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9:57 PM - Fri 6.16.17
An "Actor-y" Day

An "Actor-y" Day

Is it the title...?

Typically, when I book something, I immediately want to "shout it from the rooftops", but I got word yesterday that I booked the job I auditioned for on Monday, and I haven't said a peep on Facebook (On either of my pages) or on Twitter.

So what's the title, you ask?

Swedish Dicks.

I've told a few people individually, always following up with the "joke" that "It's not gay porn" (I thought earlier that when I eventually do post on Facebook, I'd say something like "I haven't mentioned it before because I can't decide whether to make the obvious jokes myself, or let one of you have the honor").

But whoever does the joking, I did book a gig, on a popular web-series starring Peter Stormare...and a guy I don't know, as two Swedish PIs in LA.

And this is a good thing.

I always want to book everything I audition for, of course, but one thing that makes this particularly sweet is that it's the first thing I've gone out on from my new agent.

And that's kind of a "thing" I have - whether it's starting a new day job, or starting with a new agent, I want to then book an acting job as quickly out of the gate as possible, to establish - in both instances - that I am an actual working actor, not someone who calls themselves an actor but who never actually does anything.

I feel it "sets the proper tone" (Which was one of the reasons it was so painful to not book anything at Clear Talent till shortly before they dumped me - You can't put it in other people's minds that you're "a heavy hitter" if you never hit anything).

So anyway, that's a thing that's happening - Next Saturday, to be precise. I'm expecting much fun to be had.

Sat 6/17/17 (6:05 PM)

The Swedish Dicks booking somewhat eases the pain of getting cut from the second episode of Shameless (After being "pinned" for it, if I remember correctly, the same day I was shooting the 1st episode).

Since I was written out of the episode before I ever saw a script, I can't really cry over the theoretically fun bit I was gonna do - To be blunt, the pain I felt when I got the news was almost entirely the bummer of having a paycheck dangled in front of me, then snatched away (The gig coming up will be fun - Doing a new thing, playing a new character, with a new group of people - and it's close enough that I could walk there if I wanted. But money-wise, it pays a quarter of what I make per-episode on Shameless).

Had an audition for another web-series on Thursday, and I left thinking it had gone well (Though I was chagrined when the CD gave me a redirect to basically connect more with the reader, and not sound like I was "making a speech", I thought I changed course effectively).

(I lost a little hope on that one when I didn't hear yesterday, but am telling myself that it could still be "open", and maybe I'll get the good word on Monday.)

Thursday turned out to be maybe the most "Actor-y" day I've had so far this year (Not counting Shameless) - I had the audition late-morning, heard I'd booked Swedish Dicks minutes after I got back home, then had the big movie premiere in the evening.

I'd been nervous about the premiere (Of Great Again, the short film I did earlier this year), primarily because I worried it would be so bad I'd be uncomfortable watching it in front of an audience (Then even more uncomfortable having to deal with being asked my opinion afterward - by fellow cast-members and whatnot).

That didn't really happen - The discomfort I did end up feeling was more pedestrian and familiar.

Getting there was easy enough (It was at the ArcLight in Culver City), but once I did, I struggled a bit to figure out where I was supposed to go and what I was supposed to do.

Once I got my ticket, I just...waited to see familiar faces (They wanted us seated by 6:15 for the start of the program at 6:30, and I was about 20-25 minutes early).

And that's when I realized there was no plan - There had been no discussion of meeting at a given time or place before the screening, no discussion of whether we'd have seats reserved as a group in the theater, nothing.

So none of that happened - Eventually, I saw Aeden (The Screenwriter) who was there with her mother, and I basically glommed onto them for the rest of the evening (A picture with the two of them was the only "red-carpet" picture I was involved in that night - I hadn't consciously realized it, but I was kinda looking forward to getting a picture on the red carpet with "The Cast", and playing at being at a premiere, so...disappointing).

I sat with Aeden and her Mom (Both of whom I found tremendously charming). And after what felt like an interminable speech by the head of Film Independent, the screenings started.

I didn't know what order our film was in the mix - It was basically in the middle - so each time a film ended, I felt the nervousness/excitement of "Is the next one ours...?".

And then suddenly it was ours.

And it wasn't terrible.

It wasn't great, mind you, but it wasn't terrible (If I were a critic, I'd want to write "Sadly, 'Great Again' isn't great in the first place". But anyway...).

It got some chuckles I wasn't expecting (Including some from a bit I wasn't very happy about when we shot it - So shows you what I know).

And the person who caused the most angst among the cast (For being loose on her lines) was the audience's favorite character - Clearly, a cute old person cursing with a heavy accent is comedy gold.

My big response to seeing myself on screen was to be bummed that I looked way more authentic as a "homeless guy" than I'd imagined on the day - I was kinda disappointed in my line deliveries in a couple spots, but way more bothered that pretty much all it took for me to look "homeless" was an army jacket and a week of not shaving (As I remember, about the only makeup they did for me was some powder on my forehead to cut the glare).

The film looked good and flowed better than I'd imagined - The only two things I was a little disappointed by on that front was a character tries to do a cell-phone video with me, and I thought we would see that cell-phone footage (We didn't), and the ending shot (With Yours Truly) went on way too long.

The one thing I remember particularly liking of what I did (And how the director shot it) was the moment you see me make the decision that puts the plot in motion - There are no words, just me looking around, surveying the situation, then deciding to act, but it was the one moment I was watching myself on screen and thought, "Okay, that moment totally works".

In a perfect world, it would have been the audience's favorite (It wasn't), or at least my favorite (It also wasn't), but since I'd feared disaster, I was content to get by without feeling humiliated - I can't imagine this film will do my career any good, but I can't see it hurting things either.

And in this instance, that's good enough.

There's was an after-party, and I felt awkward and uncomfortable at times, not quite knowing what to do with myself.

But I was happy I didn't go nuts on the food - very tempting in this sort of circumstance - and managed to get out of my head long enough to compliment a couple of the actors who were in the films I liked better than mine.

We did get something of a "group shot" during the party, with the Director, most of the cast, Aeden (the Screenwriter), and the composer of the score (Who I met at the party).

(Three cameras were going, so no one knew where to look, and I don't know whose cameras they were, so have no idea how to get a copy.)

And much to my surprise, when someone suggested the "real party" would be starting in a couple hours - in a nearby tent with dancing and whatnot - I found myself wanting to stay (I like to dance).

I'm not sure what I thought would happen if I stayed, but I kinda wanted to make something happen, even if that "something" was only to "have more fun" than I'd had (I considered trying to get out of work the next day, before deciding it wasn't really worth it - though at some point I starting thinking it was Friday night and not Thursday, so if I had tried to get out of work, I would have embarrassed myself by calling the wrong coworkers).

So that was a thing that happened - Overall, better than the shit-show I was imagining, but I would probably have had a better night staying at home (For the record, my worry about having to lie to my starry-eyed fellow cast-mates was unfounded - I got the sense, from conversations afterward, that we all had pretty much the same view of the film - Great Again was solidly mediocre).

I didn't have the terrible experience I thought I was going to have...but it wasn't the "premiere of my dreams" either.

(Maybe next time...)

 

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