NBCLA Coverage:

Outtakes from my shoot with Christopher Dennis:

Last Friday the LAPD conducted a crackdown on the Hollywood Blvd. street characters. By all accounts (CNN, KTLA, and some folks who were present when this went down) the street cops claimed this was ordered “from upstairs.” Many of the characters who were taken down to the police station received tickets for blocking the sidewalk and loitering.

I have featured two actors who call Hollywood Boulevard their office. During the course of photographing Sajen Corona (ticket salesman) and Christopher Dennis (character) I found myself on the receiving end of demands for tips. Simply standing around Grauman’s Chinese Theater while snapping photos of architectural detail as well as the subjects of my interview was enough to provoke aggressive characters to demand a tip. “You have to give me money if you are going to keep taking photos” one of them said. These aggressive characters believed that dressing up and walking into a public space and essentially being an extra in my photograph earns them money. Christopher and Sajen quickly quieted these demands by telling the offenders, “he’s with me.” I was left alone, I had street cred.

I’m in no way defending this aggressive panhandling. However, there are quite a few characters who are respectful of tourists and do not demand tips. I’ve met quite a few characters and even approached them for being featured on this site. One of them was taken into custody but released. Many of them say “we accept tips,” but I’ve never heard anything aggressive or inappropriate from the ones I asked to be on my site. Many of them are aspiring actors. To me it seemed that there were two “groups” of characters, the aggressive and the non-aggressive characters.

From all I’ve read and been told, one consistent story has emerged. The LAPD went down to Hollywood Boulevard and unilaterally decided that anyone wearing a costume was a criminal. These officers claim to have been acting on “orders from above.” Were these officers simply told to go down and arrest anyone who LOOKED like a criminal? Did nobody think it might be smart to perform 30 seconds of undercover work to identify the aggressive characters? The aggressive characters have no shame in demanding money! It would have been quite easy to indentify the trouble-makers. Maybe if the LAPD were to perform frequent undercover busts the aggressive characters would be in check.

To me what happened on Hollywood Blvd. is the same as an officer walking into a neighborhood and arresting all the whites, blacks, or the latinos because they LOOKED like someone who committed a crime.

Late last night I put in a phone call to Christopher Dennis.  Christopher is the godfather of Hollywood Blvd. He knows who is aggressive and demands tips, and he knows who doesn’t. Christopher told me he saw the police activity and managed to get away. Hollywood Blvd is a large area and I’m sure quite a few characters saw what was going on and managed to get away without being harassed. Here are some interesting things Christopher pointed out:

• The LAPD targeted an employee from Madame Tussauds wax museum who does nothing more than hand out flyers. Would Madame Tussauds keep someone employed whose job was to attract customers if they were being inappropriate? This local business employee received a ticket.

• The LAPD threatened a group of students from NY Film Academy who were shooting a film.  The student who was wearing a costume was told, “if you come back here we will arrest you.” Apparently the police were not aware of the filming and assumed the actor was a Hollywood Blvd. character. At no point did they question the students for a film permit.

• The LAPD ticketed characters who Chris knows as non-aggressive characters for “Blocking the sidewalk.” If this state is so short on cash why don’t they ticket all 25 billion tourists who block the sidewalk all day long?

There are many aggressive characters who take advantage and bully tourists. But this crackdown seems handled the wrong way. Is this the LAPD’s fault? I don’t know. Is this the city flexing its muscles? Just cracking down so it can say “we try to get rid of these characters.” It seems to me that actual police work instead of a mass “up against the wall” could have identified characters who were following the rules and the ones who weren’t. The cnn.com article posted yesterday claims that Tony Tomey (who according to Christopher Dennis is not an aggressive character) was arrested within minutes of showing up. Did he commit a crime? CNN did not say. Christopher Dennis told me he was released yesterday evening and charged with blocking the sidewalk.

Christopher hasn’t been out working since last Friday. He went out with CNN yesterday, because he felt safe with the cameras.

Support these working actors!

Find out what life is like working on Hollywood Blvd. In the non-hooker sense by clicking here and here.

]]> http://www.theworkingactor.net/2010/06/04/dont-wear-a-costume-on-hollywood-blvd-or-you-will-go-to-jail/feed/ 7 http://www.theworkingactor.net/2010/05/11/alex-collins-director-of-sales-lamill-coffee/ http://www.theworkingactor.net/2010/05/11/alex-collins-director-of-sales-lamill-coffee/#comments Wed, 12 May 2010 03:35:53 +0000 Mark http://www.theworkingactor.net/?p=1340

Imported beans before they are roasted

This machine cools the beans in a matter of seconds after they are roasted.

Don’t forget to try the tea!

Now its time to sample the new LAMILL drinks….but let’s meet Alex first:

Age: “Thirtymmmmmmyearsold”

Alex is originally from England via Atlanta, GA. He has worked at LAMILL Coffee for 4 1/2 years.

FAVORITE CELEBRITY SIGHTING AT WORK: “We get tons of people who come into the Silverlake boutique. It’s pretty much a celebrity haunt. TMZ is always there.  Leonardo Dicaprio is in every week, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Geena Davis. But I’m a big Star Trek fan, and I got to sit with Chris Pine at the bar a few times. That’s pretty cool.”

MOVED TO LA BECAUSE: “I was working in the corporate world back in Atlanta and I was getting so sick of it. I either wanted to shoot myself or everyone I worked with.  I had been acting for about 3 years already and earned my SAG eligibility on a Chevy/NASCAR commercial.  My best friend kept encouraging me to leave the corporate world. Finally, I took his advice and decided to move out here.”

BEST MOMENT IN LA: “1am the evening I arrived in LA. A buddy and I drove out to crash on a mutual friends floor. We drove  for 41 hours straight from Atlanta…only stopping for food and gas. We pulled in at 1am, put the car in park and just walked around this park in North Hollywood for a bit.”

WORST MOMENT IN LA: “All I have to say is Cheescake Factory…white denim.”

WORST AUDITION STORY: “It was back in Atlanta, and it was one of my first auditions ever. I had no experience, no audition technique. It was a showcase type thing and there was an agent from LA. I’m doing this deep monologue, which was the eulogy from Four Weddings and A Funeral. I was doing such an amazing job, at the end the agent was crying. I thought to myself ‘I’m amazing. I moved this guy from LA.’ The agent just sat there crying and didn’t say anything. Finally he looked up at me and said, ‘you had no way of knowing this, but I just delivered that eulogy at my best friends funeral a week ago.’ It turns out I didn’t move him as much as I thought. Ouch!”

YOU MAY HAVE SEEN HIM IN: “Boston Public” Season 4 Episode 14 “Chapter Eighty,” A Funny or Die video called Gump, NASCAR/Chevy commercial, O’Charlies commercial, The Straight Jacket Society

UPCOMING: Kapisa

DREAM ROLE: “I’m a Christopher Meloni meets Russell Crowe…I don’t think I look like him…meets Christian Bale/Jason Statham. Something dark, gritty maybe a cop or a D.A. or FBI or swat. “Southland” is one of my favorite shows right now, something like that.

The best part of a private tour is always the free samples. My drinks were made by LAMILL’s very own drink master…MAKE SURE TO START WITH GROUND BEANS…VERY FRESH A MINUTE OR TWO OUT OF THE ROASTER:

Brazilian Peaberry + Japanese Siphon Method = TASTY

The Siphon brew is almost complete as the flame has been removed, the coffee is finished percolating, is cooling and is descending into the lower chamber.

Perfection!

MY FAVORITE DRINK!!!!!!!

Coffee Margarita:  Secret blend of iced coffee, tequila and salts.  This is still in R&D and no one outside of LAMILL, except you, has even seen it.

What’s your favorite spot for coffee in town?

Check out Miranda and Gabriel’s full profiles.

Jason talks about a scary moment while working a party as Winnie The Poo:

Age: 40

Jason is originally from “a farm in the hills of New Hampshire,” but has lived in LA for 18 years. He has worked as a seismic retrofitter for 6 years.

COMMERCIALS YOU MAY HAVE SEEN HIM IN: Long John Silver’s, Dunkin Donuts, Sprint, Kaiser Permanente, Geico, AAA  Auto Insurance, Black & Decker, Del Taco, Sony Playstation, Milwaukee’s Best.

MOVED TO LA BECAUSE: “I wanted to get into the TV and film industry as an actor. But I like to do every aspect of it, I’ve done lighting, catering, wardrobe. I’ve done a bunch of PA jobs. I’ve done grip work. I just like knowing what everyone on set does. As an actor you sit there and don’t know what’s going on around you. But now I know what everyone does and I know how to stay out of everyone’s way. There are a lot of hard working people on set.”

BEST MOMENT IN LA: “I used to be in a band and we had the opportunity to open up for Smash Mouth. It was right when “Walking on the Sun” had just come out. It was just such a moment like ‘man we are playing at The Whiskey, so many iconic bands have been through those doors.’ It was just so much fun.”

BEST AUDITION STORY: “Auditions, when you’re in the room for those two minutes you ARE the character, you HAVE the part. But as soon as you walk out anything can happen, so I just move on. This was a call back so you’re that much closer. It was for Long John Silvers and they were asking me what I like to eat and if I was allergic to anything. I said, ‘nope, you put it in front of me, I’ll eat it.’ We were all laughing and having a good time. As the door clicks behind me on my way out the casting director walks out the other door and gave me a big thumbs up from down the hall. As this was going on the director walked out and said to the casting director ‘we want to book Jason.’ I was standing right there, it was so cool. The casting director turned to me and said ‘We’ll see you on set.’ It was the best feeling leaving a call back knowing that I had the part.”

WORST AUDITION STORY: “When you go into the room in a group its always tough, you’re depending on these other people who go in with you. I remember this one group audition where  two of the guys just kept messing up doing slate. The guy who was running the session just stopped the camera and said ‘ok, that’s it. We’re done.’ I said ‘we’ll we didn’t even get to….’ and he just cut me off ‘we’re done, next!’ The casting guy opened the door and we all had to leave. It was the weirdest thing. Anything can happen at an audition.”

DREAM ROLE: “Working on a sitcom, I’ve been to some sitcom tapings, I’ve worked on some shows. It just really seems like that’s where I would jive well. Believe me I’m the guy next door, I’m the quirky brother who kinda screws up all the time. I could play the brother to Jack Black or Zach Galifianakis, we just have a similar look.”

ADVICE FOR ACTORS MOVING TO LA: “Take notes during an audition. Many times I’ve been asked during a call back to do what I did during the audition. I’ve booked parts that way. If you can’t remember what you did it might cost you the part. It can also help if there is a dispute over credit. I was working a Home Depot commercial and they shot 4 different reels of me. When it came out I was bummed because I was cut and only ended up in one of the spots…or so I thought. My Mom called me and said, ‘I heard your voice in one of the Home Depot commercials.’ After listening to it, I realized that it was indeed my voice. My agent called the production company and was able to tell them exactly what reel it came from and what we did before and after. A few weeks later a very LARGE check appeared.”

“What did you do? Make a pact with the devil?”

GO RYAN!

Hopefully the sands of the hour glass will create more time for Ryan on upcoming episodes

CLICK HERE TO CHECK OUT RYAN’S PROFILE AT THE WORKING ACTOR

Watch Dexter talk about his man pillows and his dream role:

“I’m originally from Atlanta, GA but have lived in LA for 5 or 6 years now. Every year I’ve been out here I’ve been able to keep going. I’m still here I’m still working, which is good.”Dexter has been Go-Go Dancer for 2 years.

YOU MAY HAVE SEEN HIM IN: Budweiser commercial, Carl’s Jr. commercial, IHOP commercial, Tidy Cat commercial

UPCOMING: “I wish, but no.”

BEST MOMENT IN LA: “I was sitting on this roof at a party looking out over all of Hollywood. I’m with a Director friend of mine and it just hits me. I know these people, and these people are my friends. It was a defining moment, it makes you happy to know you made it this far.”

WORST MOMENT IN LA: “I was working for a restaurant and lost my job, my car got hit on the street, and I lost a new phone I had just bought all in the same day. I was living in this crappy apartment, just barely surviving. I would come home and there were rats, it was a pretty low point.”

HOW DID YOU GET INTO GO-GO DANCING: “The reason why I’m a Go-Go Dancer is because I was in between jobs a lot and this kinda fell into my lap. I stuck with it because it just worked. You want to keep the train moving you want to keep the wheels turning. It’s a small world, but a hard world to get into. It’s very judgmental”

ADVICE FOR ACTORS MOVING TO LA: “Come prepared and always want to be the best of what you are. You need to know who you are and what you are. If you’re the big guy, be the big guy. Don’t fight to be the skinny guy. Don’t fight to be the pretty girl if you’re not really the pretty girl. Look at yourself, make an honest assessment of who you are and what your gonna get, and go with it. Learn where you belong. Honestly, Hollywood is all about knowing your role. It’s a tough thing, all of us want to be A-list celebs but it doesn’t happen that way. You need to come prepared to be the best at what you are. So even if you are a chubby guy, be the best chubby guy. Your talent is important, but so is your appearance.”

LUKE TALKS ABOUT THE POLITICS INVOLVED IN A HOLLYWOOD AUDITION….

Age: 27

Luke is originally from Maryland, but has lived in LA for 5 ½ years. He has worked at NoBAR for 4 years.

YOU MAY HAVE SEEN HIM IN: “Manswers,” “Grounded For Life,” Mama’s Boy, Saved By The Bell: The Musical

UPCOMING: Weeding Out, Thrillseekers, Hardcore Hearts, You, Only Better.

FAVORITE CELEBRITY SIGHTING AT WORK: “Sean Penn came in a few months ago with a friend of a friend. It was a quiet Sunday night, he hung out at the bar for about 2 hours. It was rad because in LA you see Jessica Simpson and all these people who you kinda don’t care about. But Sean Penn is like one of my top 3 people of all time. So, to have him come in made my week.”

BEST MOMENT IN LA: “I was doing a show called The Playground about 8 homeless runaways. I played a 21 year-old meth addict. The show was about these kids and their struggle for survival on the streets, most of them had been abused. I remember at the end of one of the shows I walked out and this woman from the audience was bawling. She told me a relative’s daughter had been homeless for a few years and had been abused. She didn’t know the subject matter of the show, she just came up to me and was like, ‘you touched me.’ It was that moment of ‘wow’ what we are doing here matters and has the ability to touch peoples lives.”

DREAM ROLE: “To play Elliott Smith in his biopic.”

MOVED TO LA BECAUSE: “I always acted. But I went through a phase where I wanted to start a non-profit. I always felt if I moved out here I could start one and create change. I realized I don’t have to NOT act to do that. If I could use acting to create social change, that’s the goal.”

ADVICE FOR ACTORS MOVING TO LA: “Be persistent, never stop. The people who would rather work a day job and do what they love for the rest of their lives rather than settle for anything else are the people who will have success.”

BRAILLE EDITIONS OF NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC AND PLAYBOY:

WATCH RYAN TALK ABOUT GETTING CUT FROM A DE NIRO FILM:

Age: 33

Ryan is originally from Portland, ME but has lived in LA for 10 years. He has worked at The Braille Institute of America for 2 years.

YOU MAY HAVE SEEN HIM IN: “Alias,” “Cold Case,” “General Hospital,” “NCIS,” “Star Trek Enterprise,” a Bud Light Commercial, and a EA Sports Commercial.

UPCOMING: An episode of “Days of Our Lives” that airs VERY soon.

DREAM ROLE: “The Burt Lancaster role in a movie I just wrote.”

BEST AUDITION STORY: “I was called into audition for a movie opposite Ryan Goseling. After a few call backs I got to read with Ryan. He was playing a mentally handicapped man and I was one of his friends. We were full grown men with the minds of children. It was a fairly physical scene, so I asked Ryan ‘Are you gonna go for this? How far should we take it?’ He was like, ‘yeah let’s just go for it.’ We ended up trashing this entire room. Tables were cleared, chairs were turned over, things were off the wall. We had a great time, but the casting director just looked at us in shock. The movie never got made, but it was pretty funny. You have to just go in and enjoy it, you never know if that’s gonna be your last chance.”

BEST MOMENT IN LA: “A little over a year ago, my daughter was born. That changes your actor ego dramatically. You go from ‘me me me I want to get this part’ to ‘her her her.’ I think it has made me a better actor. The ego is out of it now. I just go in and have fun on auditions. I’ve booked more since I’ve changed my approach.”

WORST MOMENT IN LA: “I just found out I didn’t book this part that I really wanted. I was on the 405 driving to do a kid’s birthday party bubble show for $60. My car basically blew up. I pulled off the 405, called my parents and broke down in tears. I was like, ‘why am I an actor? I’m gonna go make $60 eating birthday cake. I don’t even want to eat the cake and my car broke down.’ It was one of those moments of weakness as an actor where you wonder what you’re doing. A few weeks later I booked a job on a soap, and that led to more work. Things turned around, I think this town has a way of testing you before it rewards you. That moment was one of my greatest tests.”

The Braille Institute of America provides amazing services for for people with blindness and severe sight loss. They teach people how to setup their homes, interact with mass transit and more. I was blown away by the amount of resources they offer. People can call into The Braille Institute of America and have an article from a newspaper read to them. Check out some interesting things I saw during my visit:

Braille editions of The Bible:

You can have audio books sent to you on tape for just any title out there. In the days before tapes and digital drives they would send records in the mail:

Listen to the excuse an agent used to explain why he wasn’t interested in Gabriel…..

CAN YOU BELIEVE THE AGENT SAID THAT???????????

Age: 30

Gabriel is originally from Austin, TX, but he has lived in LA for 2 ½ years. He has worked at The Pleasure Chest for 2 ½ years.

FAVORITE CELEBRITY SIGHTING AT WORK: “It was a big action star. He scared the shit out of everyone in the store. I went up to him and said ‘what up, you need help?’ He said no at first, but a few minutes later he came over and asked me about double-penetration. I said you can’t really hit both angles that way, but let me show you what you can do. After a while he kept buying more and more stuff. He would just say ‘Is this good?’ and toss it in his basket if I said yes, or I would tell him it was a piece of shit and recommend something else. It was just funny to see, everyone is just a person who has no idea what they are doing when they come in here.”

MOVED TO LA BECAUSE: “I wanted to continue acting without a glass ceiling.”

BEST MOMENT IN LA: “I had this audition for a pretty major, indie production. A friend had recommended me from a previous film. It felt like it was real high steaks, everyone was nervous. I got to meet the director who was really nice, and I got to meet the writer who was someone I admire. I felt very good and confident about the audition. It was very much like, this is why I moved here. This is why I deal with LA, this is why I do this. I knew I wasn’t going to get the part. I didn’t, and that’s ok.”

WORST MOMENT IN LA: “My first day here. I was staying in a motel downtown with my mom. I had no idea how I could live or get a job. I couldn’t even do that back home. It was just so bright, ugly and dirty here.”

YOU MIGHT HAVE SEEN HIM IN: RSO and some short films on youtube like Softshoe.

THIS JOB HELPS ME AS AN ACTOR: “It lets me be myself. I also have to listen to hardcore stuff and maintain my control while figuring things out. I think that’s what acting is about. It’s about being in the moment, it’s about having that control.”

DREAM ROLE: “To play weird messed up characters, to have some range. The type of roles Gary Oldman gets. He plays these people who are perceived to be quirky or crazy, but there is always something more to them.”

ADVICE FOR ACTORS MOVING TO LA: “Be ok with not acting. Setup your life, and have your foundations. You need to eat, you need to have a job, you need to have stability, you need to have relationships. People who try to pursue it like a gambling career, they just leave.”

]]> http://www.theworkingactor.net/2010/03/29/gabriel-mciver-the-pleasure-chest-department-head-bdsm/feed/ 1 http://www.theworkingactor.net/2010/03/22/charlie-farrell-amazing-la-tours-tour-guide/ http://www.theworkingactor.net/2010/03/22/charlie-farrell-amazing-la-tours-tour-guide/#comments Mon, 22 Mar 2010 18:00:46 +0000 Mark http://www.theworkingactor.net/?p=908

WATCH CHARLIE DRIVE THE BUS AND TELL HIS WORST AUDITION STORY:

Age: 32

Charlie has lived in LA for 7 years, but is originally from Chicago. He has worked at Amazing LA Tours for 2 years.

FAVORITE CELEBRITY SIGHTING AT WORK: “David Beckham on Rodeo Drive. 9 times out of 10 when I see a celebrity the people don’t know who it is. I’ve even had celebrities come up to the bus and pound on the windows. People get excited that they are seeing a celebrity, but they don’t always know who they are seeing. David Beckham was different, every single person on the bus knew who he was. Every day I get asked if we are going to bump into David Beckham. Where does he live? How can we find him? So for me, it was personally rewarding to be able to show a bus David Beckham.”

WORST MOMENT IN LA: “My dad died in December, being away from it all. My mom was back home by herself. It felt so difficult; I couldn’t just be there for my mom. I had to jump through all these hoops that felt like nonsense — flights, LAX and all that stuff.”

BEST AUDITION STORY: “It was when I got Point Break LIVE. I just showed up relaxed and the people made me feel at ease. It was an improv audition where I had to pretend I was Johnny Utah. They started to mess with me, I rolled with it and got the gig.”

YOU MAY HAVE SEEN HIM IN: Point Break Live, A GSN Commercial for “The Newlywed Game.” “It was the largest premier for a GSN show.”

UPCOMING: A web series “Dating Weakly”

THIS JOB HELPS AS AN ACTOR: “It doesn’t create a skill set like ‘Hey, I’m up in front of people everyday.’ It helps because it’s super flexible. The owner has allowed me to take the bus, drop people off and continue with the bus to an audition. They are over the top with being accommodating and making sure I get to auditions.”

DREAM ROLE: “War Movie, I don’t care what era. I just want to do a good war movie. I want them to tell me I have to shave my head. Something like ‘Band of Brothers’ or  ’The Pacific’ would be great.”

ADVICE FOR PEOPLE MOVING TO LA: “Stick around as long as you can. The older you get, the more opportunities come your way. Most people just come out and say ‘I’m gonna give it 5 years and give up if nothing happens.’ Out of college, when you’re 22-27 your peers aren’t in a position to help you out. I was just talking to a friend  of a friend and he said ‘I’m second a.d. on this project, do you want to come down and get your SAG card?’ I worked three days as a union extra and got my card like that. ”