Apparently, I Have the Right to Remain Silent....

HELLO! (*hello*...... *hello*........ *hello*)

Sorry, that opening photo looks like it would generate an echo if I shouted loudly enough...

Greetings all! It is I, Dave the Goof, with another blast of hot blogging air... and it's been building for a week... so lean back a bit further from your monitor... I don't want to mess up your hair...

SOOOO I just got back from my first official paying gig as a "professional actor" (if you'll pardon how elitist that sounds), and I enjoyed it so much, there might be laws against such things... Honestly, being my first experience on a real "set", with a few dozen people I didn't know, camera-folk, light and sound guys, various make-up people and crew, and the other actors, etc., I wasn't sure if I'd freak out at all or what... but I was so at home, it surprised me. It's like I was home or something... I know that sounds corny, but it really resonated with me.

At the risk of boring you, I'll give a little play-by-play. I was in the driver's seat of a sedan, parked in an industrial park, behind a building. In the passenger seat was an actress portraying an under-aged "lady of the evening" that my character had just picked up. A police cruiser pulls around the corner, spots our car, and decides to investigate. They pull near my car, flood lights on, light-bar twirling. They approach the car, I do my "deer in a headlight" nervous routine, trying to explain away what we were doing there. They get me out of the car, and I walk back toward the police cruiser with one of the cops, we have more dialog. In the mean while, the other policeman is questioning the female, who is still in the car. The policemen compare stories and notes and decide to arrest me. I get cuffed and put into the police car.

I don't know how that sounds to you, but it was so much fun, it's impossible to explain. We had a script, but we improvised a lot of stuff. The two cops were actual policemen, too, not actors. But everyone was so comfortable and natural, we got through all the scenes in 2 to 3 takes each, and ended up finishing 90 minutes early. They were even able to get some extra filler shots and transition shots.

Picture a back area with monitors set up, and about twenty chairs, with all manner of crew and consultants, etc, wearing headphones, all listening to the dialog (since the actors were all miked) and watching it all unfold, sharing jokes and comments about everything. They can hear everything we say, even between takes... that meant I always had an audience to entertain! So I was making lots of funny comments to keep people entertained between takes. Hello captive audience! Got a lot of great feedback from everyone. The police-woman I acted my scenes with said I played a perfect "nervous/creepy" perp type. She said I'm just the type of guy that she runs into in those same situations, in "real life". Apparently I nailed the fidgety creep character! Not sure if I should put that on the ol' resume..

So, yeah, great crew, no nerves whatsoever, lines + improv, great cast, finished early, and I got some $$$ coming for my trouble. Talk about a dream job...

The only drawback is that I won't be able to get a copy of the finished product, either to post here or to add to a demo "reel"... sorry, it has to stay in house (meaning, property of the police department). But they did say I could stop by the studio and watch it once it's done. I'll do that for sure.

I've found my calling.

This is me, typing this post...

So what else? I film this weekend. Sunday afternoon/evening, I get to play a man in pajamas, who has been woken up in the middle of the night by two hitmen in his bedroom, discussing how -- and if -- to kill me. I get to portray someone terrified... my acting coach says laughter and tears are easy.... genuine fear is difficult. Challenge accepted!

I think if I keep this video in mind, I should get the fear aspect down fine...



Sorry, I shouldn't have sprung that video on you like that. That's some real life terror right there... can you imagine that? Having your house shredded by a tornado right over you? Coming out and seeing your neighborhood in shambles?

Um... wow...

Well, that was a heavy segue...

Let's see, let's get things upbeat again... Here are a few of my favorite photos from my extensive archive...

There, that should have perked things up a bit again...

Still reading The Darwin Elevator, which is a good read. Ah, I picked up a copy of The Red Knight by Miles Cameron today on sale at Amazon for a cool $2.99... I'll read that one next. That's at the suggestion of my friend Rebecca...

Been watching tons of movies and documentaries lately as well... but nothing really worth mentioning... sorry.

Well, that, and I'm quite tired at the moment. I think I'm going to end this post here and go the heck to sleep.

Hope you enjoyed reading the re-cap of tonight's shoot. Why do I hope that? Well, there will be more where that came from in the next couple months, lol...

Adios for now,

Dave the Found