I just finished shooting a commercial for Flagstar bank, a regional bank in one of my home states: Michigan. The premise of the spot is that Flagstar is a new type of bank that will take you out of the current 'boxed in' thinking of the banks you're currently using.
Playing on the 'boxed in' theme, there are a series of vingettes of people going through their everyday lives with boxes on their heads. I play one of those poor souls with a box on this head.
It was a really great shoot directed by Michael Karbelnikoff and cast by Sanford Casting. And I have to credit booking the spot for Michael Sanford. He brought me in to help out with a really full day of casting: being a stand-in and helping run the check-in, and to audition for the spot.
I have a feeling that being in nearly all the auditions as a stand-in for the role I was auditioning for helped lock my image into the minds of the ad agency!
The shoot was pretty simple, and I like to think was brought to life through my extensive mask training. I was to stand with a box on my head and look like I was locked in a disapointing world. I'm looking forward to seeing the spot to double check and make sure my mask work is still polished...it is so rare to be able to pull that stuff out and put it to good use!
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Friday, May 16, 2008
"Friends For Life"
I just finished filming a short-film for the DGA called "Friends For Life". It follows the journey of a Jewish family during World War II through Italy to safety as the Allied forces make their way toward Berlin.
I play the young Nazi officer, who stops the train, finds the family, and takes the patriarch off to interrogate him.
The amazing thing about the film was that it's entirely done as a foreign film, with all the actors speaking in the native languages of the characters. This gave me an amazing opportunity to speak German and learn a little Italian.
Since one of my career goals is to do German film, this gave me the chance to get a taste of how hard it is to perform in your second language!
The film will premier at the DGA theatre this summer.
I play the young Nazi officer, who stops the train, finds the family, and takes the patriarch off to interrogate him.
The amazing thing about the film was that it's entirely done as a foreign film, with all the actors speaking in the native languages of the characters. This gave me an amazing opportunity to speak German and learn a little Italian.
Since one of my career goals is to do German film, this gave me the chance to get a taste of how hard it is to perform in your second language!
The film will premier at the DGA theatre this summer.
Friday, May 2, 2008
"The Guys I Hang Out With" Finished!!
After nearly a year of working on the pilot season of the interactive series "The Guys I Hang Out With", we had our premier last night, and had some really nice opening night ratings!
We've also finished the process of submitting the series for Emmy nomination in two Primetime categories: Live-action short-form, and Interactive.
You can watch the fully-interactive version of the series on the homepage - www.iandelaney.net/theguysihangoutwith, or if you're an Academy member, you may watch the FYC Screener online at the Emmy.tv website.
Complete Season One DVDs are also available for purchase at the series homepage.
Now that Season One is finished, we're working on obtaining corporate sponsorship to fund next season.
We've also finished the process of submitting the series for Emmy nomination in two Primetime categories: Live-action short-form, and Interactive.
You can watch the fully-interactive version of the series on the homepage - www.iandelaney.net/theguysihangoutwith, or if you're an Academy member, you may watch the FYC Screener online at the Emmy.tv website.
Complete Season One DVDs are also available for purchase at the series homepage.
Now that Season One is finished, we're working on obtaining corporate sponsorship to fund next season.
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Verizon
The Verizon shoot today was a blast! Normally I do my very best to keep my hands and face clean when I eat, but when I'm getting paid to make a mess, all bets are off.
For Verizon's annual 'rah-rah'-let's-go-sell-some-phones meeting this year they had a short video spoof of the popular Carl's Jr "Don't Bother Me, I'm eating" commercial. I played a phone operator at Sprint customer service who, even though the phones are ringing off the hook, can't be bothered away from his hamburger.
And, oh, what a time I had with those hamburgers! They dripped. They smeared. They oozed their goodness all over me. The zenith of laziness was when I dripped sauce on my shirt, wiped it up with my fingers, and having nowhere else to clean my hand, I wiped it on my tie!
It was a lot of fun to get that disgusting, and the crew was great to work with. The one downside is that I smell of BBQ sauce and ketchup from about ten paces.
For Verizon's annual 'rah-rah'-let's-go-sell-some-phones meeting this year they had a short video spoof of the popular Carl's Jr "Don't Bother Me, I'm eating" commercial. I played a phone operator at Sprint customer service who, even though the phones are ringing off the hook, can't be bothered away from his hamburger.
And, oh, what a time I had with those hamburgers! They dripped. They smeared. They oozed their goodness all over me. The zenith of laziness was when I dripped sauce on my shirt, wiped it up with my fingers, and having nowhere else to clean my hand, I wiped it on my tie!
It was a lot of fun to get that disgusting, and the crew was great to work with. The one downside is that I smell of BBQ sauce and ketchup from about ten paces.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Donate to "The Guys I Hang Out With"!
Our quest for financing for the original webseries "The Guys I Hang Out With" has just gotten much, much easier!
Now you can donate online through Google.
"The Guys" is an interactive webseries that centers around four friends who've graduated from college and move to L.A. to start their real life, only to learn that real life can be a big slap in the face! Our heroes are: Damon (J.Michael Trautmann) the former child star, Christopher (Ian Delaney) the budding writer, Blain (Dane Corrigan) the avid video gamer, and Jake (Clayton Froning) the Paris Hilton-esque son of a Senator and loafer.
Every donation is met with a special gift from the series. When you donate $1, you get a Special Thanks in the credits of an episode; when you donate $10 you get a season one poster (signed or unsigned); $20 is a complete season one DVD; $25 is a DVD and a poster; for $100 your name or a photo of you will be mentioned on an episode! Be sure to contact me so I can get your mailing address for all the season one swag!
Thanks for donating!
Now you can donate online through Google.
"The Guys" is an interactive webseries that centers around four friends who've graduated from college and move to L.A. to start their real life, only to learn that real life can be a big slap in the face! Our heroes are: Damon (J.Michael Trautmann) the former child star, Christopher (Ian Delaney) the budding writer, Blain (Dane Corrigan) the avid video gamer, and Jake (Clayton Froning) the Paris Hilton-esque son of a Senator and loafer.
Every donation is met with a special gift from the series. When you donate $1, you get a Special Thanks in the credits of an episode; when you donate $10 you get a season one poster (signed or unsigned); $20 is a complete season one DVD; $25 is a DVD and a poster; for $100 your name or a photo of you will be mentioned on an episode! Be sure to contact me so I can get your mailing address for all the season one swag!
Thanks for donating!
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Appearing on Comedy Central
This weekend will mark my cable TV debut during Comedy Central's annual "Thanxgiveaway" special!
This year's theme is 'Ving Break - a Spring Break style Bacchanalia only during Thanksgiving. I called my role "The Gobbler" but was credited as just "2nd guy in car".
The story plays out that The Gobbler becomes entangled with a cougar in the backseat of her daughter's car. When the co-ed catches me and her mom, I'm left to break the awkwardness and start spewing about how "really nice [her] mom is!" Needless to say, complimenting a woman's prowess to her daughter doesn't win many points with the daughter.
It was a really fun shoot. Of course it was near some of the fires, so what seemed like snow falling from the sky was really ash and soot.
It did make for a really stunning sunrise though.
Don't miss Comedy Central's Thanksgiving weekend programming, but if you do, you can catch the segments by going to Thanxgiveaway.com and look for the video called "Cougar"!
This year's theme is 'Ving Break - a Spring Break style Bacchanalia only during Thanksgiving. I called my role "The Gobbler" but was credited as just "2nd guy in car".
The story plays out that The Gobbler becomes entangled with a cougar in the backseat of her daughter's car. When the co-ed catches me and her mom, I'm left to break the awkwardness and start spewing about how "really nice [her] mom is!" Needless to say, complimenting a woman's prowess to her daughter doesn't win many points with the daughter.
It was a really fun shoot. Of course it was near some of the fires, so what seemed like snow falling from the sky was really ash and soot.
It did make for a really stunning sunrise though.
Don't miss Comedy Central's Thanksgiving weekend programming, but if you do, you can catch the segments by going to Thanxgiveaway.com and look for the video called "Cougar"!
Saturday, October 6, 2007
The Swimmer
The Swimmer, the first short film that I wrote, directed, filmed, edited, and acted in is finally finished!
After this project, I have such respect for actor/directors. It is so hard to be worrying about the lighting, the sound, the set design, etc. and then try and create a performance in front of the camera. I would love to know how the big names do it and keep sane.
The film is about a young man who is fed up with being scrawny and pasty white, through what he calls an "Abercrombie-Complex", so he resolves to start swimming every day. Only to find that the pool has become the territory of a teenage boy who believes that he owns the community pool. After being terrified by the kid, our hero enlists the help of his roommate to win back the pool. Their best plans foiled, the kid...well, you'll just have to watch it. I don't want to spoil the movie!
After this project, I have such respect for actor/directors. It is so hard to be worrying about the lighting, the sound, the set design, etc. and then try and create a performance in front of the camera. I would love to know how the big names do it and keep sane.
The film is about a young man who is fed up with being scrawny and pasty white, through what he calls an "Abercrombie-Complex", so he resolves to start swimming every day. Only to find that the pool has become the territory of a teenage boy who believes that he owns the community pool. After being terrified by the kid, our hero enlists the help of his roommate to win back the pool. Their best plans foiled, the kid...well, you'll just have to watch it. I don't want to spoil the movie!
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