I Cry, Laugh, and Scream at a Total Stranger in the Span of Two Minutes Because Another Stranger Told Me To.

(EDIT: Just found out that I booked this gig!)

So I get called into an audition with this other young dude. I've never talked to him in my life. At this point, I haven't even said "Hi" yet. Don't remember his name.

Casting director says "You're best friends and you're watching a very sad video. Start crying."

Next thing I know we're sobbing into each other's arms, my face buried in his shoulder as we curse the world for being so cruel. "Why, God? WHY?!?!?!"

Casting director says "Video's over, and now you're both pumped up. You need to do something constructive. Build a fort."

There's a bookcase behind me. NOT part of our acting space. I grab some books out of it and we start making the crappiest fort in the history of forts. We smile and laugh at our stronghold of positive energy, still a bit emotional. "This thing is going to be a beacon for all of humanity!" I declare.

Casting director says "Now one of you makes an addition the other one doesn't like."

My best friend tries to add a secret door, which horrifies me. "This is a fort of HONESTY, man! Don't bring your lies to this sacred place!" I start building the fort in a way that blocks him from being involved. He gets mad and knocks the whole thing over, which causes a bunch of CDs that were in the books to come flying out to the floor. "YOU'VE SPILLED THE ARCHIVES!!!" I shout.

Next thing I know, we're screaming at each other at the top of our lungs and throwing books at each other, culminating in the other guy calling me something that rhymes with "stunt." The casting director says "Whoa, okay! That's enough!"

We stop and look up. They're laughing their butts off. I kinda forgot they were there. "Well... Didn't expect it to go that way," one of them says. "Thanks a lot!"

The two of us leave the room and take off going opposite directions, strangers again.

Dunno if either of us will get cast, but we definitely made an impression on those poor saps. Just
another job interview in Los Angeles...

SAG-AFTRA can wait.

So I'm in an interesting part of my career. I'm in the fun little category of being SAG Eligible. What does that mean, you may wonder? That means I can join the all important ACTING UNION whenever I want! Oooh!

When I was a humble Kentucky high schooler, I met a guy who showed me his SAG card. I looked at that thing as though it was one of Willy Wonka's golden tickets. "This guy has made it!" I thought.

Ha.

(Yes, I did think up this caption. So you know... dibs.)

Now, yes. Just about every well paying job that will get you any kind of notoriety in this town requires you to be SAG-AFTRA. So it should be a no brainer, right?

The problem comes from the fact that once you join the union, that's it. Anything labeled "non union" is off limits. To put that in perspective, every acting gig I've done this year (besides the Kia commercial) is non union. I wouldn't have been able to do any of them, for fear of getting caught and fined.

Once I join SAG-AFTRA, my opportunities for employment become largely dependent on how efficient my representation is at getting me into casting rooms. That, and my ability to beat out the thousands upon thousands of other actors clawing over each other to get a limited number of roles. Seriously, I know a lot of SAG actors who never get any work because they didn't set themselves up properly beforehand.

It's kinda like moving in with somebody after you've only been dating for a few days. Geez, slow down!

Right now I have a pretty solid comedic reel, but next to no dramatic material. Not to mention my lack of a theatrical agent/manager. So there's still plenty of work that I can do as non union member. Once I squeeze every drop of forward momentum out of being non union that I can, that's when I'll drop my 3,000 dollar entry fee (yes you read that right) and start barking with the big dogs. My goal right now is to be doing union work by the end of May.

Until then... I'll be doing more of this kinda stuff.

Student Film

Extra in Syfy zombie movie

Music video