More tangible results from all of those appointments from last week. I felt really good in the room for almost all of them, which is a feat in itself. I booked "CSI" and a commercial for "24hr Fitness".

Man, I just cannot seem to get it right these days. Many more things are going wrong than I am used to in my life. I am going through it right now myself. Since getting back from the holidays I have had so many issues it ain't even funny. I returned from back East on the 4th, my car broke down on the 6th and had to be towed. My computer has a bad attitude; I have had to add memory and a new hard drive this week. Thank the Lord for my little brother who is a computer tech back East. He has spent hours on the phone with me to get me back up and running. Right when I got all of my software installed again I got a virus and had to wipe it all again. When we wrapped for the evening on this pilot-presentation that I am working on my car wouldn't start "again" and had to be towed (fuel pump). My cell phone works sometimes and my pager doesn't wanna vibrate anymore. All of this is holding me up from getting my postcards out. I'm not complaining, so many things go well for me that I gotta take the good with the not so good. Besides it builds character. It has been pretty slow audition-wise, but I'm still trying to stay in the mix the best I can. I will make it through this, I swear. I WILL NOT BE DEFEATED!!!

I have never had much success with Backstage mailings, daytime television or student films. So this is welcome news for me. I was starting to think it wasn't meant to be because I always would have some sort of problem when I would get an audition. Hopefully this is the first of many.

I almost forgot what it is like to have a commercial audition. After only having one the entire month of January I have one today, Yeah!!

I finally got a call for "Charmed"!! It's a small role straight to producers for tomorrow. I am almost certain it was from recent postcards because my agent didn't really want me to go in on it. I don't know. It seems quick but fun. Hopefully this will get me started for the season. It seems everyone else is busy. I have been doing commercial and theatrical drop-offs for the last couple of days and it seems to be pretty busy.

I just got home from the third edition of the ABC Talent Development Showcase. This one featured African-Americans in partnership with the Robey Theatre Company. The Asian-American showcase in conjunction with the East West Players was in October. The Latino showcase in conjunction with Nostros was in December. All kinds of industry professionals were in attendance. Nan Dutton & Sandi Logan told me that they just received my postcards. Yeah!!! I wasn't one of the 14 participants. I auditioned last week, but wasn't chosen. The director said that there will be more in the future so maybe I'll get a chance then. What a way to get seen, I'll bet phones will be ringing for those actors in the weeks to come. They were really, really good. They put up a total of 7 scenes each was male/female that ran about 5-7 minutes each. It was a very entertaining evening. Other than Nan & Sandi I saw directors Paris Barclay (NYPD Blue), Craig Ross (Blue Hill Avenue), Manager Jane Bloom, Video/Commercial CD Twinkie Byrd and all kinds of other actors and actresses from TV & movies. Last but not least even Will Smith was in attendance and he sure seems like a nice guy. The event was produced by Kim Hardin who is the director of Talent Development Program & Casting. I am so, so glad that I attended I really got to do some networking. Thanks for the tip Leilani.

Man, I just cannot seem to get it right these days. Many more things are going wrong than I am used to in my life. I am going through it right now myself. Since getting back from the holidays I have had so many issues it ain't even funny.

I returned from back East on the 4th, my car broke down on the 6th and had to be towed. My computer has a bad attitude; I have had to add memory and a new hard drive this week. Thank the Lord for my little brother who is a computer tech back East. He has spent hours on the phone with me to get me back up and running. Right when I got all of my software installed again I got a virus and had to wipe it all again.

When we wrapped for the evening on this pilot-presentation that I am working on my car wouldn't start "again" and had to be towed (fuel pump). My cell phone works sometimes and my pager doesn't wanna vibrate anymore. All of this is holding me up from getting my postcards out. I'm not complaining, so many things go well for me that I gotta take the good with the not so good. Besides it builds character. It has been pretty slow audition-wise, but I'm still trying to stay in the mix the best I can. I will make it through this, I swear. I WILL NOT BE DEFEATED!!!

I've been trying to get into the office of "NYPD Blue" for a long time. Postcards, drop-offs, mailings and a workshop with Scott Genkinger. Of course the call comes today; straight to producers for a guest-starring role. The catch is I am on the East Coast until Friday night. I had checked out with both agents, I missed a commercial audition the day I got here. Oh well, as I said hopefully there is a lot more where this came from. Guys and gals I gotta feeling that '02 is gonna big for all of us.

YES!! Today I am shooting a "Wrigley's Extra" National commercial. It's the same director that directed the "California Lottery" spot I did in June. I played a grocery store cashier. We actually shot in a grocery that was open. I had numerous customers try to check out in my line. I guess I really looked the part. My buddy Marvin did a "Wrigley's" spot a couple of years ago and he said it ran really, really well. I hope the same for me.

In my quest to move up the food chain in my career I have figured that I have be more selective with the roles that I audition for. This week I turned down auditions for two major shows in offices that I would really like to get into. It feels kinda weird to not audition when a casting director call and request you, but I think I have to say no to some things in order to move up the chain.

YES!!!! Today I get the word that I booked a "Wrigley's Extra" national commercial. It is through the same casting director, production company, ad agency and director of the "California Lottery" spot I did 6 months ago. When my agent called me with the appointment; she told me I had been requested. This is what I want to happen more often. I shoot on Friday 12/7. NEWSFLASH!! This evening my agent calls to tell me that I am not to show up on set for "Flipside". WHAT!!!! There had been some mistake in the union paperwork and we can't start shooting this weekend. It has been postponed till January.

COMMERCIALS COMMERCIALS & MORE COMMERCIALS. For the last 3 weeks it has been incredibly busy for me commercially and I love it. Also, my callback ratio seems to have improved greatly. That is something that I have been working on. I have had a callback or avail for almost everything I have gone in for. Now I just want to book something.

Last night we had a table read for the pilot presentation that I am doing.It is called "Flipside" and it is set in a record store. The presentation is a collection of scenes for the BBC in London. It will be presented to them and who knows from after that.

I'm back in the saddle at Henderson/Zuckerman Friday reading for a director session. I read 40-45 actors, some I know from workshops to actors that I often see on TV and in movies. 4 were working, on "The West Wing", "Grounded for Life", "The Parkers" & "Spin City" and snuck over for the audition. Several more were working on films. Today, for the first time, I got to sit in on a meeting with an actor who was being offered a part in the film. When I was there on Tuesday there was an actor being talked about for a certain role, today the director watched his demo and the deal was made.

It is so interesting for me to see how the business works at this level. A lot of what I've seen are actors who work at a level where the little things don't count as much. If I had a dollar for every actor who did not bring a headshot with them I could have filled up my gas tank!! No headshot or resume, no resume, it's not stapled. You know what? I didn't matter one bit, they all got seen just the same and the people in charge didn't even seem annoyed by it. I guess when you are with DBA, ICM, Endeavor, Gersh, AAA, UTA, Innovative, etc you have more pressing matters than photos.

I would say the biggest thing they all had in common was confidence, you can tell that these actors have and are working, and a lot. The director is a dream, giving "clues" before an actor reads, redirecting and even shaking hands when they enter & exit. Oh yeah, I also read with K. Callan, author of the New York & LA agent books and met one of the members of Lynyrd Skynyrd. Nice!!! That's it.

Today I worked as a reader @ Henderson/Zuckerman Casting. As always it was a great experience. I was reading about 10 different roles, 30-35 actors so it was kinda crazy. It is interesting seeing so many different actors and their choices on the same material. They called actors without representation, from workshops all the way to actors & actresses represented by Endeavor, WMA & ICM, etc. The business talk that I hear is eye-opening as to how this business really works. It makes it so clear that we are in a "business". They asked me to come back on Friday to be the reader for the first director session. I highly recommend being a reader if you get the chance.

I just found out that I booked a pilot presentation called "Flipside". It is a fun part that should give me some good film. I was surprised that I got the callback because my pre-read wasn't too hot. I think it was because I was so right for it. I'll take that. I'm not sure which SAG contract it is, but it isn't paying much. That's okay; I just wanna do the work. It felt good to talk to my agent about us possibly not doing it. I'm really looking forward to it. I shoot in early December. Cool, now I get to do another postcarding.

I have always been very big on the postcarding of CD's/agents/managers or whoever's attention you are trying to get. Recently I changed my strategy a little with my postcards. They were getting kinda jumbled up with info, so I went to larger size. I switched from a 4x6 card to a 6x8 card. It is more expensive all the way around; they cost more, use more ink and are 34 cents to mail. The flip-side is that I get more bang for my buck. Since it is larger I can put a small resume with selected credits "and" callbacks, airdates, representation, another photo and the like. It is a nice cross between a regular postcard and a full H/R. The way some CD's are now about opening envelopes I think postcards are even more valuable to my business, so the investment didn't bother me too much. This morning my agent called with an appointment from Andrea Cohen Casting for a guest-star on "Nikki". She received my postcard this morning and said it was "the most effective postcard she ever received". I have never met her or anyone from her office before, so this feels really, really good. Now I gotta rock da house!! Hopefully, I will get more of these guest-star auditions in the future. .

This week I called a meeting with my theatrical agency. I have been with them for 3 years and feel fortunate to be on their roster. I called the meeting because I feel like I am at a crossroads in my career.

I'm trying to look down the road and wanted to get their opinions on a few things. I feel like after 3 years I am just now coming into my own with this agency. They took me on from a mailing from NYC with virtually no credits. They are a guest-star agency and I have never been a guest-star. At the meeting we discussed things like managers, demos, photos, turning down auditions/roles, pilot season and the like. I left the meeting with a really good feeling of being in the right place. The notion of turning down an audition is almost crazy to me, but in order to move to the next step I'm gonna have to. Adding to that is that I do not have a day job and "a brother gotta eat right!!"

Anyway, 3 days later I turned down an audition for a major show that I have been trying to get in for. My agent was very supportive and would have let me go in if I wanted to, but "we" decided not to. We're gonna wait for something a little more substantial on that show. I hope those 180 postcards I sent out this morning for this upcoming "Ally McBeal" airing drum up some business for me, it's been a slow week.

I just wrapped up 4 days working "Frasier". What a great time. The pre-read came from meeting Colin Daniel in a workshop (he told my agent). It was interesting to watch and be a part of how one of the hottest comedies on TV does their magic. First, the cast and crew are some of the nicest people I have ever worked with. The script was a moving target even while we were shooting. I received a new script everyday I worked. After every run thru the writers would meet & tweak.

The first day of rehearsal we had an audience of 25-30 people. I am not sure who they all were, but they seemed to know what they were doing. The 2nd day they there was even more people. I thought it was interesting that the director was not at the producer session. I met her on-set. It was cool to watch Kelsey's $1.6 mil per episode opinion go up against 25 people. As one of the exec producers he has a very important voice. He is an extremely charismatic man and a joy to work with. Both of my scenes were with him, in the first scene "Roz" greets me by name. That gives me some history; officially I work in the mailroom at the radio station. The rest of the cast John, Peri, Jane, David were wonderful as well. The two recurring players in the episode were hilarious. CD Jeff Greenberg was there everyday including the filming of the show. I had never met him before and he is really nice & personable. Casting associate Collin Daniel was quite visible as well.

At the cast read-thru 12 minutes before going on-stage we still didn't have the new pages in the script. When we received them they were still warm from the copier. In one of my scenes we were shooting material that had never been rehearsed. Can you say cold read improvisation with Kelsey Grammer? I had a fantastic time working with them and wanna take this credit and help me get more gigs thru mailings, postcarding, my agent or whatever. I am definitely not waiting for the phone to ring to get back on the show, but one of the recurring players said he would be surprised if I don't come back. I got other encouraging words as well. Hmmmm. I guess time will tell, huh.

I have always had the attitude in my career of not taking the "Peaks & Valleys" too seriously. I think it would drive me crazy. I am saying this because I just found out that "Danny", the CBS comedy starring Daniel Stern that I worked on last week has been cancelled. That's too bad; I would have liked to see that scene we did. Also, the cast & crew were so nice, but that is the nature of the business.

So as I sit here cranking out my 150 postcards highlighting the "Frasier"/"Danny" bookings and the upcoming "Ally McBeal" airing, it's bitter sweet. On the one hand "Danny" is gone and on the other hand the "Frasier" episode that we are shooting tonight is airing very soon, next Tuesday the 16th. I have had too many blessing to be down about anything in this business. Back to the postcards....