Acting opportunities have been rather rare in Thailand these last several months (more like over a year now) with no or very few acting auditions being held even for the always present TV commercials.
This leads to a very bleak outlook for local actors and stuntmen. Several factors have been responsible for this including foreign investment steering clear due to percieved political instabilities with the military coup, the American Writers Guild strike has stopped recent movie filming that had 6 movies scheduled, and the Thai economy has been slowing down with movie investment money not as forthcoming as before.
Well gladly that seems to be changing for the better for us actors and stuntmen, well particularly for me...
Yesterday I thought I was to be filming Bangkok Adrenaline again but I was wrong, I will be filming again next week. This fitted in nicely with allowing me to head over to a casting for a TVC (TV commercial) for a shampoo product.
TVC Casting
I was asked to wear a suit as the part was a "bodyguard". Due to previous experience with this I did not bother with the suit. Every "bodyguard" role I have been to before ended up with me in black jeans and black singlet, so I saved time by going in my (nicer) gym clothes.
Also on my mind was that with me getting to the point of being very lean now I do not look very big in a suit (higher body fat guys look big in suits) and truth be told I am going to be hired on my height and muscle 95% of the time so I might as well show it.
Surprise, surprise... this time they actually did want me in a suit. When I did not fit into anything in wardrobe I told them not to worry I have 3 suits at home and shoes that I can wear if I get the part. They instantly wanted me to get a taxi home and get the suits - no way.
After my taxi ride to the TVC casting and the resultant driver taking me 1/2 way around Bangkok to try to get a larger fare (I paid him the minimal fare it should have been) and a lot of my time wasted by this fool, I was not prepared to go through another episode of lets try to rip off the foreigner because they don't know anything (despite the fact I was speaking to him in Thai the whole time).
After a desperate call to my acting agent and him calling me back imploring me to head back home I simply stated "I don't have time to fart around, I have other things to do. It is only a casting, and it is not very important for me, if they like me they will like me no matter what I wear"
So I did the casting, and another surprise it involved some low impact stunts (which would still rate a qualified stuntman in the west) for the money of a normal basic actor.
I did the acting audition, and the producers liked me, I even managed to crack a relevant joke in Thai that got them all laughing.
Today I recieved a call from my agent, I am in the final selection out of 4.
Lets see how it goes.
Print Advertising Audition
At the gym this morning I got a call from an Acting Agency that I have not spoken to for over a year, a call for a low paid ad, was I interested?
At first hesitant then I asked what was the role and what was the advertisment?
Johnnie Walker Black Label, 1 photo for print.
Now I am interested.
I know the Johnnie Walker people from the parties they hold and from pitching Bangkok Adrenaline to them for a sponsorship deal.
So that'd be funny to have my face on thier advertising. Better yet the shoot is only for 1 photo meaning it should be a rather quick and painless affair and the advert can only appear within drinking establishments.
Basically this means that my face will be in just about every upperclass club, disco and bar in Thailand - that alone could be worth more than just money. At least it would give me some fame until the movie release dates stop sliding and I finally get my face on the big screen here (again) in a decent role.
LG TVC Stuntman
Add in the LG TVC that I appeared in a few days ago as a stuntman and it looks like things are picking up here again with a rush of work.
For me I was lucky (as in it was good that I spent so much time making this luck) to fly to India for Drona and then to Australia for Berlin with the Sydney Dance Company recently
We can only hope this sudden availablity of acting and stunt work continues and the US Writers Guild strike finishes soon.
Nothing is worse than sitting around waiting for work and none is available
