DRAMA DRAMA & MORE DRAMA Remember that car situation I mentioned months ago. Well it was about to get interesting. Even though I knew quite a few people in LA I didn't really do much other than pursue my career and work at Old Navy. For one thing I was broke and the car kinda held me hostage. Often times I wouldn't even leave the house until work @ 10pm or going to a workshop. My life was closing in and I was feeling it. I'm a bicycle enthusiast, so I decided to go to a bike convention that was in town. I figured I would get off at 7am get some sleep and then go to the event. As usual I had ridden my bike to work the previous night. So I go out my car and it is gone. WHAT!!! Yep, it had been impounded. At first I thought it was stolen. I guess the expired Virginia tags caught up with me. No car in LA gotta think fast.

My commercial appointments are coming along fine, but those theatrical ones are MIA. I had a callback for "3Dfx" a computer software company, they had me on avail. The next day they called and released me and asked if I would do background work. I declined and my agent thanked me. The next day they called back and booked me as a principal. She said she wasn't allowed to urge me to decline, but she had a feeling that they were bluffing.

Back in LA and ready to rock & roll!!! I remember talking to one of my buddies about the lack of minorities on certain shows, particularly "Friends", I had never even seen the show. I knew it was set in NYC, but where were the Latinos, Dominicans, Blacks, Asians, and Indians, etc? Later that same day I get an appointment for the show. I booked a co-star on the show. My agent called me at 7:30 in the morning and said that they needed me at the studio ASAP by 9am I was face to face with Lisa Kudrow. It was my first TV gig and it goes down as one of the many highlights in my career. Being in hair & make-up with the 6 of them doing a line reading as the live audience went crazy was some kind of experience.

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.

Now was the time to concentrate on getting on stage. I had participated in a couple of staged readings at NYU and Columbia, but I had never been in a full-fledged stage production. I figured I would be performing in some hole-in-the-wall spot downtown and get seen by very, very few people. That would be fine; I just needed to get onstage. So I get this audition for a play and it goes really well. The director stopped me before we were even half way finished and gave me a same day callback.

I go to the callback and see the other guys warming up their voices and stretching in preparation to sing and dance. WHAT!!! I don't sing or dance--at least not for money. We are paired up in groups of three and are given pieces to sing as well as movements to act out. I was horrified at first to be expected to do these things at the same time. I did the best I could and got another callback two days later. This time it was just scene work. The next day I was booked!!

I had no idea what the magnitude of this show was. I was working with an award winning director & choreographer, an amazing musical director, getting my Equity card, performing at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC as well as in New Jersey and on salary!! I was tripping out. The cast was incredible, I was fortunate to be working with them. I remember asking some of the other cast members "if it was normal to get a standing ovation every night" they assured me that it was not normal. While performing in DC all of the cast members had our own apartments. We were living better than we did in NYC in our regular apartments!!

The husband of Oscar nominee Laura Linney was in the show, so I got to meet her a couple of times. Oh yeah, the best job I ever had gave me 3 months off to do this show! The Harley Davidson Cafe in NYC was definitely important to my progress.

My "Burger King" residuals are now coming in and I get a couple of gifts for myself. One is a mountain bike and the other is a bed. Yeah, a bed!!! Since moving to NYC 2 years ago I had been sleeping on cushions or futon mattresses (except for the 4 months of sharing a bed with Greg). At least now I won't be down on the floor, I'll still have to deal with mice though.

I knew today was the day I'd get the news on whether I booked the "Pepsi" gig or not.

INT. Harley-Davidson Cafe 11:15am15-20 employees are attending a staff meeting before the lunch rush. STEPHON, an African-American male, mid 20's sits eating a breakfast sandwich in a booth with 3 employees. Lance, the manager, briefs the staff.

LANCE
We have a group of 30 in the middle @ 12:15. Who's the HOG?

STEPHON
Right here.

Stephon's pager starts to vibrate. He immediately recognizes the number as Paradigm Talent & Literary Agency. He starts to feel numb. "Did I get the gig in Spain?"

LANCE
The soup of the day is Lentl.

MICHAEL
Again.

Stephon's pager goes off a second time and he reluctantly makes a call to his agent while hiding under the table.

ASSISTANT
Commercials.

STEPHON
Good morning, Doug Kesten please.

DOUG
Stephon! Congratulations. You booked the job in Spain.

STEPHON
You're kidding right?

DOUG
No, they loved your tape. So....what's going on with your passport?

STEPHON
I can get one right away.

DOUG
Good, because they think you already have one.

STEPHON
Yeah, that shouldn't be a problem.

DOUG
Let me give you the rundown. You leave Saturday afternoon arriving in Madrid Sunday morning. You'll have most of Sunday to rest, possibly a fitting and you'll work Monday thru Friday. Leaving Madrid Saturday morning returning to New York that evening.

STEPHON
Okay, I can deal with that. I can't believe this.

DOUG
It'll be $1500 a day, plus $500 a day for travel and rest days and $1500 buyout for one year. They are faxing the itinerary here this afternoon. You can stop by and pick it up and we'll finally get to meet.

STEPHON
Okay, I'll see you this afternoon.

Stephon sits back up in his seat white as a ghost.

BILL
Dude, what's up? You alright?

CUT TO: Staff meeting.

LANCE
The beer of the month contest winner was Monica and she gets to go on the company ski trip for free. The new uniforms are scheduled to arrive around the first of the month......and I think that's about it. Have a great shift everyone.

Bill and Stephon walk approach Lance, the manager.

BILL
Lance, Stephon has a situation he has to deal with.

LANCE
What happened? Did you cut yourself?

STEPHON
No, remember that gig I was telling you about last week that shoots in Spain?

LANCE
Yeah.

BILL
He booked it.

LANCE
No shit?

STEPHON
Yeah, I need to go get a passport.

LANCE
Congratulations! Do what you have to do, we'll handle this here.

STEPHON
Thanks Lance, I really appreciate it.

Bill and Stephon walk away.

STEPHON
Bill, I've never even met the agent before. That was the first time I've ever spoken to him.

BILL
No shit?

STEPHON
No shit.

So I leave on my journey to somehow get a passport. I tell Keilana and share my news with the rest of the crew at work and call my family. By time I get back my "Burger King" spot is running everywhere in the country.

Oh Snap!!! They called today to put me on avail for the "Pepsi" gig in Spain!! They even requested my sizes. WHAT!!! I don't even have a passport. I'd been meaning to get one, but kept putting it off. I didn't want to start the process after getting the audition because I didn't want to be "caught in the passport system" in case I booked the job. I figure, if I get the job I can get a passport in a day......at least that's what I've heard. They said they would make their choices next week on the 24th.

Today I had an audition for a Pepsi commercial that is shooting in Madrid, Spain. It had a different kind of feel because it was for Spain and they are a bit more edgy over there as far as advertising. The audition went really well.

I finally get the word that I booked one of those films from January. It was a small role as a crack head in a film titled "Hell's Kitchen" with Mekhi Phifer, Angelina Jolie, William Forsythe and Rosanna Arquette. I actually got to work on the streets of New York City 54th between 9th & 10th!! My scene was with Mekhi, ironically he got the role from the open call that Greg and I had gone to for "Clockers" a couple of years earlier. I also booked a big national commercial for "Burger King/The Lost World/Jurassic Park". The agent I was freelancing with at Paradigm was Stacye Meyer; I'd met her at a workshop at The Actor's Connection. Thanks for taking a chance on me Stacye. Both shoots were a lot of fun.

I didn't go home for Christmas, I opted to stay in New York and make money at the restuarant. A week after Christmas I took my vacation and Keilana came with me to meet my family. I had never done anything like this before, it was a big deal for me. She really enjoyed my family and they loved having her. We had a great time until I fell on my face while ice skating. I don't know how I didn't break my nose, because a week later I had two black eyes. Starting the year off with a bang I had two callbacks for films. They both went really well. I was really getting used to auditioning, working out the nervous energy and figuring out what the hell I was doing. I was already SAG eligible and decided to take the step to become a member of the union. I knew it was just a matter of time before I was booking and I just wanted to be ready.