It's a Wrap!

The adventure has come to an end…for now. I’m calling it a week early. There’s nothing in the pipeline, and I haven’t heard anything from recent submissions. I think it’s safe to say that I’ve been passed over for the recent online submissions…which is standard with the hundreds and hundreds of submissions that they receive. It’s a WIN just to get an email inviting for an in-person audition, or to submit a video audition. So, I’m going to home and have a little more summer time with my wife/kids before heading out of state for a wedding right before returning to school.

The final tally was two physical auditions…and booked two jobs: one short film (“Donut Planet”); and The General Insurance commercial. I had three video audition submissions (one of which was the precursor to the live audition for The General). I had two audition submissions for audio voiceovers, and I never heard back about any of them, but they were fun to record and submit.  Finally, I had two job offers that I turned down…a feature film and a Funny or Die video. They both fell on the days that I was already busy. I don’t think they really wanted me, but I think they got in a pinch (someone probably dropped out at the last minute) because they called me the night before each of the shoots. They would’ve been great experiences. So…in essence, I book four jobs (though I only accepted two of them).

I’m very proud of what I was able to accomplish in such a short time. It makes you start to wonder what could be if I did this full time. I thought I was so lucky to get these jobs, and I had a new friend out here tell me that I’m not lucky for getting the jobs. He said that I was lucky to get the audition and not get passed over from my online submission amongst the hundreds of other submissions…but I had to “get” the jobs. I had to assert myself ahead of the line amongst the other hopeful actors…and I did that…a few times. So, he very adamantly told me not to say I was lucky anymore for getting two paying gigs.  I’ve learned my lesson.

I am forever grateful to the friends, and friends of friends, that went out of their way to make time for me…whether that was giving me a place to stay for a night or two, or meeting me for a meal where I could pick their brains about the industry.  Thank you to Collin for everything that you’ve done, Jillian/Kayla/Simon for taking several hours of your time to hang with a complete stranger, Alandra/Jose/Christie/Brandon for letting me crash in your place for a handful of nights throughout the summer, Joe/Joel/Ben for hooking me up with people out here …and more importantly VOUCHING for me, and Rod/Tad for having a meal with me and catching up. I truly hope to help people out in the future when I have the opportunity like you all have done for me. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Going forward, I am returning to the classroom in a couple of weeks, and my friend Collin has a connection with a casting individual in Chicago, so I hope to continue exploring this world when I come home…maybe weekends, or taking a personal day here-or-there to hit an audition. I don’t know. We’ll see. Detroit is blowing up film-wise recently (Robocop, Transformers 4, and even Superman vs. Batman, etc.), so that’s another option too for the Midwest.

Thank you for all of the support in reading and sharing in my adventures through this blog. I’ve never done a blog before, and as my friend Rod pointed out…it’s very ten-years ago…so, I’m pretty “with it” and hip…for 2004.

I am going to keep this blog going with any entertainment related information in the future. So, if you are truly interested, please subscribe to this blog (not sure how to do it, but I know a few have done so already) so that you’ll know when I put something new up.

Lastly, the main person that needs the most honest, heartfelt thank you is….my wife. She was a trooper in helping me prepare for my trip, and while I was out here, she was my MVP with keeping our house going back home and being a single mom for the last sixish weeks. It was her that helped push me to do this, which was incredibly scary to even contemplate coming out here let alone actually jumping out here…yes, the Lilly Grant helped make that jump easier, but this was 1.5 yrs in the making WITHOUT the Lilly Grant being a realistic choice/option.  So, thank you, sweetie.

That’s a wrap!