Lookit! Last month/year I voiced a cartoon octopus for a virtual reality scene. If you haven't tried VR yet, bug your friend who has one to give it a whirl. It's pretty crazy how entertaining it is. I can't wait to share this one once it's up.
Happy New Year!
A while back my amazing fiance Bekah wrote three short films for me for Valentine's Day. They were based on ideas for characters I had, a few of which I had written monologues for. Bekah worked her writerly magic and crafted them all into gut punching narratives.
As luck would have it, one of her very talented friends, Alexis, wanted to transition from stage directing to film, and so asked Bekah for any shorts that she might have that she could direct. 'Again' was one of these three shorts, and Alexis chose it to be her first film directing experience.
Fortunately, Alexis is married to another great talent, Rick, who is a DP fresh off of a NEXT Audience Award win at Sundance 2016. As if that weren't enough, we were joined by a smattering of talents, including producers Stephanie Marin and Tyler Evans, AD Tim Astor, and crew Dan Adlerstein, TJ Yoshizaki, Sevell Bensen, Katie Moest, Ryan O'Hara, and Dan Siegelstein.
But wait, there's more! A stellar actor by the name of Aubrey Dollar joined in to play my better half.
And then there's me. It's been a hot moment since I worked on a film, so there was a little adjustment to make. But what struck me many times was 'what a solid team this is, and how fun it is being on a team'. One particular moment was towards the end of the shoot - I was off screen waiting for a queue from the director to feed Aubrey lines for her closeup. By this point the crew had gelled quite a bit, so the set up came together like clockwork. So there we were, hanging on the moment, myself waiting for a slight, wizardly wave of the hand of the director Alexis. Why she didn't drop her raised finger to point at me for the queue delighted me to no end. Instead, her finger melted into an embellished swish, which cast a silent spell that said, as she did throughout the shoot, "whenever you're ready." I am. For people to see this.
The many stages of vocal booth creation.
As a novice builder, I found this gentleman's tutorial videos extremely helpful.
Last year I ran into a consistently annoying problem. How do I record a VO audition/audiobook/podcast if I have to stop recording and wait for the sound of a passing plane, large truck, motorcycle, church bell, school bell, water pipes, computer fan, or friendly cricket?
Solution - build a small room where no sound can enter or leave. Having never really built anything, I decided to do some research and planning to make sure that if I'm spending a good amount of money, I do it right. I scoured the internet for pictures, videos, and forum threads that dealt with the various stages of building this giant recording box.
If you're at all thinking of this I recommend these forums to get a sense of the work ahead of you/plethora of problems that will arise:
www.gearslutz.com
www.soundonsound.com
www.homerecording.com
There are a few senior forum members that everyone listens to. Rod Gervais is one of those members who not only offers advice frequently, but also has a book about this very thing. If only I had bought it at the beginning of my planning and design, it would have saved me time. Many people echo this sentiment on the forums.
The planning took me the better part of January and February. The building took me most of my free time in March and part of April.
Home Depot and Baller Hardware sold me most of the building materials, the other stuff (like fans, window glass) I got online.
Now, for the most part, it's done. There are still a few tweaks that need to be made, but when a helicopter passes overhead or a leaf-blower passes next door, I don't hear it, so I can focus on my performance.
It wasn't possible without Rod Gervais' book and the help of many friends - Matthew Watterson for his viking strength and know how (and drill), Brian Nichols for his carpentry expertise, David Graziano for his sage advice and the loan of woodworking tools, and my fiance for many hearty home cooked meals.
What you're looking at is this - A ventilated room with a double pane tempered/laminated 1/2'' glass window. The walls are built with staggered studs for decoupling, a 1/2'' ply outer sheath, 3'' Roxul Safe N Sound Insulation, with two layers of 5/8'' drywall on the inner wall that are separated by a layer of Green Glue. The floor is plywood on a concrete slab, with Flor carpet tiles on top (I plan to add a rubber underlay later when budget allows). The ceiling is built much like the walls, except that I used chicken wire to secure the insulation.
For room treatments I built a panel resonator into the corner, and attached acoustic foam to most of the corners and wall. I'll probably continue to tweak this as I find what sounds best for recording.
I built a small shelf on the panel resonator to attach my scissor arm mic stand, and a fold out table for the podcast mic. The booth comfortably seats two people, and stays cool even with temperatures of 80-90 degrees outside.
The Escape Pod is now open for business.
The finished product (for now). Behold y'all - The Escape Pod.
TONIGHT!
I'll be performing in sketches that are just being written right now.
Pretty killer lineup of performers and writers up in here.
To scope the lineup & buy tickets, click the picture of CRAM to the left!
Come check it out!
I'm on this fun show that premieres today! I'll be appearing later on, but check out what they're up to - it's a mix of behind the scenes, in front of the scenes, and all around the scenes!!!
Here's the latest trailer for it:
Thriller is back at it, and this time it's gonna be weird. The good kind of weird.
Come laugh your pants on. You read that right, so please arrive pantsless.
My wonderful girlfriend Bekah wrote a pilot that helped land her a new job on a very cool show.
This is that pilot. I'll be reading one of the parts.
In addition to Bekah, there will be very many talented people involved.
You should totally come.
Whenever someone asks me what my favorite movie is, I have to think of the most recent one I've seen, because I love movies so I just defer to 'most recent' instead of 'of all time'. I think it's a waste of time qualifying which one you particularly like out of all the movies in the world because that's changed for me over time. So here's my new favorite.
This is a very detailed, seamless, and believable story that calls out a generation of man-children.
In the above picture this father is taking a picture of an incoming avalanche that is terrifying his children and wife. Each frame in this movie is storytelling at its best.
Some of the scenes ran much like a sketch, with three beats heightening within the bounds of realism; others ran like a psychological thriller, with tension punctuated by a subtle joke, usually at the expense of modern man's pride; others were silent, ethereal poems that underscored the comic tragedy of our era's shifting values.
I'll be performing with my sketch team Thriller this coming Sunday!
To say goodbye to this summer, we've put together a themed show set at the water park.
It should be a real hoot! Bring your bathing suit!
Happy Summer!
Thriller has a show this Sunday, come check it out!
We perform with Third Party, who are delightfully strange.
My new sketch team is radical. Even though we're brand new, I'm still purty stoked with our line up of sketches for the upcoming show.
It's free, unless you feel like only good shows charge money, then it's $20, and pay that directly to me, thanks.
I'm thrilled to have just wrapped yesterday on a really fun project with RocketJump. I've been a fan of Freddie Wong's for a few years now, so it was like stepping into a really fun dream.
For info on the project, HERE is their creative director Danny Vink.
Check out their videos for some delightful action, special fx, and comedy.
Here is a clip of theirs with Key & Peele that's received OVER 11 MILLION VIEWS!!!
The cast and crew were all amazing to work with, and so talented.
Big thanks to Adrianne and Christopher for bringing me in to read for it! And to Freddie for building his online wizard empire.
On Tuesday night this week was the FPLA staged reading of Sharon Yablon's play Hello Stranger.
The audience seemed to enjoy it, and it was really fun for me to do a play again. You get to ride a story the whole way through, instead of in the typically shorter bursts of other mediums.
This is me lurking behind Heather Boothby. If you want to wander into a backyard in Fontana on El Dia De Los Muertos, this play is for you.
Big thanks to Fresh Produce'd for having me!
I'm in this! If watching new works get on their feet is your thing, come check out Fresh Produce'd. They put on a palatable mix of 20 minute excerpts from different plays each month, and quite frequently turn those into full productions!
I went to this - Pacific Playwrights Festival at South Coast Rep.
All of this is made possible to me through the hard work and good graces of my wonderful girlfriend Bekah, who has a play being read at the festival.
It's about heaven and is called 'Going to A Place Where You Already Are'. The audience laughed heartily and softly cried about dying and the afterlife, which - for such a touchy subject - doesn't seem like an easy thing to do. It asks a big question, all while wrapped in a big blanket of optimism, and is peppered with sneak attacks of humor.
Another favorite was 'Vietgone', by Qui Nyugen. This is a hilarious love story told with a modern voice about refugees in the US after the Vietnam war. It turns Americans into stock stereotypes, has a Mortal Kombat slow motion fight, and uses hip hop verses for cathartic moments.
Plays can be so good, and they're where I started out, so all this has made me want to jump back in.
On that note - coming up soon I'll be performing in an FPLA staged reading on May 19th.
Headshots are usually an actor's first introduction to possible work.
I've taken quite a few over the years and have looked analytically at just as many.
I just took new ones to commemorate the successful conquest of my face by a majestic beard.
Here are the looks (and accompanying inner monologue) I went with this year -
I have a secret
I have to fart
My secret is I have to fart
Now it's not a secret anymore
That's funny, so I'll laugh, because laughing makes you have a natural smile
I'm overthinking this, and now judging myself (aka eyes half open, sneering mouth, very unsightly)
Let's get back on track - I am worth millions of dollars
You are my competition and I will crush you
That was so arrogant I'm sorry
Who are you talking to? They can't hear your thoughts
Unless I write them on my blog. Should I write them on my blog?
What's happening? Oh right, headshots
That was funny, right? That I got off track? I'll laugh again, quite naturally this time
Who am I?
You're supposed to know that before coming in here!
Ooh, that's good - existential crisis
No...maybe I'll turn my face slightly to the left
Nailed it
No really that felt really good
Congrats everyone that's a wrap
I'm trying to really lean into my inner monologues. Like a well crafted story, you can see that my thoughts come full circle (spiral?). On this journey the signposts are fake/real laughing and the destination is Natural Looksville. Population : Everyone else but me.
I took them with the gentlemanliest of gentlemen - Morgan Demeter.
Here's his website - http://morgandemeter.com/
For now enjoy this picture by makeup artist Bridget Clarke.
This conceptual beard is pretty close to the real thing. Imagine this, but bigger. And without the dirt on my face (this was for a post-apocalyptic web series that all actors are required to create).
Come watch Redlight flatline this Sunday in our last show!
I've enjoyed learning the frenetic ropes of performing sketch with these people each month.
4/12/15 - 7:30 pm - DCT at iO West - 6366 Hollywood Blvd., L.A., CA
I'm very excited to announce that Redlight is performing at the Los Angeles Scripted Comedy Festival happening at iO West.
Our best sketches from the past 6 months!
First time performing on the main stage of this theater!
We'll be performing in the same hour as a puppet show!
It's gonna get weird - http://ioimprov.com/west/show/that-one-puppet-show-redlight/
Click HERE to buy tickets.
I'd like to acknowledge Hot Lunch - the sketch team that plays in the same hour as Redlight.
Their shows are consistently good. Their performers go for it, their sketches come out strong and don't stop, and they're genuinely pleasant to work with. I feel lucky to perform in the same hour.
3/8/15 - 7:30 pm - DCT at iO West - 6366 Hollywood Blvd., L.A., CA
Come check us out if you have a chance. It's free and fun.
We're back at it this Sunday. Come see my team be hilarious.
I'd love to see your smiling and/or laughing faces.
Need to laugh? Sure, we all do. Kick the new year off right with some sketchy comedy.
1/11/15 - 7:30 pm - DCT at iO West - 6366 Hollywood Blvd.; LA, CA
P.S. Our poster designer is pretty busy this week.