This Friday I have a audition for a new Jude Law/Forest Whittaker movie currently called Repossession Mambo directed by Miguel Sapochnik, a one-time storyboard artist. I’m trying not to get too excited, but it’s hard for me not to think that this could be the break I’ve been waiting for. I’m reading for the role of:
[RAYMOND PEARL] late 20s - mid 30s. Another of Frank’s top-notch repo men, he is a “psychopath with a Union scalpel.”
What was interesting was that I received not only my sides for the audition, but FTP instructions to download the short movie “The Dreamer” by Miguel Sapochnik. The short movie was awesome and in the same vein of Children of Men or Blade Runner with a similar storyline to “The Island”. I understand why Hollywood came knocking.
So my reading is this Friday and I’m getting private coaching from my fabulous acting coach Lisa Mililo Clarkson who teaches scene study and audition technique at Joanne Baron/DW Brown and is currently the on-set coach for Days of Our Lives. The actual audition will be taped and sent to the director who is currently in Toronto. I’m just hoping to make a good first impression and make it to a second reading.
Sunday we had a substitute teacher come in and coach our scene study class. Just like in high-school, a lot of people didn’t show up for class because there was a substitute. Unfortunately for them, they missed out on a great class. Diane, our guest teacher, spent at least an hour talking about the key to having a career as an actor. The secret: know thyself. Know your type, know your personality and the aura you project. Know what your character handle is in real life and use your personality and real life idiosyncrisies to permeate in your work. That is what will make you stand out from the crowd. Don’t try to be somebody else. Be confident in who you are and what you have to offer as an actor. She gave examples such as Bill Macy and Philip Seymore Hoffman who you wouldn’t of ever thought of leading actors at first look, but then they created great careers by creating great characters.
This was a great lecture and something I really neded to hear and reinforce in my mind. Diane even spent the time asking each of us what roles we are most commonly sent out for and if we feel we match those roles. I told her how when I was “younger” I was also sent out for a lot of asian gangster roles but never booked any of them. She said that just by talking to me in person she could see that I am definitely not a gangster type. She said I project more of an Asian Carey Grant (who would’ve thought? Not I). I guess this would also match Tom’s comments of how I have this bit of sophistication about me. Honestly, I would’ve never said these things about myself, but how enlightening. What’s even more interesting is that I brought in a comedic monologue I wrote dealing with the struggle of self identity. How ironic.
Today I drove into Hollywood for CBS Showcase auditions and as I approached the casting office I noticed a big sign on the door “CBS Showcase Auditions are Next Week Not Today”. So I immediately called my agent who verified this. Oh well. At least I know that I can prepare a monologue very quickly.
I drove 30min for someone to take 2 pictures of me so I can be considered for a VW print ad. I do appreciate that I was in and out of the studio really quick, but it’s just crazy to think about what we go through as actors/models.
AS MENTIONED SEVERAL TIMES BEFORE…YOU MUST KEEP YOUR CELL PHONES WITH YOU AND TURNED ON AT ALL TIMES!!!!!
We are getting more and more SAME DAY auditions. It is so frustrating when we spend our valuable time to pitch you in for an audition and we are not able to reach you.
Starting today, if you do not return our call within a 1/2 hour for a same day audition, we will replace you with another client. We simply cannot afford to have a wasted spot on these auditions.
ALSO…YOU MUST REMEMBER TO BOOK OUT IF YOU ARE NOT AVAILABLE!!!!
I keep repeating myself but we encounter a few actors a day who simply forget to notify us when they’re unavailable.
This is a business…NOT a hobby. Please treat it as such. I sincerely dislike having to send these emails, especially to those of you to whom this does not apply. You are all adults and presumably pursue this career as a profession. You are all very talented and likeable people or you would not be a client…period. We must maintain our professionalism in the industry and keep our eye on the ball. Keep my hair from turning gray…PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Probably not ’cause I know the casting director wasn’t feelin’ my performance. I was suppose to be a translator to the North Korean dictator and Margaret Thatcher comes over to our political entourage and kisses me on both cheeks because I happen to be chewing Orbit gum. After my performance I got the standard “Ok. Thank you for coming in.” Well, you never know the client could still see me on tape and want to hire me. The only caveats are that it shoots in Russia the first week in July and I can’t currently find my passport. Plus I would have to take a leave of absence from work. Nothing to worry about until I get the official phone call.
More immediately I have to worry about my performance for class this Sunday. I have 15 pages to memorize, blocking to work out and my character and actions to figure out.
As of last Sunday I’m back in scene study class with Lisa Milillo at the studio. It’s been a couple months since I’ve been in class but it feels good to be back. Lisa has assigned me and my new partner a scene from the comedic play “Spike Heels“. I’m playing Edward and my partner is playing Georgie. We had a table reading this past Sunday and after two lines Lisa stopped the scene. Like always, she challenged the class with “Can anybody tell me why I stopped them”. My fellow classmates responded with “their relationship is not clear” and “I don’t know what is going on in this scene” - which Lisa responded with a resounding “YES!” And proceeded to ask me and my partner basic questions about the scene. She then told us to go off stage and try again. At that point she spoke to the class about the reality of being on a sitcom and doing a table read. She said, “don’t fool yourself - at a table read for a sitcom the producers, writers and director are expecting a full performance at the table. You must come prepared to give it your all.” So we tried again. The second time was better though it was obvious I didn’t have a handle on my character. So Lisa told my partner and I that we need to rehearse at least 8 hours this week and bring it back on it’s feet next Sunday. Whew!
“If you wake up Monday morning wanting to go to work, then you are in the right career.” This is the life lesson I learned today from Donald Trump on “The Apprentice”. But I already knew I’m not in the right career. That’s why I skipped out to a commercial audition today for TLC. TLC is currently running these “Life Lessons” commercials promoting… the channel, I think? That’s the wierd thing about the TLC commercials. They’re going for this off-beat approach, but it’s so off-beat that I don’t get it - and I feel like I’m a pretty smart guy. What are these commercials promoting??? Well no-matter. I hope I book it.
Speaking about Donald Trump, I saw him speak at the Learning Annex Real Estate Wealth Expo at the LA Convention center over the weekend. He was entertaining, but that’s it. As for the Real Estate Wealth Expo, I learned a lot of interesting information about real estate investment strategies but was hammered with sales pitch after sales pitch for $2000-$5000 investment strategy kits and asset protection kits. It’s amazing to me that so many people were stupid enough to spend money on these get rich quick schemes. Ultimately, the only wealth that was gauranteed from the Wealth Expo was for all the salesmen who pitched their products and for the Learning Annex who lured over 50k people to the event at around $200 per person. That being said, I did learn a lot about different real estate investment strategies and asset protection strategies and will be doing research on how I can use all this info to my own advantage. It is true that the only way to create true wealth is to make money work for you and don’t work for the money. In other words, invest more, spend less, be a business owner and have multiple streams of income. For me, I’m still pursuing the Hollywood way which is to eventually create a brand based on my future celebrity status and license my brand to different companies for all types of different products and services (and also build my own companies). Either that or come up with the next huge creative property franchise like JK Rowling did with Harry Potter. Her creative property has made her a billionaire.
Anyway, here’s some links to resources I found which give a voice of reason to the over-hyped “One weekend can make you a millionaire!” Wealth Expo:
Basically to sum up all these articles, it is possible to become a millionaire using some of these real-estate investing techniques, but it’s just not that easy. Heck, you could become a millionaire with the right website idea. Plenty of people are. It’s just not that easy.
BTW, did I mention that I’m selling my “Get Rich With Your Website!” kit for only $2000 today? I usually sell it for $5000, but just for today, it’s $2000 and you will receive personal coaching over the phone too. (I bet you anything I could have got in front of those 20,000+ people in that keynote hall and sold them some “internet kit” for $2000. I could have made a killing. People were that willing to charge up their credit cards on the dream that they were soon going to be millionaires).
