What I'll Be Working On This Fall

Hollywood has been in a bit of a dry spell until recently. As a producer friend of mine once told me, "you picked a bad time to get into the entertainment industry." As I was acting in Bart Got a Room, the indie film I did last November, the Writers Guild of America strike had just begun. That lasted until early this year. Then, there were rumors of a Screen Actors Guild strike. I'm unsure of whether this ever happened, as I never saw any official news about it. Even though it never occurred, I've been told that a lot of films weren't going forward with production because they were just being cautious.

This may have affected the next few movies I'm doing this fall, the first being Kid Cannabis, which I announced not too long ago. It was originally scheduled for shooting in July. Then it was pushed back until September. Now I've heard that they don't know when the shoot will begin, keeping it vague and saying "Late 2008."

This has all been a bit frustrating for me. I was hoping I'd be able to get this film out of the way and move on to the other two, but now it's up in the air. As I've come to learn, this happens a lot, and not just in this way. Everything I hear, every offer I get, it's all up in the air. I have no idea where I will be in the next two months. I could be in Canada working on Kid Cannabis, I could be in LA, or I could be at home making more reenactments in my parents' basement. It's all quite chaotic.

The second film I'm involved in, I can't talk much about. It's called Paper or Plastic, and as listed on IMDb, is written by Ben Going (also known as "Boh3m3" on Youtube) and Edwin Marshall (who was my former manager. He handed me over to my current manager last year, and we've since remained "producing partners.") I also helped in the writing of the script, but not as much as Ben and Edwin. The real writing credits go to them. If I get the chance and the opportunity, I can tell you all more about this project at a later date. This film has been slated to shoot for October, but may be subject to change from what I hear. My constant worry is that Paper or Plastic will, in some way, conflict with Kid Cannabis. If it comes to that, I have to choose one over the other. Hopefully that won't happen, and it will all work out.

The third film I'm doing is scheduled to shoot for late October or early November. It is an independent film called The Bill Collector. My part isn't huge, but it'll be a fun and easy job to do (probably four days of work at the most). The best thing about this project is that it's being shot at Virginia Beach, which is in driving distance from my area.

Those are the three projects that I'm involved in. As a result of all these scheduling issues that I've mentioned, my summer has been uneventful. I've been auditioning nonstop and working at my part-time job to pay the bills. In the meantime, I've made the occasional Youtube video. I've tried doing reenactments, but I'm finding it harder to build up any sort of motivation to do so. I've been leaning more towards original material, which people seem to be responding to. Even so, I still get requests for reenactments. I'll make another one eventually... I just have to think of a good one.

I have a lot of ideas for videos or short films that I'd like to put into motion, but I don't have the resources for most of them. I've tried writing scripts to expand on these ideas, only to find it to be a lot harder than it looks. I have, however, almost finished one of these scripts that I'm excited about. If I ever get to film it, it would be my first real attempt at serious material.

That's it for this post. More to come.