My Bacon Number is 3

I was just informed that I have an official Bacon Number on imdb now...

Joe Boyd was in Devil Girl (2006) with Billy Bryan...
who was in Army of Darkness (1992) with Bridget Fonda...
who was in Balto (2005) with Kevin Bacon.

See...I've made it.

Hitting the Nuts...

My first feature film as a producer is offially in pre-production! It's called HITTING THE NUTS...THE TRUE STORY OF THE 2007 SCOTT COUNTY SERIES OF POKER. I've created a myspace page for it and I will post updates here too. The next few months will focus on finding investors...it's considered "ultra-low budget" with a total budget of $269,000. It's a poker comedy set in Scottsburg, IN...which happens to be my lovely wife's hometown. It's kind of Rounders meets Spinal Tap, inspired by Napolean Dynamite. It'll be fun.

If you myspace, go to www.myspace.com/hittingthenuts and befriend us.

Some fun people are jumping on board already...

Studio 60-Week Two

OK...it got better. There was a scene in which I literally sat up in my chair and clapped my hands. (Luckily everyone else in my house was sleeping.) I have to admit that I love the show in large part because it hits every major interest and passion of my life in one show, even including the atypical Christian working in Hollywood.

I also tivo'd Heroes with high hopes. I hated it. Ah, well...

Why do I do this again?

I sort of freaked out this week. I'm not sure why. On Monday I went down to San Diego for my second audition for the TV show "Art of Betrayal"...the role of a policeman. They immediately called me back to read again at 2:30 pm. I did very well in the first reading and not as well in the callback. This happens sometimes. It happened to me last week too. I was called back for a TV show called Mystery ER on the Discovery Channel. I nailed the first reading and not the second. I don't think in either case that I totally blew it...but I could have and should have done better. In golfer terms, I get the yips at callbacks. I choke on putts I should sink simply because the stakes are higher. Not always...but recently for some reason.

So for a few days I looked around on monster.com and craigslist trying to imagine something else I could do...

Yeah. There's not really anything.

Today was better...coming out of the funk. I wrote a seven-page script that I'm proud of. It will be submitted for use in a 48 hour film festival in December. My agent finally called after a week (in the middle of my funk, I assumed they had fired me and forgot to tell me.) I have two auditions for the show Vanished (Fox) tomorrow ("policeman" and "security guard")...I've already read there once this season as well. It's a good sign when they bring you back like that. (Based on my most recent auditions, maybe I should consider a career in law enforcement.)

So, I'm back off the edge. Ironically, I received several e-mails from long lost friends this week telling me how proud they are of me for following my dreams and all that...I figured quitting this week might be too hard on them anyway. And by the way, following your dreams sounds so awesome until you do it. Then it just feels really hard and a little pointless...and kind of like you should get a real job...and, to be honest, sometimes out of nowhere...it does feel a little awesome.

On a side note, I've been listening to the audio book BLINK from the other of THE TIPPING POINT. It's pretty cool...there is a whole chapter devoted why improv is the greatest thing people can do together. (My interpretation-but it's not so far off.)

To my Lifelines friends...my Vanished audition is at 5:00 in Hollywood so if I'm a little late tomorrow night, talk among yourselves and I'll get there asap.

I think I'm in love...

...with a TV show.

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (NBC, Mondays at 10pm).

I was looking forward to it, and blown away at the pilot last night. Enjoy.

Devestating News

I'm sitting at the Diedrch Coffee on 17th Street in Newport. There are forty of these coffee shops in Orange County. Diedrich's is one of my favorite things about living in OC. Sitting at the Diedrich's in Laguna Beach was one of the fondest memories of my early vacations here with Debbie before we had kids.

They just sold to Starbucks. All 40 stores.

Lame.

I shouldn't let this make me sad. It really sucks though. I've never been a Starbucks hater...I just like this place better-the coffee tastes a little better, the people are a little friendlier and the wireless internet is free.

I might have to start hating Starbucks for this. Only time will tell.

If the prophet Nathan were here, he would march up to Seattle and tell Starbucks the story of the one little ewe lamb...but, alas, Nathan is gone...and so is Diedrich's.

RIP.

Poof.

This week went fast. I had five auditions on monday and tuesday, drove to Reno all day tuesday, shot the Harrah's gig and drove back yesterday, got home around 4:00 am, slept in, and here we are. Tomorrow is Friday already.

I woke up with a terrible hang over, which is really odd since I didn't drink anything. I think I'm getting a little too old to stay up 22 straight hours.

A few updates

Aidan turned five yesterday. Hard to believe.

I booked a print job next week in Reno for Harrah's Casino. It shoots Wednesday, so I'll be traveling up on Tuesday and back late Wed. night. Nothing too exciting, but a gig's a gig.

I read for for a web-based sitcom today and just got the callback for it. A lot of networks are experimenting with this sort of thing this year...It will be interesting to see how they all pan out. I hope they work...it means a lot more work for people like me.

I now officially have six different projects that I am working on either as a producer or writer as well...keep the plates spinning until all but one breaks...my theory lately.

Watch Goin' Down

So I met these two young film makers named Sam and Syd who are students over at Champan University. I did a short film for them last year...a piercing coming of age drama with significant social implications. OK, it's about passing gas in an elevator. Click here to see it on youtube.

Goin Down

Here's a picture of me from the set of the short "Goin Down", a little "high brow" comedy about passing gas in elevators.

And...I'm goin down to San Diego tomorrow with some of my buddies from Vegas...we are going to root on the Cincinnati Reds as they play the Padres. It will be nice to hang with them.

Producing...

I started REBEL PILGRIM PRODUCTIONS about 18 months ago to make my first short film. Since then I have been trying to figure out what to do with it. I'm happy to finally have some direction with my little company. I'm preparing now to produce the My Take shorts in November and it looks very likely that I will be producing my first feature film in early 2007. I have meet some new people over the last few weeks who are excited about my concept...and have a few old friends who are willing to jump on board. It's a mockumentary style comedy. I can talk more about it once I get it registered.

It has been fun to find my way in the entertainment industry. I love acting, but I'm beginning to enjoy the idea of producing, writing and directing as well.

The in-laws are visiting from Indiana. It's nice to have them here.

Today I audition for a motgage company...typical "talking head" commercial. Not my favorite thing, but I am being called in by a casting director who has been very good to me.

More to come...

A Break

Life has finally slowed down a little bit this weeked...lots of doing nothing. My last four or five auditions have gone very well, but no word on anything yet.

So...I'm going back to doing nothing now.

Busy Summer Days

The last few weeks have clipped by for our family. Both Debbie and I have been working non-stop on one thing or another. The kids are doing well, but a little testier...likely because we are so busy. The ancient fathers have taught me that busy-ness is a sin and that life is lived in the serenity of each moment. I wish the ancient fathers had lived in Orange County with a mortgage payment...but they generally lived in monestaries and the desert wilderness...sometimes perched atop large wooden poles. Since I'm not moving to the mojave to live on a pole anytime soon, I'll try to figure it out as I go.

My new San Diego agent (Shamon Freitas Agency) has landed me an audition tomorrow for a new soap opera called "Art of Betrayal." As you know, I'm nothing if not a soap star. Today's audition was for a feature film called Grindin'. It was at Sunset-Gower studios in Hollywood...several network shows are made there. I've been to most all of the major studios now. The quality of my auditions has grown exponentially since my return from the Hampton tour. I feel like something is close to breaking...

In my spare time (he laughs as he types), I am producing the My Take films and another 3-minute comedy short. I hope to have these done by the end of the year. Right now I'm building a production team, looking for final funding, and dusting off the books from my production company, Rebel Pilgrim Films, which I started in Las Vegas last year.

Now I must go watch Rock Star: Supernova. It fills the American Idol void. (Wow, those two sentences makes me look really lame.) Lost and The Office will be back soon...then I can feel a little more hip in my TV watching.

Shalom.

Tired

Man, I'm tired. It has been a busy week...over 1,000 miles driven this week. Five auditions. A booking. Signing with a new agent in San Diego. Throw in a conference and teaching tonight, and I'm spent.

I'm not complaining...it's all good stuff.

The audition for Adam Sandler's film went very well. I think it was the best I could do. No nerves or anything...now we just wait.

Going to bed. I have an audition tomorrow :)

Big Audition Tomorrow

I'm heading over to the SONY to read for Adam Sandler's new film. Guess what? I'd play a preacher. I think this movie will be funny. For a while it was called "Chuck and Buck", but the sides called it "Chuck and Larry." I just read about it in Entertainment Weekly. The part has several lines and concludes with the preacher getting punched by Kevin James...would be great fun.

The commercial went fine today. I met George Clinton. He was very funkadelic. I spent most of the day sprinting down a Burbank culd-e-sac in my business suit...chasing an ice cream truck. Yeah...Hollywood is glamorous. It was a national promo, which means no residuals.

I'll be over at Saddleback church tomorrow and the next day for a recovery conference during the hours that I'm not auditioning.

Hyper-busy week.

Booked a National Commercial...

I booked a commercial for tomorrow featuring George Clinton...gotta get my funk on I guess. It's a comedy spot that will be largely improvised...I'll be the playing the white guy in a suit. That's happy good news. On the producing front, the MY TAKE winners have been announced. (See link over on this side -->) Now we start the effort to produce the five films. I'm in the middle of seeking co-producers/investors now. If you have any leads, shoot me an e-mail.

All of this and I'm planning on going to a Recovery conference Thursday and Friday with some folks from Lifelines. Big thanks to Kris Brown for helping us with our kids this week...some weeks are harder than others to manage two careers and two kids.

I think we are going to go to the Block at Orange tonight to celebrate the commercial with a round of family bowling. Good times.

Reely?

I have three new ACTOR REELS on my other website. Go there and click on "reel." www.joeboyd.net

This and that

I finally updated my acting reel today. It should be up on www.joeboyd.net in a few days...
No big-time auditions yet this week, but I will read for a little indie tv pilot tomorrow. The part is a (terrible) boxer, which seems fun. Thursday holds some meetings with producers in LA regarding some future projects.

Otherwise summer rolls on...the kids are staying up a little too late and sleeping in a little too long...ah, summer. Deb's working a lot these days. I think we are enjoying summer but also looking forward to the daily schedule that school will bring in a few weeks.

Making progress.

My audition yesterday went very well. The casting director was laughing, which is usually good for a sit-com audition. I did well enough that if I don't get it, I think they will have me back again. That's all that really matters. I also auditioned for an improv show last night. They called today and offered me the part, but I may not take it. I'm not really sure why I went in the first place...I think I just wanted to improv at the audition more than anything else.

It's been an eventful summer for sure. I'm starting a new teaching about prayer at Lifelines tomorrow and have been re-reading a few of Richard Foster's books. I forgot how helpful they were to me a few years back. I'm looking forward to see what will happen with our community there this fall.

Pretty good day...

The Disney gig today was fun. I worked with the ABC folks who do all of the web and mobile content for the network. They were great to hang out with...it was interesting to see how many of them were nervous to act or write or be creative given where they work, but once they got into it they had a lot of fun. I hope to work with the guys from teambuilding again.

Here's the good news: First of all, it looks like I've landed an agent for the San Diego market, which is harder than you might think. I also have my third network audition since returning from the tour. It's at Warner Brothers for a new ABC sit-com called NOTES FROM THE UNDERBELLY. Another day livin the dream...