So it looks like the whole things will pick up mantra wasn't a lie. I worked last Friday on iCarly, Monday on a movie called He Loves Me, Tuesday on the news show that I almost got regular work on earlier this July and yesterday on a show called the Ringer, which will be new this season.
I will be honest, I'm pretty exhausted already, but a lot of that is because around Tuesday morning I got sick. Nothing horrible, just one of those scratchy throat, feel tired things, but working a 12 hour day like that doesn't really give you a chance to recover.
I'm finding it more and more difficult to write these blogs since I'm trying not to trash talk any of the productions and certainly not any of the people, but of course when you are tired the negative tends to come out. I will say, without pointing out any particular show, it does amaze me how many takes certain shows/movies do, especially when they already have mutli-camera set ups. I'm sure the editors of some of these shows must absolutely hate them.
In other background artist news, I have noticed an ever increasing trend. The older background artists tend to be opinionated (often debating the same themes) and somewhat quirky, but for the most part do their jobs well. The younger background artists tend to be listless and egotistical and tend to mess around more. Both groups talk more than they should while on set, but those in the union understand much better what they can and can not get away with. My big lesson is always, "I'm not in charge". Which is kind of my mantra on set when people start to fool around. I've actually gotten really good about not stressing at other people's behavior, with the only issue being when it is directed at me and I have to deflect. An ever increasing them in my life to regards to this is that I am scared of getting in trouble. I mean I know we all are, but I think it causes me more stress than others. I think maybe I didn't get into enough trouble as a child, so I never really had to deal with getting over that stress.
In the world of dating, both on and off set, things have been slow. On set I continue to become infatuated with many of my co-workers on a daily basis. Being 36 now, I have refined the process. Instead of simply being completely infatuated with a woman at a time, I know have a ranking system, not completely different nor less confusing than college footballs. I don't actually sit their and do the calculations. I sit back and let the brain do the work and check to see who is in the lead for the day, the month and the year. None of my infatuations lead anywhere, so it is a completely harmless game as long as I don't spend too much time e-stalking my infatuation on facebook with only her first name and possibly what part of the country she grew up in. For those of you that are curious, the current leader spot (year) belongs to Jordan (sp?) who I met doing the Marie Antoinette reenactment a few months ago.
So that is my sum up of the week. As always if you want to hear more gossip about the shows or my dating life, feel free to contact me directly or feel free to comment on my blog.
Until,
Chris
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Thursday, July 21, 2011
You had nothing to worry about...
Dear 21 year old Chris,
You had nothing to worry about when you weren't sure if you could get into the Viper room back when you lived in West Hollywood after college. It turns out that it is just another bar/club venue. Granted it has this pretty cool circular curtain thing to hide the bands as they set up, but besides that it really isn't much different than the Bottom of the Hill or the Parkside in SF. Sure, back then you were new to everything and didn't have a lot of confidence, so it is fine that you made the decision not to try, but I just wanted you to know that it would have been fine.
Sincereley,
36 Year old Chris
The moral to this story and really a theme that rings true often in LA is that people are just people, whatever their level of fame and places are just places, no matter what their mystique. A television star bought me a drink at the Viper room last night sounds like an amazing story and happens to be true, but the statement, my roommate and I went to a bar last night is just as accurate. Enjoy where you are, enjoy who you are with. Don't get caught up in the media hype.
C-money
You had nothing to worry about when you weren't sure if you could get into the Viper room back when you lived in West Hollywood after college. It turns out that it is just another bar/club venue. Granted it has this pretty cool circular curtain thing to hide the bands as they set up, but besides that it really isn't much different than the Bottom of the Hill or the Parkside in SF. Sure, back then you were new to everything and didn't have a lot of confidence, so it is fine that you made the decision not to try, but I just wanted you to know that it would have been fine.
Sincereley,
36 Year old Chris
The moral to this story and really a theme that rings true often in LA is that people are just people, whatever their level of fame and places are just places, no matter what their mystique. A television star bought me a drink at the Viper room last night sounds like an amazing story and happens to be true, but the statement, my roommate and I went to a bar last night is just as accurate. Enjoy where you are, enjoy who you are with. Don't get caught up in the media hype.
C-money
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
...and I'm back
Not back to work, sadly, but back to LA. I went up to SF for an extended weekend of birthday celebration. I do tend to celebrate the whole month, but I like to have a nice peak of celebration around my actual birthday.
The trip itself was a nice mix of busy and fun without the old over indulgence that used to happen a lot when I lived in SF. All in all I feel like I have really come into myself and over come a lot of bad habits since moving. Of course then I look and see I have actually lived in LA for six months and most of the bad times happened within that same time frame, so maybe I shouldn't pat myself on the back too much. On the bright side, at least I'm keeping things balanced. :)
I did have one day of work the week before I left on "Untitled Western", which was a code for a big budget movie. They do that all the time here, give different names to shows and movies so people can't stalk the production. Of course if you were a really patient stalker, you could just be an extra like me and I'm sure you would eventually come across whoever you were stalking.
One nice thing about "Untitled Western" was that its star, a highly acclaimed actor had some trouble with his lines. This gave me great relief. Of all the things that worry me most as an actor, it is the memorization that tops the list. I don't fear being open or acting ridiculous or exposing myself. I fear messing up, lines being the number one opportunity to do that. Now I wish I was one of those people who attacked their problems head on and I could say that I was taking memorization classes and practicing every day, but that's just not me. (Trust me, I know, I just took the Big 5 personality test). So I guess I have to find a way to accept who I am and still get done what needs to get done to achieve my goals.
Meanwhile, the acting world continues to tease me as I got a phone call from my management company asking if I was free for CSI Miami tomorrow. I am. They didn't call back. Not really sure why they called in the first place since they have my schedule already. Weird.
Thinking I might try creating some electronic music or maybe just play DJ for a while. It's a good balance of creative work and play for me.
News flash: It's hot in the valley. Even at midnight. Sigh.
The trip itself was a nice mix of busy and fun without the old over indulgence that used to happen a lot when I lived in SF. All in all I feel like I have really come into myself and over come a lot of bad habits since moving. Of course then I look and see I have actually lived in LA for six months and most of the bad times happened within that same time frame, so maybe I shouldn't pat myself on the back too much. On the bright side, at least I'm keeping things balanced. :)
I did have one day of work the week before I left on "Untitled Western", which was a code for a big budget movie. They do that all the time here, give different names to shows and movies so people can't stalk the production. Of course if you were a really patient stalker, you could just be an extra like me and I'm sure you would eventually come across whoever you were stalking.
One nice thing about "Untitled Western" was that its star, a highly acclaimed actor had some trouble with his lines. This gave me great relief. Of all the things that worry me most as an actor, it is the memorization that tops the list. I don't fear being open or acting ridiculous or exposing myself. I fear messing up, lines being the number one opportunity to do that. Now I wish I was one of those people who attacked their problems head on and I could say that I was taking memorization classes and practicing every day, but that's just not me. (Trust me, I know, I just took the Big 5 personality test). So I guess I have to find a way to accept who I am and still get done what needs to get done to achieve my goals.
Meanwhile, the acting world continues to tease me as I got a phone call from my management company asking if I was free for CSI Miami tomorrow. I am. They didn't call back. Not really sure why they called in the first place since they have my schedule already. Weird.
Thinking I might try creating some electronic music or maybe just play DJ for a while. It's a good balance of creative work and play for me.
News flash: It's hot in the valley. Even at midnight. Sigh.
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Trial by fire
So last Friday I had an interview set up by my management company. My management company had never gotten me an interview before, just straight up jobs. The interview, which occurred at the Sunset Gower studios at 9am, an inconvenient time for someone that wanted to go out dancing the night before and a little annoying since I hadn't worked in a while and needed work. Also, it was even clear what the interview was for and if the 9am call time was just for me or for everybody.
I arrived at the studios and pulled into the wrong entrance. For the game shows I did there they always made us park on the street, so I didn't know what entrance to go in. The nice guard had me turn around and pointed me in the right direction. There wasn't any traffic getting there this morning, which was good because the security guard that gave me my pass and pointed me toward the buildling I was going to actually pointed me to the wrong building. I also parked on the wrong floor of the parking structure, but that was simply because it was poorly labeled. Despite all of this, I still walked into the room ten minutes early.
There were only 4 other people in the room, a number that would quickly swell as it became closer to the time. In fact there were probably 40 people (and 15 chairs) at one point. The interview consisted of the AD introducing himself and asking where we were from and the 2nd AD taking a couple of pictures of us. I thought it went fine and was excited to see we actually got paid for 2 hours on the show, but was a little worried about the stats when they said they needed 20 people and then saw how many people showed up just in the first hour. It would be a great opportunity though. At least 10-20 days of work in the next month and if the pilot got picked up then regular work once the season started shooting. It was easily the best opportunity for work I have had since I got here.
Going into the interview I was a little hesitant because the sketch comedy thing was scheduled to shoot the 2nd half of July. The sketch comedy thing represents no money, but great opportunity for me doing something I really want to be doing. However in the short run, obviously working on this show I just interviewed for was what I needed to be doing.
The show had asked all of us if we were free for a fitting the following Wednesday. About 8pm that evening, I was booked for that fitting. My mind went wild with excitement and concern. Finally I had booked something that could lead me there. They had said there would be great opportunity for SAG vouchers and bumps on the show and it would be a great opportunity to be seen. Of course I also started to worry about what I was going to tell Josh, the producer of the sketch comedy show. I didn't have any information on my schedule yet, but I was pretty sure it was going to conflict. I guess I was just going to have to tell him that I would have to do my job, but I would also work around my schedule and work weekends and whenever they needed me. I was secretly hoping the sketch comedy thing would be delayed a few weeks so that I could work on both without conflict.
The weekend was spent going back and forth inventing different scenarios of what would happen and how I might handle the potential conflict, while at the same time being excited to work.
Tuesday came and I was anxious to hear what my fitting time was going to be. Finally around 2pm I received the beep beep of a text and gmail being received at the same time. I looked, excited to find out what my future held, but the crystal ball became murky. The fitting had been canceled. I have no idea what this means. It could mean a lot of things. It could mean they put everyone on hold until they made their decisions. It could mean that I made one cut, but not the next or final cut. It could mean that the production itself was put on hold. I don't know and it is doubtful I ever will. There's no information booth in this business. Either you are inside and you know what is going on or you and your friends spend time on the outside putting together the glints of information that you have lucked upon.
Obviously I felt down about the whole thing. I'm trained not to get excited after an audition, whether it went well or not, but this was more of a tease than I was expected. That was yesterday. This morning I woke up to a text message from Josh that he had become busy with other work and the sketch comedy show was delayed until September.
It is a hard business, we all know that. Hard on the emotions and touch to get lucky with the odds stacked against you. But some days, some days are harder than others.
xoxo,
Chris
I arrived at the studios and pulled into the wrong entrance. For the game shows I did there they always made us park on the street, so I didn't know what entrance to go in. The nice guard had me turn around and pointed me in the right direction. There wasn't any traffic getting there this morning, which was good because the security guard that gave me my pass and pointed me toward the buildling I was going to actually pointed me to the wrong building. I also parked on the wrong floor of the parking structure, but that was simply because it was poorly labeled. Despite all of this, I still walked into the room ten minutes early.
There were only 4 other people in the room, a number that would quickly swell as it became closer to the time. In fact there were probably 40 people (and 15 chairs) at one point. The interview consisted of the AD introducing himself and asking where we were from and the 2nd AD taking a couple of pictures of us. I thought it went fine and was excited to see we actually got paid for 2 hours on the show, but was a little worried about the stats when they said they needed 20 people and then saw how many people showed up just in the first hour. It would be a great opportunity though. At least 10-20 days of work in the next month and if the pilot got picked up then regular work once the season started shooting. It was easily the best opportunity for work I have had since I got here.
Going into the interview I was a little hesitant because the sketch comedy thing was scheduled to shoot the 2nd half of July. The sketch comedy thing represents no money, but great opportunity for me doing something I really want to be doing. However in the short run, obviously working on this show I just interviewed for was what I needed to be doing.
The show had asked all of us if we were free for a fitting the following Wednesday. About 8pm that evening, I was booked for that fitting. My mind went wild with excitement and concern. Finally I had booked something that could lead me there. They had said there would be great opportunity for SAG vouchers and bumps on the show and it would be a great opportunity to be seen. Of course I also started to worry about what I was going to tell Josh, the producer of the sketch comedy show. I didn't have any information on my schedule yet, but I was pretty sure it was going to conflict. I guess I was just going to have to tell him that I would have to do my job, but I would also work around my schedule and work weekends and whenever they needed me. I was secretly hoping the sketch comedy thing would be delayed a few weeks so that I could work on both without conflict.
The weekend was spent going back and forth inventing different scenarios of what would happen and how I might handle the potential conflict, while at the same time being excited to work.
Tuesday came and I was anxious to hear what my fitting time was going to be. Finally around 2pm I received the beep beep of a text and gmail being received at the same time. I looked, excited to find out what my future held, but the crystal ball became murky. The fitting had been canceled. I have no idea what this means. It could mean a lot of things. It could mean they put everyone on hold until they made their decisions. It could mean that I made one cut, but not the next or final cut. It could mean that the production itself was put on hold. I don't know and it is doubtful I ever will. There's no information booth in this business. Either you are inside and you know what is going on or you and your friends spend time on the outside putting together the glints of information that you have lucked upon.
Obviously I felt down about the whole thing. I'm trained not to get excited after an audition, whether it went well or not, but this was more of a tease than I was expected. That was yesterday. This morning I woke up to a text message from Josh that he had become busy with other work and the sketch comedy show was delayed until September.
It is a hard business, we all know that. Hard on the emotions and touch to get lucky with the odds stacked against you. But some days, some days are harder than others.
xoxo,
Chris
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