Ambassador : Liz lies, George opens up

The third day of filming for the Ambassadors series, and what tremendous growth there has been in the production. Not under such a tight time constraint (4 sessions under our belts, this will hold until mid Nov.), we get the opportunity for Guy Silagi (director) to work with us. The change is overwhelming!







Our characters are coming alive, real 3 dimensional people with defects, but willing to share. There is real humanity under Liz's thick crust (my role). Walt Sloan blew us away with his performance Sunday. You could feel his pain and wept along with him.




We start out on our way to opening day at the local ball field, Liz is pretty cocksure of herself, having done this for the prior 3 years.

Sitting out a rain delay, Liz finally begins to question George, trying to figure out what make him different. He decides to share his story, the pain of his past. Far from the picture perfect story Liz was anticipating.







Lest you think all was emotional & tearful, there were some fun spots in creating some of "ambiance" for the scene. Liz & George are waiting out a rain delay & I'm in charge of the rain department!

Opportunity Jones!

So here I am on the set of Opportunity Jones, a spoof (or is it) on the end times! I play the part of an infomercial host, selling the viewer a GREAT opportunity to make some extra cash before the total destruction of the Earth! Opportunity Jones will is a short film based on the feature length Niles Mustache. It is set in the not too distant future in a small town. Business "opportunities" abound (much worse than swamp land in Florida!), and threaten the town's very existence.


My co-host is played by Ed Ernstes, the real life the channel 2 Elkhart reporter. He was impressed with my skill with the ear, I, however, was blown away with his memorization! It made for an interesting set up, and a great day of filming. Supposed to be edited by Nov & will be used to create a buzz & stimulate investors.

The film company is headed up by Paul Stearns and Steve and Joe Bencsics, who created the Wicked Lloyd Show, broadcast in South Bend in 1990. They have some pretty big names associated with Niles Mustache from the production end of things, William H. Birch, Dov Simens, and Steven Ivcich. This looks to be a great opportunity with names such as these attached to the feature.

Stay tuned!

CoeD Baby Shower

Here we go, finally.... I have been rather remiss, but forgive me, things happen. How about a silent film, well, not quite silent, you can here our thoughts if you listen very carefully! This is what can be done with a $100 HD camera & an iPhone! Really!

Craig Sunderlin is my "hubby", CJ Powers the writer, director, producer, grip, gaffer, editor, sound guy....yes, we are talking a VERY small crew!

Wit back, listen & enjoy, short & sweet & it may put a smile on your face. Tell, me truthfully, haven't you & your other half had the same type of conversation????

Ciao!

First video for Ambassadors series-wrapped!

What a whirlwind this has been, less than a month ago I ran across Linda Caseletto, drama director from AHEFC, now The Orchard. She had recently begun work on a project for a series of workshops that will be held at The Orchard over the coming 8 months, and suddenly there we were, meeting for the first time in 8 years! Some basic sketches have turned into a video series, complete with professional actors, director, crew, the works!

We filmed the first of 13 sketches yesterday, Guy Silagi, directing, Craig Sunderlin, Walt Sloan & myself the actors. The set up is that this is going on at a radio station. My character, Liz, has been filling in as on air host for the past year, & suddenly management decides to hire George, played by Walt Sloan, rather than promoting me to a permanent spot. Liz's producer, Paul, played by Craig Sunderlin, knows George will be a better person to fill the spot & Liz is really not happy about it. To make matters worse, both George & Paul are Christians & Liz has had her fill of all that from way back.

This series will demonstrate how one can share their faith without offending, how living your life is a better display than forcing your way on someone. Perhaps we will be able to post the episodes as they become available, but as we are not shooting in sequence it may take a while to catch up!

Shooting went really well, we shot at the church, so it was fun to see familiar faces. I met Guy many years ago at the Karitos film conference, have worked with Walt & Craig previously, and I know Linda from way back AHEFC-days. I was quite involved with the drama group, taught Kindergarten Sunday school & did a lot of growing there. Everyone was so relaxed & fun to work with, really a pleasure!

Saturday will be another audition, then the screening of Craig's film "Your 2 O'clock Appointment", and the book release party for Richard Mack. Zero Count, the short film I'll be in has been rescheduled due to an upcoming birth! Me thinks that is a pretty good reason to hold off for a few weeks!

TTYL!

Auditions, Producer meeting, Callback & more!

OK, I've been bad, very bad, Eric, I've neglected to write but Lieber eine schlechte Entschuldigung als gar keine. Hah, who can translate? Now I've got you!

Enough silliness, well, maybe not, but here's a recap of the past week. Thursday, had a print booking for the ADA, went great, did a dozen shots, stopped to look at the images, client said "Great!" So what's that mean? "You're done!" Can I do something else, "Nope, you gave us just what we wanted!" Cool, that's how it should always go!

Later that day went back to Chicago for an audition for a short film Zero Count, then out to Harper to audition for Diary of Anne Frank.

I booked the role of the doctor for Zero Count, shoot next week. I also got a call back for Mrs. van Daan for Anne Frank. 82 auditionees, 15 called back. I was up against Madeline Franklin, my acting coach for the role. It was great to be called back and having only Madeline & myself up for that role was even better. I'm tall, she's short, light hair, her dark, different ages, and we had very different reads. If we would have looked similar, it would have felt somewhat uncomfortable, but this was great! I loved that I was called back with her, she is a great actress, rules on the stage! Me, I prefer film, and go out for theater to get out of my comfort zone & expand my horizons, and wonderful, she got the role! I couldn't be happier, my accomplishment was getting the callback, I will love seeing her in that role!

Another audition on Friday, very busy Labor Day weekend, I did LOTS of labor! And figuring out scheduling for this week, starting to get confusing!

Last night went to a Producers Panel Meet up, was very informative & met several interesting people. I have registered for the 168 in LA for 2010, (10 minute short film made in 168 hours) so I need to learn all I can about the production end of things. Lots to prepare for, much to learn!

Thursday we film the first Ambassadors segment for The Orchard (AHEFC,) I'll be working with Craig Sunderlin & Walt Sloan again! It's great to maintain relationships! This is a series on sharing the message of Christ, the right way & not so right way! It takes place in a radio station, I'll fill you in on the details later! Linda Caseletto, friend from way back, is tackling writing & producing, her first endeavor of this magnitude, and with a great script, we'll go far!

Coming up: Clay coming into town Friday-Sunday is his birthday, audition Saturday, Craig Sunderlin & Joe Caballero film, 2 O'clock Appointment, Richard Mack's book release, rehearsal for Zero Count....busy weekend!