Print Modeling

As I mentioned last time, there hasn't been a lot of acting news to report lately. But one thing that has remained steady, are my modeling jobs. Now, up until recently, they have all been fit sessions. However, a few weeks ago my agent asked me if I wanted to do a photo shoot for a print job. Ted Baker, a clothing company from London, was about to open a store in New York, and they wanted some larger models to dress up like old-time British moving men. The shoot would consist of us unloading a moving truck in front of the new store. The truck contained the personal effects of the fictional "Ted Baker" persona that the company has established in London. I was quick to agree to it for two reasons. One: like the fit sessions, print modeling pays very well. The other reason was simply that a man my size doesn't get a lot of offers for print modeling, so I figured I'd better jump at the opportunity.

The store is in the Meatpacking District, which is a very cool area of the city I had not been to yet. This seems to be the way I explore most of the city, through the different acting jobs I book. The costumes they provided looked great, however they didn't fit anyone! I guess they forgot larger models require larger clothing. I was at least able to button my jacket. Not everyone was, and unfortunately for them, it limited the number of shots they were in. (Although, they got paid the same for less work, so they probably didn't mind too much.) At first I wondered if we were going to get a bit of a workout, but the items we unloaded were all very lightweight props. Plus they wanted to get a lot of shots of us slacking off,which was fun. They even did a shot where we stopped in the middle to have tea.

Overall, it was a lot of fun, and a great experience. I don't know exactly where these pictures will end up. We were told the internet, in the store, and possibly in some ads. I did find some of them on their website. I will share the link here for anyone who wants to see!

http://www.tedbakerblog.com/2010/11/moving-into-the-meatpacking/

Joined SAG

I haven't had a lot to blog about the last couple of months. Like most young actors, I have to balance auditions with having a job that actually pays the bills. I was lucky enough to find a great seasonal job that pays really well, so I've purposely taken a few steps back from acting, while I get my finances in better shape. However, I've just experienced a major milestone in my acting career that I wanted to share.

As I mentioned in my last blog, my film DESPERATE ENDEAVORS opened the door for me to join the Screen Actors Guild. It took some time to get through the paperwork side of it, not to mention saving up for the large initiation fee, (which the new job made possible, thank you Marriott!). But today I opened my mailbox, and there it was. My SAG card. Even though I have known it was going to happen for a couple of months now, it's a little surreal to be holding in my hands. So many actors struggle for so long to get to this point, and I got it off of my first film audition I went to in New York. Not that I'm apologizing for it. Years of acting work and training helped prepare me for that audition. But I am definitely aware of how fortunate I've been, and I'm very appreciative of it. I went to an orientation at the SAG office the other day. During the introduction they showed a video. It was a clip from an awards show. It showed Tom Hanks accepting one of his many awards. I can't remember exactly what he said, but it was something like, of all his achievements, this was one of them he was most proud of, and he whips out his SAG card. I had seen that speech before, but it had a much more profound effect on me this time. Let's hope I can put my card to good use, like Mr. Hanks does.