I was talking with Stuart Rogers the other day and I was apologizing for not making it to his writer's group that I like to go to. Every other week at his theatre we sit on the stage and read one another's pages followed by a discussion. I was a regular for a long time but … Read more
Last night I received a cryptic email asking me, through three different forwards, if I "would consider doing this?" attached were sides with no project name or hint. Just a scene in a bar which was nice enough. So, I called the agent this morning and after a brief dialog with him ended up on … Read more
The power of our collective is working. Slowly but surely I'm getting emails from people that are terribly encouraging. Yes the web has a great power to connect like minds, but I'm talking about the spirit of the artist that knows there's a better way to deal with the biz and not really having a … Read more
The Brett Favre saga has riddled the sports headlines for too long, and I'm not going to voice an opinion about him and his decision, I am going to use it as a way to illustrate the similarity to our business. You see, all the reaction to his plight isn't so much about a guy … Read more
In a discussion with a young actor I mentor here in LA, he referred to the work he was getting as ” just these little movies…” and I stopped him. Why do we do that? Where did we learn that there are places that are big opportunities and places that are little, nothing, opportunities? It’s … Read more
I had lunch with an actor friend who is 28 and doing really well. He’s got plenty of work but the defacto strike has him frustrated like everyone else. When I asked him how his summer was going he answered “I just want to work.” That’s all of us. We want to work and we … Read more
What to offer about this current SAG negotiation conundrum… AFTRA is going to ratify, they're so far behind SAG in rates and benefits that a big increases still mean less than an actor can live on. I am a duel union member and after three years as a series regular on a AFTRA contract show … Read more
In baseball there's a term used when your team relies on the little things to win games. Your team doesn't have big hitters so you rely on the singles and steals and sheer effort to score runs. It's called playing small ball. In our biz the "small ball" equivalent would be the low budget, friend … Read more
When it comes to going out to shows I find I am a snob. Being a snob allows me to avoid any more nights of watching or hearing dreck and wanting my time back. We’ve all had these evenings and thought about them when invited out for what feels like another such outing. I don’t … Read more
Sad news today. Harvey Korman, one of our good guys, our funny, funny men, one of our heroes died today. A hero? Yeah. He made it on pure talent. Pure commitment to whatever he was doing, even when it made him look like an ass. The husband in the Mama skits was at time psychotic. … Read more