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!

Workshop with Rob Riggle, Improv 201 ends

This past weekend I had an awesome opportunity to take an improv workshop at UCB with Rob Riggle! Rob is a former UCB student who has gone on to great success in film and television. He was on Saturday Night Live, and has been in several of my favorite movies and shows like Step Brothers, Talledega Nights and The Office.

Rob is a very smart and funny guy, who seemed genuinely nice and happy to be there, sharing his knowledge. It was simultaneously exciting and nerve racking to perform in front of someone who I admire as much as him, but to his credit, he made it a laid back and welcoming enviroment. I`m happy he`s staying so busy working in LA, but I hope he can make it back here for more of these from time to time! These are the kind of opportunities I was excited about when I got involved at UCB.

Speaking of UCB, the day of my workshop with Rob was also the day of my Improv 201 class show. I had a great time in 201, and was actually sad to see it end. I should find out soon if I get accepted into 301, but in the meantime, I`m already missing improv!

The Onion News Network

This past week, I finally took a nice step forward with my television career!

A few days ago, I got a call from Central Casting, asking if I could work on The Onion News Network that day. I was extremely tired, having just fallen asleep a few hours before, and coming off a double shift at the hotel, but I never like to turn work down. They said it was filming on Long Island, and I would need to catch the train from Penn Station in about an hour. I knew it would be very difficult to make it, since it takes about that long to get there, and I had not showered or anything yet. But I said sure, and hurried there as quickly as I could. I made it to the the train with about 2 minutes to spare! I knew it was going to be very stressful to make it there on time, and I almost turned the gig down. I found out very quickly that I made the right choice!

As soon as I arrived I was rushed through wardrobe, and presented to the director. He quickly looked me over and took me on set. He explained the scene, and gave me a scenerio to act out (that UCB improv training is already being put to use!). I did the scene, which seemed to go well. The director came back in and offered a few notes, and before I knew it, the make-up lady was touching me up, and cameras were coming in around me. We filmed a few takes, and then I was done! Somehow in the span of a few minutes, I auditioned, booked and filmed my first speaking role on a television show! It was amazing!

They never let on when they called me that it was an actual role, and not just background. I suppose they probably did that in case they didn`t like me, they could have just used me as an extra instead. But fortunately they did like me, and now I have a nice little credit to add to my resume (not to mention a much larger check than I was expecting!).

I also started my Improv 201 class this week at UCB. I`m very excited to get going with that again. So far I`m impressed with my teacher, and looking forward to the work we`ll be doing over the next few weeks!

LA Audition

I recently had a great opportunity to fly to Los Angeles for a film audition. It was for a role I submitted for online a few months ago. I was very honored when they contacted me, as these kinds of auditions are very difficult to get, especially without an agent. But, I assumed that I was going to have to decline the audition, because of the time and money needed to go to LA. However, after discussing it with my extremely awesome and supportive wife, she convinced me that I needed to jump on this! This was my first audition for a speaking role in a major film, and she did not want me to miss it.

Luckily, Heather's dad works for US Airways,so they were able to get me a super cheap plane ticket. And to make things even easier, our friend Allyson was visiting us at the time. Her family lives in the LA area, and she worked it for me to stay with them. They also drove me to and from the airport and took me to the audition (and to In-N-Out Burger!) It was a huge help to us financially, and it was amazing to not have to rent a car while I was there. Between all the good fortune I was having, I agreed with Heather. I needed to give this a shot.

The film is called IN SECURITY. There are a few name actors attached to it. No one too famous, but some people I'm familiar with. It seems like a nice little role, and it would be a huge opportunity for me, if I'm fortunate enough to get cast in it. As far as how the actually audition actually went, it's always hard to tell. But I felt good about it, so there's nothing else I can do about it now. Just hope for the best, keep looking for the next gig!

The Upright Citizens Brigade

The Upright Citizens Brigade was founded by Amy Poehler, Matt Walsh, Matt Besser and Ian Roberts. They were all products of Del Close, and the Improv Olympic in Chicago, and formed the UCB when they moved to New York. They teach classes in improv, sketch writing, and they operate a theatre that puts on comedy shows 7 nights a week. Alumni of the program are currently working on THE OFFICE, PARKS AND RECREATION, 30 ROCK and SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE to name just a few!

After meeting Zach Woods, and the glowing recommendation he gave UCB, I knew it was time to get involved there. I signed up for their beginning level improv class this summer. With no improv experience, I was very nervous. Luckily I had a great teacher and talented and supportive classmates, which made it a terrific experience!

I just completed the first level. It went by very quickly, and I had a lot of fun! We put on our class performance last week, and I can't wait to sign up for level 2!

Catching up

A lot has happened since my blog sabbatical (aka the time I was too busy and/or lazy to update this). I ended the television season very strong, with work on the FX show LOUIE, Showtime's WEEDS, a new pilot for Comedy Central called BLACKJACK, HBO's BORED TO DEATH, as well as a new movie with Jessie Eisenberg called PREDISPOSED and The new AMAZING SPIDER-MAN movie! I earned a few nice paychecks during this time, and for one awesome week, I actually made quite a bit more as an actor than I did at the day job!

Obviously, helping out the bank account is a wonderful thing, but these jobs were very enjoyable experiences for several reasons. I am a big fan of some of these shows, and I got some great one on one time with several of the principal actors. In addition to being exciting, this can also be quite educational.

LOUIE was very interesting. I consider Louis C.K. a comedy genius, so working with him/watching him work was a thrill. In addition to being the star, he also writes, directs, places everyone in the scene, he even hopped behind the camera whenever he wasn't in a shot! I've never seen someone more hands on. Especially at this level, when it's a union shoot and everyone has very clearly defined job descriptions and requirements. He obviously takes his work very seriously, which I find very inspiring.

WEEDS was awesome, because I'm a huge fan of the show, and it was only here for one day. It's filmed in LA, but they were in the city for a few shots they needed, and I was lucky enough to be one of the few local actors hired for the day!

BLACKJACK looks like it's going to be hilarious! Ving Rhames is the lead in it, and he was awesome. Not only is he funny as hell, but I was very impressed with how genuine and nice he was, and how appreciative he was of everyone. We were filming on a playground, and as it often happens, a large crowd of onlookers started to form the longer we worked. For a good 20 minutes or so after we broke for lunch, Ving stayed behind and was signing autographs, posing for pictures, and shaking hands with everyone who had gathered to watch. I was able to ride with him in his van to lunch, and someone complimented him on being so generous with his time. ( I realize 20 minutes may not seem like a lot, but it was about 1/3 of his ONLY break during a 14 hour shoot. Plus, I've been on a lot of sets, and I've never seen someone do this.) Anyway, I was very impressed with his response. He said something like "If a few minutes of my time can make someone's day, why wouldn't I do it?" Very cool.

PREDISPOSED could be a really great film. Jesse Eisenberg plays a musical prodigy who's trying to get into Julliard, but his drug addicted mother is making it very difficult for him. OSCAR winner Melissa Leo plays the mom, and Tracy Morgan plays her dealer. There's a big college house party scene that opens the film that I was in with Jesse.

Being the huge comic book nerd that I am, working on THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN was one of my favorite things I've done since moving here! For this one, I was hired to be a stand in. This was my first time doing stand in work. For those of you not familiar with it, a stand in basically takes the place of a lead actor while the crew is setting the cameras and lighting. Then, when they are ready to film the scene, the stand in leaves and the principal actors take their place. It pays a little better than background work, but as you can imagine, it's not the most glamorous job on a set. There are advantages too though, like getting more interaction with the principal cast, director and crew.

I was also hired for a few days as a stand in on BORED TO DEATH. This turned out to be a awesome experience. Like I said before, as a stand in you can get to know the cast and crew a little better, and this was a great example of that. I spent a large part of the day hanging out with, and getting to know Zach Woods, who was a guest star on the episode. Zach is famous for playing Gabe, one of the newer cast members on THE OFFICE. If you're not a fan of the show, you probably don't know who he is just yet, but my wife and I are obsessed with THE OFFICE, so he's pretty much a rock star in our house! I'm happy to say, he couldn't have been a nicer guy! He seemed to take a genuine interest in me and my career. When he found out that Saturday Night Live was one of my dream jobs, he told me I had to get involved with The Upright Citizens Brigade. I've always had an interest in that, but had not previously looked into it. Zach was a student there before becoming a teacher and performer with them. And like so many other UCB alumni, he has gone on to great success in the comedy world. I don't believe I met him by coincidence, and wasted no time signing up for a class there.

Remember me?

I will admit it. I`ve been the worlds laziest blogger lately. I`ve even had some fairy cool things to share too, so I`m going to try to play catch up now. I think it will be easier to write (and read, should anyone out there actually do that) to break things down into seperate posts. So keep checking back, as I`ll be adding stuff soon and often!

Joined AFTRA. White Collar, New Year`s Eve and The Big C.

The past few weeks have been a bit more interesting. I did one night of background work on the new Garry Marshall film New Year`s Eve. Just a large crowd scene, nothing featured at all, but it was enjoyable. Abagail Breslin was in the scene, so it was nice to work with her. She was very polite and professional, which was nice.

The following day, I was booked on the USA show, White Collar. This was also background work, however I was told it was very featured. It was an AFTRA gig, and I would have to join to do it. I was under the impression I could get waivered, however I already received one for Lights Out last year, which put me in the "must join" status. Now, I have been debating joining AFTRA since I joined SAG. I knew I`d be able to get more TV work if I joined, but with the inevitable SAG/AFTRA merger in the works, I thought I could just wait it out and save some money. I finally decided to just hold off for now, unless an appealing enough AFTRA job came along. My gut was telling me I needed to do this though, and thanks to my VERY supportive wife, we decided to go for it! So we scrounged up some money and went down to the AFTRA office to join. Unlike SAG, AFTRA allows you to arrange a payment plan, which makes the initiation fee a bit easier to deal with.

Once I got on set, it was a great expierience from start to finish. The scene was even more featured than I expected. It consisted of one principal actor, Tim DeKay, and two delivery men, myself and a man named Norman. The delivery men didn`t have any lines, but Tim`s character interacted with us quite a bit. It should be a nice little scene. I got one on one direction from the director, and Tim was fantastic to work with. Very friendly and went out of his was to compliment us both to our face and to the director.

Unfortunately, the initiation fee was a lot more money than I made during the episode, so obviously I need to keep booking AFTRA gigs to help pay it off. But I`m off to a good start. I`m working on the Showtime show The Big C next week. As much as I don`t want to get in a rut doing only background work, it`s better than nothing. I have been sending headshots to a lot of principal casting directors , so hopefully I`ll hear something at some point soon. Until then, let`s hope for more featured background roles like this one and Arthur.

Speaking of Arthur, I did go see it recently. Like I expected, I was not credited, but I did have a nice little moment in it. It was nice too, because two of the four featured extras that day did not make the film, so I was very happy to be in it. They pay of course would have been the same, but I still get a kick out of seeing myself on screen. And this was the first time I`ve been able to go to a movie theater and see myself. Previously, I had only been on television.

So far nothing has come from any of my recent auditions but we`ll keep plugging away. Heather did book her first modeling gig though, so I`m very happy for her!

The calm before the storm?

So, 2011 hasn't been as exciting yet as I hoped. In fact, things have been pretty slow on the acting front. The modeling work continues to come, but I've only had one acting job so far. However, I can't help but feel things are about to start happening fast. Maybe, I'm just being optimistic. There's no real reason to feel this way. But I do think we're getting close.

The lone acting gig was a day on the new Arthur film with Russell Brand. A remake of the classic Dudley Moore film, the new version comes out next month. I'm not sure if I'll even be credited on the film yet. My guess is no since it was technically background work. But it was definitely the most featured background work I've done. I received one on one direction, and the scene was blocked around me, which made it feel a lot more like principal work. Either way, it was fun to be a part of it, and I'm excited to see the finished product.

I had an exciting audition yesterday. It was for a travel website. I felt good about it, but there were a lot of men there, so we'll see. I was just glad to book another commercial audition. I also have an audition on Monday to sing the National Anthem at a Mets game, which I'm very excited about! Heather also has several auditions coming up, so maybe there's something to this feeling I've been having after all!

One year later....

Our first year in New York has come and gone. As I look back on 2010, I feel satisfied with my accomplishments, and excited for what 2011 could bring. I didn`t know what to expect coming here, so I didn`t really set too many acting goals last year. I just wanted to dive in head first, and see what became of it. And I did! My first couple of months, especially. I was up at 6 am, standing out in the freezing cold to get lined up for auditions. In less than a month I was doing background work on major television shows. A couple weeks after that, I was making my New York stage debut!

I can`t say that background work is incredibly gratifying. Especially when you`re non-union. The days can be extremely long. The pay sucks. But for someone from Colorado, with no film experience, there was something pretty exciting about being on set with people like Jeff Goldblum and Ted Danson. And the experiences would prove to be helpful to me later in the year.

As far as theatre, I was in two musicals this year. Again, I was non-union, so the pay was terrible. I made more in Grand Junction doing theatre than I made doing these. But these weren`t in Grand Junction. They were in New York City. And I beat out some pretty talented people to get these roles.

Finally, there was my film. This small, low budget film about a man from India, trying to make it in NYC. My role was tiny. Just couple of scenes and a handfull of lines. But the reward was huge, as I now have my shiny new SAG card in my wallet.

As I look ahead this year, my goals are pretty simple. I want to put my SAG card to good use. I need to get more auditions, Real auditions, not just open calls. To do this I`m going to need an agent. I also feel like I need to be doing some commercials. One of the things I heard the most this year was how good of a commercial look I have. Let`s hope they`re right. Here`s to a busy and lucrative year!