I had an audition last Saturday afternoon for a short film called "The Yellowtown Monster". The sides were hilarious and I assume the rest of the script is as well. I went out for the main character, the Monster. He is 5,000 years old and is good friends with Bigfoot and Loch Ness etc. He sees how they are getting all of the fame and subsequent success in life and has become very jealous. He decides to take a stab at Hollywood from what I can tell.
The audition felt really great. There were a lot of people in the room and I got a lot of laughs from the people on the other side of the table - which is always nice. I would say a line/monologue one way and I'd receive positive feedback and then receive an adjustment. "Excellent Phillip! Now for this next take, instead of saying it like that....try it like..." And that's what I did.
I heard about this audition from a friend that I had cast in a previous production I was in. It's always good to have friends like that!
I read on someones facebook wall the other day that when you stop focusing on getting auditions and start focusing on building relationships, that is when your career gets a lift. I'd have to agree with that idea. Instead of having a mindset of "what have you done for me lately?", it is a lot better for you/friends/the world if you think more along the lines of "I'm going to do this for you and not expect anything in return". I suppose many of the world's great philosophers, religious icons and leaders of industry have been saying and thinking the same thing all along. Act because you want to act. Audition because you love to audition. Create because you need to create in order to survive.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Friday, March 18, 2011
I was on TV this past Tuesday...
Here is the link. Check it out. I show up around 45 seconds. Hope all is well.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Sans Acting
I haven't had an audition in around 3-4 weeks. This has made me focus on earning money in real estate and on physical fitness. We're all set to go to Savannah in 8 days or so. That has intensified my work ethic over the last few days. I want to close 2 real estate deals by the time we leave. I've closed deals at that rate before. What PhillyRay has done, PhillyRay can do.
Yesterday I went to the aforementioned "meathead gym" in Astoria. They have a revamped schedule, which includes (thank you Lord) a Thursday boxing class! That is the perfect day of the week to have a boxing class with my schedule. The instructor is a grizzled Haitian man named Pierre. He also has a class on Tuesdays from 730-830 called "Pierre's Torture Camp". I find that class aptly named. I'm banged up, dude.
Today's gripe: Why is it so hard to get a coffee without sugar? I supposed I'll have to start reinforcing my order in Spanish....
"Coffee with milk and no sugar, please. Cafe con leche SIN azucar, por favor....sin azucar."
"Como? Sin Azucar?"
"Si. Soy dulce bastantes."
Ah. The pains of ordering coffee. Esso si que es....
Yesterday I went to the aforementioned "meathead gym" in Astoria. They have a revamped schedule, which includes (thank you Lord) a Thursday boxing class! That is the perfect day of the week to have a boxing class with my schedule. The instructor is a grizzled Haitian man named Pierre. He also has a class on Tuesdays from 730-830 called "Pierre's Torture Camp". I find that class aptly named. I'm banged up, dude.
Today's gripe: Why is it so hard to get a coffee without sugar? I supposed I'll have to start reinforcing my order in Spanish....
"Coffee with milk and no sugar, please. Cafe con leche SIN azucar, por favor....sin azucar."
"Como? Sin Azucar?"
"Si. Soy dulce bastantes."
Ah. The pains of ordering coffee. Esso si que es....
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Stuttering is......
I came across this article today on my morning commute and it's a vivid and accurate description of what it's like to stutter. Stuttering has been in the news more this past year than it has even been before thanks to the Oscar nominated film "The King's Speech". If I may piggyback on Mr. Heller and add a few more thoughts, I'd be my obliged.
I started stuttering around 2nd grade and have not stopped since. There are days of good speech and months, years, moments of horrible debilitating stuttering. At this point, I've just kind of accepted it as part of me and I've also been able to hide it enough that most people who have met me after college have no idea that I stutter.
It's funny, (albeit in a cruel way) that a stutterer is chasing a career that relies on the mastery of speech and various vocal variations. A peculiar and maddening aspect of stuttering is that no one really knows what causes it and there is no universally accepted way to fix it. I think that, because of that inherent issue people still don't fully understand what it is like to stutter. For instance, I'm not blind, but I understand what it means to be blind. Would you ever walk up to someone with a cane and tell them "Just see it! It's right there, what is wrong with you!??!!?!?"
No, of course you would never do that, it would make you a monster of sorts. So why then, is it socially acceptable for teachers, pathologists, parents, friends etc to say "Speak! Just say it!" ? It's not that easy.
OK, I've been telling you what stuttering isn't, now here is a list of some of the things that stuttering is.
Stuttering is depressingly ironic: When I was younger and I would begin to stutter, people would become very frustrated and yell "SPEAK!" to which I would immediately blurt out "It's not just that easy for me!" How about that for humble pie.
Stuttering is PC to mock: Have you ever made fun of someone in a wheelchair? Of course not. (Even elementary school math text books go through great lengths to assimilate wheelchair bound people into those ridiculous cover shots of the black boy, the Asian chick, the geeky redhead and the Latino/possibly Arabic girl. I promise you, there is always a kid in a wheelchair.) WTF. But it's totally cool to make fun of a stutterer. I was once openly mocked by my 9th grade health teacher in the middle of class. I had to read something out loud and I stuttered on "A". I kept on saying "A A A A A A A A A A A A". The health teacher blurted out "I guess the B never came." The class found this to be hilarious. Me, not so much. I went into the bathroom and bawled my eyes out in the toilet stall. I was late for my next class and got detention. Awesome. I could write a book about the times that I was made fun of, marginalized and insulted. Shouldn't a health teacher be sensitive to stuttering? Or at least...oh I dunno COGNIZANT of stuttering?
Stuttering is fattening: It forces you to order food that you don't want. "Turkey" used to be hard for me to say, so I would order a "BLT" without stuttering. Thanks for raising my blood pressure and cholesterol, stuttering. I would also like to go to Mexican restaurants because I could just point to "chilequiles" on the menu and look puzzled at the waitress and she would write down my order because the gringo could read that word properly.
Stuttering is a dictator: It makes me say certain words. I rarely say "other", I'll say "different" or even "'nother", like I'm a gold prospector or something. "There's gotta be 'nother way" /spits tobacco into bronze urn...puh-TING!
Stuttering is a meaning changer: When you are as quick witted as I am, you want to say things as soon as the synapse occurs, of course this rarely happens. This makes me constantly think a few lines ahead of where I am in the conversation, constantly planning different ways to say things in case I stutter.
Stuttering is my biggest fear: A lock up can happen at any time, so I am always on my toes and worried that I will be laughed at, lose a real estate client, lose a role, be perceived as weak/nervous/whatever.
Stuttering is like drowning: When I stutter, my lungs and mouth feels like someone has grabbed me by my hair and is holding me under water, trying to murder me. Think of the moment when all the air bubbles out of your mouth and nose and how hard you will be pursing your lips to keep the salty death out of your lungs. Bingo. That's what it feels like to me.
Stuttering has defined me: It's who I am, it has shaped me, it has given me a sense of humor, it has forced me at a really young age to pick my friends wisely.
Stuttering is also ultimately my bag, my thing to deal with....so thanks for reading.
I started stuttering around 2nd grade and have not stopped since. There are days of good speech and months, years, moments of horrible debilitating stuttering. At this point, I've just kind of accepted it as part of me and I've also been able to hide it enough that most people who have met me after college have no idea that I stutter.
It's funny, (albeit in a cruel way) that a stutterer is chasing a career that relies on the mastery of speech and various vocal variations. A peculiar and maddening aspect of stuttering is that no one really knows what causes it and there is no universally accepted way to fix it. I think that, because of that inherent issue people still don't fully understand what it is like to stutter. For instance, I'm not blind, but I understand what it means to be blind. Would you ever walk up to someone with a cane and tell them "Just see it! It's right there, what is wrong with you!??!!?!?"
No, of course you would never do that, it would make you a monster of sorts. So why then, is it socially acceptable for teachers, pathologists, parents, friends etc to say "Speak! Just say it!" ? It's not that easy.
OK, I've been telling you what stuttering isn't, now here is a list of some of the things that stuttering is.
Stuttering is depressingly ironic: When I was younger and I would begin to stutter, people would become very frustrated and yell "SPEAK!" to which I would immediately blurt out "It's not just that easy for me!" How about that for humble pie.
Stuttering is PC to mock: Have you ever made fun of someone in a wheelchair? Of course not. (Even elementary school math text books go through great lengths to assimilate wheelchair bound people into those ridiculous cover shots of the black boy, the Asian chick, the geeky redhead and the Latino/possibly Arabic girl. I promise you, there is always a kid in a wheelchair.) WTF. But it's totally cool to make fun of a stutterer. I was once openly mocked by my 9th grade health teacher in the middle of class. I had to read something out loud and I stuttered on "A". I kept on saying "A A A A A A A A A A A A". The health teacher blurted out "I guess the B never came." The class found this to be hilarious. Me, not so much. I went into the bathroom and bawled my eyes out in the toilet stall. I was late for my next class and got detention. Awesome. I could write a book about the times that I was made fun of, marginalized and insulted. Shouldn't a health teacher be sensitive to stuttering? Or at least...oh I dunno COGNIZANT of stuttering?
Stuttering is fattening: It forces you to order food that you don't want. "Turkey" used to be hard for me to say, so I would order a "BLT" without stuttering. Thanks for raising my blood pressure and cholesterol, stuttering. I would also like to go to Mexican restaurants because I could just point to "chilequiles" on the menu and look puzzled at the waitress and she would write down my order because the gringo could read that word properly.
Stuttering is a dictator: It makes me say certain words. I rarely say "other", I'll say "different" or even "'nother", like I'm a gold prospector or something. "There's gotta be 'nother way" /spits tobacco into bronze urn...puh-TING!
Stuttering is a meaning changer: When you are as quick witted as I am, you want to say things as soon as the synapse occurs, of course this rarely happens. This makes me constantly think a few lines ahead of where I am in the conversation, constantly planning different ways to say things in case I stutter.
Stuttering is my biggest fear: A lock up can happen at any time, so I am always on my toes and worried that I will be laughed at, lose a real estate client, lose a role, be perceived as weak/nervous/whatever.
Stuttering is like drowning: When I stutter, my lungs and mouth feels like someone has grabbed me by my hair and is holding me under water, trying to murder me. Think of the moment when all the air bubbles out of your mouth and nose and how hard you will be pursing your lips to keep the salty death out of your lungs. Bingo. That's what it feels like to me.
Stuttering has defined me: It's who I am, it has shaped me, it has given me a sense of humor, it has forced me at a really young age to pick my friends wisely.
Stuttering is also ultimately my bag, my thing to deal with....so thanks for reading.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Onion Callback with the director
Well, that was fun! Just came back from the offices for The Onion. This was call backs for the moviegoer role that I blogged about a few entries ago. I also received a new pair of sides to work on. The new ones were particularly hilarious. The idea is that google, in a tremendous display of power has messed with gmail rendering is useless and toying with google calendar etc. Just the thought of google shutting down paralyzes me with fear. I am not joking. The role of office worker was a "man on the street" blurb. It was quite funny.
Sidenote: do you even know anyone who doesn't have a gmail account? The only person I know who still uses an AOL account is my Dad, but in his defense it's tied to a business and he has had it since 1997 or so. He also has the same username on gmail that he uses often so I suppose it doesn't really count.
Just last week, a real estate client of mine gave me her email account for getting in touch during the day. It was a hotmail account. Gross. Perhaps mindspring has some novelty to it....but hotmail? That just seems cheap to me.
The call back went very well, I did each line twice and they gave me adjustments between each take, and I feel as if I took them well and nailed the takes. You can never tell, of course...but they do seem to bring me back often. So it's just a question of me matching what they need in a performance.
Hotmail? Ew.
Sidenote: do you even know anyone who doesn't have a gmail account? The only person I know who still uses an AOL account is my Dad, but in his defense it's tied to a business and he has had it since 1997 or so. He also has the same username on gmail that he uses often so I suppose it doesn't really count.
Just last week, a real estate client of mine gave me her email account for getting in touch during the day. It was a hotmail account. Gross. Perhaps mindspring has some novelty to it....but hotmail? That just seems cheap to me.
The call back went very well, I did each line twice and they gave me adjustments between each take, and I feel as if I took them well and nailed the takes. You can never tell, of course...but they do seem to bring me back often. So it's just a question of me matching what they need in a performance.
Hotmail? Ew.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
An Actors Phobia: Getting "Medusa'd" by the CD
I was told in college that when I audition I should never make eye contact with the people assessing me. Since this was my first time taking any kind of theatrical class and I was an impressionable 19 year old, I believed it. I also carried this nasty habit with me through graduation and I finally rid myself of it about a year ago.
Who was the first person to make this "rule"? This falsehood is accepted by so many people in show business, usually the people on my side of the lens. People are so averse to looking a CD in the eye that I think they are afraid of being turned into stone, or as I call it.... "getting Medusa'd".
It's bullshit. Complete and utter lies. Acting (and admittedly I'm painting with a broad brush here) is about making a connection. You either make a connection with your scene partner, or you make a connection with the people viewing your work. You want them to feel with you and, in the lamest way possible.......buy that Hyundai*.
It's impossible to make a connection with someone if you are staring at something. It doesn't matter if it's the most specific and tiniest crack on the wall, no one buys it. No one will believe your dead mannequin eyes. No one. Make is easier on yourself and make a connection with a sentient being, and guess what....there's one standing right next to the camera.
My acting coach told the class something yesterday that I thought was so wise. "The whole thing [acting] is phony, they just keep calling it the truth." When you talk to someone in real life, do you stare off into space? Nope, of course not. You look them in the eye and speak like a human being.
Do yourself a favor and be an actual human being when you audition.
*Sorry Jeff Bridges, nothing personal.
Who was the first person to make this "rule"? This falsehood is accepted by so many people in show business, usually the people on my side of the lens. People are so averse to looking a CD in the eye that I think they are afraid of being turned into stone, or as I call it.... "getting Medusa'd".
It's bullshit. Complete and utter lies. Acting (and admittedly I'm painting with a broad brush here) is about making a connection. You either make a connection with your scene partner, or you make a connection with the people viewing your work. You want them to feel with you and, in the lamest way possible.......buy that Hyundai*.
It's impossible to make a connection with someone if you are staring at something. It doesn't matter if it's the most specific and tiniest crack on the wall, no one buys it. No one will believe your dead mannequin eyes. No one. Make is easier on yourself and make a connection with a sentient being, and guess what....there's one standing right next to the camera.
My acting coach told the class something yesterday that I thought was so wise. "The whole thing [acting] is phony, they just keep calling it the truth." When you talk to someone in real life, do you stare off into space? Nope, of course not. You look them in the eye and speak like a human being.
Do yourself a favor and be an actual human being when you audition.
*Sorry Jeff Bridges, nothing personal.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Hey, Chris Cooper. You are really good at acting.
Poof! I'd get it, and it would be really fun, there would be much rejoicing.
*totally assuming this.
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