Smash

As I mentioned last time, I've had a great opportunity to work a bunch of days on Smash. What I thought was going to be a three day shoot ending up being about 14 days over five weeks! I never got that upgrade I was hoping for, but it was a nice gig regardless. I made some new friends, made quite a bit of money, and got a small taste of what it's like to be a series regular, on terms of the scheduling demands and the physical toll it puts you through. I ended up working on episodes 13, 14 and 15, and am very excited to see how they turn out.

Now to find out what's next. I have an audition for a web series on Friday. I've never had too much of an interest in doing one of those, but an audition for anything is difficult to get out here. So I figured I better go for it.

UCB classes are back in full swing. I'm really enjoying my musical improv class. As far as the regular improv program, I just started 301. I have a great teacher, an it should be a lot of fun.

Smash, Oscar picks

I've been working on Smash quite a bit this month. I was cast a stage hand which was exciting because I thought that might give me an opportunity for multiple days of work, which it has! I worked 3 days last week and on day this week. I'm coming back tomorrow, and I heard they might need me a couple more days next week too! I love that even though it's still just background work, I'm getting a chance to establish something on there. I've been in multiple scenes in two different episodes now, and have had an opportunity to work with just about every principal actor. Can't wait to see how much more I get to do!

Just in time for the big night, I'm going to grow some quick Oscar picks out there. This is a much more difficult year to predict than most, in my opinon. Last year I correctly guessed every majot category. This year, who knows. But here goes....

Best Picture: The Artist

I think my personal favorite this year, and early pick was Exteemely Load and Incredibly Close. But it never picked up much momentum. The other possible winner is The Help, which was great, but I think all signs are pointing to The Artist winning.

Best Actor: Jean Dujardin

This one could just as easily go to George Clooney, and I'd have no problem with that choice, but I think Dujardin pulls off a well deserved win.

Best Actress: Viola Davis

Many people think Streep deserves more Oscar love, and true as that may be, this is Davis's year.

Supporting Actor: Christopher Plummer

Christopher Plummer seems to have this in the bag. I'd love to see Jonah Hill pull it out, but I think at this point for him, the nomination was a victory.

Supporting Actress: Octavia Spencer.

A well deserved award should go her way tonight. The only potential problem I see is that often times having two nominees from the same film split up the votes too much to win. I don't see that happening here though. Best performance of the year by anyone in any category in my opinion was Melissa McCarthy, but like Hill, I think she'll have to consider being nominated award enough. It was a huge breakthrough for a comedic actress.

Since I'm an actor, I'll just dO those catagories for now. Enjoy the show!

Another month in the books

Well, the first month of the new year has run its course. I wish I had bigger news to report, but the reality is that things have been slow. Not that I'm not trying. Hopefully some of the work I did this month will come back to reward me later.

I spent the last couple of weeks making another strong push for an agent. I sent out a lot of submissions. Too many, really. I won't be able to keep up with them all to do a proper follow up. I think this is ok though. I thought I would cast a wide net and see if I caught anything. In the meantime, I'm going to narrow it down to a select few and follow up soon. It's getting frustrating to not have representation yet, but I can't let it slow me down. I intend to have a big year with or without the help of an agent.

I was also able to enroll in another improv class at UCB this month. I'll be taking a musical improv class this time, and I can't wait to get started. This gap between classes was a bit longer than I wanted it to be, so I hope I haven't lost any of the momentum I was starting to build there. I'm just goon to have to make sure that isn't the case!

As far as gigs, I did have some modeling work, and I was cast again on Law & Order:SVU. This time I got to do a small scene with the captain. Looking forward to seeing it. I hope I made the final cut!

A look back at 2011

As the year comes to a close, I thought I'd take a few moments to reflect on this year. It's always good to remember your accomplishments and look ahead to the coming year

While I probably didn't have as big of a year as I did in 2010, there were still some nice milestones. For the first time, I went to the movies and saw myself on the big screen. It was an awesome feeling. Even though Arthur wasn't a big hit, I was a part of a major Hollywood film (a very small part of course, but a part of it none the less). I also had other nice featured parts in several TV shows. And of course there was the Onion News Network episode I did, which was my first credited speaking role (screaming role, technically, but it's all the same).

In addition to booking more gigs this year, I also got involved in the comedy scene. The classes I took at UCB (and will continue to take next year) will be very valuable to me, I believe. They are making me a better performer, and rubbing elbows with people like Rob Riggle, Zach Woods and Ben Schwartz, was a thrill and can only help me down the road.

I enjoyed a full year of the additional pay and benefits of being a SAG member. I joined AFTRA, and am now eligiable to join Equity.

Of course there were a few misteps too. Having to cancel that day of shooting on Thanks For Sharing might have cost me a speaking role in that film. And scheduling conflicts that I later found out could (and should) have been avoided forced me to turn down what may have been nice opportunities on Blue Bloods and The 2-2.

Obviously I still have a long way to go, and like everyone, I wish things were happening faster. But overall I feel proud of the progress I made this year, and I'm very hopeful for a successful 2012!

Finally!

After nearly two years of trying, I finally worked on Law and Order:SVU. It was supposed to be very featured, but I ended up not even being used on camera. A little bit of a let down, but what can you do. At least I was paid well for the day. And although I didn't get to do a scene with her, at least I saw Mariska on set! That was exciting, being such a big fan.

Then about a week or so later, I got another call I've been waiting for. I was hired to do some background work on 30 Rock! The two shows I've been trying desperately to get on since moving her back to back! This experience was much better too. I did a small party scene with Tina Fey and Jane Krakowski. I think I'll get some decent camera time. What made the day even better was the fact that Steve Bucemi was the director! He was great too. Very friendly, and took a lot of time to give notes. It was an amazing experience!

I don't know when either episode airs yet, but I'm looking forward to seeing them!

Person of Interest

I received a very interesting phone call a couple of weeks ago. I was selected by Jonathan Nolan to be a featured extra in his new show, Person of Interest. I have been selected by directors before, but to have the creator and producer of the show choose me was very flattering and exciting. It helps that I am a big fan of the show too!

The role required me to shave my head, which I was fine doing. I played a skin head who sells a gun to the guest star, Melonie Diaz. I recognized Melonie right away from her role in Hamlet 2, which is one of my favorite comedies. She was nice, and fun to work with.

I`m not sure when the episode airs yet, but I`ll keep everyone posted. In other news, I finally got a call from Law and Order:SVU! It took almost 2 years, but I have been booked for an episode that shoots next week. And it`s another featured role, so I can`t wait! More on it next time!

An up and down month

I`ve been feeling kind of out of sync the past few weeks. I had to turn down featured background roles on Blue Bloods and a new show called The 2-2 because of scheduling issues. The new one will hopefully call again soon, but Blue Bloods was pretty frusterating because it took a year and a half to finally get a call from them. I really hope it doesn`t take that long to hear from them again. But both are very minor compared to the experience I had with a movie called Thanks For Sharing.

Thanks For Sharing is a new film by the writer of The Kids Are Alright, starring Mark Ruffalo, Tim Robbins and Gweneth Paltrow. Much of the film centers around a support froup the two male leads belong to. I was cast in a highly featured role as one of the other men in the group. It is a very small group, so I was sure to get a lot of screen time, and it was very likely that I could have been given a line at some point. Especially since the director is also the writer. But unfortunately, I was out of town right before the shoot, and was not able to get a flight back in time. I tried every possible flight, but they were all full. So I had to call and cancel. It was so upsetting! I did get used again in a much smaller, less featured role, but it was little consolatation. I did still get to work with Mark Ruffalo and Tim Robbins though, so that was good. And they were both extremely nice guys!

On to more positive things, I did get to work on a couple other movies. The new Steve Carrell/Meryl Streep/Tommy Lee Jones movie, Great Hope Springs. Steve wasn`t in the scene, unfortunately, but the other two were. I played a passenger on an airplane. I also did a film called Gods Behaving Badly. It has a great cast, lead by Christopher Walken.

Heather has had some luck lately too! She did background on some Indian film with a woman who is apparently the biggest actress in Bollywood. It was an interesting experience. She also did an industrial for United Airlines, which was a great gig for her! She finished her last improv class this week, and we`re looking forward to the next!