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.

Tally-Ho!

That would be me, being a 'ho for the tally. Views for the new Smalltimore trailer have sailed passed the 1,000 hit mark and even past 1,100! This does make me happy (especially because "individual users" have about leveled out with actual views, meaning that my cast and I have finally become bored with watching the trailer over and over), though in checking the stats on YouTube several times a day, I have inadvertently become addicted to funny cat videos. This has given me the idea to now include tags including, "kittens, cats, cute, funny, video, youtube" on all future videos and blog posts to increase traffic. Six figures, here we come!!!

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.

4:00am is the New 1:00am

I haven't been writing much because I haven't been doing much, film-wise, since the holidays ended. Once I am out of the groove it is hard to get back in, and real life and its issues start taking up more and more of my time since I have allowed myself to become un-entrenched from the movie. Plus, as you know by now, I work best with a deadline. Right now, that deadline is January 31st, the late-late date to submit to the Maryland Film Festival. And if you have not picked up on this by now, I am not an 11th-hour kind of person. I am an 11:45 kind of person. Some personal things, and things at my current "real job" to take care of through this week, and next week I have to really hit the bricks.

But, a little bit more fun this weekend before I go back to marathon editing. One of my major investors, my friend Tom, and his girlfriend are coming to visit me. I can't even remember the last time I saw them! I think the last time I saw Melanie was for my birthday way back in MAY, and I think I have seen Tom once since then. They couldn't make it for the screening of the rough cut, so I am having a mini-screening for them and a couple other friends who couldn't make it that day. But first, a decadent dinner at the Prime Rib! Mmmmmmmmmmmmm... It's fun to play Grown-Ups sometimes.

Actually, I have been editing. In my head. Late at night. Which is why I probably can't sleep. I took sleep aids for two nights, thinking they would knock me right out since I have never taken sleep aids in my life. No such luck. They did nothing. So now I am not even bothering.

Maybe it is feeling guilty for not really working on things lately. I think more likely it is because my brain got used to filing through a million things a day and now is still coasting at a high velocity on its own momentum. I've also found myself to be highly emotional the last month or so. The first few weeks of feeling this way were puzzling to me, I know myself pretty well, and when I am feeling some way that makes me stop and wonder WHY I am feeling that way, I can usually pick it apart and figure it out. This time took me awhile, but I know what it is: I need to write.

The way I blow off steam is most often in the form of writing (or anything to do with words, like editing), drinking, or sex. Just being honest here, don't get squeamish on me (and no, that is not a call for volunteers; I need to FOCUS, here!). Obviously the first is the most productive method, the second the most counter-productive, the third the most fun. Writing/editing is what I have been doing non-stop for a full year now, so though I haven't had time to really get involved with anyone (nookie-wise) I was fine. Since I finished the rough cut, a week before Christmas, up until New Year's I had plenty of drinking time (a few friends may argue, too much). But even if I am blowing off steam with one of my vices, if I am not writing, the words just build up in my brain until I can find an outlet for them, they never just dissipate.

But other than this blog and email, I won't let myself write until I have the final cut of the movie finished. Once the words are out, all creativity dwindles, so sometimes I just have to let it build up like this. I have ideas for other projects, some good ones, I think, but I can't take my eye off the ball. I have to do everything I can to cut this movie into the best possible piece it can be, and then I have to do everything I can to get it off the ground. I owe that to all the people who worked so hard on it with me, to everyone who has put their faith in me from the start (or who converted along the way), and to myself. But once I'm there... man, I can't WAIT to start writing again. I know that's when I'll finally be able to sleep like a baby.

In the Catbird Seat

Happy New Year, everyone!

I have lots of reasons to be happy, and to look forward to this year, but at the moment I am happiest about one thing: I actually SLEPT last night! What a relief. I have not been able to do that properly (i.e., without the assistance of cold medicine or a few drinks) for almost a month now, and it was making me a bit crazy, and probably a bit cranky also. Hopefully I am back on track now.

Another thing making me happy, or at least, it was, is that the trailer for Smalltimore is nearing 1,000 hits on YouTube. It has been up for 3 weeks today, so I thought that was good, considering the initial trailer has been up for almost a year and has had a little over 1,200 hits. But then today I got on YouTube to check the stats, and one of the videos that popped up when I signed on had a "talking cat", so I checked it out. Just a cat curled up in a sink and some lady holding the camera and screaming at the cat, "Buster! Say hi, Buster! Buster! Look at me, Buster! Say hi to Lydia, Buster! Buster! BUSTER!!!" You get the idea. And so did SEVERAL HUNDRED THOUSAND people who have watched it.

Looking at the sidebar with "related videos", there are dozens tagged "talking cat", and I didn't see any with less than 6-digit number of views. Really? Talking cats? None of whom (that I saw) actually talk. As in, English.

I also Googled some of the tags I had put on the video just to see where (and if) it came up. In addition to some friends and actors who have embedded it on their Facebook and MySpace pages (and if you haven't yet, what are you waiting for?), I found it on some really weird websites that had scores of seemingly unrelated videos. One of them had mostly sex videos on it, and then mine. I think perhaps because of the tags "Steel, Corset" for Steel Corset Productions. Cheryl Scungio (who plays the lead, Gracie) first pointed this out to me, that on YouTube, when you watch the Smalltimore trailer, the related videos are almost always all fetish related. So mine must show up sometimes as a related video when people are surfing for smut! What a lovely surprise, and a brilliant marketing tactic that I will certainly implement (on purpose) in the future.

Anyway... I am still feeling a bit run-down, decompressing from all the pressure leading up to the screening, and the holidays, and not sleeping or eating right. All of my out-of-town friends who have been visiting are gone now, and I need to simmer down and get back to work. I have a boatload of music to listen to, CDs from local bands and artists who want to be involved on the soundtrack, then I need to watch the movie a few more times and figure out which song goes where, shuffle a few scenes around, make some more cuts, color correct, etc... My brain has been subconsciously processing a lot of information in this week since the screening, so I have some of my attack plan sketched out in my head.

I knew that screening a rough cut was a little risky, I didn't want anyone to be disappointed or to think that this was the final version, so I took a few minutes before the screening to really emphasize that. At the reception afterwards, and in emails and phone calls since, a lot of people have given me their two cents on what they think I should change. Kellie said, "You need longer pauses! People were laughing over the lines and missing things!" Drew said, "You can cut out 5 minutes just by shortening the pauses! But don't cut any dialogue!" Sean says, "There is too much expositional dialogue! Cut it out!" Michelle says, "You need to cut together some more B-roll and establishing shots between scenes so the transition isn't too quick!" and Eric says, "I think you can cut out a lot of the establishing shots. They took up too much time."

This actually sounds more confusing then it is. They are all right, I just need to pick and choose where to apply their suggestions. Some pauses are too long. Some are too short. Some dialogue definitely needs to go. Most of it doesn't, and some of the expositional stuff is mixed in with stuff I need to keep, so that's the really tough part. Some transitions happen too quickly. Other locations are well-established and I don't need to spend so much time showing exterior shots every time the scene changes location.

I'm not worried, though. I trust my own instincts, and based on the feedback I received for the rough cut, I am that much more excited to bring people the final version as soon as possible. It is important to have a thick skin and be able to evaluate each piece of criticism, and not to immediately dismiss it. Not always easy, to consider all these conflicting opinions. For my own work flow, that is why these pauses in (perceived) productivity are important, to let my brain sift through it all while I am busy with other things. My brain gets back with me when it is ready to go, and it is about ready. Moving on!

For Those of You Just Joining Us...

If you are new to all this, you can catch up with how "Smalltimore" unfolded from the very beginning, on my previous blog that I kept for the last year, while the REAL name of the movie was under wraps so nobody would scoop me: www.charmcitythemovie.blogspot.com

Yay! New Blog!

I am totally and absolutely drained, body and mind; but spirit and soul... my cup runneth over.

Saturday was The Big Day. The screening of the rough cut of, "Smalltimore," at the Creative Alliance. Some of the invited audience arrived before I even got there, almost half an hour before the doors were supposed to open. A steady stream of arrivals put my mind at ease immediately. It is such a blur, I'm not sure who arrived very first, but I do know that Russell DeoCampo (owner of the Wind-Up Space, who let me film there for two whole, long days) was among the first dozen. He was smiling almost wider than I was, and hugged me three times. More smiles and hugs every time someone new walked in. Everyone was so excited, and excited for me. It was so beyond any previous experience I could compare it to. I've had my "moments," before, at my annual Christmas party, or when I have had photography exhibits, or the group art exhibits I organized in 2006. But this was on a whole other level. This moment encompassed an entire year of my life. I wrote the first draft of the screenplay four years ago, and spent a good year just on the rewrites, but that was work in patches, when I felt like it. But honestly, from mid-December of 2007, my entire existence has been consumed by this project. It has changed my work ethic, my social circles, my whole life. It has changed me, as a person. That is certain.

As each of my actors, and artists, and friends who loaned me their homes and businesses arrived, I was so happy I could have burst. People kept asking me if I was nervous, but I wasn't, at all, which was sort of but not entirely strange. Before my holiday party, or an exhibit, I'm always a bit mad and I can't relax until I see a good crowd has arrived. I put a lot into those events and they have always come off successfully. I think maybe why I wasn't nervous was because all of those things have always gone well, and if I combined all the effort I put into all of them together... it wouldn't be a fraction of what went into this movie. And because this time, it wasn't just about my effort, my party, my success. There were SO many people that were a part of making this happen.

I thanked as many of them as I could in some opening remarks I gave before the screening. Starting with the people who loaned me their homes and businesses, Bill Dougherty (Dougherty's Pub), Russell DeoCampo (The Wind-Up Space), Lynn Hafner (Dionysus Lounge), Charles Lawrance (Fin Art), Phil Baty & Ron Peltzer, Caren Shelley, Greg Mirkin, and Steve Shen. Then the contributing artists, Caren Shelley, Jillian Jenkins, Allison Pasarew, Oletha DeVane, Leslie King-Hammond, Ellen Burchenal, Linda DePalma, Charles Lawrance, and Joyce Scott, as well as jewelry artists Caren Shelley, and Wayne Werner. Wayne made two custom pieces especially for the film. Getting to the nuts & bolts of the operation, my Director of Photography Michelle Farrell and her crew; my Production Crew headed by Production Manager Rebecca Clear Dean, who, among other duties wrangled the extras and an army of Production Assistant interns - and I absolutely did have to single out my "A Team" among them, Regina Guy, Corey Dillon, and David Sarmiento. These three were the first on board, the ones who were there every day, first in, last out, always did any crazy thing I asked of them with a smile on their face, in short, setting the bar for the other interns incredibly high and leading by example. And Charlie Anderson, of Stratatek Studios, who was my personal tutor on Final Cut Pro (editing), and who is not only a great teacher, but a VERY patient man.

I gave props to my amazing cast, whose onscreen chemistry was largely due to their genuine offscreen chemistry. From the greenest among them (for several, it was their first such project) to vets like Joyce Scott and Cheryl Scungio, they were all true professionals and a pleasure to work with. I have so much to say about each of them that I couldn't even BEGIN to do if we were going to get around to watching the movie, but I am going to profile each of them individually in this blog in the near future, so make sure to check back.

The soundtrack, which is not set in stone (and I met several new people at the screening who handed me their CDs and want to be involved) but will definitely include the work of T.T.Tucker & the Bum Rush Band, Joyce J. Scott, Jennifer Swartout, and Niki Lee.

Next, the "money people", the ones who wrote me very generous checks in order to bring you a much better version of the film than I could have possibly given you on my own (at least not without going into credit card debt for the rest of my life): my friend Tom Kyte - who knew that sleeping on his couch every weekend during my freshman year (my only year) at Pitt would pay off so well? Mark my words, make friends with smart people while you are young, they will be the ones with cash flow down the road... Dan Denning, who lives on the other side of the planet, but on whom one of the characters is based - I'll let you figure out which one for yourselves... my Mom, who surprised me with an unsolicited check, something that meant a great deal to me... Wayne Werner, my friend and one of several triple-threats on this production, as an Executive Producer, a contributing artist, and also Wayne is on the soundtrack via Tucker's band (the other triple threats being Joyce Scott, actor/artist/soundtrack, and Caren Shelley, artist (both sculpture &jewelry)/location/featured extra). And last but not least, my dear friend Mikey B., who not only wrote me a very generous check (and just handed me another one this week) but checked on me every step of the way, gave me full access to his cabin in the Poconos where I acomplished LOADS of work from pre- through post-production, and who was always my biggest cheerleader.

And lastly I explained to the audience the answer to the question that people ask me the most - how the hell did you pull this off, when you did not go to school for this and have never done anything like this in your life? Simple answer: I surrounded myself with people who know a lot more than I do, who were very generous with their time, who allowed me to pick their brains for hours on end, and who were always honest with me, whether it was what I wanted to hear or not. If you read this blog, you are already familiar with them - Al Letson, my dear friend who flew up from Jacksonville to be in one scene, just to give me a little "celeb cred", even though he was in the thick of pre-production of his radio program, "State of the Re:Union," that will start airing on NPR this spring... Sean Stanley, of Magic Wonder Show Productions, who, with his crew, helped me put together the initial trailer (which you can still see on YouTube - my acting debut!), and who spent many lunchtimes over the next several months, helping me tweak the script, and giving me lots of great production advice... Eric Thornett, of Piranha Pictures, who is my favorite sounding board and someone I can count on for anything at all, from moving furniture to blacking out windows to talking me down off a ledge... and finally, full circle back to Michelle Farrell, of Absolute Independent Pictures, who always went above and beyond the call of duty, always had my back and the best interests of the production at heart, and helped me pick up the slack wherever I fell short, just being green to all this, and who always, always found a way to make me laugh just when I wanted to cry (or kill someone).

What I didn't say in front of all those people, because I would have turned into a puddle of mush before their very eyes, is that especially with these people, Sean, Eric, and Michelle, who a year ago I didn't really know, what is really important to me is that they are now my friends, and if this movie goes no further, I have that and it makes everything that has happened so far worth it. That may sound very Hallmark-card, but I could not be more sincere. They are the ones who kept me sane, who propped me up, who got me through, and I will always remember them for that.

I'm not sure how long it took me to say all that, probably close to 15 minutes, but everyone gave me their full attention for the whole time. It was a strange and wonderful feeling, looking out at all these (mostly) familiar faces, people who had contributed in some way, or just friends that I am glad don't hate me for virtually ignoring them for a year. I think there were about 120 people there, it was a pretty packed house. I have spoken in front of much larger audiences than that, when I have been in London at the Awards Night of my friend Matthew's school, Songtime Theater Arts. I've presented an award there each of the last four years, as his "American liaison" that has connected him with Baltimore School for the Arts and Baltimore Theater Project. Those audiences have ranged from four hundred to SEVEN hundred people, and I can tell you that especially the first time (which of course, was the time with 700) I was so nervous that my voice, my knees (which luckily were hidden under a long skirt), and most noticeably my hands that were holding the card listing the nominees, were shaking uncontrollably. Each year it has gotten a little easier, but it is still nerve-wracking.

Saturday when I was in front of all those people, about to throw my creative soul upon their mercy, I didn't feel that way at all. The only thing I was nervous about was that I might get emotional, which is why I didn't go into sentimental detail when thanking everyone. There was so much love and support and camaraderie in that room, I felt like the luckiest person in the world. I'll admit that I did kind of lean on the stage, just in case my knees knocked. But they didn't. Not really. Somewhere in the middle of my little speech, I did think of that night in London in front of 700 people, and how different the feeling this afternoon was. My life is so different now. I am so different now. It is no exaggeration to say that this has been the most amazing year of my life. And I think the next year will have even more to come.