Equivocation
I have been at this for a week and it has already transcended almost any professional experience I’ve ever had. For a lot of reason, both professional and personal. This is a culmination for me. A whole long series of events and people and ideas and themes coming together in one rehearsal room in Westwood where I get to go everyday and do the kind of work I always dreamed I would be able to do. I don’t want to say much about the play or the world because I really and truly just want everyone and anyone to come see this. Pride has never been an easy thing for me to wrap my head around due to its proximity to ego and, then inevitably, shame. But I am proud of this play, even now, in my bare feet, writing to you from the lobby, having only built the bones of one act, I am proud of this play. I am proud of the the long line of things that got me here. I am proud of the group of people who are already working their hearts and souls into this thing. I am proud that Bill Cain is seeing this play find audiences in oregon, here and then new york. I am proud that I am only 95% terrified of being shirtless for most of the play. I am proud that my grandmother will get to see me on stage. And I am proud that I’m being called back into rehearsal, barefoot and smiling . . . .
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Dear NBC
Dear NBC,
Really?
You won’t hire me because I am a Canadian? In this day and age? With how far we have come we really still have that much further to go? You will program to us, use our fine canadian lumber to print scripts and schedules and take our precious canadian ad dollars but you will not let me work on 30 Rock? Do you know how long it takes to get to a place where you are realistically in the last handful of people up for a great part on a great show? It’s not just talent, NBC. It’s about confidence and calmness. Its about focus. Determination. Weekly therapy. Thinking long and hard about diet as it pertains to health and levels of energy and efficiency throughout what actors refer to as “our instrument”. It takes some of us years to work up to that point where we are told that “Tina would like to see you” and when that time comes you are ready or you aren’t. And I feel ready, NBC. I would have flown back to New York on my own dime to show you how serious I was about booking this job. Hell, had you pressed hard enough I would have paid whatever absurd fee might be associated with employing someone with an 01 visa in this country. NBC, a job like this could a mean a lot. And it will for some other fortunate actor now and I wish whoever he is well. He deserves only good things. But can you really afford to be so bigoted? So patriotic that you would so quickly keep me from coming on to team peacock? ABC, CBS, Lifetime, FX, FOX – they had no problem with me? But you think you’re better because you’re pickier? Or that the fact that you have the coolest posters or Peter Berg’s new cool looking show about gorgeous paramedics makes you better than me? Maybe it does. But I’m still a person. I’m just an actor trying to make my way in this world. And today was a tough one. Because Tina wants to see me and and I want to see Tina and you are keeping us apart. I love you NBC. But I hate you NBC.
I should go. This is getting too hard. Don’t call . . . I’m not ready.
Sincerely,
Patrick
RAGE
A little over a year ago now I shot my part in this film during one day in New York in a tiny little studio in the northern most parts of Spanish Harlem. None of the cast met each other until some of made the pilgrimage to Berlin for the films premiere (go to the Germany section of my photo page for some shots). It’s a real honor to be on screen with so much mind bending talent and it was a really proud moment for me to see myself on that screen with those people and think that this little idea I had of becoming an actor isn’t always just rejection and disappointment. There are moments that take you by surprise and encourage you to keep walking in the direction you’re going. Check out the trailer above and then click here to see the site that was just posted. Its a really interesting multi cinema – multi platform release that suits the story of the film so perfectly that I think it will really heighten peoples reaction to the film to watch it on their cell phones and computers. It’s really what Sally intended and I can’t wait to see how people respond. I run up to New York on the 20th to open the film there with a few other cast members, including Mr.Law, so I will hopefully have some photos and thoughts when I get back.
Weather Girl
It is a shameful, shameful thing that I haven’t written about it. And that shame is driving me to action. Weather Girl is a movie I shot going on almost a year and a half ago. The budget was small so I assumed that it would just be a really good experience that would give me the chance to work with some great people and then hopefully have a DVD to sit on my shelf with a few other movies that would suffer the same fate the befalls most truly independent films. Cut to now – Weather Girl premiered at the Slamdance Film Festival in Park City, won best film at the Aspen Film Festival, and has played really well in a handful of other festivals. A couple of weeks ago we had three screenings at the Los Angeles Film Festival and they were all sold out. The film has already secured international distribution, a domestic DVD wide release, a cable television run on Lifetime (in October i think), and a limited city theatrical release starting this weekend. Not to mention the trailer is on Apple’s trailer page – which for me is a major victory. Here in Los Angeles it is playing at the Sunset 5 theatre and you would have look at local listings to see if it is coming to a theatre in your town. I think the real success of this thing, beyond the incredible talent of Blayne Weaver, Tricia O’Kelley, Ryan Devlin, Mark Harmon, Kaitlin Olson, Jane Lynch, and Jon Cryer – is the fact that it is a romantic comedy in which the players are real people. I think people are tired of broad strokes in the romantic comedy genre. I wish I could say I realized this while we were shooting it but . . . nevermind . . . yeah i knew the whole time . . .
Here is the link for the trailer for it and make sure you check it out if you come across in theaters, on your television, or in a video store (before they all succumb to the crushing weight of NetFlix).
Enjoy.
And excuse my hair in this entire film. We were on bad terms but we have since made up and come to terms with our differences. Its all about compromise.