign in sheet and began calling out names as to who was still here and who had left the building. I began putting actors in groups of four accordingly. As people came in I would sign them up and tell them who they would be entering with. What about my lines?  I was prepared.  I did the homework as any actor should do before the audition, so it wasn't a worry to me.   The line of people began to move. The actors moods began to change. They began thanking me for stepping up. The tension in that room lifted. I also made sure that there was someone else willing to continue the work when I left and because I stepped up, there were others willing to do the same now. 

Things moved surprisingly fast after that and I got in the audition room 45-50 minutes of my arrival. Not bad considering the situation. The word got to him of what I was doing. He seemed less stressed about the day and things were moving along.  He thanked me for helping out.

I wasn't looking for praise from the CD and hoping he would hire me because of it.  I just wanted to leave on time and have lunch with my family.  I just felt that it was the right thing to do at the time.

At different audition, the same type of thing was happening but this time, actors were very vocal amongst themselves.  They started saying mean things about the CD, huffing and puffing in the halls, reciting union rules, etc.  How did that help the situation and how did that help their audition?  How does it help if you are not in the mind set for your audition.  I'm sure it threw off some of the actors and it affected their performance.  In this particular room I kept my calm and cool and went over my lines and what I was going to do.  I just figured it was extra time to work out my nerves and yes, I had things that needed to be done that it was holding me back on.  My choice was to stay and complete the audition.  The upset actors could have left if it was that bad for them and taken it up with their agent or union rep.  Some had real worries about who was going to pick their kids up from daycare or that they needed to get back to work.  I believe there is a way to present yourself in these types of situations and a time and place to voice your concerns.  I actually walked away from this audition very confident that I was at the top of my game despite the long wait and thick room and guess what?  I booked that role!  

A lot of times things aren't perfect. Sometimes the situation calls for someone to step up to the plate and lead in the name of professionalism. I don't think I would have been looked down at for leaving if I did, but it wouldn't have been professional of me. 

Here are the links to the articles I mentioned.

From Casting Director Bonnie Gillespie:
http://bonniegillespie.com/blog/sign-in-sign-out/

From Backstage.com:
http://www.backstage.com/advice-for-actors/commercials/signing-in-signing-out/

A Parallel Universe

Coming off the heals of the "Super Bowl" of wrestling, Wrestlemania 30 was touted as one of the best in years by many fans.  I was a fan of wrestling as a child, and a HUGE fanatic in my teens.  My dream was to become the WWE champion but in the last 10 years I became a casual fan and not really paying attention to what is going on.  Sunday's Wrestlemania and Monday's Raw shows being top notch, it got me fired up again and excited; hence my first acting blog post being about wrestling!

I see a parallel in the business of wrestling and the business of acting (I'm not comparing pro-wrestling as "fake" to acting as "fake"  I'm talking real business aspects here).  There is a stage, an audience, and a performance. I actually know a bit about the business of professional wrestling as I trained in it for about a year.  It was my original career choice but I learned a lot in that year even whilst never having a single match.  In some ways, I carry my wrestling knowledge with me in the audition room, stage, and sets.

Long story short, my wife saw my practice session and saw how the sessions were often stopped because I was selling my hurt so well.  On the way home, she asked "Have you ever thought about acting?"  and it snowballed from there.

The business of professional wrestling can be a very difficult one; challenging, depressing, glorious, fruitful, income-less, happy, creative, exciting, and then you hate it and then love it all at once  just like acting.

Wrestlers often start at a young age, some drop out of school to follow this path.  A wrestler's journey starts in a wrestling school or gym.  They practice, memorize, work muscles and body parts they never knew existed.  Before they work their actual practice of moves, they start by doing warm up drills.  This is they place where they discover their limitations and their strengths.  Learn how to fall and then get back up.  Sound like acting class?  Yeah, it does.  Acting class is our gym.  This is where we learn our move set, learn what we are capable of, we make mistakes and learn from them.  Before we delve into our scenes with our partners we start with theater games for warm-up.

From here a wrestler will start having matches.  Usually their first matches are in front of a crowd of 10-15 fans in a hall or a high school gym and usually payed $0.  They are working for the guy who has the aspiration of having his promotion become the next WWE.  They get hurt, the ring is not in the best shape, they are nervous, they forget what they learned and miss a step. Things go wrong.  They do this in the hope that they made something watchable for those few fans in attendance. and continue to do so to, now, here is the the correlation,  build a resume and a name for themselves.  Actors do this with student films or web-series, etc.  I'm not discounting the quality of some of these things as I have been apart of some really good student films and some really horrible ones but its where you learn outside of school.  It's the start of your "real world" experience.  You build your resume as best you can so you have something to show an agent or casting director.

There are those that think they will be the star of the next big budget flick straight out of acting school or the next WWE Champion right out of wrestling school.  NOT LIKELY!  Over night success is not a tangible goal however there are some that are lucky.  I remember I was half way through my year of wrestling school.  I was actually one of the better wrestlers but by no means had the physic needed.  I was technically short for  the wrestler type.  I didn't have the wrestler "look."  A new guy walks in looking like he could be young Arnold Schwarzenegger's double.  He could barely keep up in class, didn't know many moves.  Nice guy and all, but just wasn't getting it.  Two weeks in, he was put in a professional match because he had "the look".  It was probably a 2 minute match of him running back and forth really He had "the look" but very little experience.  Me,  I hadn't even been considered for a high school gym match yet.  We as actors often here about the  "look" or "it-factor."  That's why, unfortunately, you see bad actors on T.V. before you, the experienced and well learned one, is.  It's the nature of the two business but that doesn't mean for a second you should stop and drop your schooling and learning to concentrate on your "look".  That is the probably the second or third thing you should worry about if you want to be taken as a serious and talented actor.   Yes, a look does help and eventually you will need to figure out your look but the profession is looking for talent and ultimately talent and training will oversee "look".

The man pictured above is named Daniel Bryan.  At Wrestlemania 30, he became the WWE Champion facing the odds stack against him.  The storyline was that he was being held down by the authority of the company, no matter how talented or loved by the fans he was.  The company didn't see him as championship material.  That was the storyline, but mirrored the real life going-ons of that business.  A lot of talented wrestlers are held down for someone who the company thinks should be champion, no matter the amount of talent.  They see who can make them the most money.  Daniel Bryan, in real life, persevered by his individuality, character, talent, and showing in every match that he was better than anyone they put him up against despite his lack of a wrestler's "look".  It took him years of people telling him "no"but he continued to say "YES!"  In fact, that has now become his in ring chant and has caught on world wide with fans.  He said "YES!" to himself and to what he knew he could do in his career.  After being told "no", there he stood as the WWE Champion and number one guy in that business and it wasn't overnight.  It took him about 15 years of a long hard road of ups and downs, just like in acting.

Say "YES!" to yourself.  Say "YES!" to your career.  "YES!"  In both businesses, it is proven that talent, individuality, persistence, and perseverance, ultimately, wins!