SCENE: Lakeforest Mall, Gaithersburg MD.

A little over three weeks ago I participated in a final round audition for a modeling contest hosted by the American Mall Model Search. The grand prize was a one year contract with Model Productions, a company that’s been around for over 25 years and has produced loads of successful actors and models.

The contest required the completion of three tasks:

A photo shoot

Photo touch ups courtesy of Elizabeth Harvey, who we’ll have a post about next time!

A runway walk featuring personalized clothing

And a talent performance (for me, acting!)

I was nervous as hell, but I knew because of my history with Future Film Makers, Six Flags, Al Thompson’s project, the various indies I’ve been working on and the undying support of my family and friends, I would at least have a shot. Good thing all the training I’ve been doing with Self Mastery Systems at least let me feel like my body belonged there…

Special thanks also go out to a mentor of mine, Kevin Christy, who sent me this email regarding how I should approach the monologue contest:

in a situation like this, don’t over do it. people make the mistake of trying to showcase every talent they have as opposed to just acting what’s appropriate to the piece. there are a a million monologues out there, it doesn’t matter so much which one you do. it matters how comfortably you execute it […] try to enjoy yourself, performing when its done correctly is extremely fun. don’t worry about it . the life of a performer is filled with performances, there is no “most important” one. they are all the same.

Truer words of wisdom are very rarely spoken!

Then I saw all these beautiful young women dancing and singing, and videos of chiseled Adonises up on the monitor, I got pretty nervous pretty quick. My talents only extend as far as my pronunciation and occasional comedic timing (which usually involves flailing my arms around like a madman), hence me not usually starring in the Strike a Pose!!! Films you see on this site.

But when it came down to it, I worked my butt off and with help from my girlfriend, who had complete and unyielding faith in me (I know, I’d say she’s pretty crazy too!), I managed to win over the audiences with my performances, and get marks high enough from the incredibly supportive judges, sending me up into the heavens towards stardom!

Well, at least let’s hope so!

Once again, thank you to all my family and friends who helped out, I couldn’t have done this without you!

It has been announced! The next film to be released on the STRIKE A POSE!!! roster will be the 2008 short-play adaptation, A Growing Problem, starring Khalfani Blount and Jennifer Ruggeri.

Synopsis:
Helen is a widow and Frank is a widower. Their love has been growing for some time now, but so has one of Helen’s plants…and this may present some problems for their budding relationship. The thing is, Frank is a retired cop, and Helen’s plant may be slightly illegal.

As our first adaption of another writer’s work (and from another medium!), the story is taken from a short play written by professional playwright Jeanette D. Farr, who’s other work can be found here.

Be sure to thank her, because Ms. Farr has graciously provided me with the permission to release this movie to the viewing public! So on Sunday night, June 6th, we’ll be premiering another great Strike a Pose!!! Film, our first romantic comedy furthermore, for the whole wide world to see!

Today is Mother’s Day and in celebration of my mom, I put forth the effort and made a little video to congratulate her on a recent victory over morning radio:

Thanks Mix 107.3 for making this possible, and

Thank you Mom, for giving me everything– life, love, and lots of support towards making cool little things like this for you! Happy Mother’s Day!

I figured since I haven’t posted anything in a few weeks I’d just shoot up a quick video I found infinitely amusing and see what happens.

Anyone who reads this site should know two of my biggest inspirations in film making are Aliens and Predator. It is my goal in the film industry to one day make a sci-fi movie just as good as either of those. I think we made a pretty decent start with our System Shock 2 Fan Film (IE– the mega-low-budget-one-tenth-as-long-version-of-PANDORUM, minus Dennis Quaid). Hopefully we’ll get another shot at something similar this year.

Well, here’s what happens when a mediocre video game comes out. Props go out to Escapistmagazine.com ‘s Zero Punctuation.

PS- JASPER CONROY is probably coming out next week. OOOOOOOOOOh.

Now that we’ve released a couple of really cool flicks, Strike a Pose!!! Films is getting more traffic than ever! Please keep up the fan support by posting a link to one of your favorite movies on Facebook! We already provided the button to do so for you!

On the other side of the plate, here’s a couple of quick personal updates about my life in the field:

Personal Work:
I’ve been putting a bit of effort into filming this little documentary for my martial arts school, Self Mastery Systems. Already over 10 hours of footage have been filmed and logged, including interviews, training, and various conversations. The project is super exciting and hopefully will come to fruition by the end of Summer 2010!

I’ve also been interning at the awesome Foreign Language video company, Peanutbutter. I’ve been working with another local filmmaker from Towson, who’s great music videos you can check out here. As for myself, I’ve been learning a lot of green screening and animation. Here’s a couple of video links to let you see some of the demo work  the company has done:

Video Temporarily Down

Finally, this month’s slated film is going to be the FINAL version of Jasper Conroy: Salisbury Bounty Hunter, with fully-featured FX, thanks to John Ianuzzi (System Shock 2 SFX) and new music. Be sure to see the final cut here sometime by the end of this month!

Hopefully we have a couple of new scripts coming our way thanks to the uber-talented Tom Murphy. You can see some of his work on Youtube here. We’re looking to cast some new talent in these new projects, and speaking of which…

Contacts and Adventures:
So let’s say I’ve been scouting. A lot. Lot’s of new talent has been added to our contacts list, and if you’re reading this chances are you’re one of them. The game show I was on, Silver Screen Test, has provided me with a lot of great contacts in Montgomery Public Television, not to mention the other really cool two contestants I met (and matched considerable wits with!).

Also scouted some locations. I ended up wandering around in DC, trying to get home one night after an awesome performance witnessed by myself and Rob Moroney. The performer? Christopher Titus, a personal hero of mine, supplying not only his new standup, NEVERLUTION, but also his now-classic Love is Evol. It was tubular. I got in trouble with him cause I was in the first row and started speaking lines from the show before he could…oops. Here’s an embarrassing picture!

It was a great meeting and Titus was a cool dude. Hopefully someday we can get cast in one of our flicks. Who knows?!?! (/shameless shoutout).

I have also been INCREDIBLY fortunate to get on board a project for ValDean entertainment, the brilliant minds between Johnny B. Homeless and Lennox Ave., starring Al Thompson. Here’s a link about these conquistadors of the internet medium! They’re shooting a new series in Ocean City in late April, and I’ll be down there to help out as an “Assistant Producer”. Excitement, hooooo!

Here’s a trailer for Johnny B.:

http://news.tubefilter.tv/2010/03/26/valdean-entertainments-one-two-punch-johnny-b-homeless-and-lenox-avenue/

Finally, here’s a list of movies I’ve recently watched, and some quick words:

IN THEATERS:

Book of Eli— Excellent Post Apocalyptic Sci Fi actioneer with an ANTI ORGANIZED STUPIDITY story. Definitely check it out. Thoughts?

Shutter Island— Best thriller I’ve seen in ages. Even though you know the ending that is coming, it still wallops you with its dramatic reveal and realization that maybe, sometimes the truth is so bad you don’t want to know it after all.

How to Train Your Dragon (3D)— A charming kids movie that ends like Final Fantasy: Advent Children. Do NOT waste money on seeing this in 3D. This is purely a great 2D spectacle with a few charming moments and video game like ending.

ON DVD:

Frost/Nixon— I kinda put this one aside during last years Oscar’s, and I really wish the Academy hadn’t. This is the kind of movie that would have gone up well against The Hurt Locker this year.

SO much going on! It’s hard to keep up with it all. If there is anything you think I missed, lemme know, and I’ll put it  up in the next post!