Something Soon?

The short film I was in had a fun premiere at a film competition. It was one of maybe two or three of the thirteen films that did not have audio issues, though it did have awkward shots that, as one judge said, could have been solved by bringing in a stunt coordinator.

One of the judges was an actor and director based in LA who exchanged info with me, emphasizing great interest in using my contortionist skills in the future. Additionally, there was a general sentiment endorsing the idea of our film being turned into a feature. The director seemed vaguely game, but I am trying to spearhead the attempt at writing the script. After all, here is my chance. Proof of concept is already done, just need to expand it. And I met with horror writers the other night who all gave me pitches for what they thought the feature could look like. Incredibly insightful viewpoints from everyone present, and they additionally recommended films to watch for comparisons and themes to borrow and inspire.

The other day, the director of this pilot emailed us to request invoices and to apprise us of an upcoming announcement next week regarding the future of the pilot. This is of course a subtle reminder to me to keep refining the cartoon script that I am hoping he will like. I have a 12-page draft written. I think half of it is good, the other half... is hopefully okay. But I also have no idea if our visions will match, so we will have to see.

I have a live variety show tonight. Four minutes to show off my comedy and contortionist skills, with other acts including musicians, comedians, and a magician. In preparing for it, I have found that the standup comedy portion is much more enjoyable. It involves the audience and involves my writing rather than just what I physically am. Tonight's show will be a little over a minute of my standup, then my dance routine. But having rehearsed it a little, I can say that I would only want to do the dance routine for charity or dance-specific events in the future. It just is not as much fun, and it takes so much more energy. Granted, if it opens lots of doors, it opens doors.

I was just cast in a trailer for a movie that will be used to crowdfund for a feature. The character is German, and the writer said that the accent is optional, and I told him I would work on it.

Pilot Mostly in the Can

We shot my part of the pilot! Light was failing, so we will be reshooting a brief portion of my role, but most of it is in the can. Then in a few weeks, we will have a wrap party for the pilot, and then, from what I understand, we will be shooting as many episodes as we can before SXSW, which is where they plan to premiere the first episode. And they said that we would be streaming, and since they were supportive of the strikes, I assume that it is part of their own streaming service.

Downside is that if we make more episodes before we show it off, I guess I could reasonably expect to continue to miss out on residuals?

I felt pretty bad about my performance. How many times did I rehearse that script, only to flub lines when we did it for real? I felt so amateur, as did my scene partners. But the director repeatedly said that we were fine, that he was getting the shots he needed. And then of course my character's romantic interest was incredible, crying on command, and that admittedly helped me to stay in the moment a lot more. I am used to thinking about how actors these days have scene partners consisting of a tennis ball on a stick, but it truly does change things when you are looking into a tearful pleading face. In any case, imposter syndrome is reportedly quite real. Jake Gyllenhaal said that right after doing a one-man show, he did the Spider Man movie and flubbed  his lines. I just need to use this imposter syndrome and redirect it toward trying to do better.

Tomorrow is a foreign film dub session, then my short horror has its red carpet premiere in a week and a half, and the following week, I am performing my contortionist dance routine for a variety showcase. So at least I have a few things coming up to scratch that performing itch. But my short-term goal was to get this pilot of mine written to a decent draft by the end of the month, and I am halfway through, so if my podcast cohost is not on board, I need to reach out to a different friend to get help with some of the dramatic portions.

Shoot on the Morrow

Well, this pilot shoots tomorrow. It is funny how I felt like I had the script pretty memorized for my audition back in July and now it is September, and I still second-guess myself about it, in large part because I am memorizing the gist of everyone's lines for the dialogue, not just my own. Additionally, now that I have the role secured, I will be breaking from what I was taught as a child actor by doing something different from my audition. But I am comforted by what Austin Butler said about working with Tom Hanks, that he was intimidated at first, but when it came down to it, everyone just wants to run lines.

So tomorrow, I plan to show up early, memorize the names of crew members that are not listed online, and get to work.

Upcoming Pilot Shoot

I finally started going through my pilot with my standup comedy workshop buddy, and my instincts were right. He is a pitching machine, coming up with ideas left and right to fill in the blanks. And just having to talk someone through what I already had made me realize that I had two info dumping scenes that were redundant, so those were easy cuts. That being said, I still wish I had another person in the mix to help with the difficult dramatic moments. Thus far, those are hard to write in a compelling fashion.

On Monday, I finally get to play my role in this pilot (the one that I did not write). Now that it is so close, I am of course making sure I have my lines down completely, but also trying to make sure that I know all the names of every cast and crew member. Why? Because this is what people brag about when it comes to saying how good a given actor is, apart from their actual craft. If you want to be famous, be the type of person that you would want to be famous.

If any of these gigs starts to pay off financially, I want to give a try at writing and going to the gym every day. But I write best when I am at the coffee shop, which means an extra five dollars. And that adds up if you do it every day. 

Scene By Scene

It is so hard to make myself go through this rough draft to make a scene-by-scene outline. Even if Cameron came around and decided to help, this thing requires organized structural changes, which is my strong suit, not his. In fact, from talking to him about it, it sounded like he was only really up for improvising things, for punching up what was already there with one-liners. Which of course is also more my strong suit than his. And this is just the latest opportunity that I have tried to hand to him, what with podcasts and standup comedy workshops that he has turned down. With regard to the script at least, he has said that every time he considers looking at it, he is too drunk or high for it. It reminds me of what Steve Harvey said to Jerry Seinfeld on Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, that he does not know of any successful comedians who smoke weed.

I can hardly blame someone for being a real person about these things, but unlike him, I do not have an alternative plan. He should have just declined, but instead, I waited a little and let myself be a little upset. But I now know that I will most likely have to rewrite some, get this outline in order, and then pitch it to one or two other friends I know who do work hard and similarly do not have much of a life outside of the performing arts.

We have one family connection with a big time director in Hollywood, but only my mom and older brother have met him. She has sent him clips of me and he has been responsive, but ultimately, I do not know how to get from where I am to being on his show business radar. All I know to do is keep writing and acting and submitting to jobs at my level.