November 24, 2004

• When I got back from traveling to the East Coast on Sunday, I was looking forward to just hanging out this week and ease into Turkey Day on Thursday.

  
  

  Then in true fashion of this business, the calls started coming in out of nowhere on Monday night.  One was for a callback on one of my favorite shows “Entourage”, another for a TV pilot audition and then an offer for a TV movie that shoots in Fiji for three weeks, leaving this Thursday!  The production needed someone asap, they saw my demo tape and made a straight offer without having to audition. 

  
  

  Now, after seeing these photos of the hotel I’ll be in, it may seem like a no-brainer whether or not to accept the gig but I was having a heckuva time making the decision and changing my mind every 5 minutes.  A LOT of sleep was lost.

  
  

  Here was my “Con” List:

  
  

  1) The project is ”‘Jurassic Park’ meets a Sabretooth Tiger” scheduled to air on the Sci-Fi Channel,  so it’s not exactly going to be Shakespeare.  Wait, I don’t really dig Shakespeare so… it’s not exactly going to be Soderbergh. 2) I wouldn’t be able to audition for the play “Proof” in L.A. that I’ve been dying to do for months.  3) If I’m good enough to get an offer, I should be good enough to get a better offer from a project I’m really into. 4) Your career is based upon the number of times you say “no”.  It’ll send a message to my agents about the projects I’m interested in.

  
  

  Here was my “Pro” List:

  
  

  1) The Money.

  
  

  Now even though the “Pro” List is dramatically shorter, it weighs more heavily.  Because 1) I just bought a new house 2) I’ll be renting out my current home and need to make improvements for renters 3) My wife is pregnant with our first born.  All three reasons will arrive in April 2005.

  
  

  So I re-read the project.  There’s nothing in it stereotypical that would make me ill and I think I can put my own spin on the character to stand out in the show.  Also I called the theatre company doing “Proof” and will be auditioning today.  Another reason on the “Con” list was that I was going to miss my wife’s 3D ultrasound on Monday, where we discover the baby’s sex and see his/her face for the first time – no longer a problem, since we’re going in today to do it. 

  
  

  And these are how the decisions are made.  Very rarely is it a no-brainer but a lot of times weighing your real life needs versus what you can stomach creatively – that’s how I came to the decision of doing the Dell Commercial.  You choose your battles.  I think my agents were actually surprised I said “Yes”, so hopefully it means they’re aware of what I’d normally say “Yes” to under normal circumstances. 

  
  

  I suppose it’s a good thing that I already had Turkey Day a week early with the East Coast family because by tomorrow, I’ll be saying what I’m thankful for in the Pacific Rim drinking Mai-Tai’s!

  • 1:37 pm
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