last weekend at the beach

I've had a few cool things happen this week and I have a few minutes, so here we go.

Work's been really interesting because I have been given a few opportunities to write, act and co-produce a few video spots-- comedy sketches, really-- that have been used for a variety of purposes. The few I did over the summer were used internally to help some sales groups (they were pretty funny but were really specific to the business...still, they were well received in context) and they went over pretty well. Over the past few weeks I have been working on some other spots that are going to be in broader circulation--you'll see them next month--and I have to say, it's been a lot of fun, this whole writing thing.

The thing about writing screenplays is that it's basically all about the dialogue and I really, really like writing dialogue. I just love writing how people talk. I think this mostly comes from reading scripts by David Mamet and, more recently, Wes Anderson (who writes a more formalized, more stylized way of speaking, to be sure, totally, but still, it's great dialogue). While I have the normal struggles with figuring out plot and arranging scenes in a way that keeps the audience engaged, the dialogue comes pretty easy. Half sentences, self-interruptions, stammers...bring it!

Anyway, this week we did some filming of a few of the new scripts I wrote (four, to be exact) and we brought in two other actors, and filmed them as if we were on location on the real shoot day. I gotta say, it was a really cool experience to watch them do the scenes--it was really, really rewarding, in this different way. Not in a "wow, my words are so great" but in this weird, like "hey, you're helping create something" kind of way. It was just really fun and I came home feeling pretty jazzed (and relieved) that the actors were able to do the scene without fighting the lines, you know? Although I still have quite a few pages left on my current screenplay, but this was a good sign--it encouraged me to keep working on it.

I also had a really, really good audition for an upcoming TV show this week. It was a pre-read (that's the one where you go to the casting director and do the audition and then, if s/he likes you and thinks you are good for the part, sends you to the producers to see what they think of you), but, again, if it goes well, the casting director will keep your stuff around for the other projects they are casting. This is the second time this has happened, and I think it's because the scripts I am getting are actual scenes, where I can work on a full arc within the scene, specific beginning, middle and end, you know? I worked on this one with my (amazing) coach and, like last time, the audition went exactly as we had worked on.

And, now, of course, we struggle against the hardest aspect of acting: you can nail it, you can do it as well as you possibly can, both from a technical perspective and an...honesty? perspective (ie, you're making it up, but it's completely grounded in something real within yourself that relates t the character's personality or the situation), and it doesn't necessarily mean that you are going to get anywhere near getting the job. All the other funky applies--how you look, what the other character looks like, your build, your experience, favors people might owe to other actors, etc etc. But still, all you can do--and I think we've said this before--all you can do, whatever you do, is your best. And if you become this person that always delivers their best, eventually the world will sync up with your hopes.

HA!

Just while I was writing this, I got an email back from my manager--apparently the casting director thought I was good and if another role on the same episode opens up, they are going to call me in for that. I wasn't misanthropic enough--one who dislikes other people--which I really did try to do, but...well, there you go. Almost a compliment, in a way? My manager just noted that "a good performance is all that we can hope for"--I'm mean, in my soul, I am not misanthropic. I can act it, yes, and I've played similar characters on stage, but when casting for film and TV, you can't "trust" the actor as easily when you know you can find people who are more naturally a certain way in their beings. This is good, folks, I am really happy.


Regardless, we move forward...

Other stuff. Wedding to DJ at the end of the month, trying to figure out what to do for Whit's birthday, seeing Pineapple Express tonight with Gary, gong to a BBQ tomorrow, going to a birthday party tomorrow night, totally screwed up my hip after running 3.5 miles the other day (to see if I could and I could but wow, the next day I was all kinds of sore)...

have a good weekend!

Posing with the iFanboy "Who Needs a" Booth Babes

Wow! Long time no talk. I actually had a bit of a panic--I lost the website on my local drive, so when I was at home longing to update the site, I couldn't until I got back to work and got my backup. Still have no idea what happened, but it's all back, so that's good.

The past few weeks have been a blur. I went to Comic-Con (check the iFanboy story here) and that was pretty great (photos here). I ended up having a pretty fantastic last day of the con, where I was able to get lunch with James Sime (the man behind Isotope), his gal Kirsten Baldock (author of Smoke and Guns) and Darwyn Cooke (one of the best creators working today, in my opinion), which was a lot of fun. It's weird, you know? Like, the whole comic book thing. For awhile, it was just my own thing, and was basically a curiosity for my friends--like, I really didn't talk about them that much, but I just kept reading them and all was good. Over the past few years, I have inadvertently gotten more and more involved in the comic book community, which has been a lot of fun. I mean, I remember driving to San Diego three years ago with Whitney listening to the iFanboy podcast and Whitney kept saying how I should be on the podcast since I kept talking back to the guys and explaining what they were talking about to her. Flash forward to the present and I already have one show under my belt in addition to the column! Funny how things work out that way. Whit and I were also mentioned in Whitney Matheson's PopCandy column, too, which was fun.

But back to the lunch with the gang. Yes, it was fun having lunch with someone whose work I admire like crazy (I think I have all of his recent books), but it was also just really interesting to learn more about and more about the industry and the personality types and the challenges you meet when making a living making funny books. It's a completely different world, and it was fun to hear Darwyn's battle stories.

Then, that night, completely out of the blue, Whit and I joined Kirsten, James and Jon to have dinner with Grant Morrison and his lovely girl Kristan. Like, if you are a comic book fan, you know how cool this is, to be able to write about having dinner with Darwyn and then have dinner with Grant. Like Darwyn, Grant is a major creative force in the industry--he's rewriting the DC Universe right now in Final Crisis--and we had a great discussion that went from astronomy to philosophy to mythology and back again. It was a fantastic night and capped off a truly fantastic show. I must say, I am happily surprised that Whit and I have gotten more on the "inside" of the comics scene---getting a chance to talk about stories and art have inspired both of us to keep on being creative. I mean, Whit took Grant and Kristan around JPL the other day. How cool is that?

I will probably write about this in my column next week, but these conversations and others have really shown me that comics are a great way to tell timely stories (you can write, draw and publish a comic faster that it takes to write a novel or produce a film, with fewer people getting in your way) that go beyond regular prose but stop short of a movie. Comics are a great way to tell stories that can incorporate the concepts that one might be more used to reading about in regular books but with the imagery, design and spectacle one might see in movies or TV. I'll go off on this next week.

In other news, summer continues and things are definitely picking back up with the acting life. I have been on a lot of auditions and callbacks but the big news was that I was called straight into producers for a show last week. In the June 25 entry, I talked about an audition I had that went really, really well but was disappointed to hear nothing back about it at all. I admit, it sent me into a small tailspin--really small, but my tail spun just a little bit--because again, I knew I had nailed something, I knew I had absolutely rocked the audition, but nothing came out of it. Well, I did get something out of it--another audition. Basically, I guess I had made an impact on the casting director, so when she had a role that she thought I would be go for, she skipped the pre-read (where I audition for her, she tapes it and then sends the tape to the producers who then decide whether or not to bring me in) and brought me in with her to audition for the producers and writers in their production office and studio. It was a tiny role, but the audition went well, and even though I didn't get the part, at least I did well, which makes her look good, makes my manager look good, and everyone's happy. It's been said that you only need 5-6 casting directors on your side to get a career going, so hopefully's she's gonna be part of TeamRomo™.

Other items:
- Matt, Pepe, Jonathan, and Eugene were here for a few days after their crazy BroTrip™. It was great to see them all, especially Pepe, who spends his time in Berlin, so I rarely, if ever, see him.

- Zak, Megan, and Kendra are up in San Francisco this week and I am really frustrated that I can't come up to see them. I mean, I could, but it would probably only be for awhile and I am planning on getting out to New York in September or October anyway, so I will check them out then.

- Work is going really well. I am actually spending part of my time writing scripts for a few projects that you may see on a computer screen near you; I will keep you posted. It's quite cool to get a chance to use my background in acting and writing in my day life, it's a very nice perk. We have a LOT of stuff I am working on, which is both exciting and intimidating. Busy...

Okay, time to go. Happy Day.

Tags: comics, comic-con, san diego