Viva Las Vegas

It’s been a while since I last posted something, so here we go. Friday Saturday and Sunday, I went to Vegas with a friend of mine who came to visit. Chris had already seen Vegas and didn’t want to go. A couple of nights before, we had met a guy who was also going to Vegas that weekend, so we decided to go with him. It is a 7 hour drive by bus and only 4 hours by car. We were supposed to leave Friday noon, but we had to wait on the guy’s brother. While we were waiting, he took us to the golf court to play in a poker tournament against lawyers and doctors. We didn’t win the tournament, but was a nice experience.  

We arrived in Vegas at 1am. Hotels in Vegas were very expensive, because t was labour day-weekend. Lucky fur us there was a spot available in a US Hostel. For the people who have already seen the movie ‘Hostel’, don’t worry, this Hostel had everything: a pool table, a swimming pool … 

Vegas is crazy! It is like ‘De Efteling’, but then a billion times bigger and more luxurious. We went into all the different casinos and it was mind blowing. On the strip, this is the place were all the big casino’s are located, there was a lot of police, to make sure that everybody who comes to Vegas feels safe. They are all dressed in yellow and they are pretty funny.

 

If you ever go to Vegas, there is one concept that you have to know and that is: complementary. Vegas has got one goal and that is to take all your money. They do, however, want you to have fun while they take it, so while you are playing blackjack, poker, roulette and even slots, you get your drinks for free. We took advantage of that . After playing poker, we played on the slots for one dollar and during the 15 minutes that we were playing we drank quite a few rum’n cokes.  

 

There is a casino called Binions. In this casino there is a wall with pictures of all the winners of the world series of poker main event. 

Time to change gears

My sincere apologies to the 3,4 English that read this weblog,
but I am going to write a post in Dutch for once.

In Hollywood zit dus echt bijna iedereen in de acteerbusiness (duh).
Je hebt geen idee van de hoeveelheid audities dat hier dagelijks doorgaan. Als je geluk hebt met één van die audities (goed moment, goede scene, goede partner) en je wordt uit de zovelen die auditie doen geselecteerd, dan mag je als het ware naar de volgende ronde waar je de eer krijgt van enkele echte casting directors te ontmoeten voor wie je wederom auditie mag doen. Op deze manier word je na jaren langzaam beter bekend in het milieu en beland je dan met wat geluk in een nieuwe serie (die uiteindelijk helemaal niet van de grond komt) of mag je een stijf lijk spelen in CSI:Miami.

De meeste mensen hier proberen al jaren ontdekt te worden en zijn al aan hun kaziljoenste auditie toe. Competition is fierce. De kansen om door te breken zijn al miniem genoeg, maar door het ontbreken van een work permit, is het net alsof we telkens in een rolstoel op de audities toekomen. Voor elke rol die we aangeboden krijgen, staan er echt 10.000 Amerikanen klaar om onze plaats in te nemen van zodra de studiobonzen vernemen dat we geen social security nummer hebben. Daar komt nog eens bovenop dat we hier slechts voor een maand zitten, hetgeen in Hollywood het equivalent is van één minuut. Toch heb ik nog steeds de hoop niet opgegeven dat weldra een befaamde Hollywoodregisseur mijn pad zal kruisen op Sunset Boulevard en dan ineens een kreet uitslaakt van: “Hey! A Belgian wanderer !  For my next movie: ‘The Belgian wanderer’*

Yeah right, as if that’s gonna happen…

Tijdens de laatste auditie, toen ik me omringd zag door homies en analfbeten, it suddenly hit me. Ik vroeg me plots af waarom ik de uitkomst van mijn studies altijd als backup plan heb gezien, mocht het in Hollywood niet lukken, wanneer ik er juist gebruik van zou kunnen maken om mijn doel te bereiken. Hetgeen me steeds tegenhield, was het feit dat mocht ik hier een job vinden in de lijn van mijn opleiding, ik waarschijnlijk geen tijd meer over zou hebben om me volledig toe te leggen op het acteren en audities… maar dat neemt niet weg dat ik zou kunnen postuleren voor bijvoorbeeld een marketing job bij Warner Brothers. Op die manier krijg ik waarschijnlijk niet alleen veel gemakkelijker een visum (en meer geld), maar heb ik eveneens onmiddellijk een voetje binnen in het wereldje waar ik moet zijn. Iedereen weet dat de filmindustrie meer om networking draait dan eender welke andere business. 

Met nog maar een dikke twee weken te gaan, wordt het dus dringend tijd het geweer van schouder te veranderen. Ik heb mijn herschreven sollicitatiebrief zonet samen met mijn c.v. naar Paramount Pictures, Universal en MGM/UA gestuurd. Warner Bros. heb ik opzettelijk overgeslagen, omdat iemand van onze acteerschool daar werkt en me vanavond precies ging weten te vertellen, naar wie ik wat precies moest doorsturen.

Laten we hopen dat met deze strategie, ik mijn kansen voor de tijd die me nog rest volledig weet te maximaliseren. Met wat geluk zoeken ze in één van die filmhuizen wel iemand die meer talen spreekt dan slechts Engels, een notie heeft van het Europees recht en naar een business school is geweest dewelke niet al te laag gerangschikt staat op de wereldranglijst… 

Wish me luck !

Catching up

I know that we haven’t posted for quite a while, but you have to understand that it’s pretty intense here in Los Angeles. Everyday we’re on the road out there, while at the same time we are obliged to attend class every single night from 6 until 11 pm. After class we’re usually so tired that we just go home to  get a good night rest.

With the arrival of Tom’s friend Thomas (a.k.a. Snefke) in Los Angeles a few days ago, the lack of the necessary sleep became even a bigger issue. So please forgive us if we couldn’t find the time to sit behind our computer to write some posts…

Anyway here are some of the things we did last week:

1. Tom and me went to an audition where they select people to star in Scrubs, C.S.I. and various other TV-series. Unfortunately neither one of us got selected, which actually makes perfect sense as we both were supposed to do a cold reading of very weird ad dull drama scenes, while other people were more lucky and got very interesting comedy scenes. On top of that, both our scene partners really sucked ass. My partner just bailed on me during our 10 minute rehearsal to go and move her car, while Tom’s co-star never even learnt to read. Finally, we were told again that a clear headshot stapled to your extensive acting resume is a definite must, if you ever want to meet a casting director through an audition.

2. We did some shopping on Sunset and Hollywood Boulevard. You have no idea how cheap clothing and electronics are here right now.

3. We went to the Commerce Casino twice after acting classes. It’s the biggest Casino in California, it’s specialized in Poker, it’s open 24/7 and basically just the perfect thing for unwinding after a rough day in L.A. With our Tourist Visa we are not allowed to work here in the United States, but if you play it right at the (lower buy in) pokertables, this is the (read: our) way to gain some money here in the states. No ID required, no questions asked and perfectly legit.

4. We went surfing in Venice beach. Yeaaaah Baby !!

We have some pictures and videos of all of the above, but we still need a little more time to edit them to something enjoyable to watch…

Last night, Tom and Snefke decided to go to Las Vegas for the weekend to get married …test their luck at the pokertables over there. Since I have already been Vegas before, I preferred to stay in L.A. to continue taking care of business. I finally had my headshots made, but I am seeing someone on sunday to have them “retouched” (gogo Photoshop). After that I still need to go to some Photo Lab to have them printed at the back of my resume.

I also responded to an add of THE WORLD FAMOUS COMEDY STORE as they seek “funny and exciting comedians to perform in The Belly Room” Owkay I know what you’re thinking, “You’re funny nor exciting Chris”, but frankly I couldn’t care less. I just want to get up on that stage, try out some of my sick material and who knows I might get some exposure along the way (sounds kinky huh).

In conclusion I promise you that in the future I will do my outmost best to post more and faster on this weblog

I didn’t get the part….

As you could all read in the previous post, I was able to get into an audition for an eco spot. It went really great; I had the feeling that if I didn’t get the part it had to be because of my accent. I could say the lines from the part without accent, but then I also had to improvise ‘in character’. I just got a reply from Lisa Paul, who is the director and she wrote:          

 Hey Tom.  Thank you so very much for coming in to read for us on Friday.  We all    thought you did a great job and were very funny.  However, we have now cast someone in the role we needed to fill.  We’re glad you came in and we thank you especially for doing so with almost no notice.

We have all your contact info, so if anything changes we’ll reach out to you.  Thanks again & take good care.

I know it was only the first audition that I ever did, but I felt that I really had a shot. But we have to be realistic of course: some people do auditions for more then 3 years, without ever getting a part.  Anyway, I hope to do some more auditions this month and hopefully…. I’ll keep you posted!

EcoSpot Commercial

Reaction to:

Casting Call for ‘Current TV’ EcoSpot

---

Reply to: job-403232548@craigslist.org
Date: 2007-08-22, 9:44AM PDTWe are a private group producing an EcoSpot for Current TV. It is a :60 second ad that will run on Current TV, various internet channels, etc. Celebrity judges (e.g. George Clooney, Cameron Diaz, director Sam Mendes, etc.) will narrow submissions to 20 finalist ads, and the public will select the winning ad. This is a non-paying gig, but there are some great talents involved (all donating their time) and the exposure will be great. We need:White Males, age 22-35, who can play a dim-witted (almost surfer-dude), air-head type; this role will deliver the primary humor in the ad.

Previous acting experience is preferred, must be comfortable with improv, will need to bring your own wardrobe (we will advise). We will provide breakfast & lunch. We’re shooting next Wednesday, Aug. 29 in Sun Valley beginning at 9:30am sharp. We’ll shoot the entire day, so please only apply if you can be with us into the early evening.