I MADE IT! Or more accurately "I'm making it"; because as we all know it's a journey not a sprint. Nevertheless it's another milestone for the books. Today marks 6 years since serving my last medium-rare burger, asking my last customer whether they wanted salt for their margarita and my last day getting off at 7 o’clock in the morning from the graveyard shift. Yup, on March 25th 2001 I took a 3-month leave of absence; which eventually turned into my resignation from waiting tables at
The Hollywood Standard Hotel on Sunset Blvd…and I hope to never return.
I saved my work beenie from The Sandard as a reminder - 6 years and counting!
I left the job on a leap of faith and nothing more. I didn't have much money saved or any big jobs pending; I just felt that I needed to cut the safety net. I wasn't making that much money at the job and I felt my time was better spent doing what I came here to do. There were 4 specific things I wanted to do after I left the job; take a v/o class, a dance class, start my own website and finally start writing what has turned into this Long Ass Bio. I did all 4 things, but I never follwed through with the v/o stuff - might have to re-ignite that department. It makes it seem that I’m into this “acting thing” for the long haul huh? Looks that way…and I feel really good about it. I mean you never know, but every year is another year invested and the more acting I do the more I wanna do. It’s been a great ride thus far and I have every reason to believe it’s going to get even better.
I admit that I’m not completely thrilled with the big city life anymore. Actually, I often have serious conflicts with it, but I realize that it comes with the territory of my career choice. I have a great future in this business and it feels good to have something to show for it.
Speaking of my future; I’ve been thinking a lot about mine lately. Since I don’t work for a company in the traditional sense I have to be that much more aware of what tomorrow may or may not bring. A couple of weeks ago I attended an investment seminar sponsored by the AFTRA-SAG Federal Credit Union and last week I opened an investment account for myself. One of the best investments I’ve made has been investing and believing in myself when I started my pursuit as an actor in 1993.
Something else I checked into was my SAG Pension and where I stand as far as the earning of pension credits. I currently have 9 Regular Pension Credits and I need 10 to earn a pension at the normal retirement age of 65. Getting the 10th one shouldn’t be too much trouble, but I need to earn more every year to maximize its value in the years to come. I think I need 20 pension credits to qualify for continual health benefits at retirement. That is so far away that I don’t really wanna think about it, but in fact you kinda have to prepare for it. If I don’t do it nobody is going to do it for me. Trust that.
It’s weird thinking about things that are so far in the future when I have things on my plate TODAY that I’m trying to accomplish and even that stuff seems impossible at times. I know these things are anything but impossible, but it’s just hard to fathom sometimes. I shall keep the faith.
Last week I was on the elliptical at the gym, ya know, gotta work on keeping my girlish figure in tact…..that was a joke. Actually, I am trying to lose this last 1.8 lbs. I gained when I didn’t work out for 7 months straight…all the while others were telling me that I looked like I lost weight; go figure. I don’t care about the 1.8 lbs. it just gives me something to do. Who cares; I only “really” go to the gym to keep busy and it makes me feel like I accomplished something.
Anyway, while on the elliptical I saw the “Michelin” commercial that I booked last fall, but was left on the cutting room floor. When I saw it I just laughed and said “so close, yet so far”. I don’t know how I keep such a healthy attitude after so many things like that happen; especially with the whole “Ocean’s Thirteen” dealio. I think it’s because I’ve had so many great things happen thus far in my career. I’ll continue to soldiering on, making things happen and enjoying the ride.
Last week was really quiet. I haven’t had an audition for an entire week. Thankfully, that doesn’t happen too often; I’m sure it’ll pick up soon. Right?
Look what I found; this is timely. It’s an interview that was in The Virginian-Pilot, my hometown newspaper, September 20th 1997. It was while I was still living in New York. Now that I think about it I’ve been interviewed twice by the local newspaper. It’s a tough thing; this one was pretty accurate, but the second time made me wonder who they were talking about because it didn’t seem like me. It made me sound like this desperate actor that just couldn’t get anything going. I’ve never been that. I haven’t been in too much of a hurry to go through that again.
ACTING ON THEIR DREAMS YOUNG ENTERTAINERS FROM HAMPTON ROADS ARE SEEKING FAME AND FORTUNE FAR FROM HOME.
By Lorraine Eaton
LOUISE FULLER knew life in New York was going to be tough for Bryan, but she never expected to see her son crawling around the back of a trash truck. And she just knew he wasn't going to get into trouble with drugs.
But he did both, and she couldn't be more pleased.
Bryan S. Fuller of Virginia Beach is making a living in a business that is notorious for breaking humans in half. And he's doing it at the speed of light.
Bryan, who goes by the stage name Stephon (accent on the first part, thank you very much) is a familiar sight on television in Spain, where he plays a garbage collector in three widely played Pepsi commercials. He was one of the guys eating a Whopper in ``The Lost World'' Burger King commercials played in the United States this summer. He's acted in public-service announcements with New York Mayor Ed Koch, and later this year he'll appear on cinema screens for a few brief moments as a drug addict in ``Hells Kitchen,'' a film that stars Roseanna Arquette.
``Coming to New York, for me, it's been the best decision in my life,'' Bryan said from a phone booth at the corner of 56th Street and Sixth Avenue, with horns blaring in the background. ``I have to pinch myself, I just can't believe this is happening.''
Bryan, left Virginia Beach for New York in 1996 with $200 in his wallet, 18 months of evening acting school under his belt and totally unrelated experience in sales and in making subs at Philadelphia Cold Cuts, his family's business.
``My back was against the wall when I got here,'' he said. ``It forced me to perform, deliver and do what I had to do to survive.''
Unlike many filmland wannabes, Bryan has not been haunted by dreams of acting all his life. He graduated from Kellam High School without ever having joined the drama club - and got a job selling a line of surf wear as an East Coast rep. Later, he worked as a manager in his parents' stores and could have stayed on. ``For a time they expected it, but I never felt that,'' Bryan said. ``It's a great business, but I knew it wasn't my calling.''
Bryan had been ``interested in entertainment'' all his life but had never done any acting when he signed up for acting classes.
``Tenacity,'' said Sylvia Harmon, Bryan's teacher and owner of The Actors' Place in Virginia Beach. ``I can spot it when they walk in the door. This is a tough business. Work is limited. If you don't have tenacity, there's the door. It's 90 percent tenacity and 10 percent talent.''
Tenacity by the ton is Bryan's biggest asset, and that equals a non-stop life. It's why he has to call from a phone booth - he's in between auditions.
When Bryan arrived in New York City, he landed what he considers the worst job of his life - busing tables at the Harley Davidson Cafe. His new bedroom was so tiny that when he showed his parents a video tape of the apartment, they had to keep rewinding it to catch a glimpse of his space. He had to schedule auditions, acting classes and any jobs he got around his work at the cafe.
Now, Bryan's a waiter at the cafe and can schedule his work around his auditions and jobs. He lives in a $2,000-a-month Upper East Side apartment with two roommates he never sees. He's not even sure what they do for a living.
A call to his agent sets Bryan's week in motion. He goes to as many as three auditions a day. In August, he auditioned for a part in ``New York Undercover'' and for commercials for AT&T, Sprint, Western Union, Kodak, Federal Express, Mountain Dew, Burger King, Claritin and Aleeve.
Sometimes the auditions take an hour, sometimes they take seconds. He recently tried out for a Pepto-Bismol commercial. It went like this:
Casting director: Look like you have indigestion.
Bryan: Makes a distressed face.
Casting director: OK, look relieved.
Bryan: Looks relieved.
Casting director: Thank you. Next.
In between working, auditioning and classes in such things as improvisation and voice-overs, there are thank-you notes to be written for auditions, mailings of resumes and head shots to casting directors, and auditions for live theater, something that rarely pays but can get an agent's attention.
``Creating a buzz,'' is how Bryan puts it.
And, finally, there are the acting jobs, which, thankfully, are becoming more frequent. His five-day gig in Spain for the Pepsi shoot made him eligible for a Screen Actors Guild card, a plum for aspiring actors. A signal of real experience, SAG members are eligible for union wages, which can be double those of non-union workers.
Still, nearly 90 percent of SAG members make less than $5,000 a year acting. About 3 percent make $100,000 a year.
In 1996, Bryan made less than $2,000 in front of the camera. So far this year, he's made more than $20,000.
Right now, Bryan is in New Jersey rehearsing for the play ``The Darker Face of the Earth,'' a period piece about slavery. It opens in October and then moves to the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., in November.
The play should up the buzz about Bryan and prepare him for the next level: January auditions for next fall's television pilots.
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Wow, how things change, but somehow remain the same! Happy anniversary to me!
http://www.stephonfuller.com/consultations.html
