I rarely miss auditions, but two days ago I missed a national commercial audition because I was committed to speaking to a group of actors from New York. I tried my hardest to get seen, but they were only seeing my type for a very short window and it was right when I was supposed to speak. Oh well, sometimes that will happen.

BUT!! My wonderful agents at KSA got me another chance to be seen. THANK YOU!

Audition: “Listerine” @ Craig Colvin Casting. This audition goes great! Craig calls me in often and I get quite a few callback, but haven’t booked…yet!

My agent calls about the “AM/PM” commercial. I am officially put on avail and the dates have changed to a date that I’m not working on the film. Cool! Hopefully, they really want to use me for the spot.

My agents calls back 5 minutes later and the dates have changed back to the original dates. Oh well, I can’t worry about it. We’ll see what happens. The bottom line is, if I book it, I’m shooting it.

Today was my first day on set for the indie film “Boppin’ at the Glue Factory”. My character is “Joe Tones”; he’s a late night security guard at a convalescent home. The script sounds like a lot of fun; it's a black comedy.

We are shooting @ Metropolitan State Mental Hospital in Norwalk, about 25 miles from where I live. It’s a real, operating mental hospital so that is a little odd, but it’s good for my character. The crew is great; I worked with the DP a couple of years ago on an AFI film.

Typical with film production it’s “hurry up and wait”. There were a couple of day shots that I was scheduled to do that we didn’t get to. When I finally got to film it was great! I did two scenes and the other actor was great to work with. I can’t wait to go back on Monday.

Okay, I didn’t hear anything else about the “AM/PM” spot. I’ll just say “no news, is good news”, because they didn’t release me either. Most likely, they would have booked it on Friday if they were going to shoot it Monday. I’ll just hope they are going to book Monday to shoot Tuesday. Time will tell.

Sounds of my pager start the morning with my commercial agent letting me know that I had been released from my avail for the “Star Wars/Lucas Arts” commercial. WHAT!!! I didn’t even know I was on avail! I call them back and get it all figured out. It was a misunderstanding on my part. I thought when they cancelled the callback that was the end of the line. Turned out, they cancelled the callback, BUT still put me on avail. Cool, I guess. I’ll book something soon.

Callback: “AM/PM” @ the first read was at Mimi Webb-Miller Casting, but the callback is @ Alyson Horn Casting. I’ve never booked through Mimi, but I have through Alyson. The callback goes so, so well.

I get to the production office and sign-in. They give me the size card from the first audition and it has complimentary notes on it. It also had some marks that I think are from the ad agency and director separately so I was feeling good. The shoot dates for the commercial are April 4th or 5th. I am scheduled to work both of those days on the film. I knew the dates conflicted, but the film is some days and some nights. Ooops. I informed the Casting Director.

I was paired up with a teen actor and immediately had a cool vibe with the director; he told me what he liked about my first read. So I tried to tap into that, but be open for direction. We did it about 5 different times and I tried to show something a little different each time.

After we finished, the CD asked my partner and I to wait in the lobby. We waited about 10 minutes before they released him and asked me to stay longer. 10 minutes later I was paired up with another young actor and we did it another 4-5 times. As I was leaving, she pulled me aside and said, “The director really likes you, can you call your theatrical agent and find out what you can do with your schedule for the film? Find out and call me back.” She then gave me her cell phone number.

I got on the phone with Production and explained what was going on. They said the 4th was a pretty heavy day for me, but the 5th I had just one scene. They could possibly move everything to the 4th. I passed the info to commercial production and let my commercial agent know what was happening. If they do, in fact, want to hire me for the commercial I do not want to miss out on it. Did I say I do not want to miss out on this job? Yeah I don’t want to………

Today I did another orientation for a group of actors from the Actor's Connection in New York. It went well, the actors were eager and had lots of questions about the LA market.

I got a call today to participate in a staged reading with The Robey Theatre Company in May. Arrgh! I was considering going to Vegas that weekend. But after thinking it over I probably should stay in LA and do some acting. I’ll go home in June.

What a way to start the week. I spoke to students at Reseda High School again this morning about going for what you want in life. The kids are interesting. Some are very difficult to reach, even just to say their name aloud while others are very expressive about what they want in life.

Over the weekend a friend, Joan Blair, contacted me about an independent film she is involved with. I know Joan from workshops and we worked on a project together a couple of years ago.

Anyway, she instructed me to send my URL to the producer. The producer called this morning and wanted me to meet the director on set...right away. So I drive from Reseda to Echo Park and see Roger, the producer. Roger, said he had just seen me in a commercial. Well I knew he was mistaken, I don't really have anything running at the moment. He thought about it for a moment and then I said "The Terminal"? "YEAH!" He replied.

He then takes me straight to the director who was in between shots. The director quickly gives me the low-down on the character and then has to resume shooting. Roger, the producer, says "that was pretty much your audition and tells me that the role is mine if I'm interested". I say "yeah, of course I'll do it." He says, "Great, I'll send a deal memo to your agent this afternoon." They check my availability(I told them that I was on-hold for the ABC pilot "Hot Properties"), gave me a script, get my sizes and agent info. My first day of about 6 or 7 is Thursday. This all happened in like 35 minutes.

Since it's under a SAG Deferred contract I wanted to inform my agent that they may receive a call about the project. Right then my phone rings and it's my agent. I thought they had already gotten the call, but no, the call was telling me that I was booked on the “Hot Properties” pilot. It's an ABC 1/2 hour comedy.

It's been a loooong time since I've booked two things in one day.

HAPPY EASTER! Today, I went to a play with a friend. It was "Medea" @ The Boston Court Theatre. The performance was incredible. Two actors that I did a play with last Fall were in the cast.

Afterwards, we stopped by the hospital to see our friend L. Julian Hamilton-Payne. We all do CD workshops together. He recently had one of his legs removed after having serious problems with blood circulation. It's hard to see him go through this, but his fellow actors at Actorsite are showing support for him in a big way. He has a lot on his plate concerning his recovery, but he cannot give up. Please keep him in your thoughts.

Today is my 4 year anniversary of resigning from my job at The Standard waiting tables. I still have a hard time believing it. I'm not sure why, I always knew I could do it, but the reality of it is still quite surreal. It has been a great rollercoaster ride to say the least.

I am very fortunate to have a great team around me. I developed a plan many, many years ago, stuck to it and it's working. Here's to another year in the game.

I had another session today at Dori Zuckerman Casting. Soon as I walked in Dori told me that the producers and the director really like me and are trying to put me in the film. I guess it helps to get compliments from the actors that are auditioning. Anyway, it was another great time being deep in the process of how it really works. Oh, and when I left the director also told me that they'll find something for me in the film. For me, that would be icing on the cake because just getting to work out with the actors is incredible in itself.

Audition: “Dell Plasma TV” @ Ross Lacy Casting. Lots of fun, it goes well.

I got a callback for the “Star Wars” commercial audition that I had this past week. It was the one that I kinda/sorta crashed when I missed the "Sprint" one, but before I could even call my agent back to confirm I received another call saying that it had been cancelled. WHAT!!! Yeah, I had to find out what that was all about. I was informed that they had cancelled callbacks for that particular role. Okay, that’s not hard to take. I thought, at first, that they decided that they didn’t want to see me particularly. Oh well, on to the next.

I worked as a reader today @ Dori Zuckerman Casting. It’s always fun for me to do. I get to listen to all of the “producer talk”, which is quite interesting and read with actors I see on TV and in films. Today I got to read with Guy Torry, Jennifer Elise Cox, Elise Neal, Sydney Tamiia Poitier, Olympic champion Tara Lipinski and others. The thing that really tripped me out is that the director, Brandon Sonnier, is only 22 years old and has already had a film at The Sundance Film Festival. WHAT!!

It’s cool to see what choices these working actors make. I think the biggest thing is that they all take ownership of their performance. They are prepared and have lots of confidence. It looks like I’ll be doing more days as a reader in the near future.

Audition: "Sprint" @ ASG Casting. YES! I made it this time and it went great.

Audition: "AM/PM" @ Mimi Webb-Miller Casting. This one went really well.

Audition: “Sprint” @ ASG Casting. My first commercial booking in Los Angeles came from this office. It’s time for another! Usually, I am able to get through LA traffic pretty well, but today it was not to be. I missed the "Sprint" audition. I just couldn't get from Westside Casting to Riverside Drive in the valley in 30 minutes at 4 in the afternoon. The session runner was really cool about it and told me to come back tomorrow and he would squeeze me in.

I was wearing a suit for the audition, but I saw a few guys that were there for a "Star Wars" audition and they were dressed casually; how I normally look. My plan was to go to my car and change clothes and try to get seen for the other spot. They hardly even recognized me when I came back in dressed casually and they let me read for the other spot too. So it worked out really well for me.

It’s a busy day today with drops and appointments. I really don't want to go a year without booking a commercial; April 22nd ’04 was the last time I did a commercial. The clock is ticking! It would be nice to book a ‘couple’ of things before then. I've definitely had ample opportunities; in fact, I have 3 commercial appointments today.

Audition: "Burger King" @ Bad Girls Casting. This one goes pretty well after getting a lot of help from the session runner. She even let me and my partner watch the first take and do it over.

Audition: "Mastercard" @ Ross Lacy Casting. This one went great.

Audition: "GM" @ Ross Lacy Casting. This one went great too.

Check this out. I read for the pilot "Hot Properties" @ Dava Waite Casting a couple of days ago and, in all honesty, I thought I blew it. I mean, it wasn't a complete disaster, but I got tripped up on some words and you especially want to be careful of the that in a comedy.

Anyway, my agent calls this morning to say that they want to "pin me". "Pin me?" Basically, they are checking my availability and want me to let them know if my availability changes. They aren’t going to hire me yet, but are very interested. WHAT!!! I'll take that. Another cool thing is that it's through one of my two newer agents that I acquired since the merger of my theatrical agency.

Dori Zuckerman Casting called to ask me to be a reader next week for a film project. Cool!

Audition: “CitiBank” @ Cathi Carlton. At the audition I spoke with Danny Wooten. If you don’t know this guy you have most likely seen him. He works in commercials like you would not believe. I mean it’s incredible how often I see him. I can’t believe he didn’t already have a conflict in this category. Anyway, it’s good to see that he’s nice humble guy. Hopefully I can learn a thing or two from him. My audition goes well.

Audition/Producers/Pilot: “Hot Properties” @ Dava Waite Casting. Cool! I remember dropping off a photo for this a couple of weeks ago. Dava hired me for “Yes, Dear” back in the Fall. The role is a young doctor. It goes okay. The character was there, but I got a little caught up in some of the words. I’ll have my fingers crossed.

Audition “SBC Global” @ Joe Blake Casting. It was all good and think I’m sorta right for it.

Audition: “Amica” Insurance @ Crash Casting. In this audition they were looking for couples. I wanted to give someone a chance who wasn’t already auditioning for commercials on a regular basis. I made a few phone calls and ran into some scheduling issues. In the end I had two people show up. Ooops. The audition goes well.

Callback: “Miller-Lite” @ Joe Blake Casting. YES!! One step closer. This had to be the most fun I’ve ever had at a callback.

Audition: “Holiday Inn Express” @ Bad Girls Casting. Ahh, this one went okay. I don’t expect to hear anything though.

Today should be a heavy day for drop-offs. Gotta keep the ball rolling.

Tonight I went out with several people that I used to work with in New York at the Harley-Davidson Café. Can I tell you that I love these people? I experienced some of the best times of my life in New York. We laughed and traded stories for hours. It was great to hear about how everyone is doing. We are all growing up and changing (some absolutely shocking, others not so). It was an unbelievable job to have as an actor trying to make it in the City. I think the thing that made it such a great experience was that we knew it was magic in the making while it was happening. I wish I had more photos of my time there. Even though I don’t talk to them all of the time I really feel a strong connection to many of them. There are times where I would love to go back to 1995-98 for a couple of days. I don’t necessarily miss living in New York, but I really miss the experiences that I had.

As I sit here and type, I think that Los Angeles has been freakin incredible for me as well. I’ve had a great life, there isn’t a whole lot to complain about. There is a lot more that I want to accomplish and I feel like I have what it takes to accomplish it.

I count my many blessing on a continual basis. Not everyone is so fortunate as I. Lately there have been things going on around me that have made my heart heavy. A good friend of mine who had a brain aneurysm about 18 months ago had another situation recently and had to go into the hospital. Fortunately, she seems to be okay. Another friend lost her mother after a lengthy illness. I know, first hand, what she is going through and what lies ahead and I can hardly even talk about it. It’s so painful. A fellow actor that I do workshops with had one of his legs amputated last week after complications from a blood clot.

Between these, real life, situations of people that I know personally and watching the news sometimes you just wonder what is going on in the world.

The flipside of all of this is the children. Kids just equalize so much for me. I spoke to my younger niece and nephew this morning and I can hear them growing up over the phone. It’s truly amazing and inspiring.

Last week I changed a couple of diapers of my Goddaughter, Hazel. The act of doing it wasn’t the most pleasant thing I’ve ever done, but she was really cooperative and made it easy on me. The laughter of a child is one of the most pleasing things sounds I have ever heard in my life. I really hope to have children of my own one day.

Nothing but cricket sounds going on right now, but I’ve been doing my best to try to make some things happen.

SFX: Pager going off.

Cool, it was my commercial agent with a “Mazda” audition for this afternoon. YES!! And a couple of hours later my theatrical agent called with an audition for “Malcolm in the Middle”. I wasn’t sure if I was going to go in on “Malcolm” at first, but after discussing it with my agent I decided to. We don’t how many more seasons the show will be on the air and it looked like there was a slight possibility of the role returning.

Audition: “Mazda” @ Lisa Fields Casting. It goes really well and I think I’m right for it.

Audition: “Malcolm in the Middle” @ Stiner/Block Casting. I wasn’t clear that this was a pre-read, if I had known that I probably would have passed on it. Anyway, it was one of those really small ones where it’s kinda hard to figure out what is going on. I could make a choice and risk being way, way off or ask the CD what is happening in the scene. Barbie Block was very nice and gave me the low-down on what was going on.

To be honest, I didn’t feel like it went all that well, but I was funny. She gave me a callback to producers for 30 minutes later. The callback was nothing special for me. Actually, it was kinda frustrating because I used to be so good a getting these 1 to 5 line roles. I don’t want to get good at it again, I need to book more substantial roles and move on. Matter of fact, I think I am going to start a new acting class in the next couple of weeks.

Audition: "Miller Lite" @ Joe Blake Casting. Well I guess I'm available since I'M NOT IN NEW YORK!!! I'm kidding, I'm just glad to get seen.

It's official, I've been released from the "Levi's" campaign. They decided to "go another way". Imagine that!

This is something I've been thinking about for years; being a consultant for actors trying to move forward in the business. It's not a new thought, I've been considering it for years. I also think, in the future, I'll write a book and do motivational speaking engagements. I think I have something to say that can help others. There are specific reasons why I haven’t already done it, but I’m working on that. As it stands now I speak/consult quite a few times a year. I don’t go out looking to do it necessarily, but that may change. I would really like to do it in different markets around the country. Hmmmm……interesting.