Kyle Holtgren, as David

[Kyle Holtgren as David, in Minato Sushi Restaurant]

It has been awhile since I profiled any of my actors, and I really need to wrap this up before the big premiere at The Wind-Up Space on May 3rd! Finally, I am getting around to profiling Kyle Holtgren, who plays David. I think he was more excited about being profiled than any of the others, though everyone so far has seemed to enjoy their moment in the spotlight.

The character of David is based loosely on a friend of mine. The real David is one of those people who never stops smiling, but he smiles in such a way that you feel like he is going bring up a secret that you made the mistake of telling him, or, if you happen to be a cute guy, he might just grab your crotch.

I thought casting this part would be a lot of fun and people would be lining up for the chance to steal the show, even though it is a relatively small part. However, as I have mentioned in earlier posts, I was quite surprised to find the number of male actors who would much prefer playing a homicidal child-molester than a friendly, funny gay man. And since I had no part for a homicidal child-molester in this romantic comedy... I found myself with slim pickings among the actors willing to try out for the part of David.

Even after the second round of auditions and checking out over 100 actors at the Stonehenge auditions at the Creative Alliance, I was coming up empty. How could it be so hard to cast an outrageously funny, over-the-top gay man in Baltimore? In Mount Vernon, no less?

But there I was, my only options being a few guys who, god bless them, just seemed to me to be straight men playing a gay man as some straight men seem to see gay men - almost as a caricature.

Granted, in "Smalltimore," we don't delve very deeply into the character of David or his background. And in real life, my friend David is at once an open book and an enigma, and I know there are a million things I don't know about him. But he is still a person, not a cartoon character. He is still my friend, and even when he is trying to steal men away from me, it is really just his way of looking out for my best interests. There have been a few men in my past that it would have saved me a WHOLE lotta wasted time if I had introduced them to David right off the bat! But I digress...

So there I was, stuck, with production starting in less than 8 weeks. Kellie Stevens (who was dying to play the part of Angela, but had just taken a job that was moving her to Austin, Texas) suggested her friend Kyle, who I had met several times when we had all been at Dionysus for cocktails. Kyle, especially after a few libations, is hysterically funny in real life, and I could certainly picture him in the role. So, I rolled the dice and offered him the role without even auditioning him.

Kyle's first encounter with anything to do with "Smalltimore," was at the table read of the script with the entire cast, the bulk of whom had had to fight tooth and nail for their parts. They didn't know anything about the circumstances of Kyle's casting, but they did have the advantage of already having some amount of rapport with each other, as all of them had worked hard through the second round of auditions with each other, with the exceptions of Joyce Scott, and Tucker. I don't think anyone else noticed, but knowing Kyle a little bit at that point, I could tell he was very nervous, and I heard a little quiver in his voice more than once as we read the script aloud. He did a good job, though, and by the end of the read seemed more comfortable and extremely enthusiastic about the whole project.

Soon after it was time for rehearsals. I will be the first to say that for those with smaller roles, like Kyle, Tiffany, and Phil Amico, this sort of sucked. Because their scenes were scattered, and sometimes only with a line or three, they sometimes needed to be in rehearsals for a long day of nothingness, occasionally interrupted by 20 to 30 minutes of rehearsing a scene. This held especially true for Kyle. But he not only showed up, off-book and with a smile on his face, but even came on a day or two where I told him if he couldn't make it, he didn't have to, since he only had a few lines. He took it very seriously and really seemed to enjoy the interaction with the other actors whenever he had the chance.

Then, there was wardrobe... Kyle always looks good and I thought for sure I'd just be able to cherry-pick a few goodies from his own clothing. I went to his place one evening, and he had laid out a bunch of things for me to look at. I had never noticed it before but, for as outrageously funny as Kyle is, his taste in clothing is on the conservative side. Nothing too wild, nothing overtly sexy, things that look good on him, but largely in neutral colors, and some with logos so we couldn't use those. The part I thought that would be easiest to dress, and there was not one shirt in his wardrobe that I could use. Time for shopping!

The actors had all agreed to supply their own wardrobe, and if they didn't own the right stuff, we went shopping, and they paid for those clothes themselves. Welcome to the glamorous world of acting in low-budget indies! Those that I did go shopping with were very flexible and very patient, and Kyle was no exception. If memory serves, it was a Sunday, and we tried to hit the thrift stores I had scouted with Cheryl, Kelly, and Phil Calvert, but they were closed. So, we headed to Hampden, specifically, Mina's. Which is exactly where we should have started to begin with.

Now, though I was able to pay my ensemble cast a tiny bit each, it was really nothing more than what I call pain-in-the-ass money, and also it was on a sliding scale. So, since Kyle had a small part, it really wasn't much to speak of. I agreed to cover the cost of whatever wardrobe we picked out and deduct it from this future pay.

At Mina's, we found some very fun stuff which was exactly what I was looking for for David. A couple of graphic tees that if you look close during the movie, are pretty hysterical, or at least interesting. I loved the Joan of Arc tee so much that I went back later and bought one for myself. The outfit we threw together for the finale scene at first seemed absurd as I found one piece at a time, but once we put it all together, I have to say, I love, love, love this outfit. Kyle looks adorable in hats and should wear them much more often. And Kyle himself was ecstatic about the find of the day - a wide-collared polyester shirt with photos of birds screened all over it (seen in the scene in Minato, the above photo).

We found everything we needed right there at Mina's, and when they totaled up the 4 shirts, vest, and hat... at the end of the production I would then owe Kyle a whopping $30. I'll say again, he was a VERY good sport about the matter.

As he was, and is, about everything. He is one of the actors I remain in closest touch with, and he is constantly offering help with marketing, spreading the word to everyone he can, beating the drums about becoming a fan of the Facebook page, reading the blog, attending the premiere, etc. All very important, of course, but most importantly, I think he pulled off the character of David delightfully, and I SO hope that the real David can be at the screening to check out this very cute, very funny version of himself. In real life Kyle has a similarly devilish smile, the same harmless yet sinister twinkle in his eye, and he did a fantastic job of providing comic relief while portraying a believable character.

Spin Me Right Round

(Cheryl Scungio as a rather drunken Gracie)

I'm a pretty happy camper today. Since Wednesday, our fans on the Facebook page, "Smalltimore, the Movie," (don't forget the comma) http://www.facebook.com/pages/Smalltimore-the-movie/54159809709?ref=ts has TRIPLED! Mostly through Kyle Holtgren's, Phil Calvert's, and my own friends, but we are also pulling in random people along the way, and I love that.

Eric got on board the other day, after I made a rather pointed plea to my friends who had not yet become fans. He is new to Facebook, and he asked me if it got me anything, having people sign up. Not per se, but it definitely helps. It is all about keeping the buzz going, keeping people talking about it, and if you think about it, it is kind of hard to keep people talking about a movie they've never seen, and don't know when they'll see it. But that is exactly what I have been doing for almost a year and a half now, via this blog, layering that with the occasional mass email, and now adding the Facebook page.

Anyone who has ever been to one of my parties or events can tell you that I know how to plan a good time, and a good turnout. Because what I am doing for Smalltimore is exactly what I do for all my events. Like I said in the very beginning, that is what making, and now marketing, a movie is - event planning. Scheduling, being organized, making sure everyone knows what they are supposed to be doing them and finding a way to reward them for doing it so that they stay excited about it. More than anything, it is about communication.

People forget things, and get bored quickly. We're all busy, and in this world where we watch the news with remote control in hand, flipping between several channels which each have one or more talking heads in the middle, various stock, weather, and time info in the corners and a streaming ticker across the bottom, our attention span has been reduced to the point that we require our information in sound bites. Collective social A.D.D.. Just the facts, Ma'am. And quickly!

Now that I have the FB page for the movie, that fills that niche, and I am glad to have it, despite the "new" FB being so annoying. But there are quite a few people that read this blog regularly, it gets an average of about 30 hits a day now. Until recently it was averaging 20, but it has gone up since I have been writing a lot lately. Which is nice, because I was afraid it would go down, that people would get bored with hearing so much from me!

I think the blog serves a certain purpose that I can't accomplish on FB. It is pretty stream-of-consciousness for me, and I think we all enjoy getting inside someone else's head, but my posts usually end up being some sort of story, and most people still like a good story. That's why we still love the movies! Especially if it is some sort of inside scoop, and even more so if it is some sort of inside scoop on a person. The days that receive the biggest number of hits are always the days that I post a profile of one of the actors (and my stat tracker differentiates between how many individuals view the page and how many page loads there are, so that number is not skewed by a few people returning to the page multiple times). BTW, Kyle, the biggest hits I have received in one day came on the day I profiled Phil Calvert - so don't think you're sailing away with that steak dinner quite yet. I think he is due for a comeback (see the posting earlier this week, "Feed a Starving Actor")!

I discovered that this (profiling individuals) was a very good tool a few years ago when I organized a couple group art shows with some of my artist friends here in Baltimore. I didn't have FB then, so I sent them out via mass emailing. We had great turnouts at both events. I received loads of compliments on them and no one minded at all that I was sending them a rather lengthy email once a week. As a matter of fact, once in awhile, I'll run into someone I haven't seen for a bit and they will tell me that they miss my mass emails!

I think the key is keeping it personal, that's what I try to do here. And funny, of course. It's not that hard. This IS Baltimore, after all. And Baltimore + actors = Plenty of material to work with.

CONTEST: Feed a Starving Actor!!!

I was just about to rename the "Smalltimore the Movie" Facebook page, "Phil Calvert & Friends" as we have recently had a deluge of his friends become fans of the page, but I decided to take a count to be sure which actor had the most friends on here, and it turns out that Kyle Holtgren wins (for the moment) by a nose! The current tally is:

Kyle - 12
Phil C. - 11
Kelly Coston - 7
Cheryl Scungio - 4
Orlando Gonzalez - 4
Johnny Benson - 2
Al Letson - 2
Will Lurie - 1

So, as a little incentive, I decided to create a little contest.

Feed a Starving Actor!!!

Whichever actor of the main ensemble has the most number of friends on the "Smalltimore the Movie" page by midnight, May 6th, the eve of the Maryland Film Festival, (and NO, I do not know if we are in yet, but for good or evil, I'll be drinking that weekend) will be treated by me to a ridiculously decadent dinner at the PRIME RIB Restaurant. What's your pleasure? Oysters Rockefeller? Lobster Bisque? Or a steak from one of the top 20 steak houses in the entire COUNTRY? This is not a dinner for the faint of heart, folks.

If a person is friends with more than one of the actors, they will each receive credit. If you don't know one of the actors personally, just post to the page who you are "voting" for and I will add it to their tally. If you are already a fan but not a friend of an actor, you, too, can post your vote. ONE VOTE PER FAN if you are not friends with any of the actors. Watch the trailer to see who's who, and make your voice heard!

Cheryl Scungio as Gracie
Orlando Gonzalez as Tony
Joyce J. Scott as Mrs. Talford
Kelly Coston as Mel
Johnny Benson as Bentley
Darik Bernard as Darik
Will Lurie as Andrew
Phil Calvert as Thom
Tom Diventi as Tucker
Kyle Holtgren as David
Tiffany Ariany as Angela
Phil Amico as Jack
and
Al Letson as The Voice of Reason

So, do your good deed for the day and become a fan of the "Smalltimore, the Movie" Facebook page. I'll be posting an update every 7-10 days to let you know the stats.

Let them eat steak!

I Do

(picture: Orlando Gonzalez, Joyce Scott, and Cheryl Scungio share an unscripted laugh during our grueling week of rehearsals. See #7 below.)

Tom Boynton of The Remnants came over last night and watched the movie straight through with me. We are talking about him possibly scoring some of the scenes that have no music or would do better with non-lyrical music. The sound still needs a lot of work, and it is driving me crazy. At least it is leveled off now so that I don't have to watch it with remote control in hand to turn it up or down, but in many scenes I seem to have overcompensated and now the music is too low. It is different watching it on a television from the other side of the room than on a computer in front of my face. The sound is perfect there!

Dinner with Phil Calvert tonight, yay! Now I have to remember the things that I did right that I wanted to tell him about. I had a few more things for the list of what NOT to do, but I didn't write them down and now I don't remember. They will probably come to me as I write this. Oh, there's one!

1. Carefully plan your shoot according to the seasons. Since "Smalltimore" is a romantic comedy, I wanted bright, colorful outdoor scenes. We shot for 2 weeks in August, and the weather was amazingly cooperative. However, there were some scenes we didn't get to, and as I mentioned, it took me 4 months to get those actors I needed all together for those scenes - several of which were outdoors. So for the day scenes we had to make sure we didn't shoot any trees, because now they were bare, and for the night scenes my poor actors were freezing because they had to be in summer clothes with no coats. And one of the scenes was driving around with the convertible top down! So if I were shooting a comedy, in Baltimore, I would try to start production in April or May. For something that needed to be more bleak, maybe end of October.

I'm sure more things will come to me, but let's move on to what I did that I WOULD do again:

1. Join the Creative Alliance and take every film-related class you can. I'll remind you that I had NO formal training in filmmaking. Before January 2008 I had never taken a single class on the subject. I took as many classes at the Creative Alliance as I could before going into production, and I still continue to take them, they can only make me a better writer, director, and producer. Especially if you see any class taught by Michelle Farrell, Rob Pawlosky, or Steve Yeager, TAKE IT. Also Aaron Gentzler or Stacie Jones-Gentzler. I haven't had the opportunity to take their classes, but I know them and they do a great job.

2. Make contacts and keep them up constantly. The film community in Baltimore is very small, so this isn't that hard to do. Actors, producers, crew... you never know when you are going to need someone. Be respectful and even when you really want to and you know you are right, NEVER talk badly about anyone in the industry. Everyone knows everyone, you will probably have to work with them sooner or later, and it will come back to bite you in the ass. Last summer, I think before we even started production, something bad (and COMPLETELY untrue) got back to me that someone said about me, and I was barely in these circles for a minute! Luckily the person who heard this misinformation knew the truth about the situation first-hand and straightened out the third party - who I had never even met, but I had heard of him because he has produced several movies.

3. Treat actors with the same respect you treat the film crew. As a general rule, in life, I try to treat everyone the same anyway. A lot of people on the production side of things tried to convince me that actors are a dime a dozen and should be glad to take any part I threw their way, do it for free and like it. I thought this was a terrible approach, and I would never even think about an actor that way, let alone treat them like that. What good would that do anyone? That kind of attitude just breeds discontent, poison on a set. On the flip side, I have been on a set where the Director actually said to the production crew that the actor, "is God." That attitude is equally disastrous.

4. If possible, hold your auditions someplace that has a professional feel about it. I was lucky enough to be able to hold mine at Baltimore Theater Project. This, I feel, gave the project some "cred," and got the actors more excited about trying to do their best and land a role.

5. The audition process should be pretty grueling. This is not to intentionally torture anyone, this is to weed out those who aren't serious about it. Tape all auditions. Review them several times (it should be grueling for the director also, not just the actors!). Call more than one person back for each role, even if you THINK you know who you want. The second round of auditions should be extensive and tough. See who's left standing, those are the people you want.

6. Have a table read, and allow the actors some input. This is something that only made sense to me, but I found out that very few writer/directors do this. Of course I had the final say, and there were some suggestions I turned down. But for example, this process is what led to Joyce Scott completely turning the character of Mrs. Talford around. As it was originally written, she was pretty crude. Joyce helped me to find a way, simply through vocabulary, really, to make her much more endearing, intelligent, and quirky. Having this sort of input also allows the actors to really OWN their characters. It means a lot to them to be a part of the process, because they are very rarely asked their opinions. Honestly this is one of the best things I did in the whole process, and I will do it every time. The other thing that I would not skip, that many do is:

7. Have rehearsals. Since actors in low-budget indies are often doing it for cheap or free, this may seem like a lot to ask. But I believe it is exactly why the chemistry between the characters in "Smalltimore," truly comes across on screen. Because we had this time together to become at ease with each other, and work out the kinks of what I was looking for from each of them in every scene, in every page. Especially with an ensemble cast, there was so much going on. I think the whole thing would have been a holy mess if we had not put the time in together in the trenches (40 hours total) before stepping on the set.

8. Be up-front with actors from the moment you place the casting call. If you can't pay them, say so. There are still loads of actors out there who will do it, and the ones who won't will just be pissed off that you wasted their time, and they will spread the word. Have a questionnaire at the auditions, and make sure everything is clear between you and that actor before the audition is over. Will they work for what you said you can (or can't) pay them? Will they do nudity? Have a problem with playing a gay character? Have reliable transportation? Even simple questions can help you suss out the divas who are going to be a problem on the set. If they answer every question with two or three sentences instead of checking the "yes" or "no" box, it's going to be a bumpy ride.

There's loads more, but I have to get some other work done today, so time to wrap this up. If you want to know more about my personal do's and don't's... take my pre-production class at the Creative Alliance on June 6th!

Orlando Gonzalez, as Tony

I first met Orlando when he answered a Craigslist post I had put out in December of 2007 for actors to appear in the initial trailer for Smalltimore (then "Charm City"). If you watch the old trailer, you can see him in a "morning after" scene with me. He did well, especially when Director Sean would make us improv some stuff to loosen us up. When I posted the trailer on YouTube, his reaction was that he needed to lose 40 pounds (this is why you should never let actors see the dailies). I didn't necessarily agree, but when he showed up for the real auditions in April, he had done just that, and had also worked on some other issues about the character that we had discussed.

One of the many lessons I learned during the auditions: you can find a lot of male actors over 50, but very few females. And you will have a plethora of actresses under 40 to choose from, and quite a few men, too, but at least in this area, VERY few muscular guys who can act. If you write a character like that and you are casting in this area, your choices will pretty much be Orlando Gonzalez, maybe one or two other guys, or you will have to go with a union actor and pay union wages (and even then you will have to search far and wide). I am not saying that to take anything away from Orlando, I am just letting you in on one of the surprises that came my way in pre-production.

In between December 2007 and the following April, I saw Orlando on the set of another movie he was in, "Good People". He was playing a thug who got to beat up Johnny Alonso. In a movie he did the previous summer, "Safehouse," he also was a thug who fought with Johnny Alonso (though in that fight, Johnny "breaks" Orlando's arm - Orlando got his revenge in "Good People").The "Good People" set was at the 1919 bar in Fells Point. In between scenes, I was talking to Orlando. He seemed a little frustrated. He really likes the business and did not want to be type-cast.

At the April audition he was the best one I saw for the role of Tony, and by far the only one who fit the very specific physical description I had in mind for the character. There were still some things bugging me, though, when I watched the tapes later. I did take into account that he was really stressed that day. In addition to the hour+ drive from Germantown in weekday rush hour, he had had to put his dog down just a day or two before the audition. I could see the sadness in his face on those tapes, and having gone through that myself on too many occasions, I had to feel for him.

But bottom line, I had to make a choice: it was either going to be Orlando, or I was going to have to rewrite certain things about the character, which I really didn't want to do.

I didn't know Orlando that well at that point, but I knew him well enough to know that he was going to stress until he heard from me, though I had told everyone that I might not get back to them for 2 weeks while I reviewed the tapes. I knew what I had to say to him, so I didn't see the point in torturing him, especially on top of the grief of losing his pet. Within a few days of the first round of auditions, I wrote Orlando an honest letter, similar to the one I had sent to Cheryl. I told him if he promised to get an acting coach in the meantime, I would like him to come to the callbacks in June.

He replied that he had already been considering someone in the area as his coach, and got on it right away. When he came in for that long day in June, he was pumped, he was off book, and the difference in his skills and self-confidence was easily apparent. And so, of course, he got the job.

Orlando and I don't always see eye to eye, but he is a trooper and he earned my respect. I remember the day of rehearsals where he had his make-out scene with Cheryl. Cheryl said, to brace Orlando and me, that she didn't "know how to not make-out," in other words, to fake it. She had to really kiss. Orlando was totally okay with that. I believe it was his first such scene, but he did great. I think I was more nervous about it than they were. It was very odd to direct people to start kissing, and then make comments like, "Okay, can we do that again with less suction? That was a little noisy. Action!!"

Orlando was always off book, and his chemistry with Cheryl and with Joyce Scott, who played his boss, was exactly how I had hoped it would be. I have some good Joyce & Orlando stories, but I'll save them for when I am talking about Joyce.

Orlando had to meet a lot of challenges in this role, including comedy, which I also learned the hard way is WAY harder than drama, to direct as well as act. But he had one challenge that none of the other actors did - nudity.

Michelle once tried to talk me into putting some boobs in the film, but I nixed that. It's a romantic comedy - who goes to see these but straight women and gay men? They don't need to see boobs. Throw a bit of man-butt in there for the ladies!

I REALLY have to hand it to Orlando for doing this. He was nervous and self-conscious, starved himself for a few days beforehand, but he did it and he owned it. He knew a lot of the guys on the crew from the other films he had worked on, and they razzed the hell out of him.

That day we filmed all day in my friend Greg's house. We did that bedroom scene first, upstairs. First we did these great jib shots of Cheryl in her bra in the bed, part of which you can see in the trailer. Everything was going smoothly, and Cheryl was walking around her bra in between takes, which hopefully made Orlando a little more comfortable. He seemed okay. I walked into the room where he was running lines and asked if he was ready for his "close-up". He said yep, turned around and dropped his drawers to prove his point. Okay, then, systems go!

I treated the day like any other day because I didn't want to make a big deal of it. After Cheryl's singles, we were ready for Orlando's butt scene. Actors on their marks, crew in place, camera rolling, I turn around to yell for quiet, as there are a lot of crew downstairs (I thought), and there in the bedroom doorway is EVERY SINGLE FEMALE INTERN ON THE SET. I felt like if at this point I said to clear the set (which in retrospect, I probably should have) it would make a bigger deal of it in addition to delaying filming. "Action!"

I think we did the scene 3 or 4 times, which Michelle made fun of me for, but I always do extra shots for safety (and the few times I have not I have totally screwed myself for editing purposes). Orlando did it all with a sense of humor, and I think the scene turned out to be very comic.

Though it was an ensemble cast with several large speaking roles, Orlando was basically the male lead. I think he surprised a lot of people on the set who had only seen him work in small, stereo-typical roles before that. He took it all very seriously, never complained, always delivered. So if you are trying to find a beefcake leading man for a romance, or the buff action-figure type guy for a shoot-em-up, I can tell you you have at least one very good choice in the Baltimore-Washington area. Orlando Gonzalez is determined to go places. Get him while you can afford him.