My First Movie

Oklahoma City is just movie central! There is a movie currently being filmed in Oklahoma City that is titled “Heaven’s Rain.” A true story. It is based on an actual event that took place October 15, 1979 outside of Okarche, OK. A young minister and his wife were shot and killed and their son and daughter were also shot, but survived. Brooks Douglass, the couple’s son and a former Oklahoma state senator, is producing this film. A harrowing recital of those events and how he came to forgive the killers is the basic theme. It is a movie of redemption. Brooks is a strong individual, full of faith, and I don’t know how he was able to find forgiveness in his soul. There have been numerous casting calls for extras the last several weeks, but I have never applied for one. However, since my bucket list includes a speaking part in a movie, I thought I had better see how movies are made. Thursday was to be the last day of filming in Oklahoma City, and I had not quite made up my mind to apply until I was talking to my actor friend, Dorothy Shaw. She convinced me I should. I applied and was accepted as an extra.

The filming was to take place in Junior’s, a very nice restaurant in Oklahoma City. Because it is such a nice place, we were told to come dressed as we might have in the 1980’s as if we were going to dinner. I don’t know that suits were much different than now, but I had my wardrobe mistress (my wife) go to work on finding the right outfit for me to wear. She came up with the perfect suit and tie and I headed off for the restaurant. I went into the extras holding room and ran onto one of my acting friends, cute and perky Emily Ward. She was not working as an extra but she was the “extra wrangler.” That meant she was in charge of herding all of us around by telling who does what - and where. She had told me at the last Riverwind commercial filming that she had been the “prisoner extras wrangler” at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester when a scene was filmed there. The people she wrangled were actors, and fortunately, not actual prisoners.

I was sitting in the waiting room with about 25 others when Brooks Douglass and Paul Brown, the director, came in to say hello to the extras and to thank them for participating. Paul Brown has been involved in “Quantum Leap” and “The X-Files”. As they were leaving, Brooks turned and asked me to come outside into the hallway. I have known Brooks for a number of years and when he made a run for the congressional seat for Western Oklahoma, I helped him raise money.

Brooks told me he wanted me to play the part of an Oklahoma state senator. However, I wonder if it is an upgrade to go from car dealer to senator? Well, I tried to keep my grin from going ear to ear, but I was pretty excited. I left the extras room and moved into the restaurant where I met the other would-be senators. They were Joe Gilliland, Jim Hughes, Richard Phillips, and John Trebilcock. John is a current member of the Oklahoma House of Representatives and Richard is a past member. Jim is with the Alcoholic Beverage Laws Enforcement (ABLE) commission and Joe is an excellent real estate broker. All looked properly senatorial.

A makeup lady attacked us with face powder and hair spray to make sure that we were not shiny and then we took a seat at a table in the bar area of Junior’s. They placed various props around the table such as: cocktail glasses with a mixture of tea, apple juice, and water to resemble scotch or bourbon. There was a bottle of O’Doul’s beer. At least, that is what the bottle cap said. The two regular labels on the bottle had been removed and replaced with a label that had a generic name, but it certainly looked authentic. There were dirty plates on the table at several places, rumpled napkins, several ashtrays, and a martini glass with an olive in front of me. Drat, it was, unfortunately, filled with water. And to top it off, I was asked if I would mind smoking a cigar. Now, I haven’t smoked in almost 47 years. I quit when I married Joy, who never smoked, and I received my orders to report to an ammunition ship. Both happening simultaneously. Let’s see -- amo ship – fire? Not so good. I was never much of a cigar smoker anyway, but, heck!! It is all for art. I am surprised that I did not get sick or that Joy even let me into the house smelling of smoke.

Lance McDaniel, the AD (assistant director), attended to details and made sure everything was going smoothly. He was very efficient and all the crew I met and saw were very friendly. It is quite interesting to see how a scene is shot. I have seen small railroad tracks for moving cameras in various movie trailers over the years when films are being made. We had one at the bar. It probably did not go 12 feet but someone actually sat on the camera as it was moved up and down the side of our table.

The young man Mike Vogel, who played Brooks Douglass’ part, sat at the head of the table and we were to respond to him after he spoke. I can’t remember his exact line, but I know it included iguana and orgasm. I know. I know. It doesn’t make much sense so you will have to see the movie. Once he said his line we then had to laugh at what he had said and then talk to each other. The director told Richard to light a cigarette after the scene started, but to count to five and then light. As Paul Brown walked away he turned around and added, “DON’T count out loud.” I must be a seasoned actor as I already knew that!! We did the take about 10 times. Me smoking my cigar and sipping my martini, the others smoking and drinking. Reminds me of the old days when you could smoke in a restaurant. Plus, they had a smoke-making machine to add extra smoke to make the place hazy. Hmmmm, I wonder if I can receive SAG eligibility for drinking a martini, laughing and smoking?

Mike is in the movie “Cloverfield, and “She’s Out of My League” (just recently opened), and soon to be seen in “Miami Medical” on CBS beginning April 2. Amusingly, he told us he went to doctor school for a week to learn how to speak like a doctor and learn all the technology. Interesting insight I thought you might like to know. Mike is a very nice and polite person and I wish him well in the movie business. I talked to him after the scene was over and told him I was a retired automobile dealer and just beginning this journey. I told him I did not know how much call there was for someone my age. He told me I would be surprised, but at least I didn’t have to depend on this life to make a living. He has a wife and two little girls and I gather this is tough work if you have to fight through auditions all the time.

Overall, it was a blast and l look forward to the time when I have a scripted line. Thanks, Brooks. This was a lot of fun.

This was taken with my cell phone.


me, Joe Gilliland, Mike Vogel, John Trebilcock, Richard Phillips, Jim Hughes












Below is a website to find out more of Brooks Douglass' life

http://www.people.com/people/archive/
article/0,,20142085,00.html

My First Audition……..

AND I BLEW IT. Yes I really did. I had the opportunity to audition for a principal role in a Riverwind Casino commercial last week. My agent, Magna Talent, called me (you know how much fun it is to say I have an agent?) and asked me if I would be interested in auditioning for a principal in this ad. Of course, I would. I had just signed with them and immediately get a call to audition. Pretty exciting for me. I was sent the script so I would know what to expect. Yeh-Right!! (As you will find out later) I called my new acting buddy, Dorothy Shaw, and asked if she was going to the audition and she told me she was. For moral and acting support, we decided to practice together. From the script, the format was that a casino customer could win various trips around the US and each spin of the slot machine would bring you a better prize. The final spin would be the big time winner. Dorothy and I drove to Norman for the audition and stopped for lunch where we entertained the luncheon crowd with our dialogue. We sat opposite each other in a booth and went over the lines. Being a veteran, Dorothy mentioned that it was possible that they’d ask us to improvise, and we’d best create some other scenarios.

In the original spot, I was dreaming of fishing in Florida, and then WHAP! The wife is slapped upside the head with a fish. She was to respond in offense, “Eeeew, How about a SHOPPING trip to New York”. The excitement level escalated as various vacation spots were mentioned. And, that is the way the spot was to go: we were to show rising excitement as the various locales were mentioned. We had the script down cold so now we started improvising.

She slid to my side of the booth just as the waiter came up behind us. “So, are you feeling LUCKY?” she asked coyly. Where would YOU like to go?’ The waiter gave me a knowing look. I took Dorothy’s hand in mine, and I showed her how to cast. “How about fishing in Florida?”

“EEEEEEEW,” she grimaced as the waiter set food in front of her and she was simultaneously slapped in the face again with an imaginary fish. “I don’t think so.” The waiter look offended. “How about a shopping trip to New York?”

“Oh no no.” I had to explain to our confused waiter, “that was not about the food. We were just rehearsing our lines. The food looks delicious.”

During the real audition, they completely changed everything and there were/was (here we go again with that were/was thing from one of my earlier blogs. Where is Robin Garner, my cute English teacher acting friend, when I need her?) a huge bunch of people auditioning. We had not planned on that. They split us up and matched us with other partners. From the audition room, we heard loud oohing, aahing and screaming. The squeals were so orgasmic you would have thought there was a porno film next door. As people exited, we asked, “What is going on”? The script has changed. The prizes are now a trip to Mt. Rushmore, San Francisco, New York, and the final prize> OH, Be still my heart – a camping trailer with a pickup truck. At least that was WHAT I MIGHT WIN. Others may have been told differently.

When Dorothy emerged from her audition she told me they went through the tryout twice (as it turned out, we all did) and that her partner even kissed her both times. A friend I had known for many years, S, came out and told me that her partner had kissed her also. I then turned to Laurie Cummings and told her that if she and I went in together, she had better plan on getting kissed, but unfortunately, she was not to be my partner. Too bad, sometimes luck just runs against you. She’s very pretty. S’s partner, the man who kissed her, was awarded the male lead. Guess that kissing stuff works.

My turn came and I was the last one to audition. There were six people in the room watching. My partner was not an actress who had any interest in a part. She was a lady helping Chris Friehofer, the casting director, with the auditions. All the other women had left. I was told by the representative from the advertising agency what I should do. We were first going to Mt. Rushmore and then to the other exotic places I mentioned and was instructed to get more excited each time a different location was mentioned. That is why we heard all the screaming. The noise had come at the end of the spot when the final prize appeared. But, somehow the explanation just wasn’t clear to me. I had been told in acting class not to speak past the camera and here I was supposed to really shout out loud - make up your mind! So, I didn’t get excited enough and yell very loud, and I wasn’t chosen for the part. Oh well!! If I get a chance to audition for something like this again, I will know what to do. As I have found out from this audition, EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED. I went home to pour a scotch and water on my wounds.

However, I was hired as an extra in the same ad and appeared at the Riverwind Casino several days later to be filmed. This time I knew fewer people than last time, but they were all fun people. I did renew acquaintences with Cindy Hanska, Jerome Braggs, Emily Ward, Shawana Shafer. It seems we have a cheer leader each time. This time it was a pretty lady from Tulsa, Jennifer Fisher. She always had a smile for everyone and one time did a Miley Cyrus dance for us. I wish she had shown us that earlier in the day. I might have been able to learn a few steps and really impress Jordan, my 13 year old granddaughter. Another nice lady I met, Debbie Evans, had spent some time in the automobile business and we swapped stories about the business. I’ve developed a community of delightful new friends.

There will be three commercials made from all the shooting we did that day. Including the one with the trips. So, if you are in the Oklahoma City area, look for them. And, look for my left hand. It must be very manly and attractive as it seems to get all the play these days. In my previous, currently running, commercial, my left hand was very prominent. I have attached a photo from the last commercial that shows me in all my glory. If they give Emmys for commercials, I and my cohorts at the blackjack table will surely win. By the way, you also may use this picture as a screen saver just like you did with my headshots.

Now that I have an agent, I am still after that elusive speaking part in a movie or a television show.

Ronnie Deane, Lauren Synar, Jerome Braggs, me, Cindy Hanska


Click link below to see the commercial

WOW…..There IS money to be made in this business

After six months of all these lessons, I was hired for my first acting role at the Riverwind Casino on Wednesday. However, it was as an extra with no speaking part. Submitted my information to the casting director, Chris Friehofer at Friehofer Casting, and my sterling acting abilities were apparent as I was picked. Curtain call, or whatever the term is for a television ad, was at 7:00AM. I’m always up early anyway, so getting all cute and fluffy and driving 45 minutes to the filming site was not a problem. However, I had not counted on a heavy fog and a 40 car pile up on one highway and a smaller pile up on another. But, listening to the traffic reports on the way down kept me out of trouble. I checked in a little after 7:00AM with my other 31 co-stars.

We were asked to bring three changes of clothing, but wear the one you liked the best. My wardrobe coordinator, my wife, picked out what she thought would best show off my features. Eager and compliant, I was there with my stuff. We all lined up and faced the AD (assistant director, a term I now know). Almost felt as though I was in a police line up and someone was looking through a glass, pointing to me and told the police he “dun it”. However, it was just to check the outfits all of us had on. Instructions were – no solid black, white, red, green, no extreme patterns or plaids. My dresser did just fine.

This felt like home week to me as many who were there, I had met in acting classes previously taken. The AD picked out about 25 to go to the first shoot in an area loaded with blackjack tables. Here I was all dressed to go – and no place to go - as I was totally overlooked. Sobbing is so unattractive on a grown man. However, there were several actors (notice I use the term since I now consider me one) whom I knew and we had a lively discussion. Pretty sure I would need entertainment so I had brought the book I was reading for my men’s book club. I had it so that I could read during down times, but I had such a good time visiting that I never picked up the book. There were several of us who were overlooked on the first shoot. Laurie Cummings, Normanda Pelton, Rick Eager, Tony Williams, and I had a great discussion. Laurie had acutally read my blog when I first started writing and before I met her and commented on my blog that she too was a beginner. Normanda has been in several classes with me and Rick and Tony I just met. Rick is retired from General Motors and is a screen writer and told us about what he was writing. He has even written a sequal to Maimi Vice and hopes to get it filmed. There were also discussions about what agents to use in the OKC area. I still have to find one. But, after this shoot, I have decided to interview several and pick the one that recognizes my immense talent and will send me to audition for parts that will get me to the red carpet.

Finally, the first group came back and I was chosen to go for my shoot. I was fortunate to sit at the blackjack table that was the focus of most of the shoot. My table mates were Cindy Hanska, Jerome Braggs, Lauren Synar (I found out when I got home that my wife is friend’s with her mother – oh yes, again I was the oldest of the group – I’m getting used to this), and Ronnie Deane. We got to know each other since we were back and forth at the table throughout the day. Our cute and lively Riverwind blackjack dealer, Jacy Clift, taught me how to stack chips. This is one-handed stacking combining two stacks of chips. Well, I got to be pretty good at three chips, but could not quite master four. Unfortunately, these were all fake chips and could not be cashed anywhere. Even the ice in my cocktail glass was plastic.

One of the cameramen saw me stacking the chips and asked me to continue doing this throughout one particular shoot. How do you spell palsy? I stacked those chips so many times I now have a frozen claw – but hey, it’s all for art. At one point, I thought my hand was going to fall off.

During a period between shots, I was sitting with a group of actors when Lorrie Chilcoat asked if we wanted to play a game. This was an absolutely hilarious interactive fun new game to me. Joy and I take bi-yearly trips with a group of friends and she and I are in charge of bus games. This will certainly be a new addition. I am not even sure what it is called, but it is like the old gossip game we played as kids, but this was done with paper. There were seven of us who were in the game. Stephen Goodman, Cindy, Jerome, Shawana Shafer, and Leslie Hippensteel. This game required both writing and drawing. It is a good thing this group of talented people are actors as they could never make it as artists. We ran out of paper so our next game was Mafia. Another fun game. Jerome was in charge of this one and Emily Ward joined us. About the time this was over, a large group came back from filming and we got almost everyone to play the game. About 20+ of us sat in a huge circle on the floor of our waiting room and played Mafia. One thing I learned is that the camaraderie of actors is really great. We were all there under the same umbrella with no one trying to out audition another. As you can see, my book was just a heavy nuisance.

We even did a scene where they wanted those of us with shiny shoes to come forward. My newly polished black loafers got me in the spot and they put the camera on the floor to shoot us walking back and forth. I did not expect to be upstaged by my shoes.

All and all it was a fun learning experience. I never realized how much time is spent setting up the camera and lighting. And being paid was pretty exciting. At he end of our 12 hour day, I was waiting for in the payroll line with Ed Smith, the police chief of Seminole. He has really taken to this acting and I admire him. He and I talked about agents and he suggested I talk with his agent. He was cast in “The Killer Inside me” and of course, I appear to be the only one who auditioned for that movie who did not get picked. So my quest continues to find that elusive speaking part.

If you see a hand stacking chips or a pair of black shiny loafers in the Riverwind Casino spot, that may be me. Because I am now a seasoned actor, I know not to look at the camera, so I do not know if my face will end up on the cutting room floor – or in the commercial. However, I do think I should be paid extra because of my shoes.

The spots will air around St. Patrick’s Day.

Could I be an actor?

I have arrived – at least in my mind after my acting class this past weekend. Guess the previous acting classes were just background for the one I took this weekend. Robert Haas, a talent agent from Hollywood, and Ricki Maslar, a casting director, also from Hollywood, were at Chris Friehofer’s “The Actor Factory” in Norman. They broke the seminar into four segments. Two segments on Saturday and two on Sunday. The first segment covered the business of acting. That is auditions, headshots, resumes, demo tapes, and many other subjects. It appears, y’all, that I am going to have to overcome my Oklahoma accent in this process. Did you know that you can buy disks and even find a website to cure any kind of accent? Heck, you can even learn to speak bloody British. A lot more to this than I ever imagined. I had been exposed to this in another seminar so this was a good refresher. Actually, I am still working on those headshots from the previous blog.

The second focused on getting to know the class members and also an exercise in dialogue between two people. I’m familiar with this exercise as I had done it last summer and lived to blog about it previously. There we spoke to another actor using only two words which were “yes’ and “no”. This time we only used two sentences. My partner was “A”, a darling ninth grade student from OKC. Her line was, “I could have done better” and my response was “I want you to know you did the best you could”. We went back and forth like this for some time. Robert stopped us and asked what we were thinking. “A” went into an explanation about competing in a downhill skiing contest and lost by two tenths of a second. WOW – where did that come from? Mine was much simpler. She came home with good grades, but not good as she thought she should have had. He then had us reverse sentences. We did that for awhile and he asked us again what we were thinking. WOW AGAIN – Her idea was that I was her father who had remarried a younger woman and we were trying to have a baby by in vitro method. This young lady is a writer with a vivid imagination. Mine again was simple. I was leaving my wife and thought of this young lady as my daughter. (not even thinking it JOY!!)

Each student was paired with another and went through the same exercise only with different sentences. An extremely hilarious one involved a very pregnant beautiful Russian girl ‘M” and her cute partner Emily Ward. Their lines were, “I know he really loves you” and “Why did he do this to me”. Robert asked their thoughts after the first go around. “M” replied she was thinking she was talking to a sister of her father’s baby. Emily was imagining something similar as the sister of “M’s” husband”. Then Robert had them make an imaginary bed (which actually was a chair) and that “M” was in labor. They went back and forth with those lines. Those two brought the house down as they were absolutely hysterical. It is a shame that the scene was not taped. “M’s” expressions were priceless. Try this with someone using two opposing lines. It becomes an interesting exercise. Be sure to modulate the inflection in your voice.

Everyone did a marvelous job on the assignment.

Overnight night we had to learn a monologue and everyone had the same one to learn. I enjoyed this because we had to make up a scenario that fit the lines. My scenario was that I was a hard headed businessman who had no time for his son. I started and built a large business that I had wanted to turn over to him. During the time he worked for me, he did not like the way I treated him or my employees and quit and we had not spoken in years. No Christmas, no Thanksgiving or anything of the sort. I learned I had a very short time to live and wanted to reconnect. The monologue revolved around me wanting to have a meeting with him and the son, apparently not interested, never showed up. (My wife asked, “Where did that come from. You’re a great dad and great with your kids”). After each of us gave it the first time, Ricki asked us a number of questions about our character and we had to answer as though we were that actual person. I enjoyed that. By coming up with a scenario, it really helped me to remember the lines since they meant something and were not just words on paper. I felt it gave me impetus to be able to put emotion into the scene. Even my wife thought I sounded pretty good when I practiced in front of her.

I had always wondered how it was that actors seemed to be able to cry when they needed to do so to enhance a scene. After each student performed the first time, Ricki asked each of them questions regarding their character. She then asked them to do the monologue again. The talent this woman has to bring out emotions was incredible. Almost every girl ended up doing the scene while crying - and a good serious cry. I sat there utterly amazed at their talent. One beautiful attorney,"M", from Tulsa probably has the same amount of experience as I have. What she brought to that scene was terrific. Ricki is quick to point out that SHE did not do this. It was the actor brought those emotions to the scene. Almost all the girls gave their monologue with tears. Even those of us in the audience got sniffly. But then, I’m all soppy as I tear up or cry at movies all the time anyway. Whether it be 27 Dresses or Avatar. Several of these young ladies and men are leaving for Hollywood in the next several weeks. I wish them loads of luck. Can I go – Huh – Can I, Can I?

The last session on Sunday afternoon consisted of scene work. My partner was a cute student, “A”, from Deer Creek. We did a scene from a forthcoming movie, "Bus Stop Conspiracy". I was the father, Warren, and I was annoyed at my daughter, Sophia, because she had rented a boat and was also on medication. She was a psycho, but then she was also a teenage girl. (to me – synonymous). You have heard the saying haven’t you, “The devil comes and takes your daughter at 13 and gives her back at twenty”? Pssst – to my daughter Robin – this does not mean you. (Your mother made me put that in) This is fun working with someone else doing an actual scene from a movie.


There were 20 of us in the class. The age difference was similar to my other classes. I was the old man of the group. There was a very “with it” 10 year old young lady, “K”, whom, if I understand it correctly, earlier that morning had auditioned for the young girl lead in the remake of "True Grit". A retired Lawton police officer, Jed Fox, was in the class. He was originally cast as an extra in the movie "The Killer Inside Me" (the movie that started me on this quest). As it turned out, he was standing next to the director in the courthouse in Cordell when he mentioned that he was retired law enforcement and if he needed any help he would be glad to be of assistance. The director asked if he knew how to work the radio dispatch equipment. He did. He was asked to talk into it as though he were actually doing the dispatching job. Jed did such a good job, he was given a speaking part. (Rats! I see now that I should have originally dressed as a policeman).

Overall, this was a great learning experience. As Ricki said, “how many times does as adult get to play at something”. She said men will go out of their way to be in a western movie where they can ride a horse and shoot a gun. Some of the wickedest people you see on the screen can be some of the nicest people you would ever hope to meet in person.

Now I need to actually get my head shots printed and find an agent. I did have business cards printed with my suit head shot.

GAWD - Am I ever vain

Vain? ME? I’ve been known to walk out the door with a piece of toilet paper still stuck to my chin from a shaving cut, ‘cause I never look in the mirror. I never thought myself vain. WRONG!! Since I had my 252 head shots taken several weeks ago I have looked at them 253 times. I had no idea that I would be spending SOOO much time squinting, comparing, and admiring, but evaluating the need for eyelid bag surgery. This is just to pick out the one stellar shot that would get me that audition that will win me an Oscar (or at least get me a job). However, I did find a comrade to help me with the process. Dorothy Shaw, a beautiful lady in one of my acting classes, had her head shots taken by the same photographer as I (Jeff Nicholson). We decided to collaborate. She is a very talented graphic designer and has great equipment (no pun intended). She has a large monitor (I insist – no pun intended) and we could stack photos and compare our pictures on it side by side and see the many flaws. FLAWS – that would be me - NOT HER. Dorothy has been through this process before and I often see her on television commercials in Oklahoma City.

After loading the disk I had received from Jeff containing my 252 photos onto my computer, I started admiring me. A magnifying glass critique was scary. And, I was extremely critical of me. Too many wrinkles, eyes too squinty, not enough of my sexy Paul Newman blue eyes showing (magnified, they were kind of sexy – at least I thought), not smiling, not frowning, looking loopy, not enough eye showing, not smiling, not frowning, not looking correctly, head turned the wrong way, too many wrinkles, too many wrinkles, too many wrinkles. Not one made a George Clooney out of me! I decided that none would work, but since I wasn’t planning on going through this process again, I’d better choose one. Having been photographed in the four different outfits that I wore for the shoot, I intended to pick one picture from each change of clothes.

I picked a total of 42 pictures that I thought had a chance of making the cut and then traipsed off to Dorothy’s studio to have them displayed on her computer. She and I narrowed it to 13. Dorothy had over 300 pictures taken, but that Jeff’s all male. If I were Jeff, I would take more photos of her also. We narrowed hers down to a workable number. Then we emailed them to Jeff in Hollywood to get his idea. After all, he should know what the studios want and he seemed delighted to help us.

Several days later he emailed us the results. Well, it is evident that we do not know what the studios want since he picked very few of mine. Dorothy fared a little better. He sent us the photos that he thought were winners. He waxed enthusiastic telling me they were just certain to get me auditions in Oklahoma and Texas. WHAT!! Doesn’t he understand that my plan is to get to Hollywood?

This is tough. Back to the drawing board at Dorothy’s. Scrutinizing the lot, we picked the best of his best. I showed them to my wife and she also agreed. After all, it was Joy, my wardrobe mistress, who picked the outfits I was to wear. As I mentioned earlier, since we (she) had chosen four outfits, I wanted four shots. However, as it turned out one outfit was just not of quality befitting a star, so I discarded it leaving me with three. Jeff was very complimentary about several shots I had taken in a blue suit and I chose one that represented a grave, thoughtful, and serious person. That face could be an accountant or a mob boss. My dresser, having included a red (go OU!) fleece(I dont't even know what fleece is) jacket made me smile, and we decided to go with that look. One was John Wayne – ish. Since some cowboy type movies could easily be filmed in Oklahoma, I just had to include that version of me. But, now the magic comes into play. PHOTOSHOP. Jeff took away some wrinkles, did some other touchup techniques and voila´. I have my shots.

Those you see attached below are the ones that will move me along on the next step to an acting career. Dorothy already has an agent and she has told me she will introduce me to her. Now I need to prove to the agent that I am a product she can market.

BY THE WAY, FEEL FREE TO USE ANY OR ALL OF THESE AS YOUR SCREEN SAVER

Hitting The Mark 2

continuing my blog....

use experiences from our life to bring out these emotions. I think I did that with the aforementioned referenced gesture.

We learned “hitting the mark”. My slight familiarity with the phrase was close. There are marks for every person who is speaking. This first scene we did had a mark for the speaker, the person spoken to, and also a third person. This was someone who was talking to the person at the time I arrived on the scene. I learned that you do not need to move much either. If there is a close up being taken, just a few inches of movement is very noticeable on the screen.

What I found very interesting was not to panic if you forget your line. Just pause take your time and it will come to you. You know the lines, but for whatever reason you can’t recall it at that moment. The person who panics is you. Not the audience. When you see the playback, the pause is not nearly as long as you think it is while you are thinking of the line. Interesting how that works. We messed up on that, but we all eventually managed to work through it. As Darryl said, “Do not leave the scene. No one knows you made a mistake unless you announce it".

First position, second position, and so on are other terms I learned. I suppose you could have several positions but normally no more than two to three. The actor waiting off camera to enter the scene is in first position, and then when the actor enters the scene, that is second position. After that scene, we were given partners to work with on a different scene. Darryl did the match up and as luck would have it, Robin Garner, my partner from a yes and no exercise, was my scene mate. Ummm is that a phrase? We cut the scene first by doing a master. That is when the entire scene it shot at once and all players are in the scene. Then one by one each person is given a close up. Robin and I did the scene. Then the camera was placed just next to my left shoulder and they did a close up of her. We did the complete scene, but she was the only one on the camera. It was then my turn, and the camera was just behind her shooting me. Again, you do the complete scene, but only one person is on camera. I have watched television shows the past couple of nights and I see this now. I know when they do a close up, they have already done the complete scene. This is one way that the director can change the scene around for the viewing audience. But, you must make sure that the movements you make in the single scene are the same as when you do your master.

I really felt like I learned a lot in this class. I had an excellent instructor and was in the presence of very good and talented classmates. One young man was just completing a film he was producing and was taking the class to learn more about how the actors work. The name of his film is "Greyscale". Look for it soon. “Hey, Ryan! Need an old man to be someone’s father?”

Hitting Your Mark

This last weekend I took another acting course. The class was “Acting for the Camera”. And as advertised, that was exactly what it was. What a process this is – filming scenes. Our instructor was Darryl Cox. Darryl is a professor of Film and Video Studies at the University of Oklahoma, with an extensive movie and television background. He will soon be seen in the upcoming television series “The Deep End” which will be shown on ABC soon after the first of the year. He is very passionate about his craft and brings that passion to his class. He is very entertaining we learned so much.

He instilled in us that this class is not a competition and no one comes in first. All of us will make mistakes, but that is how you learn this craft and it is all right to get nervous when you are on camera. He tells you not to project past the camera. My over enthusiastic loud voice I found not to be appropriate. Big projection is fine for stage, but not film. That is the first of many mistakes I made. He gave us a small part to memorize and then perform in front of the camera. After my first take, he reminded me of the talking past the camera. I did better after that. It was a scene where each of us could interpret it any way we wanted. I assumed the person I was talking with was a long time employee who was trying to do something nefarious to my company. It started out with the words “You’re nothing. What I thought of you! How I felt about you-- etc”. l was full of adrenaline and really lashed out at the other person. I even scared me. I even ended the scene with a one finger expression people might use when a person cuts in front of them while driving.

Once I finished, I had to do it again. “Keep the passion but speak much softer”, was my instruction. The microphone is very close and therefore one does not need to speak loud at all. I wonder where that built up passion came from. Dad gum, I can be intimidating. I once had a lady embezzle a large sum from my business and I thought about that. Maybe that is what caused the passion. Also, could have been nervousness. I even surprised myself. The performance was repeated, I was softer, used the hand signal and walked off. I expected accolades. Instead I heard, “Your voice was better, but you still did not need to use the hand sign”. Bad news on my part. I was so concentrating on his message about not over talking the microphone, I completely missed him mentioning the hand signal. Less action is best. Growing up in a refined household, I was just not around vulgar. So from where my obscene gesture arose – I do not know. But for emphasis, I had shot the finger! Egad, you’d have thought I’d murdered someone on stage. Darryl used me as an example of “over the top” or “over acting” throughout the rest of the class. From then on through the rest of the two days, I was constantly reminded not to use gestures. It fact, it became a good hearted running joke, but I got the message.

When I arrived home that evening, I walked straight to my wife, said my spiel about, “You’re nothing! What I thought about you ..etc etc” and walked away. I found out that my new familiarity with “belittling” dialogue wasn’t popular. She came up behind me, tapped me on the shoulder, and when I turned around – she punched me in the stomach.

Darryl asked us do the scene again, but this time we were all on the receiving end. His intention was to have us respond naturally to what was being said to us. We were not to say a word, only react. That is much easier said than done. I was very impressed with how the class handled this. Some had great expressions and reactions. Gosh, this must be acting. He had told us to

.....It has been strongly suggested that my blogs may be too long. So, I am cutting it in half. The rest of this one is continued under the heading "Hitting The Mark 2".