Alright alright. I'll just copy a quick facebook note that I posted (for those of you who aren't on my friend list.)
"Hey Everyone. Sorry for the lack of info lately. If you've emailed me, and I haven't responded, please accept my humble apologies. Things have been crazy as of late. How crazy you ask? Well... Let me try and explain it.
As many of you know, I've been experiencing some pretty substantial, "life transitions" as I call them. Right after the new year, I was hitting some pretty rough terrain. A bad break-up (that dragged out longer than it needed to be), health problems in the family, and financial strain.
Some pretty big doors had closed right on my schnozz, and I didn't really know how to handle it. What did I do?
In a nutshell; I hit my knees with a thud, and started praying my heart out. I felt completely lost, alone, afraid and confused. I felt like a homo.
Then some things came my way... And I realized that God had closed every door in my life, just so that he could open one up... And make it clear that I needed to bolt through it.
Fast forward 2 weeks later; and I'm in Los Angeles. A tremendous agency was putting some heat on me to sign with them, and head out Californie-way. After some lengthy phone conversations and paper work, I decided to take the plunge.
I didn't really have a place to stay out in LA, but through some church contacts we found a dude (Messay) who was willing to let me crash in his den for a few nights. I did that, and a few days a week, my buddy Tom, would drive in from Orange County. We'd hang out, and he'd drive me to auditions etc.
My agency demanded some new headshots from me, and when they found out how broke I was... They decided to cover it. That's how awesome they are.
With the new headshots, my agency set up a general meeting over at ABC Family. Awesome! I was stoked, but beginning to realize that transportation was more of a problem than I'd anticipated.
Those of you who have lived in LA know that... You need a car. Public transportation won't cut it, especially when you're work is as random/sporadic as that of an actors. So I found myself on craigslist looking for junkers (with a price cap of 600$).
Eventually I found a Cambodian gentlemen a few streets down who was selling a "1982 Datsun, 200SX". He wanted 700... But I jew'd him down to 6.
For future reference... The car is a piece of crap. You can essentially pick any part of the vehicle, and find something wrong with it. But it runs (most of the time).
And so, a few days passed, and I drove my crappy car to the ABC Family, to meet with the director of the show "Greek". He seemed to like me, so I was pretty happy.
Once I got back, I found out that Messay's landlord wasn't too happy with the living arrangement, and that I was being kicked out.
There were a couple of nights there where I was just couch hopping. I'd slept in Pasedena, in Orange County, Santa Ana and yes... There was a night or two, where I slept in the old piece of crap Datsun.
After a few nights of this, I had to hightail it to Dallas, for my last college booking of the semester. I was supposed to arrive Friday night, and depart the next thursday. It felt really nice, to be home. Sleeping in a bed, without a gearshift racking my balls was a refreshing change of pace.
Saturday night, I get a call from my agent. "You have a producer session for "Greek" on Monday night", she said.
Weeellll, dealing with the airlines was a real bitch, and I ended up just scrapping my ticket for Thursday and buying a new one for Monday afternoon. It would have cost me over 450$ in change fees, as opposed to paying 280 for the one way flight on Monday.
Things were stressful, but I ended up making it on time to the producer session. I go in and audition for "Fraternity Pledge #1". One line. "A toast, for getting those restrictions off of our backs... To Evan Chambers". Nailed it.
The next day they called back and wanted to make sure that my paperwork (ie: SAG Union card) was in order. It wasn't. I found out that it was going to cost me nearly 3000$ in fees, just to get started working on the show. "Frat Pledge #1" wouldn't even pay enough to cover it.
... Skunked again.
But then I get another call from my agent. "Steven, there is a lot more to this role, than can be seen on the surface. They liked you so much, that they're writing in a character specifically for you. It's going to be recurring, and possibly a series regular"... Yeah, that changed things.
After about a MILLION calls to both ACTRA and SAG, we were finally able to register me as "out of state", which made me eligible for a payment plan. Problem is, that they still needed a 1000$ down payment. I didn't have it.
"Steven, we've been talking about it over here... We NEVER EVER EVER do this... But we're going to cover your down payment and just take it out of your first check", my agent told me. Once again, AWESOME!
That was a couple of weeks ago. Since then, I've slept in numerous places, found a more permanent-ish residence (I'm house sitting in Simi Valley), and made some great friends. My car has also broken down on Numerous occasions, but you know... That's to be expected. I just got back from the premiere of "Bend&Break" in Austin, and I had a great time. I start shooting "Greek" on Wednesday, where I am now playing the character "Jace" for an undetermined amount of episodes to come. Things have been as tough as they could be, and I'm incredibly grateful for it. I've had a devine blessing on me. How often does someone come to LA, and book the first role, for which they audition... Let alone a dumbass like me?!
I'll post a part two (which will go into more detail about the more recent weeks, as well as the shooting of "Greek", in the next few days). Take care and God bless!
Some pretty great people have helped me along the way, this past month, so I'd like to give a "Special thanks" to
Tom Vrab, Duan McKenzie, Leah, Staci Hays, Seymour and Tammy Singer, Marik, Shannon, Jim Kellum, Bradford, little Ross Singer, Delilah Messay Ghetan, Mikey, Chris Navarez, Yak, Itay Reiss, Lacy, shady Billy, Jordan, Tim, Mom, Dad and of course God/Jesus Christ for keeping me safe this whole time. If there's anyone that I forgot, let me know!
No Thanks to
Frontier Airlines, US Airways, selfish people, College clubsluts, or the crazy Cambodian bastard who lied about the condition of the Datsun."
