Actor Growth

I got a text message late last night for an audition for a TV show that I had auditioned for in the past. I never got the part but I happened to know some people that were working in those episodes. So to my surprise it was kind of interesting to see them at the audition still as you would think continuity wise for the show it’s weird seeing the same actor in different episodes trying to portray different people.

The audition was pretty quick overall as there were about two lines to read. All in all, I think it’s one of those either you have the look that the director is looking for or you don’t type of thing.

Well something interesting happened today. While I was on set and getting ready around the wardrobe department one of the main actress of the tv series went up to me and asked if I attended a particular high school. Indeed I said yes and she reacted by saying she knew that she recognized me from somewhere. That was so funny I thought because it was bugging me too where I thought I recognized her from school before but figured “it can’t be that person can it?” type of deal. Turns out it is indeed the same person.

That got me curious tonight to just research what she has accomplished and such. It seems like she made it pretty big too with a ton of credits under her belt. It was kind of weird when doing the research too as evidently she is a performer that a gazillion guys go gaga over and reading all those fantasy comments is just weird when it comes to people you know. lol.

This would usually be a good opportunity to learn and share experiences on what others have done and the roads they have taken to get to where they are at. However, she wasn’t exactly in the same grade as I was and all so I never really spoke to her before. So, I thought it would be a little inappropriate to ask too much in regards to acting career stuff. It’s just one of those moments where you just have to solve it or it will bug you forever. So, basically for the most part the day was just treated as a regular work day with surprises.

I guess she is technically the most successful actress that I know in one of those “before they were famous” type of deals. What a funny way that it was discovered though.

I went to the audition today and my first reaction was how I was wondering if I was even in the right room. Reason for this was because the room was full of Caucasian people who were in their 40’s and usually when I am called it is usually with a room full of Asians or people within my age range.

The scary thing was as you know I never got the sides for this. Even at the audition there was none available. Fortunately as time went on I did see another Asian pop in. It was cool as I actually met this person once while auditing an actors workshop and so we recognized each other. Sure enough, he was reading for the same role.

I immediately asked him if he received sides for this as I never got one. He mentioned he did and immediately gave me the sides that he wrote on paper to review. He then talked with me a bit about the scene so that I would hopefully have a grasp as to what was going on. That was so awesome I thought to see an actor willing to help another in this kind of situation as stereotypically you would think everyone would want to sabotage you for their own gain.

Thanks to his help I went in the audition room and everything was pretty straight forward. I was surprised at how little people they brought in for this particular character as it looked like there were only three of us. As usual, there is nothing you can do now so you just have to wait for the next audition and such as you let the production decide on who they want to go with.

Okay, I must be over-complicating this or something as the first time I chose a photographer I simply went with the one that the people in the acting community kept saying was a good one. It was very expensive but it turned out great.

Since these are supplemental looks that I would be going for having to look through every photographers portfolio seems to be a little cumbersome. One way that has semi helped the process is by simply going to a photo reproduction site where it seems like all of the photographers have their work on it. So you can scan through every image to see which style clicks for you as oppose to visiting each person’s site individually. Search continues.

So yesterday I was watching the season premiere of 24 as it is one of my favorite shows. Afterwards, I decided to read about other people’s comments and what they thought about the show. One comment stuck out in my head so much. Basically, the person was complaining that there wasn’t enough “Eye Candy” in the show thus far. Basically, not enough people prepped up in a hot and good looking kind of way.

Why did this make me think so much? Because of the whole plan to make a web series as technically I would need to put a producer hat on too. For myself as the actor of course I would say that it should be all about the story telling and execution. Basically, good scripts with a good cast while presenting it in a compelling manner. But at the same time I have to remember that our job is to entertain, for a lack of a better word, and that people need to care about it.

In many ways I think the viewers look at the characters that we portray as a kind of fantasy and so they want to see these people with above average looks and skills. I guess it is just like watching a sport as you want to see people that are say faster or stronger than you perform extraordinary things.

In those cases too, granted there are many times where people want to see the “ordinary” guy. Same thing with movies. But at the same time I would say the majority would want to see the above average in one form or another. So that got me thinking about how things like the costume and makeup would work for an extremely budgeted web series.

Okay, so with that in mind maybe it’s good to have a healthy mix of male and females in the cast as I’m sure that way the group will be able to cover a lot of ground when it comes to knowing what people find “attractive” and such.

For my personal web series idea I think it caters to an Internet savvy crowd. They say you write what you know and with this idea I think it will be a blast with the things I have seen over the years.

At the same time, I’m wondering if targeting an Internet crowd would mean the standards are different when it comes to looks and all. I definitely wouldn’t want to compromise the creative to the point where I wouldn’t believe in the product anymore. Basically, in a “selling out kind of way.

I guess this whole “eye candy” thing is something I will have to keep in mind though.

I was working on a TV show today and while talking to other people it sounded like so many people were contemplating about creating a web series of some sort. Interestingly enough, over the weekend I learned that some of my acting coaches were interested in it as well.

Guess more and more people are taking the creating your own future route. I was trying to think of an idea and I think I thought of something that would be right up my alley. I think I need a female actress to partner up with that has the right background though as that would create the perfect dynamic for the theme.