Casting Class

Last weekend I drove into San Francisco to attend a casting seminar taught by casting director Kim Hardin.  Kim has 20 years of experience as a casting director and is known for films such as 2 Fast 2 Furious, Four Brothers, and the award-winning Indie film Hustle & Flow

The class was geared toward actors, but directors and producers were also invited to attend.  It didn’t surprise me that we were greatly outnumbered by the actors. 

Even though it is still very early in the development process and we don’t know what, if any, other roles we’ll be needing to fill, this was a great opportunity to learn a little about the casting process ahead of time from someone who has been doing it for a long time.  It also gave me a great excuse to go into the city on a beautiful day.  I was delighted to find out that the hotel where the seminar was held was next to the cable car route.

The fun part of the class was the “cold read” (auditions performed without memorizing the script) audition practice at the end.  Kim gave all the actors “sides” (a portion of a script to be read at an audition) and sent them out into the hotel hallway to practice for a bit.  Some actors were teamed with another actor, and some were sent out by themselves because they would be doing their scene with Kim herself. 

After a short practice period, Kim called everyone back into the room.  It was fascinating to watch their performances.  Some were obvious beginners, while others had much more experience under their belt.  Nerves got to some of them and the sometimes long periods of silence betrayed the fact that they forgot their lines.  In an effort to be understated, some gave performances that could best be described as bland, while others went too far the other way with their over-the-top performances.

As I-Man fans, we often brag about the incredible chemistry of our cast so, of course, I closely watched the actors who were paired up in teams.  One couple really caught my attention.  They came across as though they had known each other for years.  The chemistry was there and it was very obvious.  Others just weren’t clicking.

During the instruction part of the class there was one young man, looked to be in his teens, that kept asking questions about things that Kim had already covered just minutes before.  It was apparent that he wasn’t paying attention, but Kim was very patient and answered all his questions.  I was curious how he would do.  When his turn came, he read opposite Kim.  And when I say read, I mean, literally, read.  He didn’t act the part at all, he just read it.  I’ve got to give him kudos for having the courage to do the practice audition.  He must have been incredibly nervous.  He has a marketable look, but he definitely needs training.

An older gentleman, who used to do a lot of theatre work and was just getting back into acting after a long stretch off, absolutely nailed the part of a pastor.  He was quite convincing.

Kim gave some of the same sides to more than one actor in order to give us the opportunity to see how different actors interpret the same scenes differently.  It was fascinating to watch each actor bringing something different to their roles.

After attending this class, I have to say that I have a renewed respect for actors and what they do for a living.  The majority of us only do a small number of job interviews in our lifetime before settling into our respective jobs for at least several years.  But can you imagine spending most of your career going to job interviews (which is basically what an audition is) all the time?  Well, the majority of actors do exactly that.  Getting an acting job takes a special kind of fortitude that, dare I say, the majority of earthlings wouldn’t want to deal with.

I tip my hat to actors everywhere who are chasing and living their dreams.

Sci Fi “Invisible Man” Forum is Back!

Well, it took them four months, but The Invisible Man bboard is back on SciFi.com!  If you’re a new reader and don’t know what the heck I’m talking about, please refer to my January 28, 2007 post entitled Urgent: The Sci Fi Invisible Man Forum Needs Your Vote! 

You’ll be happy to know that I-Man had the most votes and beat out all the other shows in the poll.  Way to go I-Man fans!  Now I’m hoping (hint, hint) that there will be lots of support for the I-Man bboard so that we don’t run the risk of losing it again like we did before because of disuse.

What’s really cool is that the administrators are asking the fans of each show to create the introductory message for their show’s forum.  Here’s a message explaining about that from Admin1 from the Sci Fi forum: 

Welcome to our new forums for some long-time favorite shows. We invite you to work together to create a 30-word-max message that introduces your show and invites forum members to participate. For example, Doctor Who’s message is “Fancy a trip in a TARDIS? With ten Doctors and countless Companions to choose from, you’ll have plenty to talk about here in the official Doctor Who discussion forum.”

You might want to use this thread as your working area, then, when you’re reading, PM your proposals to admin and admin1!

If you’re interested in helping to create the introductory message for the I-Man forum, I hope you’ll go to the “SCI FI Favorites” thread and we can brainstorm together! 

Invisible Man Forum

“An Historical Moment”

Don’t blame me for the bad grammar in the title of this post.  I didn’t make it up.  I just borrowed it from the title of Mike McCafferty and Jason Makiaris’ latest Acceptable TV entry called, you guessed it, An Historical Moment.

Once again the guys need our help to get their show on the air.  I’ll let Jason tell you what you need to do in his email below. 

Hey Y’all,

For those keeping score at home, we’ve now had three episodes of L33t Haxxors air on Vh1. Thanks to everyone who has supported us and voted over the past few weeks. If you missed an episode and want to see it, click on one of the links below

L33t Haxxors Episode 1
L33t Haxxors Episode 2
L33t Haxxors Episode 3

This week we are debuting a new series on Acceptable TV entitled An Historical Moment which is hosted by yours truly, and is sure to delight as well as confuse many of you. We love this silly little show, and hope you’ll vote for it. Click the link below to go to the voting page and if you are so inclined, click the “Vote For This Video” link (with the heart next to it) above our video. For some reason, you no longer need to register to vote, so just click away and vote as many times as you like. There aren’t any limits as to how many times you can vote.

Watch “An Historical Moment”

Don’t forget to tune in and see if we air again this Friday night at 10!

Thanks again!

– Jason

So watch and vote for An Historical Moment.  If you think their grammar is wrong, wait until you see what they did with history.

In Memory of Michael Smuin

I beg your patience as I indulge a bit into something that has personal meaning for me.  I usually don’t post off topic subjects, but I wanted to take a moment to mention the recent passing of a great artist.  This week the dance world lost Michael Smuin.  Probably best known for his roles as choreographer and co-director of San Francisco Ballet, Smuin had a long and distinguished career, which you can read about on the Smuin Ballet home page if you wish. 

This news touched me more than usual because I had the priviledge of taking a ballet master class from him many years ago.  It’s an experience I will never forget.  What a surprise is was for me to go into class expecting strict classical training only to be told how to “cheat” on our arabesques.  I quickly learned that he likes to “break the rules.” 

Smuin passed during a rehearsal of his upcoming season.  He died doing what he loved to do. 

Channel 7 News has an article and a great video about this dance legend.

Mike is a Cartoon Character!

I just got home from work and to my delight found the following email from Mike McCafferty in my inbox.  I’m passing it on to all of you.  Hope you can watch! 

Hello all.

So tonight at 10pm on VH1, catch “Acceptable TV”.  It’s a sketch show meets “American Idol” series where the top two sketches each week return for a new episode the following week.

I’ll be voicing the character of Agent Pedone in this week’s animated “Mr. Sprinkles” sketch.  Already on it’s 6th episode, Mr. Sprinkles is a deranged “Cat in the Hat” character who ends up accidentally killing those he tries to entertain during rainy days.  Sentenced to prison, Mr.
Sprinkles learns the harsh truths of an adult world.

Sounds hilarious, huh?!!

If you miss it for any reason, it’ll be available starting tonight on http://acceptable.tv/.  This character will be around probably until the end of the season, but this is my first animated work so I’m a little excited (I’ll spare you the obvious pun).

As a bonus, you may also see “l33t Haxxors: Episode 3” on the show.  This is a show I co-wrote and directed and if it got enough votes last week, we’ll see it tonight.  The series already has over 200,000 online views, which is a good thing.  Check out the series at www.l33thaxxors.com.

Many thanks,

Mike

“Drive” Cancelled

After only four episodes Drive has been officially cancelled.  I’ve got to admit that this caught me by surprise.  I knew the show wasn’t getting great ratings, but I wasn’t expecting Fox to cut their losses so quickly.  It would have been nice if they gave it a chance to build an audience. 

Here’s what Kristen at E! has to say about the cancellation:

Update on Drive: I just got an email from a very highly placed source inside the show, who sadly tells me about the reports of Drive’s cancellation:

“Confirmed. Gone. No word on DVDs, but I wouldn’t get your hopes up. You’re sweet for supporting the show” it’s greatly appreciated, for what it’s worth.”
 
Studio sources tell me, “I’m hearing it is being pulled from Mondays” we have two remaining episodes that have been produced”waiting to hear if they will air (and where).”  Four hours of the show had aired; six were in the can. No word yet on DVDs, but if you live in some far off place where Drive had yet to tour, you can read episode scripts over at http://www.timminear.net/archives/drive/000146.html.

Thanks to Lee Ann for the info.

Craig Writing “Drive”

I did a double take yesterday when I saw Craig Silverstein’s name appear as the writer for last night’s episode of Drive.  Nice surprise.  I guess Craig is making good use of the time Standoff is on hiatus and Fox is making good use of this very talented writer that they have under contract.

Speaking of Standoff, it’s scheduled to come back on Friday, June 8, 2007 at 9/8 central.  I’ve got to say that I’m a bit nervous for Craig, because Standoff getting moved to Fridays is not a good sign. 

If you want to catch up on any episodes you missed, go to the Standoff MySpace page.

Videos by Danielle

A few years back there existed a really great website dedicated to Vincent Ventresca called vincentventresca.net.  The site was attractive, well organized, and a fan could find virtually everything about Vince’s roles and career there. Danielle, a very talented fan, created and ran the site. 

Well, life got busy for Danielle and the website is no more, but a whole slew of her videos she either saved or created are residing on YouTube for our enjoyment.  Danielle was kind enough to let me post links to her videos so that you can easily find and enjoy them too.  She’s got a great assortment of videos. 

To start things off, here’s the actual trailer used to advertise the pilot of The Invisible Man.

Invisible Man Trailer

Here’s a great interview with Vince where he answers questions from the old Invisible Man bboard.  The audio seems to be a bit out of sync and it abruptly stops after seven minutes, but it’s still worth watching.

The Invisible Man Bboard Interviews Vincent Ventresca

Danielle created a whole slew of I-Man music videos that are a lot of fun to watch.

In The End

Die Another Day

Enemy Within

Darien’s Rap

The Return

On My Own

Break

Disappearing Boy

Eberts Day

Clueless

These 5 Words

Friends

One Wish

Sexy Darien

Danielle created this Prey music video.

Hungry

Here’s a old commercial from 1995 that Vince was in.

Vincent Ventresca Pepsi Commercial

Finally, here’s a music video dedicated to Vince’s various roles.

The Many Faces of Ventresca

Enjoy!