Look what I got for Christmas...

An IMDB credit! http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3731335/

Happy Holidays everyone. I hope all is well in your lives and here's to a wonderful 2010!

Saturnalia teaser is up...and it is AWESOME!

Holy cow am I excited about this.

I don't have any idea when the actual film is going to be done, but it's already getting some press from the underground/independent film site twitchfilm.net.  Film festivals, anyone?  Fingers are crossed!

Print/Commercial Agent!

Today I signed on to freelance with Barry Kolker, who is the owner of the Carson-Kolker Organization!  It's an important step and I'm really excited!

Periodic update time!

Here's a rundown of what I've been up to (I like hyperlinks):

• On Halloween, I shot a music video for a French band that sings songs in English. It was a lot of fun and I'm looking forward to seeing footage soon. Song is called "Pay" and you can hear it here on their facebook page (scroll down on the left).
  
  
• Like I've mentioned, I played bass in the backing band for Call Me Classy - tons of fun. What I haven't said before is that the lead guitarist/singer/songwriter is Tom Ashton. You may recognize him from spots like these:
  
  
  
  
  
  The drummer, RJ, is in the show, too, and he is a fuckin' riot. So funny. A couple videos I shot/edited/appear in are also interspersed throughout. Things went so well that we're having another show on Dec. 15th at the Triad Theatre. Details and tickets are here.

• Through Scott Powers Studios, I attended a "Friday Lunch Bunch" with agent Barry Kolker and got a phone call today about coming in for a meeting! So that's pretty cool. I'm doing another Lunch Bunch with Ingrid French on Friday.
  
  
• I'm signed up to take a four-week on-camera class with James Calleri of Calleri Casting through The Network. That starts Monday and I'm stoked to finally be taking it - I submitted several times in the past, but either didn't get accepted or had to bail for various reasons.
  
  
• Got new headshots printed! I'm committing to the beard look in hopes of really differentiating myself from the masses. Here are the two:
  
  
  
  
  

  Big thanks to my brother Noah for taking such good shots. He's amazing. He's also getting published - his college admission essay is getting printed in the next edition of this book. He's certainly one to watch.
  
  
• I've been using my photography work as a means of networking for acting. Through my gig as the photographer for the Hudson Union Society, I've been able to meet and connect with Joe Pantoliano, James Gandolfini, Oliver Stone, Matthew Modine, Jeremy Irons, David Lynch, Tony Gilroy, Harold Ramis, Peter Sarsgaard, and many more. You can see photos here. Events are open to anyone and some are free once you're a member. They're always very interesting. Not just entertainment people, either - authors, TV personalities, politicians, military brass, and musicians, as well. Check out videos online for free here.

Call Me Classy held over!

One more show - cheaper, earlier, and more fun than ever!

Tuesday, Dec. 15th, 2009

8:00 PM

Triad Theatre

158 W. 72nd St.

View Larger Map

Reservations: 212-252-2076

$10 CASH ONLY at the door

No drink minimum this time...but the bar will still be open!

Playing bass? Again? Videos? What is going on here?

Even though I'm not a bass player, I'm somehow playing bass again. And live this time, to boot.

My hilarious friend and collaborator, Claysey Everett (http://www.clayseyeverett.com) is putting up a one-woman show and she's got a backing band. Another good friend and collaborator, Tom Ashton (http://www.tomashton.com) is playing guitar and singing while new friend RJ Rabin is dominating the drums. Together, we will be The Ash-holes. It's gonna be awesome.

In addition to my stumbling through the songs, there will be four video shorts interspersed throughout the show which Claysey and I shot and edited co-starring Karl Hammerle (http://resumes.actorsaccess.com/KarlHammerle) and Joe Naples (http://www.theactorsprojectnyc.com/joenaples.html). Those are shaping up really, really well. And rumor has it I might even be doing some character work during the show, too. So it's going to be a busy couple of evenings!

Here are the details:

Tuesday, Oct. 20th and Monday, Oct. 29th

9:45 PM, doors open at 9:30

Triad Theatre

158 W. 72nd St.

View Larger Map

Reservations: 212-252-2076

$15 Cover + 2 drink minimum

CASH ONLY

SAG Waivers = 3

Got my third SAG Waiver today! That means I'm eligible to join the Screen Actors Guild when I want to (and want to shell out the $2,335 it costs to join nowadays). It's an exciting development and I'm looking forward to the next steps!

Imagine Me Summer Films

This summer I was cast in two projects with the ImagineMe Film Conservatory -- my third round with this award-winning company which works with middle and high school students to develop their own films. It's always a lot of fun working with the kids!

One of the projects was a piece called Saranoia. I play Jared, the fiancée. Here's the film, in two parts:

The other project was entitled When Life Gives You Lemons. In this one, I'm Avery Mann. Here's the film, in two parts, as well:

Part II coming...

Wait -- scratch that.

Guess I won't be doing the Monologue Challenge after all.

I got a call from a casting director yesterday to do photo doubling in a scene with Al Pacino. It's an HBO project about Dr. Death, Jack Kevorkian, entitled You Don't Know Jack, and co-stars John Goodman and Susan Sarandon. It's directed by Barry Levinson (yeah, the Oscar-winning director of Rain Man). So I decided to do that instead.

So far I know it's a pivotal scene in the movie, a long day of shooting, and I'll be getting a SAG waiver. So that's nice. I'll have more info tomorrow.

Summer update

This has been a busy summer! I've been doing a bunch of film stuff -- took a couple classes and put three projects "in the can," as they say, even though two of them used tape and one was on memory cards. (But that's good, too. It's still work, even if the old phrases don't apply anymore.) One of those was an independent feature entitled Saturnalia, and will be my first imdb.com credit once it gets posted up there. So that's exciting! Here's a clip from the film where you see me for the first time:

This coming Monday, Aug. 31st, I'll be performing a new monologue I wrote called "Kids say the darnedest things..." in The Actor's Project NYC's Monlogue Challenge -- you can still get tickets if you want to come and vote! I've competed in three of these over the past couple years and made the finals in two of them. Hopefully this new piece will get me to the top of the podium. And if not, at least I'll have a strong piece of material that sells me and my type better than the last few that I wrote. So that's good.

As the summer winds down, I'm gonna continue pursuing film projects and training and networking and submitting. I'd like to start working with a manager or agent in the coming months and really making a push into the film and television worlds. Theatre and commercials would be great, too, of course.

One Act!

This one came together really quick. Got cast last Friday the 5th and the show goes up this Thursday the 18th -- fast! But it's shaping up to be a really good little play. I'm excited about it!

Here are the details:

• A Piece of Property, part of the Shortened Attention Span One-Act Festival
  

• The Players Theatre
  115 MacDougal St.
  Google Map

• Thu, June 18th - 8 PM
  Fri, June 19th - 8 PM
  Sat, June 20th - 8 PM
  Sun, June 21st - 3 PM

• Tickets $18
  TheaterMania.com
  OvationTix.com
  212-352-3101
  Or you can get them at the door.

Lots of film...

In the past couple months I've starred in two student films which are currently in post-production; I should have footage of those soon and will post them when I can.

Also, I just booked a role in a new feature by Gustavo Mercado, who is a professor at Hunter College and won a Showtime Latino Filmmaker award a couple years ago. My first scene films around Memorial Day and I wrap in June. Big thanks to Tom Ashton for thinking of me for the part and hooking me up with the production team! I'm very excited about this!