Actor Growth

I learned some very interesting tidbit just the other day when it came to casting directors here in the Vancouver area and why it seems like it is so hard to break into the scene as an actor while at the same times it’s always the same people that get the auditions all the time. Keep in mind that in many ways it can be hearsay still, but the results kind of match what I see.

Basically there was a person that came from Toronto and he was so shocked to learn that here in Vancouver casting directors actually do a pre-screen where actors would first tape themselves doing a scene so that the casting director can pre-judge them to see if they have the chops or not to come in the room. Normally one would do these types of tapings if you are located in a different city and therefore it’s like a way to save you time.

Then a point came up on how for places like Toronto and even Los Angeles the casting directors there actually see a wide range and large volume of people as they are used to it. So while here you may see like ten people auditioning for a role in other markets there could be like thirty. While I guess you can say population density could have a factor, it’s more of a mentality it seems.

Basically, I was always told that casting directors want to bring in actors that will make them look good. When you think about it the production is hiring them and the more good talent they present to like the director the better they look. At the same time, you can easily see why it’s only the same people that get seen all the time as many are afraid to bring in new talent as they want to play it safe.

I wonder why that’s the case here in Vancouver specifically though. Business sense to me is that the more people you see the more potential you have in discovering new talent. Can you imagine running like a sports team where you refuse to scout for new talent but rather just rely on the same people as the years go by? Must be disastrous if the only time you look for new talent is if say all your existing people are injured or retiring.

I guess as a positive, for here in Vancouver that can show you how once you get your break then chances are you are going to be taken care of better as if the profession is that tight knitted here that means you will get seen more.

So another thing happened yesterday where as mentioned previously the films that were created for last year’s Mighty Asian film competition was shown on cable TV, including the one I was in. You know what was really funny about this? The difference between watching something with a live audience and without can have such a contagious affect as to how you view a film.

Now generally in the theatre everyone was in some way affiliated with a short film or that the attendees knew people who were involved in it personally. As you would expect, people cheered and laughed more than usual I’d say because you tend to be more supportive. That has a trickling affect on others too. For example, if a ton of people in a room give a standing ovation everyone else feels kind of dumb if they don’t stand up too even if they didn’t like something.

So while watching every film again it just made it so much more apparent that Asian filmmakers need to take more risks into film categories that are more, dare I say, rebellious and not the norm when it comes to Asian stereotypes. Cause watching everything on TV and without the audience allowed me to view everything the same as if I was watching say a regular TV show.

It’s like you want to see the characters be super strong, you want to see the ones that are confident and can be portrayed as sexy if need be, etc. But for whatever reason most people shy away from this. Thinking about it, even for every other TV show or movie you want to have these types of characters too where you can root for them.

Although, one thing to be fair is that this competition was under a tight timeframe and it’s obvious that not everyone exactly had the budget and resources to create like a AAA title. Usually in those circumstances people opt to do a comedy too since the time and budget is so tight.

Was a very unique experience I thought seeing everything on TV. Again, technically this was my first ever TV debut where I was acting in a lead role which makes it a milestone. At the end of the show they showed a montage of the behind the scene clips which was also shown at the competition as there was a videographer visiting sets. Except for the TV show they added all these special thanks credit to it.

Interestingly enough, they showed a lot of stuff from the production I was on and they got my facial reactions for the day when all the teams submitted their films. I was kind of hyper in some of those shots. lol.

Here are some clips I recorded of the segment and I just included a small bit of the film I was in (This was actually the part that got the most reaction in the theatre):

Will this help my professional career growth in anyway? Guess only time will tell. But my main goal in entering the festival before was to try and break a stereotype that an Asian actor couldn’t play strong characters with a tough personality kind of way. I think I did do just that. In the end it was a great experience.

Special thanks to everyone that made the event possible. The people that ran the event are super supportive too and so if you are thinking of trying it I would encourage you to do so. I didn’t attend the competition this year, but maybe I will next year if a suitable project and team comes around. I’m game if there is a team that wants to try something gutsy to break stereotypes too.

If I am reading this correctly, apparently next month the short film that I acted and co-created for that Asian film marathon last year will be shown on TV. Basically, every entry from that year will be shown too.

For those that who are fairly newer to reading my blog and may have missed all of this, back in 2008 I entered this film festival competition for fun with a group of people. Essentially, the festival’s goal is to promote up and coming Asian talent. Basically, I was interested in doing the acting mainly and another person was inspiring to be a director. Long story short, it was such a chaos as the person didn’t follow through and was so disorganized. Did not want to create story boards, no rehearsal with the actors, etc.

Eventually, he dropped out and took his crew with him near the very last minute. Yet, in a struck of fate, and I mean in almost like a movie type of fashion, all these people started to come out of nowhere that were able to offer support which resulted in us being able to finish the film. If you are interested in reading it, I started blogging about it in about September 2008.

I still remember that time having to be the lead actor while being involved with the writing, directing, casting and editing all at the same time. Thinking back again, it was just amazing that we were able to even finish the whole thing with a one day shoot too. While the film wasn’t exactly like a triple A title due to all the setbacks, it was a really great experience and I met a lot of great people.

One interesting note, I actually had a hard decision to make creatively. Basically, one of the difficulties in editing the film was that the camera guy accidentally taped over footages as we shot the film. Basically, he re-winded the footage to preview it and as we taped the next scene he taped over the previous footage. Therefore, in the final cut there were some very messed up moments such as me running away except there was supposed to be two other people chasing me. Basically, the only footage that was left was a pre-test clip of me running through the area alone.

The thing is I could have decided to simply just cut the entire scene out of the movie. However, that meant cutting out the actors that volunteered their time to work on the film too. I know as an actor personally I wouldn’t have been too happy about that and so I opted to try and make it work. Of course, in a professional setting the decision to axe certain scenes to make sense of the movie as a whole probably would be the priority.

As for reactions for people that see it on TV the first time, I think it is going to be just like the theatre reactions. Basically, people that have no idea what we went through to make this film will probably be very critical of it. People that do know will tend to appreciate more.

Example, it’s like watching a film in one of those 24 hour competitions vs one’s that had like a whole month. I remember even one guy told me he was shocked to learn that we shot the whole thing in one day and that changed his whole perspective of the film. Kind of funny how that can factor in to people’s views about movies when you think about it huh?

I remembered that we did get the loudest roar in the theatre out of all the films for one particular scene. Let’s just say, my character had some colorful words to say about the antagonist. lol. Interesting experience overall. You know, when I think about it I think this film will give me a first of many things in my acting career funny enough. Basically, it was the first time I saw myself in a movie theatre screen for a film. With this, it’s the first time I will have appeared on TV as a lead role.

Today I got to work on the show V and it was an early call as my start time was about 6:30am and lasted till about 7pm. It was just simple background work. I actually haven’t had to work a 12 hour day in awhile too. There were quite a few people called to work and I must say there were so many tall women. Guess it is somehow related to the theme of the show.

While on set I actually heard someone who was scolding his agent to others which was kind of interesting. He just mentioned the location that the agency was located in and that it was a male. With just that, I knew exactly which agency he was referring to and sure enough that was the case. Kind of shows you how it can work the other way around for actors too where an agent’s bad reputation can get around fast within the acting community.

I was supposed to work on Stargate tomorrow too but apparently things got changed around. I was joking with a friend on set too as maybe this gives me time to see something potentially funny on Smallville. By the looks of it, for sure you can see me in tomorrow’s episode. I am just wondering about the continuity as I think they used me a bit too much that day where you see me here and then there type of deal. Considering I am one of the few minorities too that doesn’t exactly help the situation. Interested in seeing how they do the editing.

Looks like for whatever reason the scheduling on this show is getting jumpy. I never seen the call times get changed so many times too. The shoot even went past 12 hours which is supposed to be extremely rare for this production. It’s almost like they are in a crunch time mentality. Apparently the schedule changes were a result of having to follow some kind of SAG union guideline when it came to a particular talent that was being brought up from the states or something like that.

I believe that the episodes that are being shot this month are the season finale. To my knowledge at the end of this month it is supposed to be a wrap for the first season of shooting. Was definitely an interesting day yesterday as there were so many people with weapons. They were all fake of course. It looks like the next few weeks a few of us are needed for continuity reasons and so we have to keep our schedules flexible in anticipation that we will need to shoot for a couple of days in a row on this show.

I wonder if that will conflict with the feature film I was acting in. Guess everything is up in the air in terms of scheduling as even with that production they seem to be rescheduling everything and I’m not sure when I will be needed for that. Next week was originally the date that I would do the bulk of my dialogue for that film. Just going with the flow at this point in time.

What a cool surprise this was. While working on Human Target today I thought that one of the actors looked eerily familiar. Similarly, he saw me and was giving me that look as if we knew each other somehow. Funny enough, it was one of the acting coaches at the audition workshop that I take every week. lol.

I didn’t recognize him immediately at first as he wasn’t wearing his glasses and the makeup made him look lighter than normal. It was kind of cool as he was telling me how he got the part and all during the break which was interesting to learn. Specifically, in this case the person casting for the series seemed to have seen him before a long time ago and for whatever reason was not impressed.

That was awhile ago and of course he has worked on a lot of other film and TV roles since then. He then told me that his agent was pushing for him to get seen which ultimately resulted in him getting seen for an audition again for that casting director. As it turns out, he got a role out of it.

Guess that shows you how the important an agent can be and signing up with one that doesn’t just submit you for projects but rather goes the extra mile to really push you can make a huge difference. Another thing that was interesting was that he said one of the students in the class was actually auditioning for the same part as him too. That must feel really weird if I ever had to do that. Then again, none of the coaches are Asian so I doubt we would ever be auditioning for the same parts.