National Commercial (Boom!), Funny or Die, & Paramount Studios Tour

Well, the three-stage audition for the national commercial for The General Insurance paid off. I got it. I was walking out of the new Planet of the Apes movie (which was great) and I turned the phone back on...and there was a voicemail wanting me to call the casting director. I gave him a ring, and he said I got the role!  It shoots next Monday night...a late night shoot, 11 p.m. call time and he thinks it will go 4-5 hours. So, it looks like a nap for me.

So, I'm 2-for-2 (number of auditions and bookings)...like Derek Jeter last night in the all-star game. It's funny, each of the gigs that I've booked are a multi-week effort. There aren't many things that are posted/shot within a day or two. There are some, but the ones that I'm submitting myself for online don't have too many of those.  This commercial was one that I blogged about awhile ago about me having to self-video an audition and send it in. I had to be invited to submit, so my headshot/resume/reel was good enough to get me that invite to submit. The in-person audition from last Friday (when I was hosting the VIPs) was the third stage of judgment that I had to go through...and it appears that they liked me. I had a good feeling with them, but I knew they had a plethora of other people auditioning for the same part as me, and I was just the first of many that day. They/we laughed and had a good time, but I didn't walk out thinking I was going to book it. The odds were too stacked against me. I guess I was wrong.

Ironically, the last two weekends I was offered gigs as well, but I already had plans the following day(s). I don't know if someone dropped out, or if they just wait until right before shooting to contact me. 

The more high profile job that I had to pass...again, they called me the day before shooting...and I had my VIPs with me. It was a Funny or Die video that was shooting all day, and I was already occupied with my VIPs, so I had to turn them down. The opportunity sounded great/interesting, but I would rather be with the VIPs for the day on that particular day.

One was a short film, they needed a "body man" for a mobster. Ironically, I don't remember submitting myself for it. I submitted for an Office-type show, and the man on the phone said that they were going a different route from The Office.  Mobsters? Uh, yeah, I think they went a different route. Unfortunately, I had to turn him down too as I had just solidified some plans for the following day that couldn't be changed.

I know it isn't good business sense to turn down roles/offers especially as I'm just getting started. You can't network and people can't learn who you are if you aren't doing things. I understand this. However, with my limited time out here things have to be sacrificed. It's funny how nothing can be coming down the pipeline work related, and then boom, there's a text, or a voicemail for something from a week (or two) ago that I submitted for. Everyone works at their own pace, that's for sure.

I don't want to give the impression that I'm working non-stop out here. In fact, it's pretty much the opposite. I surf the acting sites throughout the day and sift through the dozens upon dozens of job postings that are available for my type of actor. That takes a lot of time to get through.  Unfortunately, I'm starting to find out that most of the postings are looking at shooting after my time here ends...late August to September.  Pretty soon, I think the well will dry up as to my availability for most of the work opportunities. So, this commercial might be the last chance out here to be in front of the camera...then again, maybe the phone will ring this evening for something else.  Who knows.

Paramount Pictures Studio Tour

I just took the Paramount Pictures Studio Tour. It was two hours, and it mostly consisted of riding around in a golf cart and hearing stories of the set. The Warner Brothers tour had more to see, but the stories on this tour were better. Overall, I'd recommend the WB tour for movie fans who want to see the most stuff, but this one was a close second. I have personal pictures that I'm having trouble uploading, so I'll keep working on it. Check back later (if you care).

My favorite stories:

1. Lucille Ball was a beginning actress and admired Katherine Hepburn's dressing room, and she said that someday it would be hers. Fast forward to when she's the biggest star in Hollywood, and she moved into the dressing room, and flew in bricks from her hometown on the East Coast to add some hometown flair to her dressing room.  Desi Arnaz, her husband, had his dressing room right next door. They met on the set of Too Many Girls, and ironically, she used to say that they started with Too Many Girls and ended with too many girls. When she heard about his cheating, she had his dressing room door cemented shut. See the picture with the air conditioning unit in it now, that was his dressing room door.

2. A tour guide left his cart full of people alone while he ducked into a door to see if they could sneak onto a movie set. Unfortunately, while he was gone, a man jumped in the front seat and said "You want to see celebrities, right?" Everyone screamed "yeah!" and he pulled away. The tour guide emerged from the door and couldn't find the cart or his tour group. He started panicking, and called in that he had lost them even though he feared that he lost his job.  The man who stole the cart was Tom Hanks.

3. Another Tom Hanks story. He was on site shooting Larry Crowne and had some time off, so he started strolling around the studio lot. He shot Bosom Buddies at Paramount in the early 80s, and he wanted to just walk around.  As he was looking around, he stumbled upon the Forrest Gump bench right in the front of the studio. He had no idea it was there. So, on his next day off, he dressed up in a white suit and red running shoes, and he sat on the bench and handed out candy to people (IN CHARACTER!) as they passed by the bench.  Awesome story, and awesome guy.

 

All twelve Paramount Best Picture winners.

A map of the studio, which is the largest production studio in existence. RKO was the western portion of the map and then it was absorbed into Paramount.

I liked this shot because of the Hollywood Sign is displayed nicely down this street.

The exterior from the latest Indiana Jones movie where he sits down with Mutt (his son, spoiler alert!) and educates the boy on the native culture in South America.

Interior of café. Indy sat against the window on the right, and this is the big bar fight between the jocks and greasers right before they hop onto a motorcycle and speed through the campus.

Recognize the insignia on the door? Community shot on the Paramount lot.