Booked DOOL

"Days of Our Lives" - or DOOL, as the cool kids call it - now had a new cast member...for a day.  I just booked a small role on the famous "sudser" (also a cool kid word).  It's a great scene, and is going to be a blast to shoot, I can already tell!

"Tap Together" Shoot

It's been a great month.  Some phenomenal meetings and creative people and a film shoot to boot.

I was cast in a really wonderful project, "Tap Together," about a young boy who has a love for tap dance and not a lick of talent.  I get to play his bemused and suffering father (am I old enough for this?).  It's a very Jim and Pam relationship that the mother and father have in this film.  They love each other and love their son, but they may not always see eye to eye on how to raise him.

This is going to be a great film, keep an eye out at it during a film festival near you!

New Representation!

It's been a busy month that saw the booking of another short film and new representation!  I am not represented across-the-board by The Wayne Agency.  They're a young, hungry agency that have working actors on their roster, and I'm looking to us booking bigger and better things together and making some money.

Next week I film the short.  It's a sweet family drama where I play the new father willing to help his son learn to dance, even though he holds no skill whatsoever.

Many more, and bigger projects to come!

Meeting Will Smith

I had the distinct pleasure to meet with Will Smith for a short time this month.  Say what you will (and many have) about his taste in music, film roles, parenting preferences, but there is no denying he has talent (a great deal) and a lot of savvy.

There is a story going around town that he is among an elite few of A-listers who have gotten an education at some of the most prestigious universities in the country (for example Tommy Lee Jones went to Harvard).  The story is that Will Smith went to MIT.  

So my question to him was: being so intelligent, has that ever gotten in the way of your work?  The belief being that great performances can't be achieved through the mind but only through the heart/soul (insert new age place here).

We ended up having a great conversation which boiled down to: if you play things too smart, you will alienate a lot of people, and a lot of "smart performances" especially in comedy are just saying things in ways we haven't been trained to hear.  Steve Martin's early work came to mind, though arguably a comedic genius, his comedy took a while to catch on.  And lastly, keep surrounding yourself with smart people.

Will Smith is an amazingly kind individual, not at all too-cool-for-school, and actually got excited to think critically with me.  So can you have a successful career and not let your grey-matter atrophy to a pulp?  Will and I say yes.

New Year

There is some big news on the horizon!  The days before the Fourth of July mark the anniversary of my move to LA and my commitment to a professional film and television career.  It's a bitter-sweet time because it's also when I take stock of the goals I set for myself the year before.  I am an ambitious and lofty goal setter, so it infuriates me when all those goals posted on the wall in my office aren't crossed off by July first.  But it's also an exciting time because it marks the beginning of a new episodic season and the unlimited opportunity the new TV shows bring.

Last year was more successful than the year before it.  This year will be more successful than last.  

Part of that success will be in the psychological thriller feature I'm producing.  It will be a fantastic film, and an amazing showcase of yours truly.  We are poised to have a great team and hopefully will be shooting in the next month.

It's going to be a busy time, but time well spent, and a well-placed launching pad for better and bigger things!

Happy New Year,

Ian

New Reels

The past year was full of some great projects, and now I have a shiny new reel to show for it!  

Comedic Speed Reel - http://youtu.be/jzJWJR71doU

Dramatic Speed Reel - http://youtu.be/37K2VjcbiEg

That's a Wrap!

Filming in the desert for four days on "P-51 Dragon Hunter" was amazing!  Truly fantastic location, and fantastic people to work with.  I'd never had the opportunity to work with a yet-to-be-created CGI dragon before (come on, who has?), but getting chased across the arid plain and getting pinned with what I can only imagine will be ropes of dragon saliva dripping toward my screaming face was a blast!  I won't give any spoilers, but we'll just say I hold a grudge against the dragons for the rest of the film!

If you ever have the chance, or desire to drive hours into the middle of the California desert, the Trona would make a great get-a-way from LA on a long weekend.

On to the next film.