Audition: "Nissan Altima" @ Jessica J. Casting.

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YES!!! Callback “Jackson-Hewitt Tax Service” @ Ross Lacy Casting.

YES!!! Another second round shot. Cool. I'm so overdue for some bookings it's not even funny.

Callback: "FedEx" @ Kathy Knowles Casting. The only issue is that they are 15 minutes apart and one is in Hollywood and the other is in Santa Monica. I HAVE to find a way to get to them both.

The “Jackson-Hewitt Tax Service” callback goes great! My job is done there…for now. I got there early and it was running pretty much on time so I was able to get a good jump in traffic to Santa Monica.

There were quite a few people at the “FedEx” callback for the 6 spots they were casting. This one went really well too and I think I’m really right for it. So we’ll see; I’m determined to book something before the holidays. Ha!

So I had two really good callbacks today AND I even got several drops in that I didn’t think I’d get done.

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Finally, I’m finished – for the moment. I got the rest of 23 out of 24 drops that I didn't finish yesterday done this afternoon. The 24th will get done eventually - maybe.

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Audition: "Jackson-Hewitt Tax Service" @ Ross Lacy Casting. I did a commercial for them back in '94 in Virginia Beach when I was non-union and they shot non-union - I guess we've both come a long way.

Alright, I get to this audition and get the group explanation. All good, right? Wrong!!! I was so pre-occupied with “my busy day” that I didn’t hear what the session runner was explanation. I mean I heard him, I was just ‘out to lunch’. Bad Stephon!!

While we were doing the rehearsal I just stopped and asked the session runner to help me though it. Fortunately, I audition for him often and he didn’t give me a hard time. So then we go to tape it and I had to stop again. WHAT!! The funny thing about it was that I felt that I would pull it together somehow and it would have the right amount of realness to it – my voice, my realness. The smart thing to do was to stop and start over – own MY AUDITION…well, mine and my partners’ audition.

See, I knew the director, producer, ad agency and Ross Lacy the Casting Director wasn’t going to see all of my “tune-up work”; they would only see the ‘money shot’. Actually, that’s not totally true, some audition rooms have cameras watching them from the casting office. The last thing I wanted to do was perform the ‘money shot’ in the car later while doing drop-offs.

The last take was it. It felt great; a little off balance, my vision, my voice – worth watching. I felt weird when I got to my car; rattled and little embarrased. I was also proud that I had a say in the outcome, because as actors we do have a say – and I said it this morning – Good Stephon!

So I get home from the audition and my agent calls and asked if I made it to the appointment. I answer, “Yeah, I just got home”. She says, “Okay, they didn’t remember you coming in. “Really”, I answer. She says, “Yeah, no problem. Sometimes, the front office isn’t sure what the back office is doing.” “Okay”, I say. Then she asked, “Did you sign in and out?” Complete silence…………”Oh $%^#, I forgot to sign in and out! I’m sorry…….” Yeah, I was out to lunch……

Today was a really busy day for a very specific reason. It’s my mother’s birthday; I lost her 4 years ago last week. I knew if I sat around and did nothing I would be depresed…I don’t like being depressed.

What to do, what to do? I wrote up a route with 24 drop-off stops on it; from the far reaches of Northeast Burbank to Malibu and Venice. I didn’t expect to get it all done, but I was going to try. Since I had to move my car @ 8am for street sweeping I figured I’d start then.

My plan was to get a good chunk done in the Valley before going back home to put on a suit for my 11:15 audition at the Casting Studios. After that I’d grab a bite to eat and work my way through Beverly Hills, West LA and out to Malibu. Then I’d swing back through Santa Monica for my audition and continue to Venice and Culver City.

I think keeping myself busy worked. Of course I often thought about my mom, but I wasn’t overwhelmed with grief. To be honest, I miss my mom terribly, but I’m happy that she’s resting in peace. I couldn’t have imagined her, me or the rest of my family going through her illness for one moment longer than we did. Happy Birthday Ma! We love you, We miss you.

Audition: "FedEx" @ Kathy Knowles Casting. I booked here in late '03 and have gotten close many times since - it's time to revisit.

Alright, I get to this appointment and least this time I remembered to sign in. After a while the session runner takes 5 of us in for an explanation and he goes through it so fast that everybody’s head was spinning. We all just looked at each other and proceeded to take a shot at it. I can always tell if this particular session runner likes what you did; he doesn’t hesitate to let you know. He liked it and we did another one for kicks. Cool! Two really good auditions today!

I got 16 of the 24 drops done today. Whew!

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Today I'm doing a group consultation @ Actorsite. It's free for Actorsite members and at a promo rate for non-members.

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My agent calls this morning to say that my December 22nd shoot date for "Privileged" that changed to December 8th has now changed to January 26th '07. That's a pretty big change; I wonder if they will lose some actors due to scheduling. Make me think I'll be working as a reader some more on this in the future.

While out preparing to do drops today I get a call from my agency @ 3pm to see if I could make a 4:15 producer session for a one day Guest Star. I wasn’t home and I needed to get home to shower, shave, put on a suit, print material, fight traffic to Universal, but I thought I could make it.

Audition “Crossing Jordan” @ LaPadura/Hart Casting. I didn’t feel so great about this one – bottom line; I wasn’t as prepared as I would have liked to be. The only time I really read the material was in the car on the way to the studio. That is okay to get the words down, but not enough to make real choices. Thankfully, we usually aren’t as bad as we think we are.

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Audition/Tape ”Jericho” @ Bialy/Thomas Casting. YES! I had an appointment at this office about a month ago for a small co-star role on “The Unit” and passed with hopes of getting in for something more substantial. This is a recurring co-star role.

I read with CD Sherry Thomas and I was very happy with how it went. She wanted it real with a foundation – not a lot of “stuff”. I was pleased with the first read; she gave me some direction and I did it again. I felt like I was a bit young for the part, but I can’t do anything about that; I just wanna be solid and continue the relationship. The bookings will come soon enough. Who knows, maybe the producers will see something they can use.

I went to my fitting for "Privileged" this afternoon. While I was there I went in the director office and got a photo of the cast on the wall. I always like seeing myself on "the wall".


"Privileged" - The Wall

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Back on a plane to LA. My layover was in Cincinnati and shortly after we took off there a medical emergency on the plane. A lady with two children had collapsed and needed medical attention. I must admit I got the chills when the flight attendants asked over the PA system “is there a doctor on board?”. There wasn’t. I played one in an ABC pilot, but this was for real. A moment later a young soldier volunteered to help.

I don’t know what had happened to the woman, but for the next 3 hours there was 1-3 people attending to her. It made me remember to enter my ICE (In Case of Emergency) entry in my new cell phone. I don’t know if the ICE thing is a hoax, but it makes sense to me so I do it. She had two children with her at 30,000 feet and she was totally incoherent.

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Tonight I spoke to a group of actors in Virginia Beach about the business of acting. It reminded me of when I was starting out. It was a little different than my usual consulting because they aren’t in a major market yet, but it was great for them get a sense of what to expect if they choose continue in the business. I may return in March/April to do a full seminar/consultation session.

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Today we went to two youth football games. One of them was my nephew’s team; they had an undefeated season and were playing a team from another city in a bowl game. It was a pretty good game, but they lost 13-7.

Father and Son

Every time I got back to the house I would enter through the garage rather than the front door. Why? So I could walk past my motocross bike. I just like seeing it – it gets me really excited. My older brother, Tommy, wanted to go for a spin. So I put on my new gear, got Todd and the three of us blasted up to “the field” to get in a few laps. It only lasted about 10 minutes, but it was SOOO much fun. It was definitely one of the highlights of my trips.

My family has had a couple of very, very successful Philadelphia-style hoagie shops for 26 years – Philadelphia Cold Cuts is the name of the business. Myself, I worked there for 15, so I’ve sliced enough onions for a lifetime. When I stopped by to get a bite to eat my brother Jeff, who runs one of the shops surprised me with some remodeling he had done. It’s just the beginning, but it’s what I’ve wanted to do years and years ago. I don’t know how much longer my father will be working everyday, so my brother will eventually take over. I was really happy to see this new beginning. I constantly think about being back there in Virginia Beach in the family business – maybe one day.

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LAX here I come!!! I’m taking a little break to go to Virginia Beach to see my brother Tommy that lives in Prague and his daughter, Nikita, who I’ll be meeting for the first time.

Here I am arriving in Atlanta for my connecting flight home and who do I see? One of the actors I read with yesterday for “Privileged”. Small world - and getting smaller. For some reason when things like that happen I always feel like I’m in the right business.

YES!! I’m glad to be home. It’s always great to get away from the hustle of the big city. It’s nice to NOT have to parallel park so often; I’m pretty good at it since I used to be a valet, but it signifies congestion to me.

Two of my brothers picked me up at the airport and 20 minutes later I got to see my niece Nikita for the first time. She just started walking last week. As expected, she wondered who the heck I was and already had her favorite people since she had been in town for week. I had my work cut out for me.

Nikita and Dad

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I took my brother, Todd, to meet my agents today. It's funny, because it was like they already knew him. I guess I really do talk about my family a lot. I wanted him to see the people I talk about so often.

AGAIN!!! I get another last minute request from the director of "Privileged" to read with two actors this afternoon for the same role that they've been having a hard time casting.

I thought one of the actors was really right, really prepared and really good. After we read the second actor myself and the director had a nice little chat about what we saw - I'm always mindful to keep those conversations at arms length. It’s easy to get “caught up”.

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Producers: “The New Adventures of Old Christine” @ Katherine Eckert Casting. This is a co-star role. My agents are trying to get me in for more guest star roles, but it’s going to take time. I don’t have a problem going in for co-star roles, but I won’t go in on all of them – just depends on the who, what and where.

I’ll definitely go in on this one for Katherine Eckert. Katherine was who brought me in for the pilot of “Good Morning, Miami” when she was an associate at Tracy Lilienfield Casting. They hired me for what they knew to be a recurring role without even sending me to producers. My agent called with the booking before I got home from the audition. I booked roles in 3 pilots that season; 2 of which got picked up. The other one that was picked up was “Life with Bonnie” in which Deborah Barylski hired me as well without going to producers.

As I was walking up to Bldg 136 on the Warner Bros lot I saw a gentleman that looked familiar, but I had no idea from where. He stopped and greeted me, but I didn’t know his name. It was Paul Walia, the actor who replaced me in “Ocean’s Thirteen”. How funny.

I go in and read and it goes well; I understood the piece and I’m right for it. It’s great to get back in to read for Katherine Eckert. On the way out I catch up with Paul. We’d never actually met, only spoken to each other on the phone and through e-mails. I could still tell that he appreciated how I handled him getting the role that I had in “O13”. It couldn’t have gone to nicer and more appreciative actor; funny I thought the same thing when the role was mine. I’m kidding! I’m sure I’ll get something else soon.

It seems to have really set Paul off on a roll of sorts. He did 3 jobs in 3 weeks. The very next day after shooting “O13” he auditioned for “Old Christine”, didn’t get the role, but was called back to do a voiceover, then booked a commercial for “Chrylser” now he was back auditioning for “Old Christine” again. Go Paul!!

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Audition/Tape “The Daily Show” @ Zane/Pillsbury Casting. I was ready, I watched the show to get a since of the satire and the style of the correspondents. Let me tell you, it was work. This political satire doesn’t naturally come off my tongue, but I listen to enough of it on talk radio to know how it sounds. The first “scene” was going well until about ¾ of the way through when I stuttered..and stuttered..and stuttered. We finally just stopped and picked it up again were I stumbled. I got through the rest of it with a sigh of relief.

I took a moment before starting the second scene and another huge mouthful of dialogue; actually it was much more like a monologue really. I didn’t want to get rattled and then regret it in the car 5 minutes later so I found my center and proceeded. The second one went okay; I definitely had a few high points, but all-in-all I left feeling kinda “partly cloudy”. I do think I am “right” for it though.

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So Caleigh, my theatrical agent calls me this morning and asked if would consider relocating to New York. The question caught me off guard, but after thinking about it for 9 seconds I said “yes, of course”. She was calling about a recurring role as a correspondent on “The Daily Show”. It’s very different than what I’m used to, but I confirmed and said I’m stop by stop pick up the material. One problem, the audition is scheduled for Monday 13th when I will be in Virginia Beach.

This project “Privileged’ that I’ve been a reader for @ Cathy Henderson-Martin Casting just doesn’t want to seem to end. It's cool with me because I get to read with actors again, but I'm sure the producers would like to get it finished. There is still one role that needs to be cast. So I was there today reader with about 6-8 guys. It’s amazing to see the process working in front of your eyes.

I hope they get it cast from this session. They even asked me what I thought and who I liked; I was careful not to get too involved in that conversation. It was a good short session and I think they saw someone they liked, but that is only the beginning - there's the whole negotiation part.

Cool, my agent got me rescheduled for tomorrow for “The Daily Show”. It’s FIFTEEN pages of dialogue! I don’t know if I’ve had that much dialogue in auditions all year!

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Cool!!! My youngest brother, Todd, is flying in today.


My 'lil bro Todd - the subject of my lens back in the day

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Audition/Callback: “HBO Promo” @ Joe Blake Casting. I didn’t know this was a callback until I got there. It was a funny spot with a lot of profanity – I mean a lot. “Mofo this, mofo that”; I don’t normally talk like that so it was fun doing it in the audition. I got to reenact one of the more memorable scenes from “American Pie” – hilarious! I don’t how I looked them in the eye on the way out of the room.

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Back in the saddle as a reader for "Privileged" @ Cathy Henderson-Martin Casting. It's always interesting and today was no exception. These were final callbacks; the director had seen some of the actors before and others only on tape. There was a lot talent in the room.

One of the most interesting things was the actor that had a tremendous amount of white space on his resume. Actually, he only had one credit. Seriously; one, single credit. That one credit is the lead in a yet to be released film. The director of this film is a known actor and this is his feature film directorial debut. The agency this actor is repped by is.............ICM. Yup, the kid is with ICM with only one professional credit. Simply amazing.....or is it? I don't think it's all that amazing, but it is rare.

Did he get the film and then land at ICM or was it the other way around? I’m sure the film was shot about a year ago, but there isn’t any more credits listed from that time to now. Who knows? It’s one of the things I love about this business; you just never know.

I read with the young actor last week, but this was his first time with the director. The buzz from his one professional credit preceded him in the room. It was amazing to watch as it all went down.

I passed the Xeroxed headshot (with the single credit on the back) to the director and Cathy relayed the buzz and informed the director that she could get a copy of the film. The actor read and he was really solid again; I don’t think he’s perfect for the role though.

There were only two roles being cast today and the actress who is playing the girlfriend of one of them was there. I guess she'll have an opinion on who gets the role of her boyfriend. I know who I think is the right guy for the role, but of course what I think doesn't matter.

I don't think I've ever seen so many actors take complete control of the room. The guys owned their performances today. By contrast there was another actor who just wasn’t having a great day. He didn’t feel like he was “getting it” although I think he was right for the role; which sometimes is more important. He came back like 20 minutes after his audition and asked to read again; he was allowed to.

Oh yeah, when I showed up this morning Cathy let me know that she pitched me for one of the leads in the film. I thanked her, but I didn’t feel I was right for it and way too old. It interesting that I could be seen as that young though – wow. So just a bit later when the director arrived he said the same thing. I thanked him for thinking of me and assured him that I my position was the reader and if anything else came out of it – great. I was building a relationship and learning; not trying to get a particular job – besides, I had already been offered a role in the film.

Anyway, when the day was almost over the director wanted me to read for this other, larger role. We had one more actor to read and then it was to be me. Let’s not forget that I’d been reading opposite this role for days as the reader. I had to unwind all that and sneak out to prepare. I came back in and read and felt great about it – wrong, but great. The director said the same thing and asked for my direct contact information; so I gave him a headshot and resume and a business card.
So I guess that’s it for this project until I go to work on it next month – that means I’ll have to pay my SAG dues before Christmas vacation.

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Audition: “Kellogg’s Raisin Bran” @ Kathy Knowles. I get to this appointment about 3 hours early in Santa Monica so I can make it to Burbank on time to be a reader. I don’t usually like to be in the first group when being put on tape, but today I was and I was in with two other fun guys. I was the third actor there and I saw that the spot had 3 guys so when they walked in I asked them if they wanted to read it together. They did and we clicked immediately.

This is a big campaign. The contract is for up to 6 spots at scale during the first 21 months and 6 more spots at an overscale rate for the second 21 month period. Whoa! Wouldn’t I love to be a part of this.

The actual audition went great! I am so excited, not only because this went well, but a lot have gone well lately. I haven’t booked much, but that will come in due time.

So I make my way over to Burbank with a little time to spare and as soon as I arrived my print agent calls with an appointment for this afternoon. They wanted couples, so I called someone I’ve clicked with at workshops. Fortunately, she was able to make it last minute.

The reader session is usually a great real world workout. Today was no exception. I saw some really talented people for these callbacks. It’s interesting when you see an actor that literally only has two credits and they are repped by Innovative, ICM or UTA. How does that happen? They are a zillion ways it can happen. Young and pretty is one of them. Let me tell you some of these youngsters are really talented, serious artists.

I love to watch these actors break “the rules” – you know the things that “they” say you cannot do. Another thing it shows me is that I am on the right track, doing the right thing. Sometimes the right thing is poising yourself for the next step and the next set of strategies. Things are good for me.

The really cool thing is knowing, absolutely, without exception that I am seeing the next Hilary Swank, Derek Luke, Leonardo DiCaprio, in these sessions right now. I guarantee you that some of these actors I am reading today will be stars in five years.

Afterwards I went to the print go-see with my friend and it went great! They probably thought we were really a couple; we had a ball on camera.

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So I get an e-mail from Casting Director Cathy Henderson checking to see if I can be a reader for the film she is casting tomorrow. Of course I’ll do it. I tell her I’m available, but it’s been pretty quiet lately audition-wise, which means things are going to pick up; I just don’t know when.

Of course, two hours later, my commercial agent calls with an appointment right in the middle of when I am supposed to be reading actors. I call back and check time frames for the audition and I think I can do both.

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