Dogs are a Woman's Best Friend: Episode One "Reflections"

Here is the first episode of "Dog's are a Woman's Best Friend" enjoy

January 1, 2011 Mark your Calendars

It's official, the first episode of Dog's are a Woman's Best Friend will premiere on January 1, 2011. Mark your Calendars.

It's official..SAG-E

It's official, after checking my eligibility status online, I and five other wonderful actors are now SAG Eligible. I know I stated in an earlier post I was going to breakdown the process of the paperwork so here we go...


1st step


Fill out the SAG New Media preliminary application. This is a straightforward application which pretty much asks about the name of your production, whether, budget, distribution, etc. etc. The reason I just yadda yadda this is the form is readily available for download from sag's website www.sag.org and can be looked over


You will need to send in a Line Budget and a picture of your D/L along with the preliminary application.


Wait about 48 hours and call the New Media Dept. to confirm that you packet was received. If it was you will get assigned to a SAG rep.


The reps are busy!!! I'm never saying this in a malicious manner, but that's the realness. I can just imagine how much paperwork they have to sift through on a daily basis.


With that said, contact your rep to get acquainted and on their radar. Mine was very helpful and sent my second step packet via email the same day I spoke with her.


2nd Step


The second Packet you receive has all the good stuff you've been waiting for. The main ones to focus on are:


1. SAG New Media Agreement (two copies)

2. SAG - Producers Pension and Health Plans Letter of Adherence

These are the two main forms you need to fill out and mail back first!!!! This will cement you as a SAG Signatory Company.

Here's what will need to be mailed in Post Production

3. SAG Performer Contracts. They will include one for principal and one for Background. Fill these out accordingly. I edited the on my computer, then emailed them to my actors. I collected them during the table read. Make sure all pertinent fields are filled out correctly by both you and the actors. You as the producer will fill out the left side of the contract and the bottom, and the actor will fill out the right side and initial and sign at the bottom.

4. Final Cast List - Pretty much self explanatory.

5. Time Sheet - You will fill this out on the days of production. If you are wearing many hats as I did, make sure your actors sign in and out. You as the producer will fill out the rest after production (Meal breaks, transportation, etc).

6. Taft Hartley Form - You will need to fill out one for each performer you ar T/H into SAG including yourself. There's been a form revision, so you will need to list each actors Birthday on the form. On the second page there are boxes to check as to why you are T/H that actor. I just checked Other and put that the particular actor possessed the necessary skills, look and ability I was seeking. It's not brain surgery people, and doesn't require a dissertation to be written. You will need to Attach a Headshot and Resume for each actor that getting T/H, so please keep the H/r You obtained at the auditions.

There's another form called Form 16-B: SAG Pension and Health Reporting Form. You will only need to fill this out and mail this in if you used Union actors who were paid for their performances. Since everyone was on a deferred contract, this form was not necessary for me to mail in.

I mailed my post production packet on 11/22/2010. On 12/9/2010 after checking and trying to get in contact with my rep just to make sure she received everything and it was in order, I became SAG Eligible!!

Hope this helps anyone interested on taking this journey and every experience will be different. Now, back to editing :)

That's a Wrap!!!!!

Principal Photography is complete. Wow...just wow.

Last week was such a stress inducing week. It seemed everything was going smoothly until the week of shooting. Three days prior to shooting I get a call from my DP that we don't have lights (Maybe I should have mentioned to you all that shooting was scheduled for Sat & Sun) and we would need to try to scramble up something quick. I have never rented equipment before as this is my first rodeo and was absolutely clueless as how to go about acquiring this equipment.

I was psyched when I saw a company that rents what we needed for a reasonable price and after a call and email I had the owner of the company email me the paperwork. He did inform me that the lights would be available at or around 3pm Sat. (cutting it really close as my call times were set to 3pm, based on availability of the location we were scheduled to shoot at) You know what? let me back up for a second to set the tone of where my head was at on that particular day. Wednesday was a horrible horrible day. I had some morning misfortunes, a pinched nerve in my upper back which was making it painful to just breath and a migraine the size of Texas.

 Flash forward to when I get the news that evening while at work to say I was through would be an understatement. Sat. comes and I contact the owner of the lights and he informs me that he is on set and should be available at or around 5pm. I tell him that is too late, but I have some scenes set for Saturday night that we were to film and he says that would work. I contact my actors who were scheduled to shoot that afternoon and tell them that we have moved it to Sunday. They're okay with this and are such good sports. At 6pm we arrive to the location where we were to film the interior apartments scenes and after 45 mins of trying to unlock the door we realize that the owner gave us the wrong key and to top it off the owner of the lights seemed to have dropped off the face of the earth and I will have to move everything to Sunday which I was trying to avoid doing in the first place. I contacted all my actors and crew. and informed them of the new schedule and that I will send out new call sheets that evening.

At this point I felt so discouraged and the thought of calling it all off came across my mind twice. Not to mention that after a week of beautiful weather LA decided to rain on my parade literally. It was nasty cold rainy weather all that day. At about 9pm that evening as I was looking so defeated, my wife turns to me and says maybe it just wasn't meant for us to film on that particular day. This is the reason I love her so much, she is not only very supportive but wise and brutally honest. I finally decide to call it a night and get home at 11pm all the while worrying how I will procure some lights before the morning and before I can even send out a revised call sheet. I get a brainstorm that in hindsight I'm pissed I didn't have earlier. I put out an ad on craigslist for lights. 15 minutes later I get a phone call from Francisco Bulgarelli who has the lights we need and is available on a short notice. Not only will he provide the lights, but he is an experience gaffer which I totally never thought about had I rented the lights in the first place. We come to an agreement and 10 mins later I am sending out new callsheets to both cast and crew.

 That night, I slept like I didn't have a care in the world.

Sunday morning rolls around and it's no longer raining. The Sun is out the birds are chirping and I have a full day of shooting ahead. Let's fast forward. Everyone makes their call times, Francisco is a godsend and works well with the DP Jacob and our sound guy Jon, that I'm in total amazement. The entire cast showed up prepared, on time on book and ready to work. Later that evening while we were walking to the next location I turn and give my wife the biggest hug in the history of hugs and tells her she was absolutely right. We wrapped at 11pm and I can honestly say that I am so thankful and appreciative off all the individuals who came together and rolled with the punches to make this a reality!!!

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Right around the corner

It seems the closer it gets the more of a balancing act I have to perform. We shoot this weekend and at the beginning of the week I was unsure that I'd have my restaurant location locked down. The owner had originally ok'd it but then he wanted to switch the days and times that I originally had everything set for. Thanks to some verbal mediation via my lovely wife, we had our original day and time...Phew!!!

Next up let's shoot this thing then we can all enjoy some turkey :)

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Table read or ahem...Office read

The cast and I had the table read this morning and it was really fun. It's still weird to hear the words I wrote coming from someone else's mouth. Next weekend is shooting and I'm really looking forward to it. To my wonderful cast once again thank you all for making this a reality.

Paperwork has been defeated!!!!

Just received the email from my SAG rep that I am now a SAG Signatory Company!!!!

The only paperwork left now is production/post paperwork (Contracts, Taft Hartley forms, sign in sheets, Final Cast list, etc) very excited.

The cast table read is tomorrow morning and I'm definitely looking forward to it. The cast will be able to meet each other and I will finally get to hear the entire script read aloud by actors.

Filming is next weekend and I'm so nervous!!!!

I have a song on my Heart. My Siren has arrived

A wonderful schoolyard friend of mine, who is a talented singer/songwriter has allowed me to use some original pieces for the series. A big shout out and thank you to Tina Renee. Please check her out and send some love and good vibes her way.

Table read scheduled for Wed. 11/10/2010. Wow, it's getting so close to shoot time. I'm still in somewhat disbelief this is happening. Please, no one pinch me,  I want to enjoy this dream.

A True Balancing Act Live Tonight!!!!

Wow, now that casting is over and locations have been locked down, now comes the juggling portion of actors schedules. You would think that since you have your cast, you HAVE your cast right? bzzzzt wrong!!!. There's so many variables when it comes to an actors availability I mean they could drop out at any time for any reason. The scary ones are the ones where you have no feedback from them through the various communication channels you utilize (Phone, email, FB, txt), I just hate being left in the dark guessing. I know we as actors become very busy, but one of the main skills we need to have in this business is the skill of Juggling. A lot of A-listers who produce their own works, still find time to do that as well as work on their projects they've been cast in. When I have contracts in hand I will feel much better.

I want to make this machine run as smoothly as possible and approaching it from an actor's point of view is helping as well as hindering me. I want to be as accommodating as possible, but if it means having to make drastic changes which might push my shoot schedule back; that's where I have to put my foot down and hurt a couple feelings in the process.

Is it a character trait, or social behavior? I don't know, but I do see how and why most producers are a little high strung.

On another note I've sent in my New Media agreement (2 originals with ink!!) and the Pension and Health Plans Letter of Adherence which will allow me to become a bonified SAG Signatory Company!!!!

Our Cast is lined up and Might I say...Awesome!!!!

We got a chance to see a lot of fantastic actors for the various roles. Believe me, I would have loved to cast everyone, but unfortunately I can't. My decision for selecting the actors was based on how I envisioned the characters (they are based on real people in my life) attitude, speech, personality, etc.

I wasn't looking for "acting" so much as the actors being real and believable to the target audience. I just want to send out a big thank for all those that came out to audition. Without further ado, here's the cast:

KJ Smith......................Jasmin Delacroix

Quentin Miles...............Jamal

J. Ferguson..................Terrance

Ramon Payne..............Tyrone

Brittany Richards.........Nadine

Donna Y. Jones...........Amy

Shakira Janai Paye .....Yolanda

Michael Hahn..............Mr. Ford

Denell Johnson............Cashier

A great lineup which will culminate in a great pilot!!!!

I received my 3 set of Paperwork from my rep today, so excited. It included the contracts, Logo, Health and Pension worksheet, Signatory Paperwork, etc. I will be updating over the next couple of days on exactly what to fill out and how.

Stay Tuned

Casting We have lift off!!!

We had the casting session yesterday, Huge thanks goes out to Mike, man I don't know how I would have done it without you!! I do not envy CD's at all!!!!

We got the opportunity to see some really good actors, as well as some *ahem* actors. It's going to be a difficult process to whittle down the characters as a lot were really good!!!!

As an actor myself, I tried to make the session as fun as possible hoping that I could alleviate some of the nervousness that's associated with auditioning. Some of the actors, I could tell got a little discouraged when they saw who their competition were and it showed in their auditions. Please my fellow actors, you can't let these little mental things get the best of you, just stay focused and aware of your character.

We auditioned for 4 hours and man, we pretty much used every bit of that time seeing actors back to back. All in all it was a real eye opening experience and really nice to get a chance to see the other side of the wall.

Audition Week

In getting all this together I have not been submitting myself for any auditions, primarily due to time constraints and not wanting to make any commitments that might prevent me from shooting my pilot.

Had a great and informative meeting with a fellow actor yesterday Mike Hahn and his lovely wife. Really look forward to working with the two of them. It's rare to find down to earth people in this business we call acting, hence my very limited pool of "acting friends".

Thursday is casting day at Cazt and I'm really looking forward to it. Out of  over 1000 submissions, I'm only able to squeeze in about 100 (that's only if people don't do the famous dance, "The Los Angeles Flake"), but overall I see it being successful. I have a great crew, now It's time to get a great cast to bring this thing alive.

Yesterday Mike and I talked about Insurance for the shoot (you don't wanna be held liable for anything that happens on your set) and after talking to another acquaintance of mine, I've decided that it will be too out of my budget. I know I'm running a real risk here, but in a smaller market, it would be doable. Unfortuantley this is L.A. and the cost jumps tremendously, especially for small budget productions as the risk is greater.

It's Monday and I'm going to be going over some paperwork and contact my DP. I'll report back tomorrow-Peace

Location, Location, Location!!!

Two of my  three of my shoot locations are a lock. Hopefully will get some good news tomorrow about the third!!!

Please read Carefully...Keyword on CAREFULLY!!!

I know we as actors tend to get a little frazzled when we have so many time commitments, especially when it comes to auditioning, but please READ THE ENTIRE AUDITION NOTICE BEFORE EMAILING CASTING.

I have set my auditions for casting to be next Thursday 10/28/2010, but for some reason I keep receiving emails from actors stating they can not make it to the audition today (10/21/2010) because of blah, blah, blah.

I responded to my breakdown from my own AA account and selected myself, just to make sure the date on the cmail says Thursday 10/28/2010 and you know what? It does!!! I even put it in the body of the message.

I myself as an actor know  how it is, so I'm a little more accommodating, but is this what most CD's go through? not reading something and just skimming through it makes you look bad as an actor, are you going to have problems following direction? etc. I spent literally 5 hours yesterday replying to emails to tell them that the audition is for next Thursday, not this Thursday

This is just a plea to please don't skim over the message and to read it and even mark down the date.

No rest for the Weary

I work evenings, mostly 2pm-11pm and usually don't get home until 1am or so. My 9-5 is that of a remote support tech, which means I spend 8 hours a day repairing peoples computers remotely. I love what I do and the pay is really nice. The hours can be taxing, because after I get off of work I like to go to the gym for about 45mins-1hour which translate into my getting home at the latest 2am.

I say all this because sometimes I feel like there's not enough time in the day to do what you need to do, especially when you're dealing with a project such as this. No matter what, I still keep on truckin' !! I know the end result will be that much more satisfying!!!

Casting 10, 9, 8, 7,6, 5..... and a P.S.A. to boot!!!!

Wow, this is pretty hard. I see why CD's are always pressed fro time. Note to some actors: It's great that you've chosen this art form as either a profession or something to do in your spare time, but for the love of cheese get professional headshots!!!! I hate to be a headshot Nazi (can I say Nazi?), but candids in this business/market just does not cut it. How is a CD supposed to call you in if you can't even have enough respect for the art to get professional headshots done??? I teruely wish everyone had a fair shot, but unfortunately that's not the way it is. Please do us all including yourselves the favor and look the part!!!

I'm off my soapbox. Well, looks like I'll be spending the next 2-3 days picking who I want to see at auditions. This will be fun (In Mens Warehouse voice) "I guarantee it".

You must follow Up!!!!

This is not an attempt to bash SAG at alll. I know they are overwhelmed with the amount of paperwork they receive for new productions, especially within the New Media dept.

I had to call my rep again as I haven't received any paperwork as of yet, which is cool but I'm ready to cast this thing lol. I received the pre-cast worksheet which I need to fill out after casting.

On a even better note. I'm in talks with a DP for the project by the name of Jacob Swanson . This beast is coming to life!!!

Posted the breakdown on Actorsaccess, already an overwhelming response. Time to put on my CD hat. I know it's still early in the submission game, but I have a lot of SAG actors submitting. I would really like to bring someone in that's ready to make that jump to SAG-E (of course with a solid resume and reels), hmmmm we'll wait and see

On to the next one

The DP I was looking to hire decided to pass on the project. Oh well. I posted a help wanted ad on Craigslist and already have over 30 responses. I'll probably spend this week reviewing each one.

Luckily, I found my sound guy. I worked with him previously on a film I had a supporting role in entitled "Pirate Jenny". He's a really cool guy and down to earth, which is two of the most important qualities I seek in a crew member. 

Gotta work a little extra hard

Gonna have to pull a extra day at the J.O.B. next week to make sure I have a surplus of expenses for the production. I'm getting a little nervous. I was able to speak to my SAG rep yesterday and she said I should have my paperwork by Monday and to not post my breakdown until I'm in the pending stage. I have booked space to cast on the 28th. I hate racing the clock.

Dogs are a Woman's Best Friend

Got a chance to speak to my SAG rep today!!! she's going to send my paper work hopefully by Monday and told me to hold off on casting until my production is in the "pending" stage of the application process.

Spoke to my potential DP, would love to work with him.

Verizon Wireless Grrrrrrr....

Welcome to "Dogs are a Woman's best Friend" a web Dramedy

Hi and welcome to "Dogs are a Woman's best Friend" a webseries about Jamal, a man who is ready to settle down. He's trired of the dating scene and wants to meet that Mrs. Right. In comes Jasmin. Jasmin is everything that Jamal wants. Smart, Sexy, Educated a true lady, but there's one thing that's standing in Jamal's way......


This will be an ongoing blog of my new web series. From pre to post production and everything ugly in between. I aim to educate the reader on the process of self producing a web series on a shoe string budget and under the SAG New Media contract. The shoot will take a total of two days, Please Oh Please let this be the case lol.Let's kick this off with what I have so far:

I'm trying to stay under a $1500.00 budget which I believe I can do.   My pilot only calls for 3 different locations in which a friend of mines apartment has most of the scenes taking place. In producing this under the SAG New Media agreement, my actors are going to be $100/day deferred. As an actor, they pay doesn't really bother me as long as it's a quality production. Being on a shoestring budget, does not mean the final result looking as if it were filmed on a 1980's VHS camera. I do wanna give a shout out to Brandi Ford Brandi's Website for helping me out with some questions I had as she has just finished her very first webseries pilot episode.


10/11/2010 - Submitted preliminary Information sheet to SAG. I am not that familiar with a line budget, but I did enough research to learn what goes above the line as well as below.  Be aware that you have to follow up within 48 hrs to confirm that they have received you worksheet, Line budget, Script and ID. I also called a prospective location I would like to shoot a couple scenes here in Van Nuys. I need a office. The lady tells me $250 for 4 hours and I will need to have a certificate of Insurance(Whatever that is) and a $250 Cash Deposit which I will get back at the end of the shoot day. Emailed my prospective DP, told him I will give him a call Wednesday. Locked down my casting date and facilities for 10/28/2010, Thanks Cazt www.cazt.com you really provide a invaluable service to the acting community!!! I'm really looking forward to the casting session, it's gonna be nice to be able to sit on the other side of the table for once MUHAHAHAH!!!


10/12/2010 - Made some revisions to my script, Ugh.... I have to format this a lot better. Started story-boarding, this is a lot harder than I expected. I also came to the realization that I really don't have any industry friends. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. I've always been a firm believer in if I don't know how to do something, I will teach myself to do it. I'm definitely going to shop around for an editor now.

10/13/2010 - Called SAG this morning and was told that I have been assigned a Rep and she will give me a call in the next few days. I'm excited and nervous at the sane time. I'm not sure how many SAG actors you have to use in your production as that was one of the questions on the preliminary. It's a relatively small cast of only 7, and as far as the crew goes the DP I have my eye on also has his own lighting equipment which means I will probably have to find a sound guy. My lovely wife did a lot of P.A., producer, etc work in the Philippines (Which has a major Film/TV market itself) where she is from, so she's really going to help me out a lot and wear many different hats on this production as well. Andrew from Backstage West saw a post I had made on the message board there and asked if I wanted to comment on actors using the New Media approach to obtaining their SAG/SAG-E status. Looking at what types of food I want to cater. Big Mamas and Papas Pizza has really good prices, everyone loves Pizza, wings, pasta and salad!!!!