Audition: “Honda” @ HMH Casting.  I’ve never been to this office before or even heard of it, but I’m sure glad to be here now.  I had fun in the room, but I don’t know how “good” I was.  I’ll let them be the judge of that.

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Audition: “Halos” @ Kathy Knowles Casting.  This was great fun!  I even got to take off my shirt. Ha!  My “wife” was great too.

Audition: “EA Sports” @ Gabrielle Schary Casting.  I had the pleasure of reading with a young actor, new in town, from Illinois that played my son.  I felt more like his friend to be honest, but by the numbers he could certainly be my son.  He was great, WE were great!  He’ll probably get a callback. Me?  I’m not so sure, but it was a fun time.

My Life on the Sunset Strip...

INT. DINER - 1:13am

Woman, late 20's (in Hollywood years), shapely, dipped in pink pants, brunette hair...dipped in a blonde bottle. High-pitched voice, reasonably nice.

Her friend...different, but exactly the same.

Server, cynical with an easy smile. He's seen this all before. He picks up payment from the table.

In a world of very high debit/credit card usage the server is presented with an unusually large stack of cash.

Server: Thank you, I'll be right back with your change.

Her: (the pink-dipped one) No, that's fine it's all yours.

Server: Thank you! Have a great night and we'll see ya again soon.

The server leaves, proceeds to the server station to count the mound of cash.

Server: (to self) I won't judge you if you pay me with 67 one dollar bills, but my mind will wander...then I'll wash my hands.

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7,305 days ago on September 22nd, 1993 I started my first acting class with Sylvia Harman at The Actor's Place in Virginia Beach, VA.

It was a Wednesday evening.

Class started at 7pm. I was nervous, really nervous. During the introductory "who are you and why are you here" the teacher called me out thinking I lied about my age…I looked about 10 years younger than I was. That made me even more nervous.

Twenty or so "actors" started that night with what seemed to be silly exercises of repetition. I had no idea what I was doing. I quickly learned that this "acting thing" was much, much harder than it looked. I was intrigued.

It's been 20 years since that night and I have never stopped pursuing my career. Never, not even for a day. Sometimes I think it would take more courage to stop and get off of the ride than to continue on and forge ahead. I still don't know.

I admire those who have the guts to quit…and also those with the resolve to stay in the game.

Over the past two decades I've booked a few jobs, traveled a few places and met countless amazingly talented people. I had no idea where I thought I'd be in 20 years…and honestly, I'm not even sure where I am in the big picture of the journey.

I often wonder if I've already booked my last gig.

I don't think so, but one never really knows. I think it's just my deep-seeded fear of rejection rearing its head.

One thing I know is very clear. That is the fact that I still really want to be a professional actor. I'm excited, I think my best days are ahead of me.

Happy anniversary to me.

First Headshot - 1995

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Audition: “Jennifer Falls” @ Sandi Logan Casting.  I met Sandi years ago when she worked at UDK Casting.  She has spent the last several years as an executive at ABC and is just now getting back into actual casting instead of overseeing casting.  I think things went pretty well after getting a redirect from her in the room.

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Shooting: “Verizon” Calabasas, CA.  Here I am again.  I say “again” meaning that I went from working all night in the restaurant to an all-day acting job and, basically, back to the restaurant.

I worked last night from 9pm until 4:15am this morning.  Of course I didn’t sleep because I was afraid I wouldn’t wake up for my 6am call time – so I stayed awake.

I’m often asked why I don’t just get someone to cover my shift for me.  Much easier said than done.  I work the graveyard shift, trust me, no one is eager to take over my shift.  I’ve never even asked anyone to help me out, I have a huge fear of rejection.  Asking someone to help me out and then no one coming through to actually help me out is worse than not asking at all.  Yeah, my fear of rejection is huge.  As long as I know what my day looks like I can usually handle what I need to do…that doesn’t make it smart though. 

Anyway, the shoot was great!  I was one of a group of “innovators”; more specifically, I was the “lead innovator”.  That came by surprise because I had no idea that I was what they call the “hero guy”. 

Director Lance Acord and crew were a complete pleasure to work with to say the least and I felt great about my performance.  A great day on set!  A great day for my wallet too.  I had an 8-hour day, plus 2-hours overtime, plus 3-hours double time, plus a 3-hour wardrobe fitting last week and a meal penalty all at SAG scale and a half.   

I got home just in time to shower, cat nap, and go to my other job…nice.

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Audition: “NBA” @ Ross Lacy Casting.  This was quick, fast & simple.  I was almost brilliant in the room.  Almost.

I attended a Dodger game tonight and really enjoyed it.  I used a Living Social coupon which gets around some of the convenience fees used to get more cash from ya!

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My phone is ringing @ 10:01am.  It’s my commercial agency.  It’s one of 4 things.

A last minute audition.

An avail release for VERIZON.

A 2^nd callback for VERIZON.

Or, a VERIZON booking.

Can you guess which one I’m hoping it is?

If the voicemail notification arrives within 15 seconds I’m pretty certain it’s release from VERIZON.  If it takes longer…then it’s most likely better news.

It’s take longer; around 30 seconds. 

The next step is retrieving the voicemail and listening to it.  My hope is that it’s a woman leaving the message and not a man.  If it’s a woman it almost guarantees that I booked VERIZON. 

It was a woman, and YES!  I booked the VERIZON commercial!!!  I’m so excited.  40 minutes later wardrobe calls to see if I can be at a fitting in an hour.  Of course I can. 

The fitting was interesting.  Years ago I had an “incident” at a casting director workshop where an actress “slapped the taste out of my mouth” during a scene.  I later called her on the phone to discuss it that was also an interesting exchange.

Anyway, I saw her name on the call sheet, then 30 minutes later I saw her in the flesh!  It’s on!  Just kidding.  I didn’t say anything to her…and she didn’t say anything to me.  I don’t even know if she remembers that “the incident” even happened or who I am/was.  Who knows.  BUT, I knew I’d see or work with her again! The “Day of Reckoning” has arrived!

Back to the fitting.

As usual, I tried on a zillion different outfits, took a bunch of photos and, 3 hours later, I was on my way back to…bumper-to-traffic on Interstate 10E with a happy smile on my face.

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Audition: “Allstate” @ Ross Lacy Casting.  Auditions don’t get much easier than this one.  I think I nailed it!

Well, it’s been 2 days on avail for VERIZON I feel it fading away.  BUT I contacted my agency and they said I’m still in the running for the booking.  Cool!  Didn’t expect to hear that.

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Callback: “Verizon” @ Dan Bell Casting.  Yes!  This is that one from last week that I think I’m perfect for.  It went really well I think…fingers-crossed.

Cut to: Hours later.

Oh yeah, this evening I received news that I’ve been placed on avail for VERIZON.  Yes!

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