I’m no longer updating this blog by have a very active PODCAST that is covering much of the same material I once covered with this blog. The big difference is that I’m focusing on interviewing actors and other creatives in the film business who are writing, directing and/or producing their own projects. Join me at ACTORS TALK PODCAST !

If you like what you hear…it’s an audio only podcast at this time…please subscribe in iTunes and leave a review. THANKS!

Texas

“Beyond the Farthest Star” – 00233502

Pathlight Entertainment, LLC – Low Budget

Location: Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX

Start Date: October 1, 2009

“Cameraman” – 00248634

Dixie Films Alpha LP – Low Budget Modified

Location: Longview, TX

Start Date: September 24, 2009

Casting: David Cole  dnc at dixiefilms.com

“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

Cowgirl Chicks, The – 00248526

Rodeo Films, LLC – Low Budget Modified

Location: Ft. Worth, TX

Start Date: Late October 2009

“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

“Jacob’s Edge” – #00246799

Long Distance Freestyle, LLC – Theatrical

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

Start Date: September 15, 2009

“Just Me and Jose” – 00249418

Just Me and Jose, LLC – Ultra Low Budget

Location: McAllen, TX

Start Date: To be determined

“Legend of Hell’s Gate, The” – 00248883

4 Go West, LLC – Low Budget

Location: Granbury, TX

Start Date: October 12, 2009

Casting: Beth Sepko

“Los Scavengels” – 00249412

Demetrius Navarro – Ultra Low Budget

Location: Dallas, TX

Start Date: October 2, 2009

“Mind of its Own, A” – 00248745

Speaking Productions, LP – Low Budget Modified

Location: Dallas, TX

Start Date: September 28, 2009

Casting: Donise Hardy

“Minority Western” - 00220674

FAD Productions – Ultra Low Budget

Locations: AZ & Dallas, TX

Start Date: December 2009

Casting: Victoria Joyce Hernandez; (213) 440-6288

“Predators” – 00249564

Predator Planet, Inc. – Theatrical

Location: Austin, TX

Start Date: Late September

“Pros and Cons” - 00246100

Going Bats Entertainment – Ultra Low Budget

Start Date: September 25, 2009

Casting: Scott Ross,  stross at goingbats.com

“Trysts” – 00248638

Adulterers, LLC – Low Budget Modified

Location: Austin, TX

Start Date: October 13, 2009

Casting: Peter Yoder  peteryoder at bleutuna.com

Louisiana

“Battle Los Angeles” – 002458852

Battle Productions, LLC

Location: Baton Rouge, Shreveport, LA

Start Date: September 10, 2009

Casting: Fincannon Casting

“First Wedding, Then Marriage” – 00248498

First Wedding Then Marriage, LLC- Theatrical

Location: New Orleans, LA

Start Date: To be determined

“Hurting Kind, The” – #00244310

TNC Shreveport, LLC – Low Budget Modified

Location: Shreveport, LA

Start Date: October 15, 2009

“Locked Down” aka “Cage, The” – 00248248

LA Cage Productions, LLC – Low Budget

Location: Jefferson Parish, LA

Start Date: September 11, 2009

“Monster Wolf” – 00249488

Monster Wolf, LLC – Low Budget Modified

Location: Lafayette, LA

Start Date: September 28, 2009

“Relative Strangers” – 00244457

Relative Strangers, LLC – Theatrical

Location: Louisiana (non-specific location)

Start Date: To be determined

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.

LOS ANGELES, DECEMBER 10, 2008 — Screen Actors Guild today announced that strike authorization ballots will be mailed to paid-up SAG members on Friday January 2, 2009, and will be tabulated on Friday, January 23. A yes vote by 75% of members voting is required to pass the measure, which would authorize SAG’s national board of directors to call a strike, if and when the board determines it is necessary.

Screen Actors Guild National President Alan Rosenberg said, ”SAG members understand that their futures as professional actors are at stake and I believe that SAG members will evaluate the AMPTP’s June 30 offer, and vote to send us back to the table with the threat of a strike. A yes vote sends a strong message that we are serious about fending off rollbacks and getting what is fair for actors in new media. I am encouraged by the response of the capacity crowd at our Los Angeles town hall meeting Monday night.”

”We want SAG members to have time to focus on this critical referendum, so we have decided to mail ballots the day after New Year’s. We will continue our comprehensive education campaign and urge our members to vote yes on the strike authorization. I am confident that members around the country will empower our negotiating team with the leverage and strength of unified Screen Actors Guild members. Our objective remains to get a deal that SAG members will ratify- not to go on strike,” said SAG National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator, Doug Allen.

Ballots will be tabulated at Integrity Voting Systems in Everett, Washington. Passage requires 75% yes vote from those voting.

The AMPTP Response:

It’s now official: SAG members are going to be asked to bail out a failed negotiating strategy by going on strike during one of the worst economic crises in history. We hope that working actors will study our contract offer carefully and come to the conclusion that no strike can solve the problems that have been created by SAG’s own failed negotiation strategy.

September 29, 2008

Dear Gentlemen:

We believe it is clear that our members would fail to ratify your proposal of June 30, 2008. It would serve no productive purpose, therefore, to send our membership a proposal that SAG’s National Negotiating Committee and National Board have rejected and that our membership would not ratify.

It is our fervent hope that this news will encourage you and your colleagues to reengage in formal bargaining, with the exchange of proposals and compromise by both sides necessary to reach an agreement.

Our discussions with you and many of your colleagues since formal talks ended have educated both of our teams about our respective priorities and flexibilities. As we have said to SAG members, if we can reach agreement on three threshold issues, we believe we can finish these negotiations. One issue you brought to the table: force majeure protection for actors held by contract to a suspended production. Two issues we have identified as core principles: coverage for all new media productions (including those below $15,000/minute) and residuals for made-for new media productions re-used on new media. Other issues divide us, certainly, but we believe those other issues can be successfully addressed once we have resolved these three threshold issues. We have approached these contract negotiations reasonably and with a realistic and informed view of the state of the industry.

We are prepared to meet formally and continuously until we reach agreement. We owe it to our constituencies and the thousands of others in this industry that depend on a productive, stable and uninterrupted relationship between Screen Actors Guild and the networks and studios.

The alternative to reaching an agreement as soon as possible is unnecessary and destructive uncertainty. If your intransigence continues, however, our choices become harder and fewer. We would prefer the more complicated and productive choices that compromise will make necessary. But we can’t make those choices that lead to agreement working alone.

What do you say; when can our committees meet face-to-face?

Sincerely,

Alan Rosenberg
National President

Doug Allen
National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator

American Cartel – Ultra Low Budget

Agave Productions, LLC

Location: San Antonio, TX

Start Date: August 24, 2008

Devil’s Thumb – Low Budget Modified

Ranch Studios

Location: Austin, TX

Start Date: August 4, 2008

Friday Night Lights – TV Series

NBC Studios, Inc

Location: Austin, TX

Start Date: July 2008

Casting: Beth Sepko

Guys – Low Budget

Guys the Movie, LLC

Location: Austin, TX

Start Date: To be determined

More Moments the Go – Ultra Low Budget

Blank Action Productions

Location: Austin, TX.

Start: July 8, 2008

Portion 71 – Ultra Low Budget

Manny Hernandez

Location: Dallas, TX

Start Date: To be determined

Power Sun, A – Ultra Low Budget

Field Up Productions

Location: Dallas, TX

Start Date: To be determined

Unbridled–Low Budget

Unbridled the Movie, LLC

Location: Brackettville & Jacksboro, TX

Start Date: To be determined

Hollywood Reporter:

The studios Thursday said that SAG officially rejected their “final offer.” The guild says they didn’t.

“The refusal of SAG’s Hollywood leadership to accept this offer is the latest in a series of actions by SAG leaders that puts labor peace at risk,” the AMPTP said in a strongly worded statement after Thursday’s talks broke off. The producers say the guild was “unreasonably” seeking more than other unions and they’re not interested in further negotiations.

Daily Variety:

SAG officially rejects final offer
Guild probably won’t strike as studios go to work
By DAVE MCNARY

SAG’s still not ready to close a deal with the majors — signaling that the thesps’ contract stalemate will linger on into the late summer.

Guild on Thursday officially rejected the final offer by the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers on grounds that the pact falls short in such areas as new media and DVD residuals, along with product integration and force majeure protections.

Deadline Hollywood Daily has a different take on today’s meeting:

Today, SAG made a full counter-proposal to the Big Media cartel negotiating group’s supposed “last best final” offer put on the table June 30th. I’m told SAG and the AMPTP “got closer together today” because the union worked hard to “remove some of the differences” and “made a number of moves” in the AMPTP’s direction. “SAG is now engaging the AMPTP in the process of doing the same thing,” I’m told. Specifically, SAG moved closer on some economic issues, New Media issues, and some other bargaining issues not previously addressed.

In turn, SAG told the AMPTP that it had to move closer on these issues, too….

…SAG’s national board meets on July 24th and the guild made it clear to the AMPTP that SAG “would like to have something ready between now and then that our board would be interested in unilterally recommending to the membership.”

And so it goes. SAG has a national board meeting scheduled for July 24th. That date now appears to be as close to a ‘date certain’ as we’ve seen for some resolution to this mess. SAG leaders want to have a deal to present to the board on the 24th.

The AMPTP meanwhile continues to tout the fact the the DGA, WGA and AFTRA have already settled for this deal as proof that SAG should just take the same deal. If that were so, then why were there four or even three separate negotiations. Why didn’t AMPTP just distribute the ‘deal’ to each union at the same time and say ‘take it or leave it’? The fact is that each union does have similar but also different issues that need to be negotiated. So it is reasonable that SAG has issues to resolved in a different manner than did the DGA, WGA or even AFTRA.

It’s time for the AMPTP to put production back in gear by offering some compromise that will allow the SAG leadership to take an affirmable offer to the national board on July 24th.

According to Deadline Hollywood Daily, during the WGA negotiations the AMPTP offered no less than 10 ‘last best final’ offers. If that is true, then the AMPTP should cut to the chase, respond to today’s reported compromise offer from SAG and get the deal done.

Good Morning Colorado-int. w/ Markus Flanagan from Markus Flanagan on Vimeo.

LINK to second video

“acting in a sag project without being sag”

In Texas and other right-to-work states an actor NOT in SAG has the same legal right to employment as a SAG member. In other words, a signatory employer cannot deny actors work because of union membership status. In other states this is not the case. A non SAG actor could still be hired if the producer invoked a Taft Hartley provision of the law. Generally speaking that would require the non SAG actor to join SAG the next time they were hired on a SAG signatory production. In Texas, unfortunately, an actor is never forced to join SAG, no matter how many SAG signatory projects they work. For more thoughts on this, please see my earlier post on joining SAG vs staying “SAG eligible” and not joining.

“can sag eligible actors work non-union”

Yes. See the answer above and also refer to my earlier SAG vs “SAG eligible” post. That’s part of the ‘rub’ for those of us who are SAG members. We compete, in Texas, with both SAG members and with experienced non-SAG actors who continue to work both sides of the street, taking advantage of SAG benefits while not contributing to the SAG effort.

“how long after acting audition”

I assume this means “how long after an acting audition do I have to wait to hear something” ? If that’s the question the answer is, there is no right answer. Most of the time the reality is that if you DON’T book a job you just never hear anything. Eventually you get the picture and move on. USUALLY if you are in the running for a role, you will hear fairly quickly, anywhere from a few minutes, a few hours to a few days. But I’ve booked roles that I had completely given up on because a week or two had passed since the callback or audition for the director and/or producer. You may hear rather quickly that the producers have asked for a ‘right of first refusal’. This is a courtesy offered by the talent and the agent which says you the actor will not take a different job without first informing the first producer that you are about to become unavailable. There is no compensation to the actor for giving a ‘right of first refusal’. Particularly on commercials, the producers may call your agent and ask for an ‘avail’. That means they are definitely interested in you for the role and are checking to make sure there is no conflict and that you are indeed available for the role. This does NOT mean you have the role at that point and it’s best not to get too ‘excited’ by these kind of calls.

“right-to-work sag texas”

See comments above. For more information, check the SAG website at www.sag.org or check your regional SAG office in Dallas or Houston, assuming you’re in Texas.

“can i be forced to join sag”

Not in Texas. If you’re in L.A. you will not work in the mainstream film and tv business without that SAG card. Can you be FORCED to join SAG? In strong union states, yes. But why look at it as being ‘forced’? SAG membership comes with many benefits that you as an actor will come to rely on and greatly appreciate. There will be no shortage of people along your acting journey who will be happy to separate you from your money, to say nothing of your self respect or your safety. SAG will be your safety net in many of these situations. See comments above about Taft-Hartley.

If you have specific questions about SAG or other acting topics, ask away and I’ll try to come with a reasonable answer.

AFTRA and the majors have kept their primetime contract negotiations under the radar while the Screen Actors Guild still waits in the wings.

The American Federation of Television & Radio Artists is expected to reach a deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers as early as the end of this week. The sixth day of talks is set for today.

In the meantime, SAG still hasn’t taken the AMPTP up on its invite to resume its negotiations on May 28. The town remains on yellow alert over a possible SAG strike, which could take place once the guild’s feature-primetime contract expires on June 30.

Talks between the AMPTP and SAG recessed last week over the guild’s objections, with the majors saying that gaps still existed on DVD residuals and new-media compensation.