White Collar

Just had to blog about my experience with White Collar yesterday. I had worked it before as a pharmaceutical party guest in April, but it was very brief and the cast and crew had some issues with the location - so it wasn't the best time. But that was all forgotten when I got booked for it yesterday. There was a rush call for a nerdy FBI type Wednesday night. I knew they liked to cast pretty people for the FBI agents, so I thought maybe I could get in the nerdy route. Around 11:30pm, I was still awake and got a call from a familiar number. It was Jim from Central Casting to see my availability to play the nerdy FBI the next morning, but only thing was that he could not officially book me - it had to be the casting director, Lucy. Unfortunately, he could not get a hold of her, so he asked if I would stand by. I said yes, even though the call time would be 8:30am - just a few hours away. I thought sure, why not, I only worked one day this week on Damages - so I told him yes. A few minutes later he finally got a hold of Lucy and said that I was officially booked and just needed to bring a nice suit.

I guess I was excited, because I couldn't sleep. My eyes were closed but I kept looking at my cell phone clock through out the night to make sure I would get up on time. I finally got up a minute before and got ready. Made it to the studios really early and met one of the core FBI agents, Ryan (of course he was tall and pretty). I got breakfast and as I was eating saw the rest of the "Harvard Crew" or core background (background actors hired to portray FBI agents whenever they do scenes in the office or on location) walk in slowly (all pretty people, of course) - oh great, I thought...what am I doing here? I have dealt with many background people before and usually the pretty people are mostly self absorbed and stand offish. I was wrong with these background actors. They all introduced themselves to me and made sure I was doing ok. You could tell they were sort of like a family and they welcomed me as well. Shortly, I was then whisked away to set because the scene I was in was first. I overheard from one of the wardrobe people that I was going to be putting electronic equipment on Matt Bomer's character. Hmmm, interesting.

So, I got to the set of the interogation room and met the 2nd 2nd AD, Jason and 1st AD, Bob, and a lot more people, but was so overwhelmed I couldn't get all their names. I just had to sit in on the rehearsal of the scene with the two leads, Matt Bomer and Tim DeKay, and Sharif Atkins as Agent Clinton Jones. All three guys introduced themselves to me and made it a point to remember my name and refer to me by name. It was such a weird experience because usually as a background actor, you are told to not talk to the leads - not to even look at them in the eye - and here I was conversing with them. Well, it was more them talking to me and me being too nervous to say much. All three guys were very professional, but also joked around with each other between takes. And, if you can believe it, they also sing and dance between takes too. I even got to relax when they relaxed instead of standing with the stand-ins, which was a great perk. The scene was them talking about getting information from someone (watch episode 8 of this season [three] to find out who) by using electronic spyware that the tech (ME!) was placing on Neal Caffrey's (Matt Bomer) wrist, arm and chest.

We did the scene a few times and the only issue I had was getting the self-adhesive tape to stick after a few takes. The only note I got was that I was too rushed getting the tape on. Between takes Tim DeKay turned to me after they were running lines to ask if I wanted to run my lines (background actors usually have no lines). And then later he said, "I bet when you woke up this morning that you didn't expect to be reaching down Matt Bomer's cleavage." No, I did not! And for the rest of the day, when I passed Tim and Sharif, they always made it a point to say, "Hi, Frank." Afterwards, I expected them to just wrap me, but I got used for the FBI office scenes, which was very cool. Throughout the day, I got to know more of the "Harvard Crew". For lunch, we had BBQ outside the studio - AWESOME! Later in the day, Tim DeKay passed me and stopped to say, "Frank, you're still here!". I said, "Yeah, they kept me to be a regular FBI person." He said something like, "Well, now that doesn't suck, now does it." Nicest man in show business!

In hindsight, I wished I wasn't so nervous and talked more, but, hey, it was my first time being really featured and working directly with the leads. Usually, I would be bummed because being so featured means that you don't work again. But since I was an FBI tech, I may be used again if they need to put spyware on Matt or anybody again...maybe?..please?!? So I hope I get to be as Sharif kept saying - The Resident Technician. Maybe I could even get a line or regular character out of all this. Ya never know! I remember another background actor, Melvin Telp, I believe, saying in this business your life changes overnight. And now I understand that now! And this is only the beginning.

I'm very thankful for how everything is going so far. Coming to NYC and pursuing the acting career was the best decision I have ever made. I remember my friend, Keith Caldwell, saying that he gave up a job that paid him a lot of money, to a job with a major paycut, but loved it and wouldn't turn back. I may not be making as much money as I did at the bank, but I am having the time of my life right now!

A Much Needed Update...AGAIN!

Hey! Well, it has been a long while since I have posted on here. So, to catch up, I joined AFTRA, another union, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, on March 16, 2011. I thought I finally had enough money saved up to do it. So, I started posting for AFTRA background gigs and my first call was from Central Casting letting me know that I had been picked by the director of The Big C to be in a small scene as a doctor. I remember seeing the posting for it as "attractive" doctor and just did it on a whim. So, I was a bit surprised. I said I was a must join and they asked if I was willing to join and I said, yes, but fortunately had a few days to join before the shoot. And then got another call from Central Casting to be a featured role of a "decision maker/casting agent" on the sitcom Are We There Yet? and said I was also willing to join. But this time, I had to do it the next day.

I knew that if you were a must join, and had potential gigs coming up, you could do a payment plan. Which means that instead of paying the full amount of $1663.90 in one whole payment, you can pay $650 down and the rest in 4 payments over the following 4 months. I saw somewhere online where someone said you could just pay $300 down, but I learned that was incorrect. So when I checked my account, I only had $625. But thanks to my sister, Rachel, and overdraft protection on my checking account I marched up to the AFTRA office in midtown and paid the $650 (praying that my credit card didn't get denied because of that $25 shortage). I then called the casting director, Abbie, to let her know I joined. She sounded kinda frustrated and let me know that production of Are We There Yet? was cutting the number of background actors and that she would let me know soon. Great! I just joined AFTRA and my first gig wasn't going to happen.

A few minutes later she called to give me my check in number and wardrobe instructions and to call the hotline number later that evening for call times and location. It was a great experience and I got to work with Ted Lange (Isaac on The Love Boat) and get very featured in the episode "Kevin Gets A Commercial". The next day, Matt from Central calls me to let me know that The Big C has taken the scene I was going to be a doctor in out of the script and wouldn't be needed. Ah, well! Luckily, I ended up working regularly and got another show to replace it. I ended up working on The Big C later as a high school teacher where Laura Linney's character teaches. And I booked a total of 12 AFTRA background gigs in the following 4 weeks after I joined, which I found out is pretty good. I have really lucked out on the work. I'm not as busy as I want to be, but I just got here, so I will just have to see what comes of this. I also don't want to be in the background for the rest of my life, so I also know that I need to take a more proactive role and try to go out there an audition, audition, audition!