Submissions...and stuff

I hate the term "submissions." I feel like it puts me (us all) in a subserviant position. As if we are offering ourselves up to the gods of casting. Going forward I think we should say that we sent our information off in order to grant a casting director permission to call us in. A little wordy, i know. I'll work on it. A colleaegue of mine suggested we just call them 'smiles.'

I kinda like that. For now..smiles.

So i sent some smiles off. I've started making it a weekly chore. I send out at least 2 smiles. I'm looking for an agent, who isn't. And i'm looking to be cast. Again, who isn't. I've actually gotten some great results from mail out. People say all the time, don't do mail outs. They're just wasted headshots. Thats partly true. But if you're submitting for a specific project or agent/casting director that you would really like to work with, then do it! I have this renewed faith in the US postal system.

I sent out a smile to low budget indie film. You kinda write it off but pat yourself on the back for having made it to the post office before 5. Well a few days later I recieved an email inviting me to come in for the audition. It works!

Mailing out smiles work!

Of course now we play the waiting game. But at least I feel like I'm getting somewhere.

Along with that, I also recently shot a music video for an emerging artist named Tinu. They needed sax players, and I figured why not. The video will be up and about sometime in mid October. I'll go ahead and post it when its live. But what an easy bit of cash. Go in, pretend to play, and leave. That simple. The song is ok, but I'm sure you'll all make fun of it when you hear it.

Charlie Paladino "Best of" Clip

So for those of you that have been following this blog or for that matter even my career you know that I was part of a web series that lasted about 5 episodes. I know you are all avid fans and following my work like fiends. So in honor of you all whom can't get enough of the thrilling antics of an up and coming (?) actor wading through the steamy streets of NY, I've created an exciting little clip reel of my character from the web series. I thank you for all the support. And Charlie thanks you ladies out there for all the love letters.

A World of Her Pwn premiered on the escapist website and ran for a good strong 5 episodes. 3 of which my fun loving character, Charlie Paladino, was featured in various wacky situations for moral support to Samantha Mason's Sam character and for pure comic relief. Looking back on these few episodes, I'm proud of my work and proud of my character. He was a fun energetic gamer who threw himself into everything.

So enjoy the best of Charlie Paladino, poor guy is now retired, but it sure was fun while it lasted.

Oh that darn wakky Charlie.

AWHP was created by Douglas Mackrell and Samantha Mason

Produced by FishPaste Productions

Directed by Douglas Mackrell and Dan Brosnan

Featuring:

Samantha Mason

Brian Morvant

Patrick Pizzolorusso

Jenelle Sosa

Candace Yoshioka

Corey Pierno

Joey Nova

Sebastian Ferrante

Matt Gray

It aired on The Escapist Magazine's website.

Stage Combat

This is such a long time coming. A few years ago I had the pleasure (?) of working at the NY Renn Faire. I know I know. I only did it for a year then flew the coop. I was hired as a fighter. Thankfully there is some video that survives of those fights. They're not the best choreographed, but when you're playing in the round it's really difficult to make a fight look THAT good to everyone. Some one is going to see a feint, or a knap, or notice that your blade goes nowhere near your opponant. But it's still good fun.

I started trying to compile all the video I have of me in order to piece together a reel. This will not make the cut...see what I did there with the sword fighting pun? But I stumbled on it. It simultaneously made me cringe from memories of bad pay, over acting, and mead; as well as smile because of a very small group of friends I did make while I was there. You five know who I'm talking about. So without further ado.....

Fight Fight Action World Go!

** Updated and made the video NOT private. I'm smart I am. Thanks for pointing this out Mr. Schwabe

Samantha Mason in Backstage

So my dear dear friends ha, Samantha Mason, has been featured in an article on Backstage. Yes, you read that right, FEATURED! A general congrats is in oder, I think. We can all use press and exposure and I'm just insanely proud of all the work she has done. Not to mention that one of the main points of her piece is the webseries that I was fortunate to be a part of.

So here is Sam's part of the article:

Game On!

Samantha Mason turned to the Internet for her five-episode series, "A World of Her Pwn," which premiered on the gaming site The Escapist (www.escapistmagazine.com) last November. ("Pwn" is gamespeak for a humiliating defeat.) Mason played the semiautobiographical role of a game-site transcriber who is drawn into the worlds of various games.

The Escapist had sponsored a contest seeking original content, so Mason and director Douglas MacKrell conceived the idea and storyboarded the pilot one day in a New York diner. Their idea won, and the show soon went into production.

The site paid for the series on a per-episode basis, which was unnerving for Mason, who put her career as a classical actor largely on the back burner to work on the show. The production values fluctuated from episode to episode, Mason says, depending on "how my bank account was looking that month and how much time we had."

Each episode was supposed to be five- to eight-minutes long, though at times Mason and MacKrell went as long as 10. "Advertisers on the site don't want series to be too long," Mason says, "because they think people will turn it off and won't see their ads come on afterwards."

Whether the series will continue beyond the first five episodes is unsettled. But Mason has been approached to create a new series for another company. "It's really opened a new realm that I hadn't experimented in a lot before," she says.

Simultaneously wearing actor and producer hats proved challenging. Though she knew the scripts intimately, having participated in the development process, she would sometimes turn up at shoots realizing she hadn't fully memorized her lines.

Filming in New York certainly provided an embarrassment of talent and other riches. For one episode, Mason posted a call for background performers on "Ghostbusters" fan sites, seeking aficionados who owned their own costumes. Nine people showed up. In full regalia. "I thought, 'Only in New York City could you put out such a specific call and get such an overwhelming response,' " she says. "I had to turn people down—I had too many Ghostbusters!"

Many of the city's best filmmaking resources, it turns out, come without gigantic dollar signs attached. Perhaps the discouraged Woody Allen could learn something from New York's shoestring auteurs.

Read the entire article here

Shakespeare Anywhere

Well boys and girls, I've got another gig in the works. And the turn around for this is REAL quick. I'm working with a company called Shakespeare Anywhere. The name of the piece is Shakespeare Pizza.
I know! What more could you ask for? Pizza? Bard? Sign me up.

Opens this Sunday August 9th! Sooo Sooon.

The concept of Shakespeare Anywhere is to "to bring Shakespeare to unexpected and underserved places. Our productions are "bare bones style," which allows us to perform with little or no set, sound, or lighting."

Shakespeare Pizza includes a cast of 4 performing selections from His plays and poetry as well as musical pieces interspersed.

"Shakespeare Pizza"

Ignazio's Pizza

4 Water Street

Brooklyn, NY

(Dumbo)

Ticket price? FREE!!

When? Sunday august 9, 16, 23.

Time? 1 pm and 2:45 all three Sundays.

Starring:

Patrick Pizzolorusso

Regina Gibson

Robbie Baum

Traci Thomas

Get directions from their website: www.ignaziospizza.com

The idea:
Have some of the best pizza in New York, a good beer, and a great time! Let us entertain you with performances of Shakespeare monologues and sonnets, and hot music played by our very own talented actor-musicians!

My stint on 'The Unusuals'

A friend of mine emailed me telling me that she was engrossed in an episode of the new series, "The Unusuals," and about halfway through she finds my mug staring back at her from the t.v. Back in March I had talked about going down to Steiner Studios for some work on this show and it looks like I have made the cut. The name of the episode I wound up working on is called "E.I.D."

The Official synopsis:

Beaumont and Cole interview a couple regarding a break-in at their home. Although nothing was taken, the couple discovered that an adult film they rented was shot in their apartment. After Delahoy and Banks identify other apartments used in the series of adult films, Cole finds a common thread between all of the dysfunctional tenants. Hoping to set the scene for another movie, Beaumont and Cole go undercover. Meanwhile Scraeger becomes emotionally invested in trying to help a serial accuser who was the victim of a violent attack 10 years ago after disappearing from a big prep school party, on "The Unusuals."

So I'm apparently a potential "perp" for this serial accuser. No I was not in the porn storyline.

Another friend described the clip which features me as perfect for a clip reel for Conan O'Brien someday. I think I'll remember that and make sure I bring this in. (assuming I'm ever on the Tonight Show) It is terribly funny and entertaining.

So please enjoy and laugh and point. And laugh some more. This is my break-out role everyone. The Unusuals. A show I don't even watch.

House Broken Student Film

We all do so many side projects here and there. And I think the bane of all actor's lives is trying to wrestle a copy of the finished product out of the hands of young student film makers. At any one time i'm sure you can ask any struggling actor and they'll tell you they're waiting on at least 5. As am I right now. Give or take. It is very rare to receive these films quickly and without bugging the director for them. We can, if we want, invoke the power of the Professor, or even Dean of their college. Students cannot graduate without giving the actors in their projects their copy. But really, who wants to be that evil.

It is with a smile on my face that I inform you all that a film I worked on in April is in my hands, ripped, and online for your viewing pleasure. Its not that great, but its not that bad either. Its a student film.

The story is about a couple who are robbing the female character's (played by Luara Riley) parents house. Yours truly is the happy-to-go-along friend. While knocking over her parents house the two are forced to flee at the approach of her little brother. Like I said, student film. But it was an easy shoot and fun to do. Very organized.

So have a look for yourself. Enjoy. More to come eventually.