Auditioning and commercial work is a strange beast in-and-of itself. Just when you're asking yourself if there is any work out there, or if you're ever going to get called...ring, ring...and you are presented with two or three auditions right in a row. You have to be grateful for those calls when they do come and make the most of those auditions.
I thought it would be fun to make my phone calls from agencies more entertaining, so I changed my ringer to the sound of the old-fashioned, casino change that used to fall from slot machines. Since one of my favorite pastimes is to play slot machines...I thought the sound of the ring from the agencies would tell me that 'money was coming', or at least I hoped it would lead to money eventually. Now I get really excited every time I hear that ching, ching, ching. Pretty cool.
I was also fortunate to have my Actor's Demo Reel put together by a very talented film editor, Lupe Valdez of Anteros Entertainment. (http://anterosentertainment.com) Lupe makes his home in the popular film market of Austin, Texas and has done incredible work with a variety of actors and film projects. I couldn't be more grateful for his help and professionalism. The links to the reel are below.
http://www.imdb.com - Matthew Nichols or https://www.facebook.com/mnicholswi
I'm currently finishing up some university, student thesis film projects for the summer as well. The unfortunate struggle for the students is getting everyone to be in the same place at the same time to keep shoots consistent. I'm working with a wonderful young, female writer/director Jessica Usagi Knap who is very good at what she does and is incredibly organized and professional. I felt bad however, when she had to reshoot several scenes, because my son who is in the film with me, broke his arm skateboarding. That led to continuity issues and his 'green' cast had to be reincorporated into the film. All is well though and we have a few more days of shooting. It's been a great crew and cast (no pun intended), to work with.
I'm also looking very forward to the filming of Serial Daters Anonymous which is scheduled to begin shooting in Milwaukee, July 8th - July 28th. Louise Linton is an L.A. actress who will be playing the lead role, along with another L.A. actor, originally from Milwaukee. His name cannot be mentioned yet, due to finalizing contract discussions. I'm fortunate in that I will have the opportunity to have a few scenes with Louise Linton and it will bring some great experience to my acting and future opportunities. The film is written and directed by Milwaukee's Christopher Carson Emmons, a very talented young director in the area. He is very excited to start production as well.
My experience with acquiring film financing has been an incredible journey thus far. I have met with a great variety and number of investors to secure financing for the film we are working on. You get the opportunity to meet with some very interesting people along the way. Most of whom are extremely pleasant and easy to talk to. At times there have been some individuals who can be short with you or appear too busy, but when you are polite, patient and understanding of what they have going on, they are equally as willing to sit down to listen and share information. You also find that while many people have the assets to invest, putting money toward an independent film usually doesn't fall in line with their usual investment practices. It comes down to security and longevity for most of their desired investments and taking the leap to something exciting, but less tangible as producing a film, is a lot harder for them to wrap their minds around. I must say however, that every single person who passed on the film investment, was no less than grateful for being considered and polite to the last in their wishes and hope for success. No matter how you choose to handle the rejection, you have to walk away feeling good that you had the opportunity to meet some great people and open their eyes to some unique, and incredibly creative ideas and possibilities. I can't wait to say, "In your face!", when the film/s become a huge success too. I'm...just...kidding! What would be great is if after the film/s are successful, that I would meet up with one or more of these investors someday and they say, "Hey, congratulations on the success of your film. I'm really happy for you." That would be a really nice thing to have happen.
More exciting things are on their way. Stay tuned...and thank you for reading.
Best Wishes
