WIN? WIN?

It's Wednesday, September 10th, 2008, and my second year in Los Angeles is officially underway. September 8th was actually my official landing anniversary.

It all feels pretty good as I sit here reviewing the year, acknowledging accomplishments, giving thanks for my good fortune and all the good people in my life...pondering my existence...

And this is just Year One... I'm not supposed to be completely acclimated, settled and comfortable until Year Two.... thats what I'm told...I dont know quite that means or what that feels like...but the people I talk to all seem to agree on it...many even say that they themselves didn't know what people were talking about until THEY hit their two-year....then they knew exactly what people were talkin about.

We'll see.

As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, I booked the lead role in an independent pilot for a 30 minute sit-com called THE AFTER-LYFES. We are scheduled to shoot in Mid-October. Yesterday I received an email from the producers with the latest draft of the script....

James:

Title: The After-Lyfes
Genre: Original 30-minute situation comedy
Logline: A seemingly typical, albeit slightly socially impaired family, that is set apart by their continual sense of déjà vu…déjà vu that happens to be factual.
Pitch: Arrested Development meets Scrubs

I’ve attached the script, so please begin to dissect it and give me your thoughts regarding Adam. Note that when I wrote his part, I imagined him as a little bit of J.D. from Scrubs, combined with a little more of Michael from Arrested Development.


I'm totally pumped for this. First of all, I feel really good about the character and the concept. I think I've been well cast if I dont say so myself. The fact that the producers are open to my feedback on the writing and the charaacter is a huge plus as well... so I'm really feeling it... its going to be a good experience...


Last night, I put together another Indie City meeting. Last night's meeting, however, was a little different. We have been fielding short script submissions for our projected 2009 monthly film project (Much like the Proactiveactor NYC project of 2005), and I decided to send out a posting for actors to come in and help us bring some of these scripts to life. As a result, we had a solid turnout for the meeting/reading last night, with a handsful of fresh faces, who all actually did a great job reading. I also recorded most of the meeting and will post those recordings in the form of a 4 part podcast.

That should be up in a couple of days. This whole podcast thing has been a work in progress. I have ONE official podcast posted on the I.C.E. site, but my roommate and I have recorded 5 or 6 of them. The problem is that, since I've been learning the recording software, equipment and the wqorld of podcasting as I go, I've screwed up a few times and many of those podcasts had to be trashed. I'm getting the hang of it though. I will let you know nwhen the next podcast episodes are ready and available. You might find it interesting. You also might find it incredibly boring.


Ok, so tomorrow...I have somewhat of a dilemma...

I am booked to do more background work...I THINK its DESPERATE HOUSWIVES....but when I called to confirm my availability, they said it was for DIRTY SEXY MONEY. Whatever it is, I blocked out the day and made myself available. Now, at this point, I dont have any information. I dont know what my call time will be. It could be 9AM. It could be noon.

What I also have for tomorrow, is an audition. The audition is for a film called THE PETERSON PROJECT. The breakdown was posted in Backstage a couple of days ago....

Fresh Planet, Inc. is casting Peterson Project, a crime thriller feature. Cambria Hankin, casting dir. Shoot starts Sept. 27.

Seeking—Male #1: early-late 30s, light/dark brown hair preferred, intense eyes, very complicated but can come off as a very loving father figure to young boys, uses this to his advantage to lure his victims, need to be able to portray evil yet innocence, challenging solid lead role, strong film, TV, and stage actor, actors "dream role"; Male #2: 18 to mid-20s, can be a slight character type or off/edgy, bit of a rebel type, timid but then is lured into the web of deceit and destruction, great part for edgy young actors who love doing indie films, strong resume required, LEAD. Note: Both roles are Caucasian.


I thought this looked like an interesting project. It's a paying project. So I sent them my stuff....


Dear James-

You have been requested to come and audition for the role of Bob in "The Peterson Project."

Sides are on Showfax.com under "Peterson Project" or Lisa Pantone/Cambria Hankin. You do not need to know the callback sides, just the Bob/Kyle sides. Please be off book as much as possible.

Please email back to confirm.

Thursday, September 11, 2008 at 1:15pm


So here is my dilemma... it's highly unlikely that my call time tomorrow for background work will turn out to accomodate this audition time. So what do I do if I have to choose one or the other?

Background work: guaranteed days pay; meet new people; lots of food; working on set of a network program. If I cancel, I could hurt my chances of getting work of this nature in the future. By the way, I could really use the extra money. I've said before, I'm not a fan of doing background, but right now, it fulfills a few short term needs.

Audition: Its an audition, for a lead role; it's not background. I could forfeit the days pay doing background.... I could go and book the role, work on the project and be walking the red carpet this time next year. I could also go and not book it. The casting, the project, the producers could be a total joke. I could end the day with a big ole goose egg.

I should post an oficial poll here and see what the public thinks....

Oh well...I gotta go.....

hey, you never know, maybe my call time for tomorrow will come up and allow me to get to the audition AND get to set on time...WIN WIN?

WIN WIN? ANYBODY?