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.

Will Lurie, as Andrew

Will Lurie (and just so you know, there is supposed to be a little accent over the "e", but I can't figure out how to make my computer type that) is sort of the enigma of the Smalltimore cast. That actually also suits his character, Andrew. Like Andrew, Will is a good guy, agreeable and friendly, but has a rather stealthy presence. He flies under the radar.

After the first round of auditions at Baltimore Theater Project last April, I had not found a single person that I could really see in the role of Andrew. I knew from the get-go that this might be a harder role to cast because he needs a certain range, but I hadn't found anyone who could even look the part, let alone act it. Johnny (Benson) probably could have, but I saw him more as Bentley from the beginning, the role he ended up with.

In May I attended the Stonehenge auditions, held at the Creative Alliance, and that was where I found Will. Stonehenge, by the way, goes well beyond rocking - it kicks ASS. It takes place again this year, on May 31, my birthday. I am considering having my usual birthday celebration the day before, just so I can go to Stonehenge, even though at the moment I am not even casting anything! It is just SO much valuable information crammed into one day, it is hard to resist. Last year I got to see 125 actors audition in a span of 5 or 6 hours. It is fast-paced and exhausting, but there are a lot of good people to be found there.

I devised a simple system: I had three folders, one each red, yellow, and green. Impressive actors went in the green file; actors who I thought were good but only for specific types went in the yellow; and people I would never, ever cast in anything went in the red. Out of 125 people, I only ended up with about 10 in the red folder, maybe 2 to 3 dozen in the green folder, the majority of actors went in the yellow folder. When possible, I'd write one- or two-word notes on their resumes. "Funny", "Expressive face", "can cry", stuff like that. If they were really good, I'd put a star also. Will ended up in the green folder, with a star, and the note, "v.cute."

I contacted him and he came to the call back day, the second round of auditions. He did a great job and got the part. Early in the day, though, something was jumping out at me and I gave his resume a second look - no film experience, only stage. That explained it. In just a sentence or two, I explained the difference to Will - you are no longer, "playing to the back row," no need to project so much. That camera is going to be right up in your face, even if the camera is 20 feet away from you. Dial it down. Will did, and I rarely had to remind him after that.

Between takes on the set, usually I would see Will laughing with Johnny or playing pool with Phil Calvert. He always seemed to be having a good time, but he was never what I would call boisterous, never needed to be the center of attention. It was only in retrospect that I realized he was one of the youngest members of the cast. I never thought about it during filming because he always handled himself with such maturity.

Will had to drive about an hour from D.C. to be on the set, so he showed up when I needed him and skated as soon as I could let him go, so he didn't get to fraternize as much as the others did. It worked for his character, Andrew, though, because Andrew is the outsider, the guy who just moved here from New York. Almost everything on the set was art imitating life. Will was the theater guy from D.C. among all these Baltimore film actors, but they always made him feel welcome. As far as I can tell, there was never any discord between them, and I know sometimes that can be the case between theater and film actors.

Will was also very flexible, never complained about the drive. The real pain for him was that though he only had a medium-sized role, every scene he was in took place in a different setting. If I was able to just shoot Will's scenes all in a row, I probably could have shot him out in two days. But he had scenes in The Wind-Up Space, Dougherty's, Fin Art Gallery, Federal Hill Park, Mrs. Talford's Mansion, and Minato Sushi restaurant - all of which were shot on different days. Poor thing. And what really sucked was that there is a continuous part where he meets Gracie at the gallery, they later go to Federal Hill Park, and then after that go to Minato, but we had to shoot all three on different days and out of order. We shot the middle part, on Federal Hill, first. On a later date, we shot the first part, in the gallery - and Will forgot to bring the outfit he had worn in the park. We managed to salvage that just by adding a line at the gallery. After Gracie tells Andrew she can meet up with him after work, he says, "Good, that will give me time to change." Problem solved.

But when we were ready to film the last part at Minato, Will forgot his Federal Hill outfit again. He was already in Baltimore the day before that scheduled day, to shoot another scene, and was going to stay in town and shoot the Minato scene the next day. But he didn't have the outfit. He gave me the puppy-dog-please-don't-make-me-drive-back-to-D.C. eyes but there was no way around it this time. "I can't do it, Will," I told him. "You can't change clothes three times in back-to-back scenes. You're not Elizabeth Taylor." He knew it was what had to be done, and he drove home and came back the next day with the right outfit, without complaint.

Another good thing about Will is his "look". I think his cast mate, Tiffany Ariany, who plays Angela (predator to Will's prey) put it best. I heard her say to him one day, "You look really cute on screen. But you don't look like anyone else." It is absolutely true, and for casting, that is a very good thing to find. I swear, most of these under-25-pale-effeminate-white-boys that are all the rage now all look exactly the same to me, I don't know any of their names and I can't tell them apart.

I do have some funny stories about Will, but they mostly have to do with his character and things that happen in the movie that I can't tell you about. So you'll just have to see for yourself!

Johnny Benson, as Bentley

Ahh, Bentley. Keith Bentley, in real life, is quite a character. As is Johnny Benson. So Johnny Benson PLAYING Keith Bentley... "hilarity ensues," is an overused, but completely appropriate turn of phrase.

Now, to be clear, the character of Keith Bentley is not really Keith Bentley exactly, but rather a characterization, and sometimes a caricature, of Keith Bentley, loosely based on my friend Keith Bentley, who actually is an artist, as is the character, Keith Bentley. Is that clear enough for you?

As with many of the characters in, "Smalltimore," I used friends, acquaintances, events and circumstances as jumping-off points - and then leapt.

When I first started writing this script, one of the most difficult things was, for me, to let go of my tight grasp on events and the exact details of how they transpired, and learn to massage them with a little poetic license until I could weave a bunch of interesting experiences I have had, fudging the details where necessary, into a cohesive storyline of events. Equally difficult for me was letting go of the characters that were based, albeit loosely, on people I know in real life, and letting the actor put their own spin on them.

For example: Keith Bentley actually did a screen test for the character of Bentley. But he was so nervous about it that he couldn't play the loose, funny, relaxed, neurotic, hot mess, hysterical Bentley that I know and love. And he was (is) living in Canada, which would have been a production scheduling nightmare. So, I had to cast the part.

I remember Johnny Benson's audition very clearly. Not so much what he read but how he read it and his general stage presence. I am pretty sure he was within the first FIVE people who read on the first night of auditions, so when someone sticks out in your memory 80+ people and two exhausting nights later, that is a pretty good sign. He didn't seem nervous at all, sort of threw away the lines, which is how Bentley often talks. I also don't remember exactly what he was wearing, but he definitely has his own style, which lies somewhere between vampire and pirate, if you can imagine a vampire or a pirate tending bar at a tiki lounge. I don't know if that makes any sense, if you know Johnny it might. Maybe that's just me. He's just so relaxed and comfortable with everyone at all times, you know, like all good bartenders are. I've never seen him in an awkward or nervous moment. And he owns a couple of cool Hawaiian shirts.

Ann Mladinov was my second pair of eyes at the audition. As soon as Johnny walked out of the theater, I looked at her and we both said, "Bentley."

Now, it wasn't as simple as that. There was another actor that we also both really liked as Bentley, and it was a very difficult decision between the two of them. There were a few deciding factors, and it really came down to the wire. Several people whose advice I trust were pushing me in the other direction, but there was something about Johnny that my gut was telling me, that's the one. I know in the end the right person got the part.

One of the factors that pushed me towards Johnny was that after a grueling day (about 6 hours straight) of callbacks, I had a little cocktail party for the actors so I could chat with them a bit more, and see how they interacted with each other as well. I know that for some, this was the most nerve-wracking part of the day. I could see it on their faces, and I empathized. How comfortable would you be, socializing, sometimes side by side with your competition, while talking to your potential director? I didn't envy them. But Johnny... he was so fluid, it surprised me that he didn't know any of these people already because he was so comfortable and sociable, I think he even exchanged contact info with a few of them, in case they, or he, didn't get a part in "Smalltimore," so they could still reach each other.

Some of my more experienced director friends warned me that I should not give bonus points to actors who can socialize so easily, nor demerits to the wallflowers, of which there were a few. But, to a degree, I disagree. If the wallflower is far and away a better actor, well then of course, it's no question, they should have the part. If it were just about being my friend, well then... Bentley would have actually played Bentley (I love you, Bentleeeeey...).

But when it is neck-and-neck... I'm going to go for the person who is blending with their potential castmates as if they were old friends. But what if they are doing that on purpose, you ask? What if they know that is what you are looking for and they are just giving you what you want to see? Well then, I say, that's really good acting! Sign 'em up!

Johnny was a pleasure to work with and had great chemistry with everyone, but especially with Cheryl (Gracie) and Kelly (Mel). One of my favorite scenes is the three of them in Dionysus, sitting on the sofa having a beer and picking on each other like only the best of friends can and get away with it. Johnny did a great job of nailing a certain aspect about Bentley (whom he has yet to meet). There is a way, in real life, that Bentley always seems to be the one being picked on, and yet he often manages to have the last laugh; the verbal "love slaps" just seem to roll right off him. He never overthinks anything, and he never holds a grudge. I have known him for almost exactly ten years and we have never had a fight. I once made a mean comment on one of his Facebook photos (which was meant to be funny, and would have unmistakably been if delivered in person) to which he typed a reply, "That was just mean," which, had that been delivered in person, would also have been unmistakably funny. But, fearing I had truly hurt his feelings, I apologized all over myself in a note. His immediate response was, "Good lord, are you drunk?!" He'd never take anything that seriously, as I should have known.

Johnny definitely put his own twist on Bentley, and once I saw where he was going with it, I pushed him to go even further. It worked very well and I think Johnny is funny in every single scene, but in no way buffoonish or slapstick. Johnny's humor is concurrently subtle and apparent. During production, I was on the phone with (the real) Bentley, and of course he asked about the guy I had chosen to play "him". "He's fantastic!" I said. "He actually plays it a lot like you, especially the chemistry between Johnny and Cheryl is a lot like the chemistry between us. But... he's like, a darker, more aggressive, sexually deviant version of you."

"Oh," Bentley said. "So he is playing me the way I think I am in my head."

"Exactly."

Darik Bernard, as Darik

To answer your first question, no, the character was not originally named Darik. In the screenplay he was first called Brad, named after someone I had a crush on at the time that I wrote it. By the time we were filming, that crush had long since dissipated, and my dear but sometimes annoying friend/big brother/Executive Producer Tom Kyte thought (mistakenly) that I had named the character after my college boyfriend, who was Tom's roommate way back in that day. So, in order not to have Tom give me grief for the rest of my life (at least about that; he finds plenty of ammunition without me handing it to him), I decided to change the name of the character. Plus, Darik just doesn't look like a "Brad" to me. I started thinking about it, and then I started over-thinking about it, and then I was like, screw it, he looks like a Darik, just call him Darik! And Darik was very happy about that, so problem solved.

Darik came to the first round of auditions at Baltimore Theater Project. The actors received a brief description of the characters and I let them choose which they would try out for. Darik tried out for (bi-sexual) Bentley and (gay) David. Something that happened over and over in these auditions - straight men who could not convince me that they were gay - and Darik was one of them. However, in one of the sides he was given he had to act as if he were drunk, and that he did very convincingly! So when I contacted him later to tell him he didn't get a scripted part, I told him I wanted to write him in as a drunk guy, and he was pleased as punch to do that.

(Side note: In the future, if I am directing a scene where a character is supposed to be drunk, most likely I will actually get them drunk, because few sober people are as convincing as Darik was.)

A few weeks later I attended the Stonehenge auditions at the Creative Alliance. Darik was there, and did a very dramatic but subtle monologue. I was surprised and impressed, and started to see him in a new light. I emailed him soon after and asked him to come to the callbacks, to audition for the role of Brad. I was having a hard time filling this role, which was weird because it is one of the less quirky, more straightforward characters.

Darik did a very good job and landed the role. I asked him why hadn't he auditioned as Brad or Tony in the first place? He told me, "I just really wanted to be gay!" He had never played a gay role and thought it would be challenging as an actor. I liked that attitude, because I can't TELL you how many actors dropped out of the auditions because they didn't want to play a gay or bi-sexual man. Isn't that why they call it acting??? It's not like this was porn or anything. Raise your hand if you are secure in your manhood!

Darik is a real sweetheart and easy to work with. During our days of rehearsals, Cheryl Scungio turned everyone on to a little trick called, "hugging it out". If she was in a scene with a person she had never acted with before, she would hug them for a minute so they would quickly establish a connection. Darik really liked this concept and it seemed to help him. He kept campaigning for me to alter the script so they could kiss it out, but I stood my ground.

Anyway, Phil Calvert was not at rehearsals on the first day, so he didn't know about "hugging it out". Thom (Phil) and Darik (Darik) had a scene together and are supposed to be good friends. So Day Two of rehearsals we are going through this scene, and admittedly it was a little flat. Darik stopped in the middle of it, looked at me and asked, "Can we hug it out?", walked up to Phil before I could answer and gave the rather confused Phil a big bear hug. I found the whole thing to be hysterical and I wish to god I had been taping so I would have caught Phil's expression on film! I had to explain "hugging it out" to Phil, we had a laugh about it, and I tell you what, the scene worked a lot better afterwards.

Darik has a big, beautiful smile and can be a warm teddy bear or a jealous, brooding, wanna-be boyfriend. His size and stature made him the perfect adversary for Tony (and remember what I said about trying to find tall, muscular guys? Darik is another one of the very few you'll find in this area). But the thing I love most about Darik is his almost childlike enthusiasm. He just LOVES acting and he gets SO excited about it. I am confident that some day he will realize his dream, and play an amazingly gay gay man.

Kelly Coston, as Melanie

Kelly Coston so totally rocked out the character of Melanie that I had completely forgotten the sheer hell I had put her through before she got the role. She was quick to remind me at the reception following the screening of the rough cut, however.

I met Kelly last March, on the set of a short titled, "The Mystery Date," written and directed by Arlette Fletcher, who is the President of the Baltimore chapter of Women in Film & Video. Kelly was a Production Assistant and I was the Script Supervisor. She was very easy to work with, and a hard worker, but really I just had so much FUN with her and she kept me laughing all day. She is smart and sassy and has a very quick wit.

"The Mystery Date" was only a three day shoot, and on the third day I thought I had found my Mel in Kelly. Near the end of a very long day, there was a scene between a father and his young daughter where they are having a sad conversation and the father is crying. The actor couldn't seem to tear up, so I closed the set to give them more privacy, and the PAs and I went in the next room. From where we were, we could still hear them (and them us) so I was trying to keep everyone quiet. Kelly kept making me laugh, so I stared at the floor. We listened while the actor tried like hell to cry (I don't think he quite pulled it off, though). Finally I lifted my gaze to Kelly, and she looked very upset. I saw a single tear run down her cheek, and I thought, wow, this scene is really getting to her! She met my eyes, looked so sad, then pointed to her tear and broke into an ear-to-ear grin, like, "See, I can do that!" It was all I could do not to burst out laughing. I could have strangled her. But I was impressed.

I think the thing about Kelly is is that she is very hard on herself and gets herself worked up and nervous. At the first audition, she was good but a little rigid. There was another actress at the first round who really blew me away. So I called them both to the second round.

That was a long, tough day, and they both did very well. Now I had a real dilemma. I didn't know who to choose. On top of their skills, they were both gorgeous, but had very different looks. I was starting to skew towards the other actress, but down the stretch, something happened. I think the other actress lost her confidence, and the last few scenes there was a noticeable fade in her enthusiasm. Kelly still wasn't as loose as she was when I first met her but she was strong and consistent. It was still a hard decision, but now Kelly was in the lead.

After the callbacks, I still had a third actress to audition for the role of Gracie, so I called in a few of the other actors (including Kelly) to help her play out the scenes. That actress was not a good fit for Gracie, but what I saw of her, she would have done well as Melanie. So now I was leaning towards her. I really wanted Kelly for Mel from the beginning, but she just stiffens a little when she is competing for a role, and I didn't know her well enough to know if she was going to be able to loosen up.

I was honest with Kelly and it looked like I was going to give it to the other actress, who poor Kelly had helped me audition for the Gracie role! I felt terrible but I had to do what I thought was best for the film. Kelly wrote me and said it was cool, she had a little conversation with God about it and God wanted her to have this role, and it would all work out, I'd see.

It turns out that the other actress' day job was in turmoil and she couldn't have committed for the two-week shoot anyway. I emailed Kelly back that God was right, and the role was hers if she still wanted it. She just about leapt through my computer screen to accept.

And of course it turned out that she really WAS the exact right person for it. She and Cheryl got along in real life exactly as they do on the screen, instant BFFs. She cracks on Orlando and Johnny in real life just as Mel does to their characters, Tony and Bentley. So much attitude! Melanie hates the character Angela, who is played by the very sweet Tiffany Ariany. Kelly would be so mean to Tiff during the scenes, I almost felt kind of bad. (Later she admitted that at the beginning, she was still kind of mad at me, and "used" that to amp up her attitude in those scenes. It worked.) Now Kelly was relaxed and back to her sharp, funny, confident self that I had originally met. We had SO much fun shopping for wardrobe, that was an absolute blast, and she did not mind at all that everything I put her in showed massive amounts of cleavage. "I didn't use to have any of that," she'd say, and flash her thousand-watt smile. "They were a present from the kids!"

Kelly was always well-prepared and never had a bad day on the set. She is one that I really miss seeing. Half the time I would end up calling her Mel instead of Kelly (and still do), so we fused that into Melly. She truly is a complete package. The character of Mel ends up having a broader range than maybe any of the other characters, and Kelly was totally believable whether she was verbally castrating Tony, being blindsided with bad news, having to make life-altering decisions, being disappointed in a friend, or simply gazing lovingly at her man. Also, she is an editor's dream: I NEVER have to cut around her, she is consistent on every single take. Roll that all together with her fantastic attitude, teeth that most people would kill for, and what more could a Director ask for? Did I mention she is built like a brick house?

Wise Guy

As I profile my actors I am thinking a lot about my time in pre-production and especially the casting calls. That was probably my favorite part of pre-pro, even though I had to make a lot of difficult decisions, torture some people with the lingering unknown until I made up my mind, and sometimes disappoint people that I really would like to work with. Though I have done a few things to put myself in the actor's shoes, I have not gone so far as going for an audition. I want to, and I think I will before the year is out. I figure then I will know what it is like to be rejected, because I am quite certain that I would be! But even going in knowing that, I still think it will be a nerve-wracking experience. Being alone, onstage, and fully aware that you are being judged and measured against a whole bunch of other people based on your looks as well as your talent... how could it not be? It seems a little masochistic to me when I think about it.

At the first round of auditions at Baltimore Theater Project back in April, one of the first people to be in front of me was one Ms. Regina Guy. She did a great job but unfortunately was not quite young enough to play Gracie or Mel, and quite a bit younger than I had envisioned the part of the wealthy widow. But her enthusiasm was striking, and I could tell she really wanted it. At the end of her audition, she said, for the record, that if she wasn't right for one of the parts that she would be happy to be an extra or help out in any way she could. I thought that was pretty cool of her to say, and made a mental note to self.

When it was time to contact all of the actors who came to the first round (and I contacted every single one of them personally to tell them yes or no, almost 100 people altogether), I let Regina know she didn't fit one of the roles but I would love to have her on board as a Production Assistant. She was a bit disappointed (and voiced that) but still willing to be a part of the project. She came in to help me facilitate the second round of auditions and ran the holding room with a gloved iron fist. She showed up early, helped me haul ice and finish setting up the craft services tables, and when the actors arrived she expedited dispatching them to me for their scenes, as well as making sure they were fed and comfortable and had anything they needed. And she honestly seemed to be having a blast!

Her first day a rousing success, I definitely wanted Regina on for the whole shoot, and she obliged. The next gathering was the table read of the script with all the actors present. This was everyone's first introduction to Joyce Scott (Mrs. Talford). I knew Regina would be crazy about her and I asked her to pick Joyce up. That was all it took, and Regina appointed herself as Personal Assistant to Ms. Scott for the entire production.

Though I had hired someone specifically for meal times, actors and crew (if you want to keep them happy) graze the Craft Services table from call time to wrap. Regina loves to feed people and keep them happy, so these tasks fell naturally to her, as well as a lot of the additional responsibilities of meal times. I'm not sure I ever even put her in charge of it, she just took charge, making my life easier, so I was all good with it. When the other members of my Production Interns "A-Team", Corey Dillon and David Sarmiento, would get to set, she would put them to work helping her to get all the mis en place for the day before she would let Corey could get to his wardrobe duties and David go to help the crew.

I know she'd rather be in front of the camera (and she does appear several times in "Smalltimore", so look for her), but this kept her in the thick of things with both cast and crew and she did an amazing job. So amazing that Michelle and I both recommended her to do the entire catering gig on the project we worked on next, "Juju". Regina got (and rocked) the job, and a new career was launched!

More importantly, we became friends, and it makes the day go a lot faster when you are working with hard-working people that you like. Favorite days were those that Regina made her famous chili. The first time, I was a little concerned that the cast and crew might feel this was a cheap lunch, because it was the only thing on the menu. But we were filming at my friend Greg's house, and using the whole interior, so Regina had to set up shop on the front porch. Space being limited, we couldn't have done much more anyway. But in addition to the VAT of chili, she brought all the fixings and rigged an entire chili BAR with onions, sour cream, shredded cheese, and salad, and it was a smash hit. She even brought some vegetarian chili for a few of the crew with special diets. Everyone had seconds and thirds, and no one complained when we served it again within a week.

The chili appeared several times on the "Juju" set, and Regina always made a little extra for me to take home. We have remained friends, and in touch, and just this morning she texted me to say she is whipping up a batch, would I like her to bring some by tomorrow? Possibly the most rhetorical question that has ever been posed to me.

Moral of the story, stay open to possibilities. Regina didn't get exactly what she came to that audition for, but it ended up opening a lot of doors for her because she was positive and flexible. She has worked on several productions since "Juju" and has entrenched herself in the local indie production scene. And I made out like a bandit because I spotted a valuable asset and made sure to find a place for her. Everybody wins!

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.

Cheryl Scungio, as Gracie

After the first round of auditions, I thought I had pretty much found my Gracie. And it wasn't Cheryl Scungio.

But I knew that since this was the lead role, I should not paint myself into a corner by only calling one Gracie to the callbacks. I went through the tapes of the first auditions so many times, and there were a few women that came in a fairly close second to the person I thought I was going to cast. Cheryl was good, but because so many people came to the auditions and time was tight, I auditioned people in pairs. For most of the women, that meant they each read for the parts of Gracie and her best friend, Melanie, they would just swap roles. Cheryl was paired up with another girl, and they were good but very giggly, which was not what I was going for. They were very "Friends" when I was aiming for somewhere in between "Seinfeld" and "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia". So I figured I'd see what she was like without the giggly girl.

When I contacted Cheryl, I was very upfront with her about everything, and I told her point-blank that at this time, she was the runner-up, so she'd really have to pull out all the stops. She thanked me for my candor and promised to work on the notes I gave her.

Because Gracie is in almost every scene and I needed to test that person's chemistry with everyone else in the cast, I told the two Gracie's that I did not expect them to be off-book (have memorized) all 10 pages of dialogue, but I noted the scenes that I did want them to have down.

When the day came, Cheryl was the first to arrive. She brought changes of wardrobe particular to the scenes, and her own make-up kit. And she knew every single word of all 10 pages.

She also had the best chemistry with the rest of the cast, never checked her watch in front of me, and delivered her scenes with authority. She had thought a lot about the character and brought her own take on Gracie to the table, but took direction well if it wasn't what I was looking for. So that is how Cheryl came to be my Gracie. No one could have been more surprised than I was to have cast a thin, blonde Towson-ite who doesn't really swear in a role that is loosely based on my own experiences.

But Cheryl was such a dream to work with, and she is really funny herself. It was like having my own Lucille Ball on the set. She had this habit of whenever she would try to leave a room, she would try to push the door out when it opened inwards, so she kept running into doors unintentionally. But it was funny, so I kept it in. And sometimes she was adorably un-city-fied. I don't know how it came up, but once on the set she was telling me how for the longest time she thought those flashing blue Police cameras in the high-crime areas of the city were bug-zappers. I am not even kidding.

She was always a total trooper whether we were filming in the un-air-conditioned gallery in the middle of August or in the open convertible in the middle of November. I learned a lot from watching her, because she was always very aware of continuity. Unless I tell her to change something up, she does every take exactly the same, which helped me immeasurably during the editing process. She'd help me keep track of things like props and jewelry in that regard also.

She used up all of her vacation time for principle photography, even though for a back-breaking two weeks of work I could only pay her half of what she has made on some one-day industrial shoots. Most importantly, though, as my lead, as the person who was in 95% of the movie, she set the bar very high for all of the other actors, and I know that several of my guys who were very green took their cues from the way she carried herself on set. She never complained, was always off-book, always had her wardrobe, and behaved not just as a hired employee, but as a key member of the team, which is crucial to low-budget indies. This being my first movie, had I had the wrong person in that role, I might have ended up doubtful about doing any follow-up projects. I am very lucky to have found Cheryl, and if you ever have the opportunity to hire her, DO IT.

At Second Glance

Had a lovely evening last night. Started off with dinner at the Prime Rib with Friends Tom, Melanie, and neighbor Pete, and afterwards Cheryl Scungio (who plays the lead, Gracie) also came to my place and the five of us watched "Smalltimore," as none of them were able to make the screening of the rough cut. I hadn't seen Cheryl since we filmed the second half of a scene that had her and Orlando driving around town in my convertible with the top down, wearing flimsy clothing and pretending it was summertime, though it was actually a freezing November night. So really, I'm just glad she's still speaking to me.

Everyone seemed to enjoy it and it was fun to get together, but for me, the second time around of watching it all the way through wasn't easy, because now I am really seeing all the flaws and I wanted to constantly interrupt and tell my friends how I was going to make everything better for the next cut. But I controlled myself.

Awhile back, I promised to profile each of my actors here in my blog, and I think it is about time to do so. Cheryl and I were retelling some on-set anecdotes, and it made me think about a lot of the goofy little things that happened. I will start with Cheryl, since she plays the lead, and then I will, one by one, profile the rest of the ensemble, in no particular order, and on no particular timeline. I'll make them in individual posts so they are easy to find. Even while I watch the movie as a whole and I see all the things I can do to make it tighter, I still marvel each time at my cast. Who is the patron saint of casting agents? Whoever that may be, they must have been sitting on my shoulder when I chose each of these people for their roles.

I did really put everyone through the wringer during the audition process. During the first round of auditions, I saw over 80 people in two evenings. Eric loaned me a camera, and my friends Kellie Stevens and Jayson Fricke each filmed one evening of the trials for me, and Kellie and another friend, Jessica Hanel, took an evening each running the front of the house at Baltimore Theater Project, where the auditions were held.

After that, I spent 2 weeks watching the tapes several times over, by myself and also with Eric and Mikey B., so I could have a few opinions on the actors. For most parts I chose at least two people to come to the callbacks, the second round of auditions, even if I thought I knew who I wanted for a particular role. At the beginning of May I contacted those people and sent them "sides", scenes from the script that I felt were most important to their character so I could see how they delivered the key moments. Some of the actors had up to 10 pages of dialogue, and I gave them a month to learn it. The callbacks took place in mid-June, and took up a whole day, about 8 hours. Pretty extreme, but I needed to know who was serious about the project. Wanting the role is almost as important as how talented an actor is, when you are working on a low-to-no budget film.

In the end, with almost every role I had to make a tough choice, but I know that I made the right choice. Though some of the actors will tell you I tortured them mightily before getting around to it!