My Nemesis!
Yesterday I shot a little local commercial, and it was a pretty decent day. Not very lucrative by any means. But it was downtown (so no hoofing it to the suburbs), it was relatively short (8 hours), and it was with a fun group of actors and an appreciative bunch of producers and clients. All of that can pretty much make up for the low paycheck.
It was for a wine store -- a chain of wine stores actually -- and the seven of us were playing couples on dates, and on double dates and groups of friends at New Year's and other events. The non-actors were especially impressed at our ability to laugh uproariously on command, and make like lovers with virtual strangers. And that's how my acting best stacks up -- when measured by non-actors.
That's sort of a cool thing about these jobs. You put all these different people together and we manage to act like we've been friends for years. Sometimes we are, but mostly it's just we're all used to being thrown in with each other at countless auditions and gigs and we all have the same issues and frustrations and gripes so it's pretty easy to close any gaps quickly.
And it's not at all cutthroat. In fact, I'd say the commercial scene here is more collegial than the theater scene. At least the commercial people don't normally take themselves too seriously.
One of the guys in my group is my Nemesis. Not really, but he's this guy about my age who is at just about every audition I go out on. He books a TON because he's good and good-looking, and very all-American dad-next-door. So usually when we audition for the same thing the client sees kind of a range. I've gotten a few jobs he's gone out for (including a print shoot next week) and he's gotten many that I've gone out for.
Anyway, it was the first time we actually worked together on a job since we first met on a photo shoot several years ago.
The producers were the same group who did the holiday spot. This time I made a special point to not smile TOO gaily, and to not be glib, which I thought showed through on that spot. At least it did to me and people who know me. We'll see if I succeeded.
1 comments:
"In fact, I'd say the commercial scene here is more collegial than the theater scene. At least the commercial people don't normally take themselves too seriously."
---Yeah, tell me about it. The Chicago theatre scene is among the least collegial I've experienced, especially when it comes to playwrights. I've been treated much better as a playwright in NYC and LA, both of which are much more competitive markets than Chicago (ironic??)
A certain Chicago playwrights' organization that kicked me to the curb a couple years ago just sent me an "urgent" email begging for donations. Somehow I don't think that's where my very limited $$ will go.
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