This past week has been nuts.



Loosely, worked all weekend, with that shoot on Saturday as well. As an update, the director said that she felt she got it (the scene I sucked in) and it'll do the picture justice. I was willing to go back and do it again the next day if she'd asked.



Monday through Wednesday night was shooting Very Small Rooms. During the days I was searching for, then seeing a new chiropractor because my back has been in excruciating pain the last two weeks and I'm too pig-headed to do anything about it. Wednesday was the longest, adn the hottest, but we pulled off some shots that were f^cking brilliant, seriously. These filmmakers are totally self taught. They don't know much of "the lingo" and have none of the jaded hipsterism I hate so much. But their vision and writing speaks for itself, and they've educated themselves well. Very proud of them.



So Wednesday night (Thursday morning) we finish at about 2:30am. Hour drive home. Must be in Fitchburg, MA by 9am for more Zombie University shooting. This was guerilla at its best. The normally quiet street we were shooting on was busy because of construction on some other street. The producer on the director disappeared for ten minutes, came back with a couple of "procured" orange cones and blocked off the section we needed to work in. Ah, the power of orange cones. The officers who drive by didn't even look twice. Unfortunately, I also had to be covered in blood during the noon day sun. Irish men like me don't take the sun too well, so I got burned as well as blood-soaked, but it seemed to have turned out well. Apparently my stock is rising in the zero-to-low budget, super-independent filmmaking community of New England.



Finally, last night, I got some decent sleep. Once this weekend is done I will have five, count 'em FIVE days with nothing on my schedule...



Yet.



A Letter to Directors/Filmmakers from the "Talent"

Part II: Production

So here we are...time to shoot! For me, obviously, this the most exciting time. This is where I put it all on the line. I want to deliver for you, so there's a couple things that'll make it easier for me.

1. A detailed schedule: Where and when should I be? Call times, directions to locations, personal costumes I need, this is great when it's all on one piece of paper if possible. When it comes to call times, I know it's easiest to just call everyone for the day, but if you know you aren't going to use me for at least the first four hours, make my call reasonably within that time frame. (I know you SAG folks get day rates and all that, I'm talking about us free actors out there.) I'll get the message that you respect my time, and I will respect yours as well. If I'm consistently late you should probably speak to me about that, or make my call time earlier. The less time I'm in holding the more fresh I am to perform well for you.

A shot list would be awesome. I almost never get these. Unless it's your directorial decision to keep the actors in the dark to get something you're looking for, the more information we get, the better. Some liaison between the cast and the production crew is awesome as well. Are we delayed? I understand delays completely, just let me know about them. But a shot list lets us know and prepare for where our characters are in the flow of the script, and maybe get in a little rehearsal time before that shot goes up.

Also, let me know before that day if I'm jumping off something, fighting someone, or getting covered in anything gooey, please.

2. A place to sit. I'm often surprised that this is overlooked. Before I get into it let me say this, I am amazed at almost every crew I've ever seen. You folks work tirelessly, around the clock at times, with little to no break. The boundless enthusiasm you show keeps me in check when I get cranky. I also understand that you're working this hard to make my shots look as good as they can, and I love you for it. I get irritated with actors far more often than I do with crews.

That said, give me a place with a chair. There's usually a lot of time where I have nothing to do, and nothing makes it longer than being uncomfortable. I'm not asking for a trailer with a masseuse (although I'd never turn that down) just a little corner to myself.

3. On Shooting and Pre-shot preparation. As actors, we need to find a flow, a way to convey the emotion you're looking for. In theater, more often than not, the flow is easy. We go from beginning to end, the arc is easy. For you, though, the shooting is done out of order, on different days, blah, blah, blah. We might need a minute or two. I know you spent an hour getting the lights right and you want to get the shot and move on, but I want to give you the best shot possible. Give me some advice beforehand. Consider what the shot is. Heavy? Emotional? I find it best in that situation if the crew keeps the mood down. I love to engage in on set tomfoolery as much as anyone, but if you want tears, I can't be cracking up. After the take, let me know how I did. Some of us need one sentence, some of us need a conversation. You'll figure it out quickly.

Oh yeah, what shooting ratio are you looking for? It helps me if I know you're paying out the ass for stock, so you want to use as little as possible. In that case, I'll try to nail it in one or two. If you're swimming in DV tapes and don't care, I'll experiment and give you a bunch of different things to choose from when you're editing.

4. On Divas, Whiners, Complainers, No-Shows, and Just Plain Difficult Actors. Um, beat them? Honestly I try not to be one of these, and I think I'm pretty succesful there. I try to complain only when I'm at the end of my rope, and try to do it in a way that's helpful to all involved. Some of my fellow actors drive me nuts, because they seem to think they're entitled to something just for showing up. The only thing I can think of is to mollify them as best you can, see if you can give them some task to busy them, yes them into submission, kill them with kindness, or send them packing. I'll try to help if I can.

That's all I can think of now. If I got nothin' else stay tuned for Part III: Post

(P.S. Does anybody care if I'm writing this? If not, I won't bore you with my opinions.)

Filming Very Small Rooms has also been a whirlwind tour of differing houses. Some, kinda gross. Others, mind boggling. Todays was mind boggling. Such a big beautiful house. It makes me sad because I think there's no way I can make the kind of money it takes to own and maintain something on that level.

I don't get much after-shoot time to hang out with everybody because it's either way too late or I have to go to work ASAP. One of the actors gave me a really nice complient today. She had watched some of the dailies and said she found me very subtle and believable. Then we had a nice conversation about my approach to acting, theater vs. film, and so on.

Then we went to shoot my character's climax. And I sucked. Sucked sucked sucked.

What, has it been that long already?

I always feel like I'm out here in blog world and just never get around to typing. I'm still keeping up with you all, though.

It's been a crazy, fun, rough couple of weeks. Filming "Very Small Rooms" has taken a lot out of me. A lot of late nights, some unexpected, most at least fun. this is a group that hasn't really been trained by anyone else, so they basically made up their own terms for things. At least they learned well.

Two of my best friends are getting married this summer. One more this fall. One of them we took care of two weeks ago. Great fun and almost a mini-vacation.

My shooting schedule meant I could attend precisely none of the Boston International Film Festival where December 31 is playing. That link finally gets you to a trailer.

I thought the next few days would bring some relaxation. Not so much. There's been so much crap going on.

It lives

Hey.

Long time, huh?

I know.

I never write, I never call. I'm a bad friend, blog.

There hasn't been much of note going on through May. Trying to work a ton, because I'm poor, and have a zillion weddings that I might have already complained about already. (But I'm REALLY excited for them! Good people, but all at once!?)

This week started filming of Very Small Rooms. Good people with a wickedly good sense of humor. Should be a good month.

Been working on a series of shorts with a friend. We'll be preproducing through June and most likely July. We hope they'll do good things.

Other than that, everyone, not much else.

But this is something I've been thinking about for a while. Hopefully this will get me to write more often. Time will tell.

A Letter to Directors/Filmmakers from the "Talent"
Note: This is for first-time, low-no budget, and student directors and filmmakers, based on several experiences I've had in the past few years.

Part I: Casting and Rehearsal
First, thank you for having me at your casting. I'm sure you're very excited about your project, and I'd like to join your enthusiasm. This should be easy to tell since I must have found out about your audition and contacted you in some way. Maybe you've seen my headshot and resume. Maybe I walked in off the street. Either way, I'm here, so that says something, right?

Now I know different directors like to audition in different ways. Some have sent me the entire script to read and asked me to choose a role I feel would be appropriate. Personally, I favor this approach. Having read the script beforehand I can know what kind of project I'm putting myself up for, and what I where I might best fit. Sometimes I'll get a few pages highlighting dofferent characters. Sometimes I'm asked for a monologue, sometimes it's a purely cold read. I'm not against any of these, sometimes they're even fun. If you like what you see, I'd sure like to hear that. Go ahead, ask me to do it again. Ask me to give you a different feel. Direct me, if you'd like. I want to show you what I'm capable of. Let's shoot the breeze for a minute if time allows. We can get used to each other, maybe even get a feel for how well we'd work together. But please, don't say something like, "you almost definitely have the part." Then I know someone will walk in after me and do a better job. You don't have to be mean if you didn't like the audition. A polite thank you is fine.

Now let's say I had a grrrrreat audition. We all clicked, I read well, I took direction, we had a good talk. Or even a decent audition. Or a horrible one. You know what I'm gonna do when I get home? Expect to hear from you. You've probably given me at least a rough idea of your production schedule, so I'm going to eye my calendar and try not to put anything in those days. That anything could be more hours at the day job, time with my family or friends, another acting gig. But I got to you first so I think it's only polite to wait to hear from you. I gotta tell ya, it stinks when I hear nothing at all. Even auditions I've felt badly about, it's be nice to get a call. Email is perfect if you feel uncomfortable telling someone they didn't get it. It can be as simple as, "thank you for auditioning, we couldn't find anything for you." You could even say why you didn't cast me if you feel it will help me as an actor. Some of us would like constructive advice. Either way, those days on my calendar can now open up, and I won't feel silly for holding them right up to the end. I've gotten some great emails and messages about why I didn't get cast and there were no hard feelings at all. I can tell you one thing, if I don't get any word from you, I'm most likely not going to audition for you again. Also, if someone I'm working with asks me, I'll be honest.

Now let's say you cast me. YAY! Good choice on your part! I must say, you have good taste. What would I like next? Well, a script would be just about awesome. You know you can email one of those, right? No? Well, you can, usually as a PDF. I'm sure someone can walk you through the steps. The other thing I'd really like to do is rehearse.

Now when I say rehearse I don't mean right before the shot. I mean before we ever put anything to film/tape. Let's get together, have a cup of coffee, chat about the script. I know as a writer that a solid actor will attempt to understand his or her role far better than I as the writer could. The actor will delve into much more detail, get immersed in the role. This I will promise to do to the best of my abilities but I might have some questions. A little one on one with you would be great. Plus getting together with the other actors will really help me. Let's all sot and talk about it. Unless there's an artistic reason for it I think it's a really bad idea to put a cast together for the first time on the shoot day.

I'm just sayin'.

Coming soon (i.e. when I get around to it) Part II: Production