I attended the SAG/CSA Joint Seminar this past Saturday put together by the SAG Casting Committee. It was hosted by Matthew Barry of Barry Green-Keyes Casting. Other CD's in attendance were April Webster, Donna Dockstader, Mark Teschner, Mark Paladini and Cami Patton. I attended the noon session, but they had a 10am & a 2pm session. Other CD's were Lisa Beach, Mary v Buck, Eric Dawson, Jane Jenkins, Meg Liberman, Nancy Green-Keyes, Ruth Lambert, Katy Wallin & Gary Zuckerbrod. We didn't get to read, but we did get to give them our photos. My agent just called me with appointment for Matthew Barry for the Film "Friday after Next" starring Ice Cube. I also have a callback for the film "Exposed" through Erica Arvold. After it being slow for several weeks this week has been really busy. Keep it coming!!

A day that no one will ever forget. Depressing, sad and tragic to say the least.

Today a story about paid Casting Director Workshops is to run on an LA radio station. Most people know that I am someone who finds these workshops useful in my pursuit of the business. There are several different views on this subject. Some find it to be extremely disturbing, others feel like it is a tool that is at their disposal if they so choose.

Anyway, after the story ran one of the more popular forums that I routinely go to is heating up with comments. I post that, in short, I don't feel like either side is making much progress in the winning people over to their respective sides. It didn't take long for this thread to get really hot and some of it was directed at me. That's cool with me I can take the heat. After a couple shots back and forth I was shown the door. Meaning get out, "ya can't visit no mo". I had been banned. WHAT!!! Yeah, they banned me until December 31st '01. The way I saw it was that the owner of the board took shots at me with crazy figures of what I had "supposedly" invested in workshops over a specific period of time. I shot back that I felt that it didn't really matter. I don't think he liked that. OOPS!!!

Today I shot a co-starring role on "Ally McBeal". They treated me very well. I got to work with Ally, Ling, Fish & Glenn (James Marsden). I even had a stand-in!! It was definitely the nicest trailer I've ever had. When I arrived on-set the director and producer greeted me and said they were glad I was able to do it, I got the same greeting from Ken Miller & Kara Lipson from Valko/Miller Casting. Since I knew there would be lots waiting, I prepared packages for the two other David E. Kelley shows that shoot/cast at Raleigh Studios "Boston Public" & "The Practice". So, I'll see how it turns out. It could be a nice, quick, funny shot. I'm trying to get a nice reel together for pilot season. It airs Monday November 5th.

"Foot in mouth syndrome" Around 11am I get a call for an appointment for "The Guardian" at 1:45pm. It is a fun role as a guy in a gay club. I call my buddy, Greg Lee, to help me go over the material. We work on it and come up in a strong choice. I go in for the pre-read with Chuck McCollum and Jeanne Bacharach at Sony Studios. It goes well, they give me a re-direct and I deliver. I get a callback on the spot for an hour later with the director and writer. I get to the callback and wait another hour, which is no problem. I finally get in the room; I am usually pretty good about getting in the room and getting to work. The director got up to introduce himself and then the writer did the same. This is where things go really, really bad. I continue to the other woman (Jeanne Bacharach, the CD) as if I am meeting her for the first time. IT'S THE CASTING DIRECTOR WHO GAVE ME THE CALLBACK!!! At that point I figured out that I had really screwed up. I was so embarrassed and I went down in flames. I felt so stupid, because I was right for the part and I nailed the pre-read. I guess it happens, huh.

I have a friend who is in town from NYC staying with me for a week. He is working at a different level than me. It is a window into how it really happens on a day-to-day basis. I surf several of the acting forums and right now there is a lot of controversy going on with paid casting director workshops. It is known that I attend many workshops in addition to many other things that I do to advance my career. It has been said that I am hurting myself by being associated with these establishments. Do these people think that CD's ask me what workshops I go to when I come in to audition? They don't. It's mostly like apples and oranges. I think some of their points are valid, but I am not convinced that workshops are the evil thing that they are proposed to be.

I have a general meeting scheduled with Lucy Cavallo, VP of Casting Dramas @ CBS. I got this through mailing a postcard. It was quick about 15 minutes, but that is enough. She was very nice and seemed to really listen to what I was saying. She joked that they (CBS) need to get me on more of their shows so that I can go home to Virginia Beach more often.

Today I have a meeting with a manager that caught me on "Arli$$". WOW, it really does happen like that!!! He requested a meeting with me!! Mind you, I am not looking for management at this time so it really felt good to have someone interested. The meeting goes well and he wants to work with me. The next day he calls and wants to have lunch, I thank him and let him know that I am gonna stay with my present situation of my current representation and managing myself. Managers typically take 15%, I cannot afford that. I have found that many managers take only 10%. I am waiting on a 10% manager and I'll let them contact me. That means I have work to do!!!

Today and next Saturday morning I attend the Broadcast & Cable previews of shows for the coming season. It was held at the Academy of Television of Arts & Sciences. It was really cool to see previews of all of the shows at the same time.

This weekend I attend 8 workshops at the SAG Conservatory. I am glad I attended, met some new people and learned a lot. Not bad for 10 bucks. Oh yeah, I went to see Pat Benatar in concert in Anaheim. She's still got it!!

Today I have an audition for "East of Harlem"(later changed to "In America") for acclaimed Irish director Jim Sheridan. I know Jim through Keilana Smith. This is where it really happens, the big moves. I get there and see Sean "P-Diddy" Combs and Terrence Howard. It felt good to get seen for a project like this. Of course, it's a long, long shot, but slowly it's happening for me.

Today I have an audition for "East of Harlem"(later changed to "In America") for acclaimed Irish director Jim Sheridan. I know Jim through Keilana Smith. This is where it really happens, the big moves. I get there and see Sean "P-Diddy" Combs and Terrence Howard. It felt good to get seen for a project like this. Of course, it's a long, long shot, but slowly it's happening for me.

Today is my shoot for the "California Lottery" commercial. When I arrived at the location, to my surprise, I saw everyone that was in my callback session. WHAT!!! Needless to say we were shocked that we all had booked after having, what we thought, was such a horrible callback. We figured that maybe he really liked us at the audition and was making sure he could get us to the place he needed us for the shoot.

It was a short day, call time 9am and I'm wrapped @ noon. Yeah, only 3 hours. It almost killed me and I mean DEAD!!!!!! I was one of a group of "spinners" and one "spin instructor". This spin instructor was no joke. Was she, in fact, trying to kill us? Or maybe she was just trying killing me. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that I am so out of shape. Anyway, nice people, and I had worked with the DP on the last "Pizza Hut" spot. It felt good to be working again.

Tonight is the first night of my dance classes. OMIGOD!!!! Keilana bought me gift certificates for several classes. They were getting ready to expire so I had to jump in. I have 2 left feet. I mean seriously. I have been known to go out and "shake a leg", but I don't dance for money. It is a Modern Jazz class and I am so far away from being graceful. I'll keep trying though.

Okay, big surprise. I booked the "California Lottery" commercial. WHAT!!! How they heck did that happen? I don't know and I don't care I'm just glad to be working!!

I just got back from an "audition" even though I didn't actually get to read. My 4th Saturday audition in 6 weeks. No, I wasn't turned away because I do workshops. It was because the damn building caught on fire! Yeah, it was Lien/Cowan Casting on Beverly and we were waiting to go in and the joint starts billowing with black smoke & flames right below the casting office on the 2nd floor. I mean crazy fire trucks, chainsaws, an ax and a lot of water. It was really sad to see people stuff go up in flames, but more importantly everyone got out safely. Firefighters have always been really high on my list and it was cool to see them @ work. Remember, check those smoke detector batteries!!

Today is the BSW roundtable discussion. It was interesting, to say the least. I got a chance to hear several sides of the debate. I don't feel like a lot was accomplished as far as changing anyone's position on the subject. If anything it gave me more information on workshops that I haven't been to. Go figure.

Callback: "California Lottery" @ Cathi Carlton Casting. Okay this HAD to be the worst callback I've ever had. The spot has me and a few others on stationary bikes in a spinning class. First, I don't spin in my real life and I think I looked like a complete loser in my acting life.
Typically, in a spin class the instructor is in front, facing the class. That wasn't the case for audition; the instuctor was beside me. I was sneaking glances at the instuctor to see what the next move was. I wasn't stopping and going into full profile or anything like that I was just trying to see what was going on.

Here is where it got interesting for me. The director, Brian Aldrich, was relentless with giving me direction and asking me questions, and I don't feel like I delivered at all. He said to me, "if you were in a real spin-class would you be looking over at the instuctor?" Okay, I wanted to answer honestly, but I also wanted this job and didn't want to embarrass the CD Cathi Carlton and become an example of "how actors talk themselves out of jobs". I decided to split the difference. I kinda answered by giving him the look that he was right, but not saying so verbally. The director seemed to be trying to embarrass me.
When I left the room, myself and the 3 others, felt like it was the worst callback of our careers. I was thinking that Cathi wouldn't ever call me in again. NEXT!!!

Steve Julian, of KPCC 89.3 radio, sends me an e-mail message asking if I was willing to be interviewed for a story he is doing on paid CD Workshops. "Ugh, ugh, well I guess so. What do you want me to say?" I agree and we proceed. Basically, we just had a conversation on the phone that was taped. Ninety minutes later Back Stage West calls and asks me to participate in a roundtable discussion on paid Casting Director Workshops. What!!!! Why in the heck are they calling me?!?! "Ugh, ugh, well I guess so. What do you want me to say?"

Me, My ADR Session & Carmen Electra............I gotta say it is pretty cool to have Carmen Electra inquire about me. Even if it is just in a commercial. I was able to see a cut of the "Pizza Hut" spot yesterday while doing ADR. I had to re-record one word, and a short word at that. In and out in 14 minutes including waiting for the NYC people to get set up. Of course I wasn't getting paid what Ms. Electra was getting for 2 days work. Let me tell ya she got PAID!! It should break in about 10 days.

One potential strike averted, one more to go!! Thankfully, there wasn't a WGA work stoppage. Now I'm hoping that the SAG/AFTRA negotiations are settled without a work stoppage. Last fall was very busy for me as a result of beefed up productions among other things.