Going up some of those hills about 20 miles into that first ride, the mental picture I had of myself was as Tim Conway riding a tricycle, struggling up a hill, just getting to the top and then toppling over like a stump. It was at that moment I knew one could feel like their lungs were about to explode and be laughing hysterically at the same time. At that point I’m sure I looked like nothing more than some demented old geezer with heat stroke induced delirium. Hey, even in misery I try to be entertaining.

Regular readers of this blog probably know that I’m training to ride in the Texas Mamma Jamma Ride Against Breast Cancer that is scheduled for October 10, 2009.

While I’ve been a recreational bike rider for a couple of years now, I’ve mostly limited my riding to early morning, sub-ten mile tours of the neighborhood and the occasional longer weekend ride.

The Mamma Jamma ride site told me there were rides of 10, 25, 45, 65 and even 100 miles for the event. Having never ridden more than 15 miles, and being in the over 50 age group, I decided that the 45 mile distance would be a challenge, but an achievable challenge. When I committed to participating in the Mamma Jamma ride, I knew I had to get serious about preparing for this effort.

Since I am not a trainer, not an athlete and certainly not a trained athlete, I sort of made up my own routine based on information I picked up in various bicycle publications and off the internet. I started by being more respectful to my no longer young body.   Among other things, that meant no more going to bed at 2:00 AM when I needed to be up at 6:30 to ride. If I had my druthers I’d stay up all night and sleep later in the morning but I really haven’t been able to do that for quite a while. So, too often, I’d been staying up late and getting up early and paying for it by being tired a lot of the time. That was one change.

Then I changed my riding routine, particularly on the weekends. Thirty minutes or so is usually all I can spare for riding on a weekday morning, so the brunt of the longer distance work has to be on the weekends. I’d been taking off on Saturdays for a 10 mile ride fairly routinely, but I knew that wasn’t going to cut it if I intended to complete the 45 mile Mamma Jamma course to which I was committed.

The Mamma Jamma Ride Against Breast Cancer organization has a terrific schedule of weekend group training rides and I set my sites on some of those.  Six or eight weeks ago there was a group ride scheduled for my neck of the woods and they organizers had a 12 mile beginner’s ride on the schedule.

Perfect.  I knew for sure I could do 12 miles as I’d done 10-15 miles many times. That ride went very smoothly so I showed up the next weekend for a 25 mile training ride…my first ever at that distance.

The distance wasn’t all that tough, as I found I’d gotten myself into pretty decent shape. The hills, however, were a different matter. There are no hills around my house.  There are hills out in the Georgetown area where the ride will take place and there were hills on that training ride in Liberty Hill.  Not BIG hills, at least they didn’t look big at the start.  ut hills nonetheless.

Going up some of those hills about 20 miles into that first ride, the mental picture I had of myself was as Tim Conway riding a tricycle, struggling up a hill, just getting to the top and then toppling over like a stump.

It was at that moment I knew one could feel like their lungs were about to explode and be laughing hysterically at the same time.  At that point I’m sure I looked like nothing more than some demented old geezer with heat stroke induced delirium. Hey, even in misery I try to be entertaining.

Over successive weekends I rode another 25 mile ride, then a 37 mile ride and two weekends back, I kicked it up to 50 miles.

FINALLY I’M GETTING TO THE GOAL SETTING. Sorry, I do tend to go on.

My First 50 Mile Ride:

The first 10 miles were pretty tough.  I usually takes me about 5 miles to start to feel really warmed up.  But that Saturday I felt tired.  I had eased off the daily training, saving my energy for the big weekend ride.

Ten miles in I was wondering if I had under trained.  But soon I was concentrating on the sadly decaying farm buildings I was passing, the cows looking at me like I was nuts and pretty soon I realized I was feeling better and I was looking forward to the challenge ahead.

Even when I ride short 5-10 mile courses through the neighborhood, I find that I need to give myself goals in order to succeed.  Usually at 1-2 miles I’ll be feeling like I’m going to ‘cut it short’ today.  But at 2 miles, I’ll tell myself, “you might as well do at least one more mile”….and on and on.

Then I recall the ‘deal’ I made with myself some time ago: If you get on the bike you have to go at least 7 miles. So, if the body is feeling old and cranky, I break it down a mile or two at a time.  By the time I get to five miles, I’m warmed up and I tell myself  ” just do the 7 or 8 miles”.

On the 50 mile ride I was glad I’d been through that game with myself so many times before.  Because when I hit 30 miles, I began to wonder what in the world I was thinking when I set off from home declaring that I would complete a 45-50 mile ride.

You see, the previous weekend I had planned my route so that I arrived home at the 35 mile marker.  No so on the 45-50 mile ride. I had routed myself so that I was still almost 20 miles from my house when I hit 30 miles. Yikes!

And the HILLS.  I was riding out in the Lake Pflugerville / Manda area. The hills aren’t huge, but believe me, 30 miles into a ride, they began to look like mountains.  And that’s when I began to play mind games with myself and to ponder the concept of incremental goal setting.

Looking ahead at a long stretch of road with a rather steep looking incline, I took a deep breath and plotted my strategy.

The first thing I did was stop looking at the horizon, at the top of the hill.  I knew that’s where I needed to go, but I also knew the task looked too difficult for the way my body was feeling.  The top of the hill wasn’t going anywhere whether I looked at it or not, so I told myself to stop looking so far ahead.

Next I took stock of my ‘assets’.  I had plenty of water left and I still had several energy snacks left.  Time to rip open one of those packets and get some nourishment. My bike, even though it’s a hybrid and not a road bike, was performing just fine…no mechanical problems.  And I was tired, but not exhausted.  There was still some gas in the old tank.

So I set off to climb that next hill.  Instead of focusing on the crest of the hill, I tried to keep focused just a few feet ahead.  I’m not saying I didn’t sneak a peek once or twice, but I concentrated on staying focused on the immediate task at hand, not on the eventual goal.

Time for a cancer story:

I learned a bit about this strategy from my wife, Jane, when she was in treatment for IBC, Inflammatory Breast Cancer.  Jane had chemo every two weeks.  The week she had chemo she got really sick.

She set a goal for herself to make it back to work on Monday of the second week.  It was tough.  By the evening of her chemo treatment she was starting to show the effects of the treatment. The next several days were worse.  But by Sunday evening she was feeling a bit better and on Monday morning she pulled herself up and went to work.

Jane had a GREAT boss during her time in treatment, Mr. Royce Faulkner. Mr. Faulkner had told Jane that she would be paid her full salary no matter how many hours she could work during treatment.  Can you believe that? So, she didn’t HAVE to go to work.  But it was important to her that she continue to live her life as best she could even during a difficult treatment for cancer.  Jane never verbalized the goal at the time.  She just set about accomplishing it.  And I understood.

It was a goal she set for herself and looking back I see how valuable it was to her set and achieve that incremental goal.  The bigger goal was, of course, to beat the cancer and to get well.   But to do that, she had to get through the treatment.  For her, setting ‘smaller’ goals along the way was key.

I swear I thought of all these things while I was riding. One of the things I like about riding alone is that one has a lot of time to let the mind run free and just think about things.

As I rode to the top of that hill, I started to think how I could apply this little lesson to other areas of my life, including my life as an actor.

Staying focused…’in the moment’ in acting parlance…is basic to the craft of acting.  Breaking a play, a role, a scene down into smaller parts…line by line, beat by beat…focusing on the present and not the ultimate goal…basic stuff to the actor.

Thinking of becoming an actor?  Formulate a plan.   Break it down into manageable pieces. Set goals.  Keep moving forward.  Set new goals.  Keep moving forward.

If you’re a writer, I know you’ve stared at a blank page or screen and wondered how you were going to get from there to page 120 of your new screenplay.  You might have used an outline or scene cards or some other device to break down the ultimate goal into more manageable portions. Keep moving forward.

But these basics are also concepts and ideals that can get lost in the very tough day to day BUSINESS of forging a career as an actor, writer, director or anything else.

So, I guess the lesson I learned on that ride…for the millionth time in my life, no doubt…was to set a goal.

Then to formulate a plan to to accomplish that goal.

Break the larger task down into manageable pieces.  Follow one completed goal with another.  Keep moving forward.

The benefits are several:  We ‘win’ by accomplishing the immediate goal.  With each incremental task completed we get that much closer achieving the larger goal.  And each step along the way, we grow in experience and in confidence.

It’s so much easier to attack a ‘problem’ in this fashion.   Of course we’re not necessarily going to achieve the ultimate goal.  Not every time.  But there is honor and success in the trying.  Setting incremental goals can, I believe enhance the chances for ultimate success.

Setting incremental goals helps us avoid being overwhelmed by what may seem like an insurmountable task.   Looking at a task as insurmountable is a recipe for quitting.  Actually that’s a recipe for never starting.

Director Heather Scobie and a large cast of SAG and AFTRA actors presented a blocked for the state, live reading of the script with minimal lighting effects and sound effects. Frankly, I wondered if we’d pull this off as it was no small task. But under Heather’s confident guidance and with the talents of actors from Austin, Houston, Dallas and even Tulsa, OK it really turned out well.

The best part, to me at least, is that the writers, who were in attendance, seemed genuinely happy with the experience. They got to see their script on its feet and hear their characters speak aloud for the very first time. A Win/Win situation. If you’re a Central Texas SAG member and you haven’t joined the Conservatory, please do.

In addition to the Script to Screen series, we are actively programming seminars, classes, etc. to benefit Central Texas SAG and AFTRA members. Some programs and events will also be open to non-SAG actors as space and cost allow.

NEXT UP: Incremental Goal Setting – For Bicyclists and Actors, too

We could use your support in attending our next script to screen this
Sunday. As an experiment this time around, we are using audio and visual
cues:

SAG Script to Screen Team presents Returning Champion Film Script

TV Writers Michele Gendelman and Ursula Ziegler test the film waters

The Austin Script to Screen Team presents a LIVE film script reading
event with Michele Gendelman and Ursula Ziegler’s Returning Champion.

The general public is invited to join actors, writers, producers,
directors, and film aficionados at 4 p.m. Sunday, August 30, at St.
Edwards University Jones Hall, 3001 S. Congress Avenue, Austin, Texas.

Admission is free.

Returning Champion is an off the wall comedy about a college freshman
who is booted out of school and has to move back home to his has-been
game-show host parents. The only way out of answering relentless trivia
questions and guessing which door breakfast is behind is to get his
out-of work parents back on the air.

An ever-growing independent film market has enticed these two TV writing
pros to submit Returning Champion to area investors, directors and
producers.

Michele Gendelman has written for TV shows: Newhart and
Facts of Life and is the author of What the Other Mothers Know
published by HarperCollins and contributor to What Was I Thinking? -
Bad Boyfriend Stories from St. Martin’s Press.

Ursula Ziegler has written and produced TV’s Empty Nest and also written for Head of the
Class, Sister-Sister, and Larroquette. She has developed TV pilots
for CBS, Fox and Castle Rock when not appearing as a contestant on TV
game shows.

Where: Jones Hall in the Ragsdale Center, St. Edwards University

When: Sunday, August 30 – 4 p.m.

How Much: Free

If you search back through the archives of this site, – SEARCH “breast cancer” on the front page – you’ll find some posts about the battle my wife, Jane has had with IBC, Inflammatory Breast Cancer.

It’s been a tough fight for the past 6 years, but thank GOD and good doctors, Jane is still here to continue this fight. Before her diagnosis I had no idea there were so many different forms of breast cancer. That there were so many different ways that women and their families were affected by this myriad of diseases all labeled ‘breast cancer’.

I suppose I’ve been like many if not most co-survivors. I’ve tried to be supportive, compassionate, loving. Those things are easy, really. After all, if you love the person who has been diagnosed with cancer, or any other serious illness, that’s just the way you act and react. The hard part…part of the hard part, at least…is not being able to do anything to change the course of events. That’s out of our hands.

Jane’s cancer, IBC, is considered incurable. But when she was diagnosed, we weren’t given much hope that she’d still be here for anywhere close to six years. But ongoing research and the resulting new treatments and medicines can change the way things have been and make for a much brighter future, even for those with cancers labeled ‘incurable’.

This is where we who are co-survivors and friends and family can…just maybe change the course of events. We can join efforts to continue medical research and to lift up groups that support our loved ones who are fighting for their lives.

While I’ve enjoyed participating in the yearly Komen Race for The Cure, and I’ve attended meetings and fundraisers for various breast cancer charities, I’ve found another way to give something to the effort.

I discovered a new breast cancer fund raiser that is a bicycle ride called the Mamma Jamma Ride Against Breast Cancer.

I’ve been cycling for a couple of years just as a form of relaxation and exercise. When I found out about the Mamma Jamma ride, I knew I wanted to become involved, support my wife and other breast cancer survivors and help raise a little money for the cause in the process.

I’d like to encourage any Austin area breast cancer survivors and co-survivors to visit the Mamma Jamma Ride home page and get involved. If you can’t ride, sign up as a volunteer. If you’re a rider you can sign up for a ride of 10, 25, 45, 65 or 100 miles.

I’m committed to riding at least the 45 mile ride. You can follow my progress on the Mamma Jamma site by going to My Personal Page.

Here’s what the author has to say about his book:

The book began life as a blog post, back in 2004. It had a very simple premise: “So you want to be more creative, in art, in business, whatever. Here are some tips that have worked for me over the years.”

And I don’t think a life spent fighting like hell, to get that basic human need expressed and fulfilled, is a bad thing.

Texas

“Beyond the Farthest Star” – 00233502

Pathlight Entertainment, LLC – Low Budget

Location: Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX

Start Date: October 1, 2009

“Breaking the Press” - #00246726

Pumpkin Seed, LLC – Ultra Low Budget

Location: Dallas, TX

Start Date: August 3, 2009

“Cherry Bomb” – 00246793

Strike Anywhere Productions, LLC – Ultra Low Budget

Location: Austin, TX

Start Date: September 16, 2009

Casting: Garrett Hargrove;  contact at cherrybombfilm.com

“Cowboy and Lucky” – 00247361

Red C Entertainment – Ultra Low Budget

Location: Waco, TX

Start Date: To be determined

Casting:  info at redctelevision.com

Epic – Low Budget

Start Date: September 2009

Location: Texas, Mexico (city not specified)

Casting:  epicmotionpicture at gmail.com

“Friday Night Lights” - #00246956

NBC Studios, Inc.

Start Date: 9/2/09

Location: Austin, TX

Casting: Beth Sepko  info at bethsepkocasting.com

“God Save the Red, Black and Blonde” – #00246098

Ordered Productions – Ultra Low Budget

Location: Austin, TX

Start Date: To be determined

Casting: Dan Jimenez;  daj5757 at gmail.com

“Imago” – #00244751

Upstart Filmworks, LLC – Ultra Low Budget

Location: Houston, TX

Start Date: August 1, 2009

“Jacob’s Edge” - #00246799

Long Distance Freestyle, LLC – Theatrical

Location: Dallas, TX; L.A. CA; Georgia

Start Date: September 15, 2009

Casting: Nick Anderson 310-422-5856

“Letter H, The” – #00233247

GCP Film, LLC – Theatrical

Location: Houston/El Paso, TX

Start Date: September 3, 2009

Casting: Rodney Acevedo  racevedo at gutcheckproductions.com

“Machete” - #00246735

Machete’s Chop Shop, Inc – Theatrical

Location: Austin, TX

Start Date: July 29, 2009

Casting: Sonny Solomon  distraughtsound at wmconnect.com

“Minority Western” - #220674

FAD Productions – Ultra Low Budget

Locations: AZ & Dallas, TX

Start Date: December 2009

Casting Hernandez Agency 213-440-6288

“One Moon in Luck” aka “Shoot Out of Luck” – #00244805

Liz Destro – Theatrical

Location: Austin, TX

Start Date: October 1, 2009

“Player’s School” – #00238898

Nexus Entertainment and Greg Carter – Ultra Low Budget

Location: Houston, TX

Start Date: To be determined

“Pros and Cons” – #00246100

Going Bats Entertainment – Ultra Low Budget

Start Date: September 1, 2009

Casting: Scott Ross 972-877-6757

 stross at goingbats.com

“Rising Stars” – 00245871

Modern Verge, LLC – Ultra Low Budget

Location: Fort Forth, TX

Start Date: August 10, 2009

“Sodom: The Armageddon Prophecy” – #00246974

Trinity Films, LLC – Low Budget Modified

Location: Austin, TX

Start Date: To be determined

Casting: Michelle Millette;  douglasthemovie at yahoo.com

“Under the Influence – #00238358

Just Make it Happen – LLC

Location: Little Rock, AK;

Start Date: August 24, 2009

“Up & Down” – 00236412

Potion Pictures – Ultra Low Budget

Start Date: 8/28/09

Location: Houston, TX

Casting: Johnette Duff  johnetteduff at aol.com

“Wilderness” – #00247393
Wilderness LLC – Modified Low Budget

Location: Central Texas

Start Date: August 17, 2009

Casting: Javier Bonafont –  WildernessFilm at gmail.com

Louisiana

“Battle Los Angeles” – 002458852

Battle Productions, LLC

Location: Louisiana

Start Date: September 10, 2009

Casting: Fincannon Casting

“Dead Whisper” - #00231285

Dead Whisper Productions – Theatrical

Location: New Orleans, LA; Big Bear, CA

Start Date: To be determined

“Hurting Kind, The” - #00244310

TNC Shreveport, LLC – Low Budget Modified

Location: Shreveport, LA

Start Date: To be determined

“Snatched” – 00247070

Film Flam Productions, LLC

Location: New Orleans, LA

Start Date: To be determined

“Somnambulist” – #00247071

TST Productions, LLC – Low Budget Modified

Location: New Orleans, LA

Start Date: To be determined

“Straw Dogs” – #00247196

Straw Dog Louisiana, LLC – Theatrical

Location: Shreveport, LA

Start Date: August 17, 2009

For a good overview of the challenges faced by camera manufacturers in unleashing HD video in the DSLR format, check out The Gadget Blog, Gizmodo

The video production landscape changed in the last year or so when high end DSLR models were released by Nikon and then Canon.

Not to be left behind, Panasonic has upped the anti again with the announcement of its Lumix GH1 that is capable of “recording 1080p AVCHD video with continuous autofocus (a feature so far absent from DSLRs with video capture capability) and a deep zoom lens with a silent motor.”

The convergence of these technological advances in camera equipment with a maturing internet creates a lot of promise for independent filmmakers. It only takes a Google search to locate information on web based content including webisodes and short films shot with one of the new video capable DSLRs. And this is only the beginning.

Fortunately, there is a growing array of professional quality production equipment available to the DSLR video shooter. Perhaps no company has been as aggressive in adapting is products for DSLR shooters as a company called Zacuto.

They have packages for everything from ENG (Electronic News Gathering) to Documentary to feature film projects.

Steve Weiss of Zacuto also produces a very interesting series of webisodes called FilmFellas, a series of round table discussions about filmmaking with Weiss and a changing cast of guests.

Take some time go hit the FilmFellas site and I think you’ll find some interesting discussions, well shot and edited and presented in excellent quality.

Here is a video from Zacuto that presents a really interesting glimpse into the equipment available to turn your new HD capable DSLR into a professional quality filmmaking tool. Let me know what you think.

Introducing DSLR Cinematography from Steve Weiss, Zacuto USA on Vimeo.

Join me on FACEBOOK.

What prompts this little rant? I received an email yesterday from an acting related blog I’m apparently subscribed to that led me to a link to a message board at backstage dot com. For those who don’t know, BACKSTAGE is trade type publication that originally was centered on NY theater and film issues and has for some years also been also covered the LA market as well. It is a legitimate publication, so what I have to say is not a criticism of Backstage.

Here’s the link: Backstage Message Board

Do me a favor and finish reading here before bolting for the message board. I’ll give you a taste of what you’ll find. Here’s the way the discussion begins:

Is anyone familiar with Peter McMahon? He wants my 14 yr. old daughter to be in his new movie. I am excited about this, is it for real? …he said I needed to send him $250. for the SAG, AFTRA, and ACT memberships. He said he could get her 150 hours in in about 3-5 days, because he owns a radio station, cable network, and so on in New York. We were in touch via telephone. He got my daughter’s resume from ***talent.biz, where she can go for casting calls, gigs, and so on for $20.00 per month. I haven’t heard from him since Friday night, and he said he’d send us a “confirmation” for our airline ticket on Sunday night, or Monday morning. It is Monday after 2pm, and he hasn’t returned my phone call. I realize that I am not high on his priority list, since she has 0 experience, but I am getting nervous. His phone number is out of Nashville, TN. Thank you for ANY info you can give me!!

How many red flags do you spot in this post? For the promise from a complete stranger, via a contact across state lines and over the internet, some well meaning but completely clueless parent is about to waste her money, at the very least, and quite possibly jeopardize the safety of her 14 year old daughter. Unbelievable. But believe it, it’s true.

Let me save you some time it will take to read the entire thread on Backstage. An frighteningly large number of other posters responded that they had already sent the scammer identified as “Peter McMahon” at least $250 to be ‘cast’ in his supposed film project called “Italian in the South”. At least one person posted that they had already purchased their tickets to NYC but were waiting for Mr. McMahon to forward their itinerary.

Uh…don’t hold your breath on getting that ‘itinerary’. But this poor person wasn’t the only one taken in by this rather transparent scam:

All of this is happening to me now I have been talking to him peter mcmahon [sic] all day and am suppose to fly out to new york tomoorow [sic] I sent him 250 through western union. I think I got taken.

Ya think?

And this:

Same thing happened to me yesterday. I had noticed this blog yesterday but thought surely that he would call you. I actually called him last night and he answered and said that he would be sending my schedule and itenerary soon. Has anyone else heard anything??

And finally someone injects a bit of good old common sense:

DO NOT FLY ANYWHERE. Obviously, we are missing some information in this situation, but this simply cannot be legit. I guess this COULD just be a money scam, in which case you will never hear from this guy again. But if he was intending to actually fly a child to NYC, it sounds like more than a scam: it sounds more like sex trafficing [sic] . I’m not kidding.

Listen up actors, wannabe actors, and parents who want their kids to be the next big thing in TV and the movies:

I don’t even know where to start listing the DON’T and NEVERs that apply but here are a few in no particular order of importance:

1. NEVER pay any agent upfront money to ‘represent’ you or your child in the entertainment business. That is NOT the way a legitimate agent / client relationship works.

Agent’s work FOR talent in a effort to secure employment. AFTER the talent books a job and is paid, the agent will receive a commission. NOT beforehand.

NOT on the promise of getting the performer work.

NOT in advance in any legitimate situation.

IF an agent requires you to pay a FEE of any kind in exchange for representation that is NOT a legitimate agent and you will be throwing away your money. PERIOD.

Agent scams are as old as show business. See my former post on Headshots for some discussion of the old ‘use my photographer’ scam where the ‘agent’ is nothing more
than a referral service for one or more photographers from whom the ‘agent’ receives a kickback.

Old scam, still going on every day in Hollywood and across the country.

2. NEVER pay a casting service that purports to cast roles in film, television or commercials. Casting directors get paid by production companies, not by actors.

I suggest you check out LEGITIMATE casting offices like casting director Beth Sepko’s where you’ll find the following statement. By the way, Beth’s company casts both principal roles and background:

There is NEVER a fee to be registered or on file with our company. There is also NEVER a fee collected from the talent or extras for any booking. We are compensated by the production companies who hire us. Which means we only book talent for projects we are casting.

Google Beth’s name and you’ll find her site. Read all the information there and you’ll get a good idea of how a legitimate, professional casting director works.

Also check out the web site for THE ALLIANCE. There you’ll find a wealth of information about legitimate conduct for actors, agents and casting directors. This information applies nationwide, not just for actors in Central Texas, so if you’re in LA or NYC or Nashville, TN check out these resources for some very solid information.

3. NEVER post your home address and/or home phone number on some internet ‘casting’ site. Most of these sites have as much chance of generating a legitimate casting opportunity as I have of beating Lance Armstrong in a bike race. Not Likely.

I understand that parents and young actors are trying in every way possible to gain entry into a very competitive business that doesn’t seem to have many open doors.

You should understand that most legitimate casting sites, sites that are actually utilized by professional casting and production people, require that talent have some credentials: an agent, legitimate credits, SAG or AFTRA or AEA membership, for instance.

Listing your home phone and address only sets you up to be more easily scammed or possibly worse.

4. NEVER allow you minor child to have a private meeting with a casting person or agent. That is particularly true if you’ve made contact via the internet or, heaven forbid, Craig’s List.

You are a parent first. Your child’s future career, if there is to be one, will not be thwarted because you exercise good parental judgement.

On the other hand, your child’s safety could definitely be compromised if you do not. Unfortunately, pedophiles and other scumbags can be very clever. Wise up.

5. NEVER post provocative photos of yourself or your children on casting forums or sites. Don’t invite trouble. Unless you’re trying to get into the porn business,
no legitimate casting site wants to publish your nude or semi nude photos. Period.

And to wrap this up:

If you get contacted about a casting call, do your homework. Google is your friend. The IMDB is your friend.

The national or regional offices of Screen Actors Guild or AFTRA are your friends. You do not have to be a union member to get lots of FREE information off the SAG dot org site, for instance.

If you have a question about a producer or production that is supposedly shooting in your area, check with SAG. See if it is a signatory production. Not all legitimate productions are SAG signatory, but the SAG office may have information that will be helpful.

Understand that every state has CHILD LABOR LAWS and legitimate casting and agent’s office go out of their way to make sure they are in compliance with all legal requirements for working with or even interviewing minor children.

Finally, don’t be so desperate to break into the film business that you break the rules of common sense. I could go on forever on this subject…and probably have but the situation that prompted this post is disturbing. To resurrect a line from Hill Street Blues (yeah I’m old enough to remember HSB), BE CAREFUL OUT THERE.

Discover the ins & outs of the TX Moving Image Industry Incentive Program & building the biz in Texas.

Join this open forum for producers, directors, actors and crew. Learn about the new incentives for growing work in Film, Commercial Advertising, Corporate Film, Video Gaming, & New Media. Find out how the new incentives have impacted Texas production, who’s using the incentives, and how home grown creativity can benefit from the new program.

When: Sunday, July 12, 2009

4 p.m. – 6 p.m.

Where: Congregation Beth Israel

3901 Shoal Creek Blvd.

Austin, TX 78756

(512) 454-6806

Panel includes:

· Bob Hudgins—Director, Texas Film Commission

· Linda Dowell—Regional Branch Division Exec Director, SAG

· TJ Jones— Texas Regional Director, AFTRA

· Craig Berlin—Business Manager, Pro-Tape Systems

· Ken Rector—Business Manager, IATSE Local 484

· Tom Booker—Moderator, Austin Conservatory

Cost: FREE

Please RSVP to Sheila Cooper at: (972)361-8185 OR (800) 724-0767, option 7 or  sheila.cooper at sag.org

Below is the list of candidates for the six (6) open At-Large positions on TXMPA’s Board. Please take some time before voting begins to review this list and become familiar with the candidates. An e-mail with pictures of the candidates, their bios, and endorsements for these candidates will be placed on the TXMPA website  www.txmpa.org), and distributed to the general membership on Thursday, June 18; if you would like to have your endorsement included, please e-mail TXMPA at  info at txmpa.org no later than Wednesday, June 17.

1) Craig Berlin
2) Garry Potts
3) Jeanette Scott
4) Jeff Horny
5) J. Schuh
6) Justin Muller
7) Larry Cashion
Linda Alcazar Jurado
9) Michael Druck
10) Rick Olmos
11) Robert Curlin
12) Ron Bush
13) Will Raymond

Online voting for these positions will begin at 12:01 AM on Monday, June 22 and will continue until 11:59 PM on Thursday, June 25. Just a reminder: online voting will be handled by Ballot Bin  www.ballotbin.com); as a precaution, please “whitelist” Ballot Bin. This is simply done by adding their e-mail address ( notices at ballotbin.com) to your contact list, so that when voting begins, their e-mail will come directly to your inbox and not to your spam folder.

To be eligible to vote for At-Large members, you must be a paid-up member of TXMPA (at the full or supporting level) by 5:00 PM, Friday, June 19. If you are unsure of your current membership status, please contact your Regional Representative for clarification [or send an e-mail to  membership at txmpa.org]. You may find more information about your Region, and contact information for your Regional Representative, at TXMPA’s website.

Results of online voting, along with the three (3) newly elected Regional Representatives and their respective Alternates, will be announced at our Statewide Annual Meeting, to be held at Texas State University in San Marcos on Saturday, June 27. For more information on the meeting, please visit our website.

As always, thank you for all you do for the moving image industry here in Texas, and we’ll see you on the 27th!