Back in New York City and it feels good!! Holiday season at the restaurant and it's busy. I'm making money; I'm auditioning a little and seeing my old friends. It was a very nice Holiday season.

I had to do something and quickly!! I wanted to go home for the holidays, but I couldn't afford to take off from work. Slowly, the "Ford" residuals started coming in. I knew I would go insane if I had to go through Holiday season at Old Navy for minimum wage. It was not an option. So I hatched a plan. I would go home to Virginia for Thanksgiving for 5 days, then to New York and my old job at The Harley Davidson Cafe for 5 weeks and then back to Virginia for a couple of days and return to LA on January 5th. With 4 phone calls I had both of my NY agents, a place to stay in Brooklyn with my brother and a full-time schedule at Harley. I had never had to scramble like this, but things were looking good.

With money running out, I needed a job. I couldn't work days because I was already auditioning. I figured it would be next to impossible to get night shifts in a restaurant, I tried unsuccessfully.

Finally I got a job working at Old Navy doing shipments 10pm-7am. It was not a good experience, but I was free during the day and able to do my workshops and study at night. By the end of October I was running out of my money. The "Ford" spot was starting to run, but I had not seen any money yet. Finally, I totally ran out of money. I specifically remember one night when I couldn't buy a soda at work....BROKE. The soda was .55 and I only had .45. It felt good though, I was risking it all for my future.

My car situation was a disaster. I had taken over Greg's old Honda (bless him) because, after all his show got picked up, and it was shooting in Hawaii. It was an older car and he would just buy himself a new one whenever he came back. After he left for Hawaii, it was still registered to him. The Virginia plates expired two weeks later. To be safe, I rode my bike back & forth to work. I was too paranoid to drive most of the time. I was having a rough time, but it was all good and did not lose my faith.

I left New York and had a layover in Chicago, I called my new commercial agent from the airport to tell her that I was ready to get started and she already had an appointment for me. I arrived at LAX @ 10:30 that night and had my first audition @ 11am the next morning. I had sent my photos prior to arriving so I could get started right away. In the first week I had 3 auditions and 3 callbacks. On the theatrical side I started with my number 1 prospect of the 3 TV/Film agents, they wanted to see a monologue or scene. The first week I was here I took care of that and the deal was done. 7 days in LA and I was fully repped and ready to go.

I returned to New York early for my callback which went really well. The next day I found out that I had been approved for the apartment. WHAT!!! This is really happening and fast!!! The next week I had ANOTHER callback for the same spot and I booked it. It was that same Ford v/o demo from months earlier it had turned into an on-camera spot. I put in my notice at work and with my roommates. I shot the "Ford" spot less than a week before I moved. LA here I come!!

JUNE 23rd '98*I arrive in LA with 6 appointments 3 theatrically and 3 commercially. The day after I arrive in LA I get a call from DBA for a v/o audition, but I was able to do it over the phone.

The next day my theatrical agent call with an audition, but it wasn't until the next week. Now my commercial agent calls again with a callback for a different spot. This cuts my 11 day trip down to five. I had not yet met with my target commercial agency, so I called them asked to reschedule my appointment because I needed to return to NYC sooner than expected for the callback. The assistant said she would "pass the word" (yea right); 10 minutes later she called back with a new appointment time. The meeting went well and they wanted to sign on the spot. I felt good about them as well.

Of my theatrical meetings 2 of them were about even and the other had me concerned about the "favor factor". It was my friend's agent, and they are really good, but I didn't want to feel like a "favor". They all offered me 2nd meetings when I actually moved here permanently. I looked at an apartment on Sunday and left on the red-eye that night for my Monday morning callback. While in LA my friend Marvin Bang made sure I got everywhere on time and let me stay with him. It was my birthday, June 28th, I had no idea that I would be living in LA 30 days later.

Again it is dead. Did I make a mistake in signing? Nah, it's just slow right now. Eventually, things got going with DBA and I was very happy, booking 3 jobs over the next 4 months. One of the first auditions was for a v/o test for what may turn into an on-camera spot. I booked the v/o and the producers were hopeful that it would be on-camera spot as well.

Commercially things were going well, but I couldn't seem to get many TV/Film appointments. I started thinking about bouncing out to LA; Greg was also telling me to come out. Early May he gets the word that his show is on the fall schedule and that he will be flown to New York for the announcements. When he arrives he tells me that his agent will meet with me if I come out to LA. The wheels start turning......I do a 50 piece mailing to agents, the calls started right away.

A week after returning to New York from Miami I had an upcoming workshop with an agent from my target agency Don Buchwald & Associates. I choose them partially because they only dealt with signed clients. I didn't want to sign with an agency that freelanced because I didn't wanna compete with someone like myself-a hustla. The workshop was a total success; he called me the next day to come in for a meeting for the following week. The meeting was "smooth like butta" I had my commercial demo, my bio (not "my long ass bio"), a list of CD's in the city who I had auditioned or had callbacks or bookings. They responded 3 hours later saying they wanted to sign. YES!!! It worked.

WHY IS IT SO SLOW? I haven't had an audition in 3 1/2 weeks and it is Friday the 13th @ 4pm, another week almost over. Then the pager started buzzing, in the next two hours I got 5 calls and 4 appointments for Monday. One was for "Wendy's" at the same CD's office that booked me on the Spain job. I was booked on this and it was to shoot in Miami. YEAH!! Miami in February!! Escape from New York for a couple of days!! First-class flights and five-star hotels was the order of the day. Someone from the production office actually called me to ask "what airport I preferred to fly out of". Are you kidding me? "One with planes" I answered. Anyway, the spot was with Dave Thomas and pro baseball player Chipper Jones. Meanwhile my buddy Greg who had moved to LA booked the lead in an NBC pilot.

Trying to keep the momentum going after coming off of the play. The year started pretty well, mostly commercials. That was okay for me at that point, but I did want to get more chances in TV/Film. Commercially, I was freelancing with The Gage Group, Acme, Paradigm, William Morris, Abrams Artist, SEM&M, The Krasny Office, J. Michael Bloom, Gilla Roos, Fifi Oscard & others. Almost all of these connections came through workshops. I was sometimes getting 3, 4 or 5 calls for one audition. It felt good to have a little demand, but I was ready to sign with a top commercial agency. I research the market, I had experience with most of the top agencies and I knew who I was interested in. At the top of my list was Don Buchwald & Associates. I had no experience with them because they didn't freelance. Then why was I interested in them? They only worked with signed clients, one of the few in NYC to do business that way. I didn't want to have to compete with a hustler like myself. I am my fellow actors' worst nightmare. I say that because I am relentless and just won't stop because I love the business side as well. I was on a mission.