Booking the job

Hello blog-o-sphere, long time no post. I really ought to be putting more of my New York stories into blog format, but let's start with this new development.  The punch line is that I booked my first commercial and I'm enroute to Providence, RI to shoot it. The interesting part is that I actually booked it in my hometown of Boston. In case you don't know my origin story, I've only been in New York for a year. After finishing college, I spent about five years in Boston doing first student films and community theatre, then some paid gigs and eventually some very well received productions with small and fringe theaters. The feathers in my cap were two principal parts I booked in smallish features (both with movie stars and budgets under 10 million) from which I secured my SAG card and a relationship with the local casting office. After moving to NYC, I still will take the bus back to Boston for the day when auditions come up. Which is frequently a crap shoot, sometimes I'll be at a casting call with half a dozen other actors, other times I'll realize I made the trip for a cattle call. One time this fall I misread a casting notice and realized I went all the way out for what was literally a cattle call of 20 something male actors. Even though it was meant for young actors to introduce themselves to the head CD. Theoretically, this might have been a waste of time, but I successfully reminded her that I existed and I think it resulted in my getting called in to more castings than I would have otherwise. Including an audition for a Mass State Lottery commercial last month, which was additionally serendipitous since I've been taking a great commercial acting class with David Cady. I didn't book that commercial, but I did good work and it lead me to being called in last week for another commercial which I'm now on my way to shoot. It's a SAG job, and if all goes well, I'm looking forward to a 52 week buy out for internet usage. I'm not all the way up on my SAG contracts, but I ought to be paying rent off it for the next few months and it's a huge feather in my cap in my search for a commercial agent. I guess the moral is to put yourself out there whenever possible and you never how or when it might pay off, cheers and thanks for reading.