I'll Take The Lead

I have been checking craigslist.com every day, 9 times a day since I got back from Italy. I have been looking for oppourtunities to do some acting. Everything from being an extra in a feature film to infomericals to body doubles for a TV show. But, for the most part, I send emails to fellow students who are working on their final proects.

Recently, I heard back from one of the 37 daily emails I send. It was from a girl who wanted me to be in her short movie for one of her classes at the New York Film Academy. I obliged.

It was to be an office shoot where my character would be wearing business casual. I reached for the Gap khakis, put on the dark orange colored Alfani, and was reaching for the Banana Republic loafers when I decided I would store them in my bag an opt for the sandals for the subway ride. (Huge move right there. Trying to avoid that sweat, ya feel me?!)

I was headed to West 27th and Broadway and was running slightly late. I arrived at the building 4 minutes late and went to the 5th floor. I met the "director" of the movie who was the girl I had spoken with through email and one other person from the crew. We chit chatted briefly about this and that and after 35 minutes of waiting, everyone else showed up. Well, almost everyone.

Originally, I was going to play a supporting role with only a few lines but the guy who was to play the main guy named Alex, never showed. So, I was called upon to fill in. I was pretty excited and up to the task.

The basic premise of the movie was there was a guy named Alex who works in an office and has become really sick and stressed. He has a big meeting with his boss later in the day and ends up getting these over the counter meds from co-workers(day quil, night quil, benadryl, theraflu,etc) He ends up taking all them and gets pretty loopy going into the meeting with the boss. He says off the wall things and in the end, he gets a promotion. (funny stuff happens in between)

At this point there was myself, two girls, and one other guy. The girls were my co-workers and the guy was gonna be my boss. The scenes with the girls were cool. I expressed my stressful situation and they conspiculously gave me meds. Sometimes it would be no-look handoffs near the copy machine or secret drop offs near the filing cabinet. The scene with the guy was a completely different story.

Before the final scene with the boss, there was a montage scene where all the co workers were high off some over the counter med and we were wearing party hats and dancing in conference rooms. Now, the two girls were your standard plain, friendly, white girls. This guy claimed he was Spainsh, Italian, and Greek or something but he was basically a duplicate of Fez from That 70's Show. If you don't know who that is, please go to Google and look him up. He even talked like him, too.

When he first came on screen, he kept talking about how the party hat would mess up his hair. He kept asking everyone if it looked alright and liked getting people's attention. He always found a reason to say something even though it was a scene without dialouge. I was begining to dislike this chico.

When the director asked which one of us wanted to ride a bike through the office for the next scene, I immideatly said "Francis should". He looked kind of taken back but he went through with it. He said in the "10 feature films I have been in, I haven't had to do this but okay!" You see, there wasn't a lot of room for him to make the turn from the hallway into the next room and I was hoping, praying he would crash.

He got on the bike, party hat, dress shoes and suit and all, and began swaying and jerking as he was riding. He barely made it with the first take. During the second take, he was not so lucky. As he was exiting the scene, he crashed head on into the wall and I was paralyzed with laughter. Success! Even the director, cameraman and microphone holder were rolling.

When it was time to shoot my scene with Francis, I knew it was going to be something. The two other girls had finished their scenes and dipped out. At this point, it was 9pm and everyone but Francis' late, wack ass had been there since 3. The scene called for Francis, myboss, to be sitting at his desk waiting for me. I rush in out of breath and try to locate my report while he criticizes me.

I rush in, say my lines and am straight. This cat could not remember jack sh*t. Not only could he not remember the 4 lines he had, he couldn't pronounce them. Not only could he not pronounce them, he made suggestions to the director about changing the scene. It got so bad with the lines the director said he could put the script in front of him on the table. Still didn't work. At one point, he talks on the phone and says "Its Barney meets Wonka" because I made these crazy business suggestions to him because I was high on theraflu and the likes. He kept saying "Its Barneys meet...Donka" or "Its Barney meets...uhh I'm sorry".

He kept saying sorry and smiling. He would try to cover his ass when he messed up by asking if he was doing it right and didn't know exactly what the director wanted so he stumbled. In the words of myself and my brother "Shut yo b*tch ass up!"

Once the director cut the last two lines as to minimize the "difficulty", he finally finished it. When he left the room to go to the bathroom, the crew and myself just lit into this guy. Criticism up and down the block. I'm no professional at acting (yet) but I know a jackass when I see one. The crew said he was the worst actor they had been around and one of the worst overall people. I mean this guy thought he was THE MAN. He told us he spoke 11 languages, too. And that wasn't even the half of it.

I thanked the crew and the director and was told that I should get a copy of the movie this week.

It was a fun overall experience except for that guy. Actually, if it wasn't for that guy, I wouldn't have much of a story to tell.

Although I would prefer to work with a real life Tyrone Biggums before I work with that guy again.

Rat Watch

Just a quick update on the game I created for myself. As of today, Day # 24, I have seen 23 rats.

My record for rats in one "sitting" is 4. In case you are interested, the best time to see them is late at night/early morning. You gotta go to the really grimey subway stations where pipes have holes in them and the ceiling is leaking and/or falling apart.

I have seen some baby one's and some really big guys.

If anyone has any suggestions as to which stations might be the motherload, holler at your boy

Welcome to The Edgewood

As I sat in the front seat chatting with Becca I was taking in the fact that I had gone on quite journey and the day was only half over. I started in Brooklyn, then went to Manhattan, then went to Greenwich, CT, and now I was driving to New Jersey. Woah.

As Becca was struggling mightly with the GPS system, we were briefing each other of the last 6 months. "The food in Italy was amazing, i did some traveling...etc." Once she got on her Blackberry it really became clear: Becca is an adult. A real one. Here she was, picking me up in a Black SUV (it was her significan other's) in Connecticut, talking on the Blackberry, discussing with him wheter to meet him at his house or meet him at "the club".

I was secretly hoping for "the club". I wanted to see what it was like. Could be fun. After Becca said "meet you there", I was pleased. Once we pulled into the parking lot, I was wondering wheter we were going in or not. I was worried because I was dressed like I was a shark from West Side Story. Remember now, I had just come from my audition where I was a tough guy from Chicago and was wearing a white v neck, black jeans, and chuck t's. And now, here I was, about to enter a New Jersey country club in the middle of July. Oh boy.

We met Becca's counterpart outside and he asked us if we wanted to go swimming. Hell to the yes! I had been wanting to go swimming ever since I landed in JFK and started sweating. I said sure but I didn't have a suit. No problem, my new main man Sam (the boyfriend) said he got me. Sam and I walked to locker room and boy howdy it was nice. I mean wow

The Claremont aint got nothing on The Edgewood. The locker room was huge. As I was noticing the wood lockers I walked by a room with a massage table in it. I poked my head in and there was a guy sitting there reading the newspaper. I gave the traditional "hi" without saying anything aka the slight nod of the head downward. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a flatscreen in the room. Wow.

I got a pair of shorts, changed quickly, and headed for the pool. I was told that I didn't need to put my clothes in a locker and could just leave them out. I was hesitant at firtst but then I realized, this is the Edgewood baby! Everything is cool!

I walked out and jumped in the pool without any reservations. It was a solid 95 degrees out and the pool was niiiiiiiiiice. I met a few freinds of Sam's but for the most part found myself going under water periodically to avoid being the odd man out couple wise. (Becca and Sam and the friends I just met were together)

After time well spent in the pool, I made my way back to the locker room. I quickly took a shower and after getting dressed went back to the shower area so I could use some of the, um, products. And there was a lot of options, let me tell you. Lots of after shaves, lots of desposbale razors, lots of gel, lotion, all kinds of stuff.

I was a little dissapointed, however. You see, Becca and Sam had a concert to go to in Manhattan so I was not able to go in the steam room. But, beggars can't be choosers. I was welcomed into this club with open arms (chances are nobody knew I was Jewish AND Black), took a dip in the pool, and had a nice shower. So I was happy overall.

As we left the club with my body feeling swell, I was happy my day had taken a detour to The Edgewood country club. Next time though, I'm spending no less than 3 hours there.

Make it 10

Audition 2+3-Curse Words & Chuck T's

After my first audition and first day of acting school, I was riding high. I realized I could hang. There was nothing to it but to do it. No shame, no reservations. 

I had a second audition scheduled for wednesday during the day near times square. I found the place okay and when I went up the stairs there was already a guy waiting outside. He was wearing black slacks, a dark red dress shirt and a tie. And it was 2:30 in the friggin' aftanoon. I was in a polo and shorts. And he was going before me. Setting the bar high with the appearance. But have no worries, when it gets down to the nitty gritty, it comes down to wheter or not you can act. Well, unless you got three nostrils or something, then you might run into danger territory. 

I went into the room and there were three women sitting down. One of them had passed me a script earlier and when I get in there another asked if I had picked a character to read. I said they all seemed cool to me and she said I should read the narrator and this character named Paul. I said okay. The third woman busted out a video camera from under the table and hit the record button. I began with the narrator who spoke in prose. I tired to look up every once in awhile but it was tough cuz I had never seen the script before. I finished with the narrator after about 2 minutes and then moved onto Paul. 

Paul was currently in a doctor's office and was being very cynical and pessimistic. He was swearing and going off. He was throwing out the mother f'ers the s*its, the f's. The whole sha-bang. (Right up my alley, huh ma?) I was having fun with it. Really getting into it. Once I was done with that I asked some questions and that was it. Pretty smooth. I decided to take a stroll around times sq and include myself (briefly) in the chaos. There were all these people on roller blades handing thins out and there was a giant truck with a line in front of it. I quickly joined the line although I had no idea what for. Turned out to be a great move. It was a FREE ice cream truck as part of the USA network's promotional thing for "Burn Notice". A new show that was on the other night. I got my free ice cream and later a free frisbee with the words "Burn Notice" on it and dipped up outta there. Not a bad little afternoon.

My third audition was today and in Greenwich, CT. One of, if not the richest city in America. I auditioned for a web series and was sent four scenes to choose from for the audition. I chose what was described as a "sketchy, tough guy with a Chicago accent". I didn't know whether or not the accent should be more New York tough with the 'whada ya want' or the Chris Farley SNL skit "DA BEARS". I went with the former.

I took the subway to Grand Central and then the Metro North to Greenwich. I arrived in Greenwich at 1:28 and my audition was at 1:30. Gonna be late no doubt. As I was in the taxi, some guy came up to the window and asked if I was going to the Community Center for the audition. I said yeah. He said lets split a cab. Alright sounds good. I'm already spending money like crazy out here, I could save some dough. 

He was a friendly guy from the Bronx. We chatted a little and it was a short ride. When we arrived at our spot the taxi driver said 6.50 each. I was puzzled and thought for a second while the Bronx guy goes "What the fuck, man? 6.50 each? You crazy?" The driver was saying it would have been just 6.50 if we had arrived together but the fact that we were seperate initially made it 6.50 each. I began to say that just doesn't make sense since it is just one destination and then he pulled out "I will call the police then". I then realized I was 14 minutes late and couldn't afford (double meaning there. Smooth eh?) to argue anymore. the Bronx guy only had 4 bucks so I handed a 10 to him and said "try to take care of it". He said he would go to the ATM and pay me back when went for his audition after mine. 

As I was wearing sandals and plaid shorts, I figured I should change into a more tough guy outfit. But did I have time? I was late already? I should have been changed already. I went in and said I was sorry for being late and asked where the bathroom was. I changed into my black and white chuck's and black jeans. Kept the v neck I already had on. Went in to the room and ran through the lines twice. Bada bing bada boom. I walked out to a seated Mike who had my change and then I called Becca who was going to pick me up on her way to see a friend at their New Jersey Country Club.

Oh yes, the New Jersey Country Club. 

First Day of School

Back to school. There really is nothing like the first day. Is there anything more tormenting than what you are going to wear? You don't want to be plain but you can't stick out too much. Something has to fit well and show off something. For girls- the tan legs you got while you went on vacation in Maui with your family. Or the clevage that finally broke through after years of wishing for it while blowing out birthday candles. Guys- maybe the biceps you have been over working at the gym ever since summer started. Either way, its a big deal.

I went with a nice lavender polo shirt and some khakis. I felt good about my decision. I didn't know how serious this school was or wheter or not it was conservative or what. I give myself enough time to get lost and be late (strict, STRICT policy about tardiness though. One second late? the door is closed and you can't come in). I signed in with the guard in the lobby and was thinking to myself 'What have I gotten into now?'

I got off the elevator and am told to go to the end of the hall. I get in the room and most of the class is already sitting there. I take a seat in the back and take it all in. The super energetic teacher(his contract says he has to be-trust me) comes in and we go around the room and say where we are from, why we chose this school, yada yada yada. There are 4 adults in the class and the rest are in their last year of college or mid 20's. There is one guy with all white hair and a mustache. He is the type that is always making jokes and constantly nodding his head in agreement. There is another woman who has a kid and she likes to share information (more on that later). There are 5 gentlemen total and the rest are ladies. 

We start with this one excericise that I don't understand the point to. I choose to go last so I can feel everyone out. See what I'm working with here. I get up there and do my thing and its fine. As the second part of the class rolls around, we begin to share what we thought of the book we had to read for the application. There was a section that was called the "as if" section where we took a scene and had to say "to me, this scene is as if..." and apply it to something that happened in our life. 

Well, our teacher wanted us to use the example where in a play someone is asking for forgiveness. Everyone ponders for a minute and then this woman, one of the adults in the group, raises her hand. "Well, my mom and my sister are very close. They always go to church together and I'm not allowed to go. (she's been divorced twice) Its as if I tell my mom that my sister is a coke-head, WHICH SHE IS! and now I have to beg for forgiveness from my sister because that would ruin their relationship"

At this point I froze. My eyes began to dart around the room franticly. Someone, anyone. Did nobody realize what she just said? I am stifiling a laugh, some tears, the sensation to yell "woah!", everything. Nothing. Everyone is just looking at her and kind of nodding and not really processing this. At that moment, I wished I was back in high school with my boys in class because we would have been rolling on the floor with emotion. Literally rolling. I needed a Max Gibson or Will Houghteling right then but I had nobody. I just put my hands over my face and began to go crazy on the inside. 

That was definetly the biggest thing that day. While taking notes, one girl took out a Harvard pen to write with. Come on now. Who would really do that? The only types of people to actually have those pens are those who visited the school and didn't get in. What is this chick really trying to say with this cheap ass ball point pen? Get that shit outta here. 

As the second part wrapped up I was feeling good. I couldn't put my finger on everyone, though. At least not yet. But I figured this whole coke thing could last awhile.

And that was only the first day

Audition 1-Too Hot

My first audition was on Monday night. Two days after I arrived. I had recieved an email saying for me to come in for my audtion at 6:30 at 9th avenue between 14thst and 54st. Next to broadway and across from D. Firstly, could we get more confusing than these streets out here? I mean really. Why does it always gotta be between this and this and paralell to that? Can you imagine someone going "Yeah I go to school at Head Royce on Lincoln Ave, bisecting Fruitvale between Juaqin miller and MacArthur 5 minutes from 53rd" But I digress.

I was excited seeing as this was my first audition but didn't really know what to expect because, well, it was my first audition. I was planning on meeting my boy Eric (aka TJ aka Teej aka McDuff) afterward cuz he lived at 10th and B next to whatever the hell. Basically, he was close. I hadn't seen him in a year so it was shaping up to be a good night. I get a little lost coming out of the subway and decide to ask this guy where to go. I told him the address and it was in the opposite direction of where I was headed but the same direction he was headed. 

So I turned around but not too quick because I didn't want to be walking step for step with him. So I took out my cell phone and made sure my brightness was still on low (that saves battery life-tip #13) and began to walk behind him. As I was approaching my destination I noticed he was headed to the same building and he was auditioning, too. 

Now, at this point, I had been in the subway and was walking at a good pace so you bet your sweet ass I was perspiring. When I enter this building I am now producing blotches on the white button down. WHITE! I didn't go for the grey (what idiot would?) or the red or baby blue. I went with the white which does well in warm weather but not this time. I brought an extra shirt of course but I stuck it out. I decided that it is too damn hot out here to be frontin' like I don't sweat. If I came in all calm and collected that wouldn't be right, wouldn't be authentic. (Ironic that I'm trying to be an actor but also authentic at the same time. Huh)

I introduce myself to the lady who is signing people in and immediately ask for a water fountain. (My poland springs bottle was empty) She told me they bought water and there were cookies as well. (+2 for them right there) I filled out something and gave them my headshot. Now, don't forget I'm a rookie in the game. I had my boy Kevin take a picture of me while we were in our program's office in Italy with my digital. My stuff isn't glossy and I print it off microsoft word. I handed her my resume and headshot and chucled slightly to myself. The guy next to me who had slicked back hair and was wearing tight jeans and a long sleeve (doing way too much) handed her a glossy, shiny, headshot. 

After I chugged 3 cups of water I was called in for the audition. The theater room was cool and there were two girls who would be auditioning me, judging me, interviewing me, whatever you call it. They asked me which part I wanted to play and I elected for the transfer student who was of the "athletic build". Right before she said "start" I was slightly nervous but the more I started to think about messing up and being worried, I realized I was too damn hot. How could I be anything but hot right now? I was more worried about how sweat getting into my eye and stinging me (terrible feeling aint it? gosh that stings) than my lines.

I breezed through my part alright. It could have been a little better but they didn't have one of the pages so there was a big pause which through me off and made me look bad but whatta ya gonna do? I said thank you and sped off to the water table. I filled my bottle up with H20 and was gone.

The movie is a short thriller/horror where a dorm is taken over by zombies. I'm waiting to hear from them. 

Not bad for the first go through

Here We Go Again

That was too long. I took some much needed time of to recover from Italy and to enjoy home. Now that I had my fill of Mexican and Chinese and food and a good ol' fashion cheeseburger not to mention TV in English, I'm ready to be back.

Currently, I am not in Oakland, my beloved home. Not even in the Bay Area. Not even on the West Coast. I now call Brooklyn my home. That's right ladies and gentleman, Mr. King is in New York.

To properly understand how I got here, I must take you back a few months. This all began when I took the theater class in the first semester in Italy. After having so much fun with it, I decided this might be something I would like to do in the future. I made some calls and emails and someone suggested an acting school in New York. Sure, why the hell not? I'll give it a go. My boy Nick invited me to stay with him and his parents at their apartment in Park Slope and after I got admitted to the school, I jet blued my ass over here.

I planned on not just going to school. I planned on going to auditions and taking this charm, curly hair, and big nose to the top. I have been emailing people non stop trying to get auditions (gone to 3 now) and will continue to do so. As Mr. Puff Diddly P. Daddy Doody says "can't stop, won't stop"

I came here a week ago and it seems like 3 weeks ago. Between times square, broadway, brooklyn, the meatpacking district, alphabet city, muggy subway stations, and great bagels (Noah's is garbage) I have been around. I have seen folks I haven't seen in 6 months or even a year because I was abroad which has been great. I realized the unlimited subway card is the best way to go. And I have been stopping at all thrift stores looking to strike gold (heads up if you see a khaki or seersucker suit)

As I will recount my adventures from acting school to auditions I have come up with a little game for myself as I stay in NYC. As I am always taking the subway and looking for ways to get mind of perfusely sweating, I have decided my goal, while in New York this summer, is to see more rats than days I am here. To date I have seen 7 rats and this is my 8th day. 

Who is with me?!