This month’s book is called “You Must Act” by Bob Fraser. Bob has been in show business for over 40 years and he has a great wealth of information to share for any actor who wants to read it. I read Bob’s book last May and I am going to read it again this month to see how I am doing on the path. This book helps you create the mindset and attitude you need in order to be a successful actor; he does not pull any punches. This book is not about how to act or techniques for acting but instead focuses on the business side of acting which is the key to success. Like he says there are a lot of very talented actors out there who are waiting tables and pumping gas because talent alone is not enough; you need to understand the business end too. He covers a lot of information and writes in an inspiring motivating way. I loved this book and highly recommend it. This book is an E-Book with means it is downloadable and not in print; it is a PDF file. Also Bob is a very giving guy and has taken the time to read and answer all my emails; and that is saying something now a days.
‘Tis all for now.
Just a view quick updates.
I did not get the role I was reading for in that student film I mentioned a few posts back but Austin the director did offer me a smaller speaking role and I have decided to take it. I like to help out students and I think it is a good networking/karma because one of these student directors could be the next Peter Jackson; also I really liked the script. He is getting a student SAG contract so I can work for him and I appreciate the trouble he is going through for me to be in his film; makes me feel appreciated.
I was on the boards again the last two nights in Another Country’s March 2006 SlamBoston event. (It makes me really proud that they put my picture on thier SlamBoston Website) I was in two of the eight short plays. Both plays had some nice learning challenges for me. The first was called “Chop” and was an experimental piece where I played the anger and rage of the two people talking. I was dressed all in black and had no lines and since my face was covered I had to emote and get my feelings across to the audience with physical body movement only. This was a really great role for me to learn more about using my entire body in the performance. The other play was called “If’s ands or butts” and in this one I had to undress down to a t-shirt and underwear. The audience did not really see much but it was still a new experience for me to be half nude on stage and to allow myself to be vulnerable and exposed (almost literally) on stage. I think that the body and mind are very connected and that exposing more of my body than I am used to will help me deepen the ability for me to be emotionally vulnerable and exposed also.
‘Tis all for now.
Back in the beginning of this year I had posted some milestones that I hoped to achieve during the coming year. I am happy to report that the first of these milestones has now been met. The milestone I am referring to was my wish to be cast in a principal role in a film with a $100k+ budget or more. A principal role basically means a speaking role. In the union there are different pay rates depending on the size of the role, but by rule of thumb, if you have dialog you are a principal player. If not you are an extra or background player. I had a feeling the movie “Elevator Chasers” would meet that milestone but I wanted to be sure before I posted this entry. I sent an email to the director and he let me know that this fully funded project weighs in at around roughly $130K. The role I have in this movie is that of “Drunken Man” and I have about 6 or 7 lines and some fun physical comedy moments. This will most likely be completed in one day of shooting at one location; I can’t wait. The funny thing is that when I posted that milestone I was thinking I would meet that goal with a movie called “A means to an end” which is being produced by the same company; OxRock Productions. Unfortunately funding has not come in for that project yet and it is delayed indefinitely. I am hoping that they get funding because the role I was cast in will be a challenging one for me and I really loved the script.
‘Tis all for now.
Last week I went to four auditions hoping to fill out my schedule a bit in the spring and summer. I auditioned for a part in a short play, for voice over work on a computer game, for a part in a student short, and finally a part in a feature length independent film. As I stated in my previous post I will not hear anything on the voice over work until early June. However I have heard back from both the short play and the feature length movie. I was not offered a part in the play which is a shame since it is being performed in the next town only 2 miles from my house so it would have been damned convenient. The good news is that I was offered a role in the feature length film called “The Elevator Chasers”.
I was very happy to get a role in this film for several reasons: I have worked with the director before, this will be a paying gig, and I think that the production company OxRock Productions is starting to make a name for its self and I want to be a part of the team. The director’s name is Arnon Shorr and I really enjoy his direction style and I believe that he brings great vision and imagination to his films. The last film I worked on with him was a short film called “The Salesman” where I played the lead role and was honored in getting a nomination for best dramatic actor at the 2005 SunDeis film festival in Waltham, MA last year. This is looking to be a very exiting and busy spring between “Pretty Dead Things” with Scorpio Films and “Elevator Chasers” with OxRock Productions and the unnamed project that I can’t talk about yet.
‘Tis all for now.
Last Friday, March 17th, 2006, I went to an audition to be a voice over artist for a video game company. The company is called Mad Doc Software and they are located in Wilmington, MA. This was a real fun audition since it was not the standard film or theater audition that I am used too. I signed a NDA so I can’t talk about the game I was reading for but I can talk about what the audition was like.
When I arrived at the office it looked like the standard high tech corporate office that you could see anywhere, including high end card reader security. There was one major difference that was immediately apparent; the lights where all shut off. The only thing lighting the main cubicle area was the glowing loving warmth of computer monitors. I am a programmer also so I felt right at home. I was escorted to the guy running the audition by a young man in a concert t-shirt and jeans, this place was laid back, just the type of place I would want to work for. I was considering giving them my computer programming resume as well, but thought better of it. My new purpose in life is to try and do less and less computer work and more and more acting. I am down to 16 hours of computer work a week.
The guy running the audition is named Scott and he is the sound engineer for the company. We talked for awhile about computer games and what the company does. I used to play lots and lots of video games before I started my acting journey so I was in my element. On their website you can see that they have made some nice expansion packs for big games like Empire Earth II and Dungeon Siege. Next I went into a room that was set up as a sound booth where I found a microphone and a headset. It was set up so that he could speak to me through the headset and could hear what I was speaking through the mic in the next room. In front of me was a music stand with some dialog and some drawings of the characters they wanted me to read for. We did some sound tests and then I was ready to roll.
I looked at the character portrait, read the sample dialog and then came up with a character voice that seemed to fit. I was instructed to read each line twice and then move on to the next character. This was a lot of fun coming up with different voices, and even though I was not being watched and only my voice mattered I ended making lots of movements and gestures as I did the audition. I probably looked like a crazy person but I feel this helped me create emotion and excitement in my voice. After reading for about 8 characters the audition was over. Now I have to wait till June before I hear anything back. I really hope I get this gig because even though I am not playing computer games very often these days, I still have fond memories staying up all night playing some of my favorite games. It would be cool combining two of my favorite things, acting and games.
‘Tis all for now.
I am very excited that the movie Swink is now done and going to be screened on April 15th, 2006 at the Kendall Square Cinemas in Cambridge, MA. This movie is special for me because it was the first time that I ever got paid to act; oh what a feeling. The cast and crew of this movie was a cool bunch of people to work with. Chris Russell who wrote and directed the movie had a great direction style that I appreciated very much. When he helped me out in my toughest scene which was my death scene I felt the direction he gave brought out the very best performance that I was capable of at the time. I am hoping that I get to work with him again in his future movies. There is a trailer for the movie at the official SWINK website. After filming the movie Chris wrote me a nice email and I asked him if I could add it to my testimonial page. You can view it here.
‘Tis all for now.
Stumble it!