Google commercial!!!

The Google commercial I was fortunate enough to be cast in has been posted to YouTube:

It was quite an adventure - what was supposed to be a one day shoot, ended up needing a reshoot due to the complexity of the angles and all the beating the structure took throughout the dozens of takes. Day one was 15 hours long and day two was a measly 12. I really enjoyed it though!

Celebrity Ghost Stories

Found out today that I'll be filming a segment of Celebrity Ghost Stories for the Biography Channel on Monday.  Don't know the call time yet, but "70's cowboy outfits" were discussed and Lindsey Wagner was also mentioned.  Details to come. :o)

Beard Envy Semifinal showtimes

Beard Envy will be performing:

Sat. 3/27 at 2:30 PM

Sun. 3/28 at 6 PM

The bigger and louder the crowd, the better the show -- so come make it raucous!  Facebook invite is here. Tickets available here.

And you know what?  There are some other amazing shows going on, too, starring good friends of mine: 

• Robert King in Halfrican-American
• Angela Cristantello in RealMusik
• Jean Ann Garrish and Joe Iozzi in The Rooftop Play
• Daina Schatz in Grace

And those are just the ones I've seen so far. My roommate Jessica Vera is in Give and Take, Patrick Oliver Jones is in Mirage, and Shelby Company has three shows in the Semis - Mincemeat of Me, A Diner A Shiner, and We Men of Science.

Really good work being done, so there are plenty of reasons to come and check it out!

Beard Envy advances!

Beard Envy has been voted into the Semifinals!  Performance dates and times will be announced tomorrow, probably, once all the conflicts have been submitted and the schedule made up.  Our conflicts would seem to dictate that we'll have one performance on each of Saturday and Sunday...but no promises yet.

Thanks to everyone who came out and saw the show!

Beard Envy Postcard

I finally got around to making the postcard for the show:

 It's gonna be a good time.  You should come check it out!

Sunday, March 21st and Monday, March 22nd, both nights at 8:30 PM at the Barrow Group Theatre, 312 W. 36th St.. Single session tickets are available here and you can get an all access Festival pass by calling the Network office at 212-239-3198.  If we make it to the next round, we'll have two more shows, and if we're fortunate enough to make the finals, we'll have one last show on the 31st.  At the very least there will be a lot of great theatre going on every night!

Shows and bookings! Big things...

Got three big things to talk about right now.

• BEARD ENVY - I will be co-starring in a one act play that I co-wrote with my friend, Walker Hare.  Yes, it is entitled BEARD ENVY.  That is taking place in the Network One Act Festival, March 17-31.  The audience vote will help determine who advances to the semi's and then the finals. In the first round, we've got two performances: Sunday, March 21st and Monday, March 22nd, both showtimes at 8:30 PM. Details and tickets:

The Barrow Group Theatre

312 W. 36th St., New York, NY

View Larger Map

TICKETS

• Call Me Classy has been rebranded as Call Me Classy & Friends!  Now there will be more sketches with more people!  New songs, new material, and new funny.  Come check it out!  One night this round...

MAP  -  TICKETS

• And last but not least, I just booked a commercial for Google UK Translations!  Filming is scheduled for Monday or Tuesday and I have a fitting today.  Apparently I'm going to get paint dumped on me or something?  They asked at the audition if I was allergic to any kinds of paint...hmm.  Fun fun!  And it's SAG -- so I'll be a union member before you know it!

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!

2009 Monologue Challenge!

The Monologue Challenge is a competition to see who can perform the best monologue. 35 will perform, 5 will be declared finalists, but only 1 will take home around $2,000 in prizes. Industry guest judges select the finalists, and then the audience selects the winner.

Last January, I made the finals, this time you can help put me in the winner's circle!

I will be performing a new monologued entitled, "Paralyzed." Come check it out! Tickets are ony $15.00 and are almost sold out.

UPDATE: Tickets available at www.theactorsprojectnyc.com/reserve.html!

UPDATE: I made the finals, but lost out in the audience vote to a brilliant monologue, written and performed by Joe Naples. He's a good guy and his monologue was amazing!

Let's get political...

As I mentioned in my latest email newsletter, I took part in the filming of some satirical videos recently. Now those videos are posted. I have small parts in three different videos, which you can see on 236.com, the Huffington Post/InterActiveCorp's news satire website. For your viewing pleasure, here are the direct links:

• Give Us Your Money, Or Else
• Trust Us, We Are Wall Street
• Will The Real Sarah Palin, Please Stand Up

They are also available on YouTube.