#10 - Asterisk?

I wrote the first part of this a couple weeks ago, but it still applies...

It’s a happy day for this actor and I feel like I need to document it because you’ve born witness to so many unhappy ones thus far. Both my agencies contacted me today with money coming my way. Geddes called me with a check from that City of Chicago shoot I wrote about my last entry. Stavins emailed to let me know that Iowa re-upped for six months on the lottery commercial I did for them last year.

Also, I booked a corporate gig for the end of the month. All told, I’ll be getting checks in the next few weeks that will total nearly three months rent. Actually, more like two month’s rent plus the back rent I owe now and the money I owe my roommate. So, minus my student loans and my credit card debt (and not to mention what I owe my mom and my dad, or what I like to think of as my future inheritance), I’ll finally be in the black this summer! Oh, jubilee!

For those of you following the story, we got some money for Covenant Coffee. Thanks to those who helped us out! With this installment of cash, we intend to shoot about ten minutes to be used in the investor packet. Production is the fun part of the whole process and I can’t wait to get on set! More to come on that.

I got a small part in a gritty feature called Miss Ohio, the story of a young, Midwestern woman who leaves her boring life to pursue the lights of an entertainment career. She runs into all kinds of smarm along the way and runs the risk of getting ground up by a ruthless world. I play a yuppie a-hole, the boss of her husband at the beginning of the film. It’s a one-day shoot for a single scene, but it’s my first feature film. I’m sure I’ll have something to write when it happens.

Other listings… Here is the link to the final cut of The Happy Man’s Pants, Kunal Savkur’s epic short we shot this freezing spring. Enjoy! http://www.vimeo.com/1564266 If you want to see it on a bigger screen with an audience, it’s being shown at Chicago Filmmakers/Film Culture Bldg., 5243 N. Clark, on Saturday, Sept. 6 at 8 pm, with a reception preceding at 7 pm. I’ll be at the screening in case you want some face time!

Speaking of face time, my improv class shows have begun. Our first one was last week, and it was a little rusty. I’m looking forward to the upcoming run, though, as we have seven weeks to work on our form. If anyone wants to come check us out, we’re performing Sunday nights at 7 p.m. at iO Chicago on Clark just south of Addison. Our group is called Cat Terrarium. Clever, huh?

Hope this finds you well as the summer winds down. Jesus, how time flies…

Jake

PS - I’ve been reading Steinbeck lately, Cannery Row, specifically, and am in awe once again with his prose. He’s so visual and simple in his approach but captures the nuance of character like no one else I’ve ever read. My favorite passage is on p. 86, where Mack and the boys are sizing up the house of the captain, whose wife is away. It’s an elegant portrayal of an unstoppable force meeting an immoveable object (immoveable when the missus is home, that is). Freedom vs. domesticity; chaos vs. order; a corn-whiskey-drunken frog hunt vs. white curtains and too-small towels. These pages are worth anything you’ll spend on the book.