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4:43 pm - Sun 12.19.2010
Looking Out The Window

Looking Out The Window

The Budweiser shoot was Thursday (At Melody Ranch in Newhall).

Found out Wednesday night I wasn't cast as the "Bartender", which was very disappointing; that role would have meant more "face time", and the chance to act with Peter Stormare (From Pulp Fiction, Fargo, and The Big Lebowski, amongst other fine films).

I felt like I'd had my chance (To actually "do something" in the spot)...and blown it.

(The "blowing it" would have occurred when they put me on camera as the "Bartender" at the production office.)

In my bit as "Man In Window", I wasn't even in the main action of the spot (Which takes place in the saloon); my action was to look at Stormare's character as he comes through town on his horse - I check him out through a dirty second story window, then close the curtain behind me.

I think we did maybe four takes - It probably took longer to negotiate the scaffolding to get into position than to actually shoot the thing.

As we were shooting, I wasn't looking at Peter Stormare. I wasn't even looking at Peter Stormare's stunt double (Who I thought looked like a cross between Stormare and Robert Duvall) - I was looking at a crew-member's upraised hand as he walked down the street.

(Right before my bit, they were trying to film a bit with a trained dog, who wasn't quite getting with the program. I was actually kind of glad, because I thought it made this actor look pretty damned good in comparison.)

It was a very short day (Not sure if it was a record...but it was close) - My call time was 8:30 am, and I was done shortly before noon.

my hit-and-run appearance on the set made me the envy of my fellow actors - some of whom were on their second day of shooting - and to be honest, there's a part of me that enjoyed it too (I've said before that if I don't get to act when I do a gig, the next best thing is "feeling like I'm getting away with something". And the possibility of making thousands of dollars for hanging around on a set a couple hours definitely qualifies as "getting away with something").

But the "double-edged sword" of doing such a nothing bit, and getting in and out in a hurry, is you are very easily edited out of the spot.

And if that happens, all of a sudden you haven't "gotten away with" anything; instead, a gig that potentially meant thousands of dollars turns into a single check for a couple hundred - Still better than a poke in the eye, but not quite what you'd hoped for.

But really, all things being equal, I would have preferred being in the saloon, and working with the other actors.

But it was what it was.

As I told somebody recently, I wanted a commercial, I wanted to "sneak in" one more job before the year was out...and I got what I wanted.

It isn't the Universe's fault that I wasn't more specific - I needed to make a point of stating, "I want to book a commercial, and I want to have a meaningful thing to do in the commercial, and I want the commercial to run forever".

Live and learn.

But aside from what I did and didn't get to do in the commercial - I was also envious of some of the actors, cause they got to wear holsters and I didn't - it was fun to be at Melody Ranch (A Western back-lot), and spend some time hanging out with other actors.

I should have taken pictures - In addition to my cell phone, I also had my Flip video camera with me - but on the one hand, I feel shy about asking people if I can take their picture, and on the other, I'm afraid I'll get in trouble for taking pictures/videos of things I shouldn't be taking pictures of on a set.

(But that said, I want to start getting more of a "visual record" when I do these things. I feel like I'm letting a lot of cool/interesting stuff get by me.)

So that was Budweiser.

I thought that was going to be it for the year, and I would have been fine with that, but I actually have another commercial audition tomorrow (For "A Major Car Company" - That's all the breakdown said), as a hapless tv weatherman.

I'm struggling to "get my mind right" about this audition, because, in a nutshell, this doesn't seem like very good casting - I haven't spent a lot of my life watching tv weathermen, but when I have, I've never thought, "That guy looks like me...!".

But who knows?

I clearly don't have 20/20 vision when it comes to how other people see me, because JS submitted me for the audition, and Kathy Knowles Casting accepted me for it, so apparently they do think I look like a hapless tv weatherman.

So I'm going to go with a belief that "they are right, and I am wrong", and make this the last gig I book in 2010.

It would be a nice one, too - for a series of spots - which would help me get the residual bad taste of the T-Mobile callback-that-wasn't (which was also for a series of spots) out of my mouth.

 

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