First of all, I now have two movies listed on my IMDB page. I’m on my way, y’all! Related to that, the movie Half Empty is starting to ramp up and we’re going to be rehearsing in January and then filming will begin in February. I’ve been asked to pull double-duty and work as a PA on the project as well, I’ve decided to do it. So I’ll be on set for most of the shooting days, even when I’m not in the scenes. I’ll be documenting the behind the scenes kind of shiz for the movie blog and stuff.

I’m not sure why, all of a sudden, but I’ve decided to audition for a short film shooting in January. My audition is tomorrow. The people behind the film have worked on some pretty great things, so if I get it I think it could be pretty cool.

In February I’m going to go on a cruise with Kim Ruehl. It’s called Cayamo and it’s this cruise that leaves Miami, heads down to Belize, stops in Mexico and makes its way back to Miami, but the big deal about the cruise is the lineup. It’s all a bout music on Cayamo, and the number of amazing artists on the cruise is just nutz. Because of what Kim does, we’re getting this incredible discount and I just couldn’t pass up the experience. I got my tickets to Miami tonight.

My sister Amy will be having her first baby in March, and I volunteered to go down and help her out. I’ll be in San Diego for two weeks right after I get back from the cruise. Her husband will be busy with work, and they will have just refinished their home, so things are going to be crazy. I’m hoping I can be a big help there.

The General is just awesome. She’s just amazing at what she does and I’m in awe of her work ethic and drive. It’s pretty cool to watch her grind away at her special side-projects.

The holidays are in full swing! I’m loving it! I’m gathering all the stocking stuffers and wrapping all the presents, and making hot buttered rum. Yes! I’m also looking forward to the annual Caroling with Carollani event held some day before Christmas. The looks on the people’s faces is heartwarming and priceless.

Adam and his girlfriend are coming up for a visit, and I’m hoping to entice him into staying with us for a night or two while he’s here. I’m quite excited about that.

I’ve been skiing twice this year already at Crystal Mountain, and both times were superb conditions. The extra long drive is totally worth it. There’s never any wait for the lifts, and the runs are so long and fun. I am, however, looking forward to when The Summit is all open and running, because it sure is close. I can’t wait until I’m not completely sore the day after skiing.

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Tomorrow morning I have my first rehearsal for Half Empty.  I’m pretty excited to get working on this movie.  Yay!

THIS is hilarious.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMsLg4jqlJw[/youtube]

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All in all it was probably the most entertaining extra shoot I’ve ever been a part of, because we were essentially watching Timothy Hutton and Beth Riesgraf perform a magic show.  However, 11 hours of amateur magic gets a little tiresome for anybody I think.  Timothy Hutton was a bit of a ham and kept goofing off for the audience (aka extras), which made it more fun for us I think.

Gina Bellman was trying to hide her obvious pregnancy.  Of course, nobody will care about that news unless they’re die hard fans of the BBC’s Coupling or, um… Leverage.  So, there’s your non-news of the day.

I was able to get my time thing signed right away when we wrapped and was one of the first people out of there.  The drive back was pretty nice and uneventful; I played a couple of episodes of Skins on my iPhone to keep my brain awake and I was home in no time.

Brandi Carlile

On Saturday we did some packing at The General’s house and then we got ourselves ready and went downtown for Brandi Carlile‘s “secret” show at the Triple Door.  We ordered Wild Ginger‘s amazing food–several apetizers, a salad, and an entree, and of course several amazing drinks (I’m partial to the lychee cooler).

Brandi was in rare form, and the show was fantastic.  I also really liked the slightly less country, slightly more hipster look she was sporting with her checkered Vans and skinny jeans.  I can never hear her play and not fall in love with her music every single time.  She’s an absolute musical gem.

On Sunday we tried to rally as soon as we could to continue packing and finish painting.  The General officially moved into The Estate today, and we wanted the spare room to be completely done by the time we filled it with all new stuff.

I had to break away from the painting for an hour or so to go audition for the play, Little Women.  Little Women has always had a sweet nostalgic spot in my heart.  I devoured the book when I was a teenager and I watched the film over and over and over.  It would be a treat for me to be in a production of a story I love so much.

I had a great monologue, but I wasn’t as prepared as I should have been for it.  Nonetheless, she stopped and directed me a couple times during the audition and then she stopped me and asked me to come back for a workshop/callback.  She’s interested in me for the character Jo, which happens to be the lead, so that’s pretty cool.  I’m pretty sure I was the only person who auditioned that was over the age of 20, so maybe she’s counting on my emotional maturity to come through in the performance.  Heh.  Anyway, I’m pretty excited.  The callback is tomorrow.

While I was in Portland I got a call from Andrew Finnigan, the director of Half Empty.  He was telling me about a new project he has in the works that’s being shot kind of parallel to Half Empty, and it’s called The Next Nine.  He offered me a part in it without having to audition or anything, I’m pretty excited about it!  I’ll be playing a bit of a home wrecker as the other woman, but it’s more about the man’s emotional journey during his wife’s pregnancy.  It sounds like a pretty cool project and I’m stoked.

It’s going to be a great summer!

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Thank you for your amazing auditions on Sunday, May 31st. We auditioned many great actors and actresses for the roles of MAN, WIFE, and FATHER…..great work everyone!

The good news for us is we don’t have to make any selections on who we are going to be using because we are going to be using everyone. That’s right, if you auditioned and signed the release form you will be in a film that has a chance to be shown at the Cannes Film Festival. The movie that we are making is a “Making of “Doritos in the Cannes” “…… We enjoyed working with you all and think we auditioned some very talented actors/actresses.   We apologize for the deception, but we found that the best way to give the short an authentic feel…was to not tell you guys until after the audition.

Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns. We will obviously be giving everyone several professional DVDs of the final film for your reels.   We think that the end result will be something everybody can be happy with.  We are going to emphasize that the 3 guys running the auditions were idiots and all of you were unbelievable in humoring their strange acting requests. It is going to be a mockumentary comedy…and all of you will be able to add a high-quality comedy short to your reels. We have no problem with you saying you were in on it the whole time.

We can’t wait to see you in future productions. We are going to be shooting a lot of shorts this summer…so we are going to be keeping everyone’s information.  Again congratulations and thank you so much! Please keep in touch.

Sincerely,
Stephan and Zak

Here’s my problem with this… WTF?!  Okay, so you wanted it to seem “authentic?”  That’s what actors do, you don’t have to trick them into stupid situations.  It’s disrespectful to actors to pull a stunt like this.  Other than that, I don’t really care.  If it wins the contest and my face is on a Cannes film screen then that’s awesome, but if these film makers don’t ever learn how to trust and value actors they won’t go far. 

Sidebar: they liked my rap and asked me where the lyrics were from.

“I wrote them.”

“Oh. We like it.”

“Cool.”

The crummy part is that I’d love to play a part in a real mockumentary, those are some of my favorite movies.  Maybe some day.

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On Sunday I went to an audition for a short meant for a Doritos competition.  That was rough. I was asked to play both the woman and then the man (I was better as the man, all things considered) in the scene with another actress.  Then we were asked to do a few improv exercises with accents and other things.  Then they let one actress go and brought in another one for me to audition with.  Then they had me rap for them.  It was probably the most uncomfortable and stressful audition I’ve ever been in.  I couldn’t have been more relieved when they finally excused me.

On Saturday night I went to GEMS, a sneaker shop in Pioneer Square, for the CC 2010 film premiere party.  I met a few really great people at the party and after it was closed down I went along with Michael Mouncer and a couple of  his buddies.  The plan was to pick up some VIP tickets to USC from some guy who had a connection.  Simple enough, right?  Wrong.

I found myself on some epic journey, the likes of “Superbad” minus all of the hilarity and crazy characters.  From Pioneer Square to Downtown to Ballard to Belltown, and when it became clear that we were not getting the tickets someone gave me $10 for a cab back to my car.  I was home around two or so.

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Spike Lee

On Sunday I’m auditioning for a short film that’s going to be entered into a competition sponsored by Doritos, wherein the films will be judged by Spike Lee and the winner will be shown at Cannes Film Festival.  Pretty cool, huh?  I hope they get me the sides fairly soon, because the more time I have with them the better.

On Saturday I’m going to go to a premiere party for a short film that was produced by a guy I went to high school with, Michael Mouncer. “CC 2010” will be screened at SIFF on Sunday.  It’s always strange to run into people from high school for me, because I felt like such a loner back then.  I chatted with him at the Mayor’s Film & Music Happy Hour on Wednesday and he was perfectly lovely.  I look forward to checking out his film and talking with him again.

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The bummer of it is that I was ambivalent about the project before I went in for the audition (which is why I wasn’t as prepared as I usually am) and once I was there and learned a bit more about the project I realized I really liked it and wanted to get it, but by then it was too late.

The first run through was absolutely awful and disjointed and terrible.  After a bit of direction we tried one scene again and I did so much better, but I don’t think it was enough.  “Thank you for coming in.”  Okay, game over.

That just teaches me to never go in unprepared thinking I can wow them with my skills, if I don’t know the material they won’t take me seriously.  Period.  Lesson learned.

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iPhone hair

Has anyone in the history of iPhones ever gotten a dog hair stuck behind the glass of their display? I think I may be the first. I didn’t even think it was possible to do! At first I thought I had somehow scratched the ‘scratch-proof’ glass, but there was nothing on the surface of the screen. Then I realized that a dog hair had somehow found its way behind the glass. Our best guess is that it went in the ear hole and wiggled down that way, or maybe somehow through the edges of the button. I don’t know, and I don’t know what to do about it. Is ‘dog hair in display’ covered under the warranty? Oy.

Hey, I got a callback for that short film I was telling you about!  It’s called Night Stand and I have high hopes for it.  Next round of auditions will be sometime next week.

Rehearsals for the feature I’m in, Half Empty, are going to be weekend mornings in June and July.  That movie is going to be so much fun to make, I just know it.  I can’t wait until we get started.

I’ve got an audition this evening for another short, but I worry that I might sound too sick to represent myself well.  Plus the part requires some sign language and I might be too daft to learn it.  Heh.  We’ll see how I’m feeling later.

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The audition was for a short film that I think has a really interesting script. It’s funny, but in a dark kind of way–not gloomy or anything, just kind of different.  The ending was a total surprise for me and I think it could make a really great short.  The callbacks are next week and after the praise I received tonight I think I’m pretty much a shoe-in for a callback.

It’ll be interesting to see the pair ups with the different guys they’ll bring in.  I hope I can create a chemistry with whomever their male pick is.

I feel like I’ve been sort of slacking on finding and getting to auditions, but this one tonight gave me the bump I need to keep hustling at it.  I can’t wait until Half Empty starts shooting–that’s the feature I was cast in–I think it’s going to be an incredible experience.

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Anyway, on Saturday night The General and I went out to Jabu’s Pub for a silly night of fun with a bunch of friends.  I sang karaoke for the first time, so you know things got ridiculous.

On Sunday The General and I gave each other Easter surprises and we went to see Adventureland.  We had a good day.

Going by the preview, I honestly thought Adventureland would be dumb and schtick-y, but it was surprisingly good!  The casting and costumes were stellar.

The main character (Jesse Eisenburg) was fantastic.  I just looked him up on IMDB and he’s in SEVEN films in 2009, and it’s just May!  That’s ridiculous and totally awesome.  Good for him!

This week is heating up for me.  I went to a cold reading today for a job that would take place on Wednesday afternoon if I got it.  I’m also in a 3 minute short that will be filmed Wednesday through Friday.  On Saturday I’m dragging The General with me to Supercross with my brother-in-law and his kids.  On Sunday afternoon I’ll be in a college comedy trailer.  So… big week.

I’m excited to see my hustling begin to pay off with actual roles.  I can’t wait to actually act!

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