Things You Learn When You Leave The Bubble

I am writing this update far from Hollywood. It's the holidays so we are visiting family in Arkansas. It's good to be here for a few reasons:

*Visiting family is always a good thing.

and

*Sometimes you have to get out of the bubble of show business to realize that not everyone is constantly thinking about Hollywood.

I've lived in many different cities and almost all of the stores and restaurants shut down on Christmas Eve. I was alone on Christmas Eve (as Dana and Zach had already left town) but I wasn't bored by any stretch of the imagination. A good 70% of the bars and restaurants by my home were open so I had plenty of food options. There were still Christmas Eve services and folks singing Christmas carols but it seemed like any other day in Los Angeles.

As I mentioned in an earlier blog entry (right here), a good portion of the conversations in Los Angeles revolve around show business in some form or fashion. I was at LAX flying out for Christmas vacation and heard conversations about DVR ratings, weekend box office numbers and pilot casting possibilities. About 60% of the passengers on the plane were wearing some sort of "Hollywood gear". I spotted production crew jackets, free t-shirts from movie screenings, baseball caps from TV shows and even a headshot or two being passed around while waiting for our flight.

I flew from Los Angeles to Dallas where I was greeted by Southern accents, SEC and Cowboys jackets and people discussing college bowl games and Jesus. I had a layover that left me enough time for lunch. I was reading the latest copy of "The Hollywood Reporter" when I noticed two people pointing at me. I couldn't hear their entire conversation but I did make out the words "movies" and "producer". 

Once I landed in Memphis, Dana picked me up and we headed to see her parents in Arkansas. It was late in the day and the lack of crops and green fields made the scenery rather bleak on the drive. The bleakness didn't grab my attention as much as the sky above as we drove past the small towns. It's almost impossible to get a good view of the sky in Los Angeles. There's always a hazy layer of smog that blocks the view. You have to get out of the city to really see the stars. We went to Big Bear in August and enjoyed the night sky. After four months of not having a good view at night, I was amazed at how bright the stars seemed and how easy they were to view. It's a fact that escapes your mind when you are used to not seeing the stars clearly on a daily basis.

We arrived to find a sick teen actor on the couch. He must have caught some sort of bug on the airplane because he was throwing up and running a high fever. Remember what I wrote above about Christmas Eve seeming like any other day? This did not hold true in small town Arkansas. It took me 4 or 5 attempts to find a Walgreens that was open on Christmas night. They were only open until 8pm and it was 15 miles away from us. Dana and I jumped into a vehicle and raced to the store to get Zach some medicine. The very nice lady working that night asked what we were looking for in the medicine aisle. We explained that we had just flown in from Los Angeles and that the kid might have caught something on the plane. We didn't mention the Los Angeles thing to brag as much as it was a simple part of the story to explain how he fell ill. I was in another aisle when a fellow customer came up to me and asked if I knew Tom Cruise or Bruce Willis. I told him I hadn't seen the guys for a few weeks but I would catch up with them in 2016. I sometimes forget that people who don't live in Los Angeles think that everyone knows each other (including super famous actors).

The bubble of show business is all around you in Hollywood. It becomes such an everyday part of life that it seems odd to be around people who aren't worried about their next audition or if their lines will be cut out of the final shooting script or how to get a script seen by the right people at a studio. I'm not saying if one viewpoint is more valid than the other one. I do know that it's good to get out of the show business bubble every now and then. It recharges your batteries, puts everything in perspective and helps you focus on what goals you want to achieve when you step back inside the bubble of Hollywood.

This Teen Actor Is Feeling A Little Bit Better Today.

One More Casting Notice Roundup For 2015

Happy holidays!

While the production end of the entertainment industry is shut down until the start of January, there are still plenty of casting calls for roles in projects that film in 2016.  Let's take a look at some of the more interesting projects that have made their way to my mailbox in the past two or three weeks.

*Beautiful, seductive and beguiling 25-44 female wanted to play mental ward patient in a calypso music video.

*Looking for four attractive women of Korean or Latin ethnicity to bicycle through New Year's Eve parties for a grassroots web series shoot.

*Sexually unsatisfied 50+ Middle Eastern Male or Female for supporting role in college road trip feature film.

*Protective, overbearing and creepy Russian male 35-62 for supporting role as father or grandfather in an ongoing web series.

*Four trained dogs (any breed) to star in a parody of the CW lineup of shows. Must have expressive eyes.

*Seeking 18+ athletic females willing to compete in the filming of a chicken chase contest while topless.

*Distinguished and regal appearing men (two men ages 45-58) willing to have their white suits covered with peanut butter fired from toy guns.

*Looking for 25-30 Caucasian male with the looks of Han Solo and the courage of Barney Fife. Must be open to being dunked repeatedly in milk.

*Corporate looking 30-45 Latin woman who is also an expert at Twister for a corporate training video. Must be willing to display Twister talents at the audition.

*In need of 25-30 African American male with own Easter Bunny outfit for short film where you fight Santa Claus while wearing the bunny suit.

Do any of these roles sound like a fit for you or someone you know? If so, think about your life choices and then get ready because you might become a star!

This actor is looking forward to more acting challenges in 2016.

My 200th Anniversary Blogpost Blowout Extravaganza

It's hard to believe this is my 200th update from Hollywood. To mark the milestone, I'd like to share some things I've learned about the acting business and Hollywood since I've started this blog:

• Every actor I've met since moving here is a "working actor". Everyone is not an actor that gets paid to act but they all claim to be working actors.
• Almost every restaurant is a museum of headshots collected over the lifetime of the restaurant. Depending on the age of the establishment, there can be headshots dating back to the 70s and earlier.
• While the city of Los Angeles doesn't solely revolve around the entertainment industry, it is the main topic of conversation on a daily basis.
• Did you miss the awesome car chase that happened last night? Don't worry. There will be another one later this week. Los Angeles has more police chases that go on for hours than any other city I know.
• You can't go more than 2 days without stumbling across a production crew filming in a neighborhood. It's very commonplace to see a group of production assistants running up and down the street keeping everything running smoothly for the rest of the crew.
• Spending Friday nights at Nick on Sunset watching my kid film a Nickelodeon television show is not how I imagined my Friday nights on the Sunset Strip when I was in my 20s.
• Traffic is hardly ever in your favor and never easy to predict. I've been in my truck for 3 hours attempting to drive 6 miles to an audition while also making it from my home to LAX (17 miles) in 20 minutes (which should never happen!).
• The best celebrity sightings are at the grocery store. Zach bumped into Kanye West once at a Ralphs (and I mean he really bumped into him) but didn't get yelled at by Kanye since Zach was only around 13-years-old at the time. I like to think that Kanye wouldn't yell at kids.
• You never know when you will run across a celebrity or a "celebrity" in town. The most random celebrity sightings I've had include Charles Fleischer (voice of Roger Rabbit), Jack Box (mascot of Jack In The Box), Toby Keith greeting my dog at a 7-Eleven and Sandra Bullock at a farmers market.
• People in Beverly Hills tend to give you an odd look when you want to valet park a large red pickup at a restaurant.
• Almost everyone who moves to Los Angeles never accepts the fact that they are Los Angeles residents. They could live here one year or 20 years and they will still tell you that they are from (insert name of their hometown). I understand having pride in where you come from but they never seem to accept the fact that they live in California.
• People that you don't even realize are actors will randomly appear on your television screen. Places that you dine at will suddenly be the setting for an important scene on a TV show. We once spotted our apartment building manager as a bartender at one of our favorite restaurants (that doesn't have a bar) on a FOX sitcom and then he was on TV the next night being questioned in a murder investigation on ABC.

Thanks for following Zach's adventures as well as my blog for the last 200 posts. Pilot season starts in early 2016 so a new round of actors moving to Hollywood is about to begin. I'll be bringing you behind the scenes stories as well as plenty of other Hollywood tales and adventures in the coming year.

Check out the new photos of this actor on IMDb.

What Exactly Does A Script Reader Do?

I recently had an interesting conversation with a script reader. I should say I recently had a conversation with a professional script reader. I've read many scripts in my day but I've never been paid to read scripts professionally. I enjoyed the chat with Phil (the script reader) because he was able to answer some questions I've always had about the job.

A script reader can be thought of as a person who is the first line of defense when it comes to judging a screenplay. The script reader can be employed by a variety of people including agents, producers and studio executives. They read scripts that have been submitted and make a recommendation on whether or not the script should be forwarded to the higher-ups at a company. While it might sound silly that the opinion of one person can determine the fate of a script, it is true that the script reader has that kind of power. While the script reader doesn't always have the final say on the matter, their opinion does factor greatly in the final decision.

Once an agent or an executive receives a script from a manager or client, they pass it on to the reader. The script reader will review the script and then give their thoughts on the script in the form of "coverage".  Coverage is a summary of what the script reader thought about the screenplay. The coverage sometimes includes a one or two page synopsis that is easy to understand when it comes to summarizing the script. I bring this up to remind you to make your spec script easy to understand. Your script can't be easily explained if it's not simple enough for the script reader to understand it.

The coverage of the script generally covers a number of topics including:

• Is the overall premise of the script interesting, engaging and believable?
• Is the story interesting enough to hold the attention of an audience?
• Will audiences like the main characters and want to follow their journey?  
• Is the script well constructed or will it need a good amount of work and revisions?
• Do the actions of the characters make sense throughout the script?
• How is the dialogue? Is it natural or rather clumsy?
• Do the strong parts of the script outweigh the weaker aspects of the overall presentation?
• What would be the overall budget for filming the script?
• Is the overall presentation and content of the script excellent, good, fair or poor?

Once these questions (and a multitude of others) are answered, the final decision comes down to three possible choices. The choices are often phrased different ways by different readers but they include:

1. Pass - This means the reader feels there are enough problems with the script that the agent, executive or production company should pass on the script.
2. Consider - The script is not perfect but it does show enough promise to be considered as a possible production. The "consider" also includes the idea that it will take some time and effort to get the script into good enough shape to be made into a movie.
3. Recommend - The script and its parts are in good enough shape that it should be moved forward in the process. The "recommend" decision means that a good amount of manpower and resources will be needed moving forward so "recommend" is not given as often as "pass" and "consider".

The next time you do (or don't) like a movie and are curious how the decision was made to move forward with the script, just remember the dedicated script readers who are the first to review and make a judgement about a screenplay.

This actor is toying with the idea of writing a script.  

How To Get An Agent In Hollywood

While being an actor is a fun way to make a living, it is also a business. As such, an actor needs help getting his or her name out to casting directors in order to book jobs. Having an agent is not the only way to get auditions but it is one of the easier methods. An agent is someone who represents you to casting directors involved in making movies and television shows. An agent also makes getting your foot in the door to audition for a part much easier.

I'm often asked how Zach landed his commercial and theatrical agents. There is not a single definitive answer of how to land an agent but there are some common steps you can do to try and get an agent in Hollywood.

The first step in the hunt for an agent happens before you start the hunt for an agent. Agents are not looking for new and inexperienced talent. They want performers who have already established a name or a brand.  Having a track record of some success shows the agent that you are somebody they can submit to casting directors and market around town.

What does this mean for you? It means you need to attend open auditions, casting calls and open mic nights. Practice and perform and get your name out in public. The more you audition and perform, the more people begin to know your name. Build a buzz about yourself to help catch the attention of an agent. It also helps to network with others in the same situation because you never know when a good word from another actor will help you in the future.

Another useful step in landing an agent is being active on social media. Social media allows you to build a rapport with others and form relationships that might turn into a face to face meeting at some point in the future. It is important to use caution and common sense when interacting with agents on social media. There is a fine line between being friendly online and coming across as pushy and desperate in your interactions. Take part in existing conversations and add something of substance to the topic being discussed. Don't push yourself or your agenda because you might look like a stalker.

Another way to get the attention of agents is to meet them in person. There are a variety of agent workshops available for you to attend. Do your research and make sure the agent is right for what you are trying to accomplish in your career. In other words, don't blindly pick a workshop to attend because you might discover the agent only handles a youth division or is a commercial agent when you're trying to get a theatrical agent.

Once you've established a relationship with an agent (and waited an appropriate amount of time so you don't come off as a stalker), it's time for you to send them a packet of your materials. Make sure the packet includes your most recent headshot, your acting resume, links to all of your social media accounts and a cover letter telling the agent what you bring to the table. Most agents already have clients that pay the bills. Why do they need to take a chance on you? What makes you the best choice over all of the others in Hollywood trying to join their talent roster? Don't write the cover letter in 5 minutes or less. Take a day or two to gather your thoughts and express what you can do for the agent and not what you expect the agent to do for you.

If you get the chance to interview with the agent in person, don't be late to the meeting! I've mentioned many times how being late to an audition or a call time is not acceptable. The same thing applies to meeting an agent. Don't make a bad first impression and come off as unreliable. Dress professionally while still maintaining a personal sense of style. The first impression you make is "the type" that the agent will view you as and will dominate the roles he submits you for in the future. Bring your headshot and resume just in case the agent doesn't have the materials handy at the moment. Finally, have an audition piece ready to go just in case you are requested to perform a scene.

Be prepared to listen while also having a set of questions ready to ask when it's your turn to speak. Some questions that are acceptable to ask include:

• How many clients does the agency currently have? 
• What "type" of roles do you see me playing? 
• Will you represent me directly or will one of your assistants?
• What do you expect of your clients?
• How many clients do you currently have that are my "type"?

I hope the steps and suggestions listed above aid you in your quest to land an agent. It's not easy but the payoff is worth it once you have someone actively pitching you to casting directors.

This Actor Has Two Agents That Keep Him On The Go With Auditions.