You might not believe this one. Here it goes. I work the graveyard shift. So I am at work and it's a pretty routine evening/morning. I get home @ 6:30am ready to hop in the bed so that I can catch a 10am workshop. I figure I'll check my e-mail quickly before hitting the sack. I was amazed that I was able to get my computer started because it's been giving me quite the headache lately. So as I'm surfing the Actorsite forum and nodding at my desk because I am exhausted I see my name. It says "Urgent!! Stephon Fuller.......If you know him call him...............Suddenly my heart is racing, I'm wondering what the heck happened. It was posted @ 11:24pm the previous night, obviously I was at work. It is from a fellow actor, John Jabaley, he reports that he is locations managing a BET m.o.w. and a role needed to be cast right away and @ 11pm last night and he thought of me. He left numbers and times where I could reach him. At this point it is almost 7am; I figure I can get an hour of sleep before I call John (In hindsight I should have called right away). So I set 2 alarms on my pager, at 8 and 8:05am, of course I sleep through both of them. I wake up in cold sweat @ 8:25am and call John, he gives me the lowdown. In and out of the shower in a flash and off I go to Sun Valley, about 30 minutes away.
I arrive, they called John on the radio and he introduces me to the producer and director and took me upstairs. At this point it was just like being at a workshop. I got the sides and ten minutes later I was reading for the director with John as the reader. It wasn't a lot of material, but my head was still spinning. It was only I and one other actress, a person that John knew as well. So I go in and read and it goes well, then I could hear the actress reading through the door and she sounded great. I really thought that they would go with her; she played a little older and really looked the part. At this point I was thinking that I could still make it to that 10am workshop.
After about five minutes they came out and the director said "you both were great, thank you very much" I didn't they were going to take either of us. So I was cool, by now me and the other actress were talking about all kinds of things. We were both gathering our things to leave and John asked me to stay. I was shocked; it came down to me being a man. There was already a woman reporter in the film. I was taken straight to wardrobe & make-up. An hour later I was doing a scene with Kadeem Hardison (A Different World) and Lark Voorhies (Saved by the Bell). They were unbelievably nice and fun to work with, I had a great time.
When we broke for lunch I made a couple of phone calls, so I didn't get my food right away. As I was patiently waiting my turn in line one of AD's forced me to go to the front of the line. Weird. They were just making sure I was taken care of. The shoot was great, definitely the most attention I have ever had on set. I did one scene and I cannot say enough about Kadeem & Lark they were the best, funny & very engaging. The crew really took care of me as well. I also had a chance to ask him a question that I had been waiting for 5 years to ask him. We had the same manager years ago-him years & years ago and me-just years ago (Jan '95-June '96 while I lived NYC). When I signed with her she told me that she used to rep Kadeem, Giancarlo Esposito & Tom Cruise. She said she was the one who changed Tom's name from Thomas Mapother IV to Tom Cruise. Tom supposedly did his first two films with her and Kadeem booked "A Different World" thru her. I believed her, but Kadeem quickly confirmed that it was all true.
You never know where the day will take you, at 4:30 this morning I was waiting on Val Kilmer at the restaurant anticipating getting off to rest. It was not to be-Thankfully. I want to shout a huge "THANK YOU" out to John Jabaley - what you did was too cool for words. This month I waited on Benicio Del Toro (very cool @ 4am) & Mark Wahlberg (very polite) & Jordana Brewster (very polite & beautiful).
I arrive, they called John on the radio and he introduces me to the producer and director and took me upstairs. At this point it was just like being at a workshop. I got the sides and ten minutes later I was reading for the director with John as the reader. It wasn't a lot of material, but my head was still spinning. It was only I and one other actress, a person that John knew as well. So I go in and read and it goes well, then I could hear the actress reading through the door and she sounded great. I really thought that they would go with her; she played a little older and really looked the part. At this point I was thinking that I could still make it to that 10am workshop.
After about five minutes they came out and the director said "you both were great, thank you very much" I didn't they were going to take either of us. So I was cool, by now me and the other actress were talking about all kinds of things. We were both gathering our things to leave and John asked me to stay. I was shocked; it came down to me being a man. There was already a woman reporter in the film. I was taken straight to wardrobe & make-up. An hour later I was doing a scene with Kadeem Hardison (A Different World) and Lark Voorhies (Saved by the Bell). They were unbelievably nice and fun to work with, I had a great time.
When we broke for lunch I made a couple of phone calls, so I didn't get my food right away. As I was patiently waiting my turn in line one of AD's forced me to go to the front of the line. Weird. They were just making sure I was taken care of. The shoot was great, definitely the most attention I have ever had on set. I did one scene and I cannot say enough about Kadeem & Lark they were the best, funny & very engaging. The crew really took care of me as well. I also had a chance to ask him a question that I had been waiting for 5 years to ask him. We had the same manager years ago-him years & years ago and me-just years ago (Jan '95-June '96 while I lived NYC). When I signed with her she told me that she used to rep Kadeem, Giancarlo Esposito & Tom Cruise. She said she was the one who changed Tom's name from Thomas Mapother IV to Tom Cruise. Tom supposedly did his first two films with her and Kadeem booked "A Different World" thru her. I believed her, but Kadeem quickly confirmed that it was all true.
You never know where the day will take you, at 4:30 this morning I was waiting on Val Kilmer at the restaurant anticipating getting off to rest. It was not to be-Thankfully. I want to shout a huge "THANK YOU" out to John Jabaley - what you did was too cool for words. This month I waited on Benicio Del Toro (very cool @ 4am) & Mark Wahlberg (very polite) & Jordana Brewster (very polite & beautiful).
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