Happy Things That Feed Your Soul

2,469: words in Blog #1.
2,420: words in Blog #2.
2,033: words in Blog #3.
704: words in this Blog, #4. Bet ya didn't think I could do it, huh?

Today I ventured away from my patio oasis (pictured on the right) and out to the Java Detour in West Hollywood (http://www.javadetour.com/) to publish my blog. It's quite the interesting coffee shop. They have plenty of coffee and tea, of course, and they have baked goods and some food....and at night, they have alcohol and bartenders....it's different and I like that. AND they have free wi-fi as opposed to Starbucks or Coffee Bean that charge you some ridiculous hourly charge. The city of West Hollywood has been promising city wide FREE wi-fi for years now. But apparently building a pay by the hour parking lot was more important after wiping out seemingly 50% of the street and free lot parking. Priorities??

Today is a gorgeous day, I'm feeling great, I'm 9 days away until my trip to Tribeca for "Spork" and 6 days away from our "Relish" premiere at the W Hotel in Hollywood. So I wanted to talk about Happy Things. No, it's not the name of my next feature. Happy Things are the little things you should do EVERY DAY for yourself that make you happy. It's a pretty basic concept and it seems so easy that it can go unnoticed.

This business is a very difficult, all consuming, stressful, competitive and never ending job. Every day we run the rat race of trying to get ahead, whether that's going on auditions, interviews, taking meetings, getting new headshots, printing resumes, reading scripts, rehearsing, holding auditions, having conference calls and on and on and on. And while this is all very intense and sometimes almost a bit much to handle, it can also be fun in that crazy way. Why would we do this if it wasn't fun to some extent? But there's always a way to make it MORE fun and MORE enjoyable.

Sometimes that doesn't mean doing something specifically industry related nor does it mean changing the way we run about our day. Sometimes it means taking a break from all of that and doing something that feeds your soul. That "something" is different for each of us and it doesn't have to be a big thing or a big deal nor does it have to be all that time consuming. But I think it's very important to do at least one of these things every day. It can be as simple as watching an episode of your favorite tv show, grabbing a coffee with a friend, reading the NY Times in the park, plugging into your headphones and melting into a few of your favorite songs. Or, for me, it can be gardening, which is an interesting feat on a concrete patio. As you can see from the picture above, I've transformed my patio into a garden. The patio is about 3 times the size of that picture and the entire patio is covered with plants and flowers. I spend time out there every single day watering, picking off the dead leaves, making sure the star jasmine wrap around the stakes and not my other plants, reading the paper and drinking my tea, writing my blog, etc. I love it out there. It smells amazing and it's relaxing. It kinda takes me back home to my parent's house on Long Island and I breathe in the amazing smells and hide away from the craziness that is this business. And it can make all the difference in my day. You have to take care of your body, mind and soul. Without sounding too much like a self-help book, it's true. Try it. Find the little things that make you happy and make sure you do something, anything, each day. It can make a potentially stressful day just a little bit more doable.

Now....see....this blog is noticeably shorter. And if, just maybe, reading my blog might become somebody's happy thing, than maybe I've just made them a little happier.

Comment back and let me know what your happy things are and what you did TODAY.

Much love and happiness,
Jeremy Gordon, CSA

"SPORK" - the movie

GOOD MORNING SPORK LOVERS EVERYWHERE! Today's blog is all about "SPORK". I'm not talking about the spoon/fork combo we all used in grade school to stab at our over cooked green beans, I'm talking about the indie comedy called, "SPORK," which I cast last year and is premiering at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 24, 2010 - NEXT WEEKEND! Tix are on sale as of today. If you're in the NY area, don't wait to get your tix...this will sell out. If you're not close to NY, don't fear. SPORK is one of 8 films that will be screening online this year via the festival's website. Check out their site at: http://www.tribecafilm.com/filmguide/spork-film28978.html

Spork, the beginning: An old friend, Chad Allen (the actor from Our House, St Elsewhere, & Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman) contacted me about this low budget indie film he was producing and he wanted to talk to me about casting it. He gets me the script and I sit down to read it. I look at the title, "Spork". "Hmmm...interesting," I thought. I read it the first time and wasn't quite sure what to make of it. It was laugh out loud funny, deeply poignant, full of amazing characters and seemed almost alter-reality like....and it was also really, well, offensive. So I had to read it again. The second read through showed me so many more layers to the film. I also had a second glimpse at what I first thought was offensive. I suppose, in some regards, that people will be offended. This film does comment on every race, religion, culture, color, sexual orientation & identity, etc....but it comments equally across the board. And, truth be told, it's not so much offensive as it is eye-opening and commentary. The film makers are all gay: the executive producers, producers, writer/director, casting director (me), and others in the crew. We also span different races, cultures and religions. Every bit of what could be offensive was carefully planned out and talked about with appropriate third parties.

Okay, back to the story. I loved the script and I wanted to cast it. But....my schedule was really full. I was working on the Tom Cruise/Cameron Diaz film, "Knight & Day" and had very little free time to work on another project. Sadly, after talking with Chad, it just wasn't going to work. They were ready to start casting immediately. I was sad. I wanted the chance to work on this film and with a friend. Those are the projects we long for. But there was nothing I could do.

Then, one day sometime after we finished "Knight & Day," I was talking with Chad and I inquired how Spork went. His response, "Oh, we put that on hold to raise more money so we haven't started yet. Are you free now?" UMMMMMM, HELLLLOOO!!! Yes, I'm free and I want IN! So I met with the team: JB Ghuman, writer/director, Honey Labrador, producer, and Chris Racster, producer along with Chad Allen, producer. It was a love fest from moment one. The interview was more like a bunch of friends sitting around and shooting the breeze. I was hired! I was stoked! I knew this film was not just going to be another low budget film that nobody noticed. This film was going to mean something and it was going to be the highlight of my casting career to date.

Alas, there were going to be some challenges. It fell under the SAG Ultra Low Budget film, which means a max budget of $200,000. That's difficult just to shoot a film for that little money, but a massive challenge to get any celebrity actors on board at that budget. The bigger agencies that rep these actors will rarely even take a pitch to read a script if there isn't a bankroll payday involved. But we all put our contacts together, figured out what actors we wanted and we went for it...no holding back, no apologies. And we struck gold! Yes, of course we heard some NO's along the way but I'm not gonna lengthen my blog by talking about the negative. It was an intense and wonderful casting process.

For the adult roles, we got some incredible actors, all well known, who loved the script and wanted to be involved. And for that, I have to thank some amazing agents: Bobby Mosses at Stone Manners (for giving us Richard Riehle and Keith David) , Julia Buchwald and Tracey Christian at Buchwald (for Beth Grant), David Rose at Innovative (for Elaine Hendrix), Tyler Grasham at APA (for Yeardley Smith & Rachel Fox). The support we got from agents and talent across the board was outstanding.....and that's all due to JB Ghuman's phenomenal script.

Okay, now onto the casting of the kids. And here's where I will have to work hard to keep this blog shorter. The kids make this film. We HAD to get the casting exactly right for each kid or it wasn't going to work. And JB did NOT make this an easy task.

1 - 'Spork' - a 13 year old hermaphrodite - not being able to find an actual hermaphrodite, we needed to cast a girl or a boy that could walk that fine line, who wasn't too pretty or handsome but wasn't too odd looking and who could carry the entire film as the lead role. I was sweating this the entire time. I was reading mostly girls for this role and wasn't having much luck. My agent friends at Coast to Coast (Dana Edrick and Meredith Fine) kept pushing this one girl, Savannah Stehlin, on me. But I thought she was too pretty. She'd never pull it off. They said, "Just meet her and have her read. Trust us. You have nothing to lose." So I did. And I fell in love. Savannah nailed the audition with such depth and understanding for a girl her age, I was blown away. She WAS Spork. Done!

2 - 'Tootsie Roll' - a 13 year old African-American girl who had the outward, showy appearance of a girl from the ghetto with an inwardly old soul feel...who could DANCE. And I don't just mean move around the floor. JB wanted her to know how krump and klown, a tall order. Years ago, I had the pleasure of meeting Sydney Park, at the time a 9 year old actress. I met her at a kids stand up comedy night. At 9 years old she wrote and performed her own stand up routine. Now, I am NOT a fan of stand up. It's usually not funny. But here comes Sydney, this little 9 year old girl with the attitude of a 20 year old. And she just walks out on stage, grabs the mic and took over the room. She spewed jokes about her mom, the industry, and life that would make your head spin...all from the mouth of a 9 year old! There were some jokes she made that even made ME take a few steps back and I'm pretty open minded. But, DAYM, she was a gold mine. After the show I ran up to Syd and her mom, Kelly Park, and handed them my card begging them to stay in touch with me, telling them how much I loved Sydney and how she is destined to be a huge success. And they did keep in touch. And over the years, as Sydney and her attitude grew, we became friends. We meshed...they are like family to me and I'd do anything for them. So when the role of 'Tootsie Roll' came around, she was it. THIS was the project I had been waiting on to cast Sydney. And her audition will go down in the history books. Sydney is a very well put together and well spoken child...so much so it's scary. But she came into the room in her ghetto character and I don't think she broke that character until somebody yelled, "And that's a picture wrap" months later. PERFECTION. GOLD MINE. Don't believe me? Wait until you see Spork.

3- 'Betsy Byotch' & 'Loosie Goosie' - We were very lucky to have Rachel Fox, Felicity Huffman's little devil child from Desperate Housewives, wanting this role. We met with her, first actually. She was our first meeting and first actor cast. She is nothing like her role on D.H. and she was another gold mine for us. She came in all sweet and lovely and turned into Betsy Byotch...and by the role name alone, you can imagine what we needed. Then she broke out her guitar and played us a song she WROTE, which I believe ended up in the movie somewhere. Next we had to find her best friend and cohort, Loosie Goosie. The casting gods were blessing us on this film. Oona Gregory, who could easily be mistaken for Kristin Chenoweth's daughter, voice and all, came in and knocked our socks off. She had these subtle facial expressions which the character so desperately needed. Done!

4 - 'Charlie' & 'Chunk' - ugh...two roles that really stressed me out. Charlie was the "gay" kid in the film. And we needed a little boy who, gay or not, naturally seemed stereotypically gay in his affect. And he also needed to be comfortable playing a potentially gay character and making fun of himself....and we needed his parents to be on board with that. Daunting, to say the least. JB remembered seeing a little boy at a showcase in the recent past so we called him in. Michael Arnold walked into the room BORN to play Charlie in all the wonderfully, positive ways. Not only did he put a perfect spin on the role and words in the script but he randomly broke into song in the middle of his scene singing, "Somewhere Over The Rainbow". Talk about being "dialed in". Straight to wardrobe, thank you Michael. Then there was Chunk. OMG. We needed an overweight Asian kid who would make the audience wonder, "Is that a boy or a girl?" And he also needed to be okay making fun of himself for being this way. Oh, and did I mention this character is a lesbian? . His mom needed to be okay with all of this as well. Then in walks Kevin Chung, 30 minutes late, and about 5 years older than he appeared in his headshot. Ugh. I had seen about 50 kids for this role and not one of them was remotely right. Now, I HATE when actors just waltz in late and I HATE when actors don't look like their headshots. But Kevin was special. He was very green and didn't have many credits at all. He was really nervous and not really all that prepared for the audition. But that all worked for the character and I got really excited. And so did my team and from the moment we offered him the role...he became 'Chunk'. And he became everybody's favorite on set. The kids LOVED Kevin...and so did we.

We rounded out the rest of our cast with the amazing help from Tommy The Clown, the genius who helped start the krumping and klowning revolution. If you haven't seen his documentary, RIZE (directed by David LaChapelle), go rent it right now. It's incredible. He's incredible. And he gave us unprecedented access to his dancers and into his world. In the dance scenes in our film, we used all real dancers from Tommy and it makes all the difference. Tootsie Roll's crew was rounded out with his dancers, who are NOT actors.....well, they weren't actors but they sure are now. They had to be amazing dancers to make it believable but we did need girls who could pull off the acting. And they sure did.

We all head to NYC next week for the Tribeca Film Festival, where I truly believe SPORK will being to become the next talked about indie breakout film. So keep your eyes and ears open and check out SPORK online when the festival begins. We're bringing back the SPORK, in more ways than one.

PS - for the record this blog is about 500 words LESS than the others. xoxo

Much love and happiness,
Jeremy Gordon, CSA

Making It Happen

Wow, good morning. What a whirlwind this past weekend turned out to be. From having two dates canceled two days in a row (yes, mr-he-who-must-not-be-named-for-now scored again on Sunday), to birthing this blog, to seeing huge number spikes on my Facebook Fan Page and spending so much time on my computer I think my fingers have meshed with the keypads.....well, it's been crazy and fun.

I did promise shorter blogs than my initial entry so I shall try to stick to that promise.
Today I wanted to talk about "Making It Happen". Making it happen for YOURSELF. It’s what you want to achieve in your career. It's the waiting around vs. doing, the passive vs. active. There's a whole lot to discuss here so this keeping the blog short thing? Wish me luck.

First, though, let's recap a bit on the last blog and let's start with my Fan Page. Yesterday, I checked the numbers right before I went to bed and it was at a respectable 947 at 2:07am. By the time I woke up, we were at 1,075 - a jump but nothing spectacular. However, over the course of the day, we gained about 500 members to bring the numbers up to 1,506 as of right now. 500 people in 1 day? That's pretty awesome. Thank you to those of you who joined the page and for spreading the word. Let's keep that momentum going.

This blog: of course I started out with zero readers. I posted the link to the blog on all my various Facebook pages and anxiously tapped the refresh button. I'd like to say I did so every few hours, but that's so far from the truth it would put Pinocchio to shame. I refreshed the pages every few minutes and sometimes more often than that. What? I was excited! I am excited. And I'm a bit Type-A personality. What of it? Zero followers, zero followers, zero followers. And then, all of a sudden, out of nowhere, I had my first follower and my first comment. Jerry Ying of the blog, "It's A Dad's World" was following my blog. How freakin' cool is that? He's an actor and a father in LA blogging just like I am. Jerry Ying, I officially thank you for being the first. And, mom, well, Jerry Ying beat you to that punch. But I suppose you get a pass since you sent me a really cute cell phone video of the shirts you bought me at your favorite shopping destination. My best friend from college, Nupur Pal, was my 2nd reader and follower. Nupur - thanks for taking the time out of your crazy day with Sophia and Ryan to read my blog. And, thanks for the very Nupur-like crazy comment you posted for the entire world to see. Thank you to all 14 followers I have so far. We all have to start somewhere and soon enough, when my blog numbers enter the exponential stratosphere, I'll look back at my first 14 from day 1 with pride.

Mr-he-who-must-not-be-named-for-now: Sunday rolls around and I check in to make sure we're still on for 1pm. Not sure what to expect and having set my expectations much lower, I get a text, "Hey ya, boo….would u be interested in comin over here? I'm a tad wiped out........" So we went from hiking in Malibu on the cliffs to hanging at his apt (and he has 2 roommates). Granted, it was a cloudy, chilly day and watching a movie on the couch and chillaxing did sound very nice. However, this was going downhill faster Bode Miller. Trying to go with the flow I at least suggested hanging at my place where we could actually be alone and not tripping over his cats and roomies. But, nope, he wanted to stay in his "cave". Not the Sunday I was interested in. So I asked what was up. How did he go from a fun Saturday dinner/Sunday hike to refusing to move off his couch? And I got THAT answer that seems to be drawn from the "How Not To Date Book" that far too many people read: paraphrasing - "I really like you, you're one of the nicest people I have ever met, you're really cute....but I just want to be friends. I just got out of a long relationship, I'm really weird about dating, it takes me a long time to warm up to people....blah blah blah blah blah." Whatever, dude. Save your breath. If you don't want to hang out, it's all good. Why people can't just be honest and UPFRONT is beyond me. Save us all the time and trouble and don't make plans if you don't want to actually hang out. It's stupid, right? Oh, but, of course, he does want to be friends and thought I should still come over and watch a movie. Mmmmmmm, no thank you. I am able to enjoy a relaxing cloudy Sunday on my own couch with somebody who WANTS to hang out with me....ME. Game ender. Ciao.

Okay, the drama is out of the way, the sun is shining, I'm on my jungle like patio sitting amongst my beautiful plants and flowers, drinking my "Holiday Tea" from Harney & Sons Tea Shop in Millerton, NY. It's quite possibly the BEST tea I have ever had and I order it buy the pound and have it shipped from NY: www.harney.com. Okay, let's talk about Making It Happen before this blog turns out to be longer than the first.

I've never been one to sit on the sidelines. I jump right in, no reservations, no questions asked and do what needs to be done. Sure, sometimes that gets me in trouble and sometimes that puts a huge target on my back. But, most of the time, it allows me to get things accomplished, to be at the forefront, and to be a leader. I don't mind making waves and I don't mind fighting for what I believe in. I have a lot to say, which I'm sure you can already tell, and I enjoy using my loud, strong voice to say it with. In college, at Syracuse University, I joined the SU Ambulance on one of my first days on campus. We had a 100% student run and student operated EMS service with 2 ambulances, 2 non-emergency transport vehicles, with our own version of a 911-dispatch center. We had a board of directors - all students. It was pretty amazing. Over the 4 years I volunteered there, I got my EMT certification, got cleared for all field positions including driver and crew chief (did I ever think I would drive an ambulance? No. The wrong way down a one-way street to get to a "man down"? No. But I did). And more importantly than that, I took on multiple administrative positions on the board and helped shape and run the future of SUA, which is THRIVING today. I helped institute a computer based dispatch program and took us from paper to technology. As a student in college! SUA was one of the best experiences of my life and it absolutely helped shape me into the man I am today.

Smash cut to today (and by today, I mean the past 7 years). I was a 7th grade US History and English teacher at Crossroads School in Santa Monica, CA. I liked my job and I loved my students. But after about 7 years teaching, I needed a change. No easy decision. I spent a shit ton of money at Pepperdine University obtaining my Masters in Education and a lot of time and energy...and a steady paycheck with benefits at a world class school. Sometimes, though, the hard decisions need to be made in order to feed the soul. So while it was a hard decision, it was also a very easy decision. I needed to do something else.

It's LA and everybody seems to have a production company of their very own.....except me. Naturally, I changed that. With my friend, Joe Dain, we started Shoot Productions. Nupur, my 2nd blog follower, helped us coin the name with her sassy, "Shooooooooot," her way of verbalizing an exclamation point. Long story short, after finalizing the paperwork, we had a production company. Then we got a 5 picture deal to co-produce 5 horror films with Charles Band's company, Full Moon Features (the well known company responsible for the Puppet Master series), which Joe was then working for . We got that deal and the finger was pointed at me, "You're the Casting Director". "I'm the what?" I exclaimed. What the hell is a Casting Director? I knew how to audition in high school and college but we're talking a real movie with real actors and agents and a script and a breakdown (which I had never even heard of before). Too bad for me. It was time to learn because we were about to start TWO features, "Petrified" and, "Decadent Evil". I was given an office and a script and basically told, "GO". So I went. 7 years later, I figured I must have done something right cuz here I still am casting films and TV shows and I couldn't be happier. Granted, that first job was given to me and it is one of the greatest gifts I have ever received - thank you Charles Band and Joe Dain. But that opened my eyes and I knew I needed to go out and officially learn how to be a Casting Director. I started producing much the same way. Joe brings me to set one day and hands me a walkie-talkie and says, "This is our Producer's trailer. It's home base. Now take this, get out, go on set and produce." And with a hard shove out the door, I walked on set and was a Producer, faking it for a while, but I was doing it.

Over the years I took on jobs as a Casting Associate for other Casting Directors and soaked up every bit of knowledge I could. I worked on some amazing indie projects as well as some huge studio films and network TV shows. I went from being on set of "Decadent Evil,", a feature we shot for about $85,000 in 8 days, to the Fox show, "Back To You," hanging around the likes of Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton and Josh Gad. I was stunned. I was even flown to NY for the "Kit Kittredge: An American Girl" feature, where I helped run the open call where we saw 1300 little girls in one day. I was living my dream. Sure, luck plays a part in almost everything, but I did something right. I was DOING something. I didn't sit back and wait for the phone to ring. I made the calls and talked to people and took every meeting I was offered and took the good jobs and the bad jobs, the jobs that paid me an insultingly low salary and the jobs that were more promising. Through all of the jobs I had working for other people, I was able to continue working for myself, too. And that's made all the difference.

Anybody who has been in this business for a few years knows everything takes time. Nothing happens quickly. No matter how talented or determined you are, everything takes time. 4 years ago, I produced a little indie drama called, "The Inner Circle". (Please join our fan page at: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/The-Inner-Circle/384247672639?ref=ts). That little film, which we worked so hard on, is finally getting its time in the spotlight. It won a few awards at the Oregon International Film Festival and the La Femme Film Festival in Los Angeles, and will be released on DVD on May 25....because we MADE it happen. Last year I cast another small indie film, "SPORK". It was a SAG Ultra Low Budget film but I busted my ass to get the best cast possible and we ended up with well known actors at our modest budget (Elaine Hendrix, Beth Grant, Keith David, Richard Riehle, Chad Allen, Yeardley Smith) and it's premiering at the Tribeca Film Festival in NY next month. Only a few months ago, I cast and produced a short film, "Relish," which was written and directed by my casting INTERN on Spork, Jeff Fong. He raised $15,000 and turned around and hired ME. He made something happen for himself. We ripped through that film in 4 days and had it through post faster than I've ever seen before. RELISH will have its first screening on April 20 at the Cinema Lounge before having its big premiere at the Phoenix Comicon in May. All because we made things happen. None of these amazing things would have happened if I had said NO to any of these opportunities and none of these things would have happened if I hadn't been busting down doors and kicking asses.

The moral of this story - do not wait for opportunities to come to you, because more often than not, they won't. MAKE THINGS HAPPEN. Get together with talented and driven friends and be creative. You don't always need crazy big budgets and studio backing. You can get a good script and a hand held camera and shoot a fun little short and post it on You Tube. How many people have gone viral and become "famous" and received major publicity all because they put their work out there for the world to see? We are all the next Steven Speilbergs and George Clooneys and Lady GaGas and Sydney Parks (don't know who she is? Look her up NOW...she's a 13-year-old mover and shaker and because she made something happen for herself when she was 9, writing and performing her own stand up routine that I just happened to see, I had the honor of meeting her and keeping in touch with her and her family over the years and then had the pleasure of casting her in one of the lead roles in SPORK).

While I thank you immensely for reading this blog today (and becoming a supporter by clicking on that "Follow" button and spreading the word), get up and go DO something today. Do one thing that moves you forward in your career, to that place you want to be in 5 years from now. Nothing is more satisfying than making that 5 year goal happen tomorrow.

Much love and happiness,
Jeremy Gordon, CSA

Welcome to "Dial In with Jeremy Gordon"

Good evening. From my living room, through the vast virtual world, to wherever you may be reading this, I bid you welcome. Who am I? I'm a guy in Los Angeles, California who wanted to find a place to share my voice, my thoughts, my opinions and my experiences. By trade I'm a Casting Director and Producer. However, I'm just like "everyman" in most aspects which you'll see in my future blogs.

In the 7 years since I've been in this business, I've noticed this great need for information. We all want some help and advice and we all have questions we'd like some answers to. A few years ago when I started teaching workshops to actors here in LA, I noticed many of the same questions being fired at me. I thought to myself, "Wow, those are some pretty basic questions that they really should have the answers to." But, more importantly, if they didn't know the answers, there should be a place where they could GET the answers. So I started a group on Facebook called "Casting Directors For Actors".

It seemed easy enough. The physical space for the group was already there. I posted some pictures, a little bit about myself and a forum for a discussion board where one could post and respond to questions. Facebook did the hard work for me; all I had to do was fill in the blanks. With the group started, I didn't know what to do other than sit around and wait for members to join. And a few did. After a few months I had about 150 members. They would send me emails every now and then, friend request me, shout out on the wall, post their headshots and reels and a few would even post something to the discussion board so others could respond as well. The membership numbers creeped their way up, but I wasn't satisfied with the slow progress. While it was nice to help and communicate with a few actors, I wanted to reach the masses. So I started to spend more time on Facebook. I joined other industry related groups, friend requested industry people, posted about my group on other group's walls and really tried to get the word out there that there was somebody willing to help.....that I was willing to help. I had people willing to help me and answer my questions when I first started (er, well, I actually still do - I ask a LOT of questions). After just a little while longer, I started to notice a spike in our numbers. Now instead of 150, we were getting up to about 1,000. "Okay," I thought, "This is working."

I pressed onward and continued doing what was working. The more I got the word out there, the more members we had. The more members joined, the more people I was "connected" to. From there, it became a high school mathematical dream! Exponential equations came rushing back to me (something I was never good at understanding). Our member numbers were no longer creeping like the infant the group once was. It was running full steam ahead like a teenage track star. I sat there in awe. Instead of spending about 30 minutes each day answering emails and joining other groups, I was spending HOURS every day answering the dozens of emails and wall posts and discussion topics from the now thousands of members.....and by thousands I'm talking 6,000, 8,000, 12,000, 16,000. Holy what???? Are you serious? There are 16,000 people in the world that want to talk to ME?

It was almost getting out of control. I was working full time, trying to have some semblance of a social life, teaching extra workshops around LA, and out of nowhere, I had to find the time to keep up with the monster I created. My friends joked that I should hire an intern to help me (no, I never did. I have always to this day answered all my own emails). But I did decide it was time to start tracking the numbers. On April 24, 2009 I had 16,586 members. 24, by the way, is my lucky number (and my mom's). More on that in a future blog. For the first two days, I checked the numbers once each day. When I checked on April 26, and saw the numbers up to 16,649, I thought, "WTF? In about 2 days, 100 people joined my group?" I was instantly thrilled and surprised and excited and pressured....pressured to keep adding to the group and to keep giving what I told all these people I would....help. Then I started checking the numbers multiple times a day....and every time I checked the numbers, it was higher. Sometimes only by a few and other times by a more significant number, but it was always higher. By May 12, we were over 17,000. By June, 18,000. In July, 19,000. Holy craziness. I honestly could not believe what was happening. Each month was bringing us at least 1,000 new members. Now it's April 2010 and we have exactly 23,648 members. 23,648 people around the world asking ME for help and advice. It is astounding.

How did all of this lead me to create a blog? Well after spending a few years creating Casting Directors for Actors on Facebook and loving the opportunities it has given me, I was also far too familiar with its limitations. After my group grew past 5,000 members, Facebook removed the option for me to mass email my members all at once if there was something I wanted to tell them all. When I inquired, their answer was simple: they were trying to prevent too much spam being sent out on their sever. Okay, that's fair, but if somebody joined my group on their own free will then they were opting into receiving emails from me. That didn't make much sense to me and with 23,000+ members, the only way for me to communicate with them was to post something on the wall or discussion board and hope they saw it. Simply put, I didn't like Facebook's reasoning. And, I also didn't like how Facebook completely stopped answering my requests for help. At a certain point they literally stopped answering my emails. They used to be so rad on customer service and surprised me with how quickly they responded and how detailed they were in their answers. But now, nothing. Not even an automated response to my query for help, which is quite ironic considering what I'm trying to do for others. But, I digress.

PAUSE - it's tea time. I'm a huge tea drinker since I gave up coffee a few months ago. Peach Black Tea from Stash is my new favorite. It's a bit addicting. And, yes, I get two cups from each tea bag, just like my mother, just like my grandmother. I'll even keep the tea bag in a tiny bowl on the counter for the next cup, even if that's the next morning, just like my mother, just like my grandmother.

I didn't make it out of the kitchen. I've got my laptop on the counter next to my cup of steaming hot peach tea and I'm back to blogging. This is my very first blog that I have been thinking about for a long time so please forgive its length. Future blogs will be shorter, I promise. I can hear my good friend Toby saying, "Ugh, Jeremy, keep it shorter. Nobody wants to read all that." Well we'll just see about that, Tobias, won't we?

Facebook also didn't let me control who posted what on my group's wall, discussion board, or the photos or videos they posted. I could always delete what they posted after the fact, but that was annoying, time consuming and, what's done is done. If something inappropriate is up there and the wrong person sees it before I have time to remove it, the damage is done. Ask any of my friends or any of my ex's, I like control. So this blog is a way for me to search for more control, reach out to more people, leave the Facebook restrictions to Facebook and, most importantly, to build a bridge between what I started on Facebook and what I eventually will build into my own website.

Don't get me wrong. I LOVE Facebook and use it far too often. Just last night, after I maxed out the allowed number of friends a single person can have on their profile (about 5,000), I was forced into starting a Fan Page. "Eeeks," I thought, "A fan page? I need a fan page? I have fans?" Strange thought for me. And maybe it's just that Facebook calls it a Fan Page but I guess I do have fans. I'm helping people and answering questions. I have actors who I have been emailing with for years telling me that because of the advice I gave them they are moving to LA from all over the globe: NY, Canada, South Africa, India....I never realized my words were that impacting.

So last night, when I stayed in on a Friday night to create on my Fan Page called, Jeremy Gordon Casting, and to rest for my upcoming date on Saturday night (yes, that's today, that's right now, and I'm blogging instead....ahem ahem, we'll get to that in a moment), I sent "Fan Page Suggestions" to all 5,000 of my "friends" having no idea how long it would take to transfer over those who were networking friends and leaving my personal page for my 3D friends, those friends I actually know and see in person. It took me a few hours to send those invites to half of the alphabet. I stopped at "J" but only because my eyes were seeing triple. Of course I checked the new numbers before shutting off my computer. I was expecting to have ZERO fans at this point or maybe a few dozen if I was really lucky. But, again HOLY WHAT??? The first time I checked the numbers, I already had a few hundred fans. Talk about a second wind. I jammed through sending more invites and constantly checked the numbers and they were rising like the tide. Stop. I had to stop for the night. It was 1am and I had a workshop in the morning.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

I wake up and make some tea, peach tea again, and I run to the computer to see the numbers. Again, more than I thought. But no time to sit and diddle with it. I had to get to the workshop. High on virtual exponents, I dash off to a fantastic workshop and tell them all about the Jeremy Gordon Casting Fan Page and how they should create their own blah blah blah. I ran around doing errands, met a friend for lunch (a new, very cute friend, I might add) and came home to get ready for my date......working very hard not to keep checking the numbers or to finish sending the Fan Page invites for fear of delving too hard, too fast into a new addiction.

At 5:20pm, about 40 minutes away from date time (date #3 with him to be exact), I get a text, "Hey Mister. We are just BBQing now...would you mind if we take a rain check?" ****insert the sound of brakes screeching to a halt*** Talk about, "WTF" and, "ARE YOU SERIOUS?" with a dash of, "WHAT YOU TALKIN' ABOUT, WILLIS?" A text? 40 minutes before the date? A "rain check"? On a Saturday night? Grrrrrrrr......really? I kinda wanted to be mad. I kinda wanted to let him know I was annoyed. But he's a really nice guy and he did have a good excuse, even though it was an excuse, and he's super adorable (and, yes, if you can't tell by now - I'm gay) and he did suggest making it up to me on Sunday. Okay, okay, fine.....enjoy your BBQ and I'll see you tomorrow. CLICK - I hang up.......AND RUN TO MY FREAKIN' COMPUTER AND START FINISHING THE FAN PAGE INVITES AND CHECKING NUMBERS LIKE I'M EMBRACING SOME LONG STIFLED CRAVING MONSTER THAT HAD TO BE UNLEASHED. Man, did I zip through the rest of the alphabet and by about 7:30pm I had 100% sent out invitations to all 5,000 of my "friends".

It's now 9:30pm, and I'm just about to brew my second cup of tea (yes, reusing the bag), and I have 870 fans. Not too shabby for 24 hours, right? Knowing the power of virality, it is only a matter of time before my numbers grow here as well. There is work to be done, other groups to join, wall messages to post, emails to send and networking to, well, net? But for now, considering it is Saturday night, I will wrap up my blog and stream a Netflix movie on my new, rad blue ray player to my new, awesome flat screen and silently and secretly thank he-who-will-not-be-named-for-now for canceling our date so this blog could be born (even though he BETTER have a slick way of making it up to me tomorrow).

My blog will be a mixture of business and pleasure. It will be chock full of advice, hints, rants, raves, complaints, congrats, suggestions, questions, answers, secrets and, hopefully, some input from other industry professionals. I would like to post daily, but I know that won't happen. I'll post as often as I can. I'll do what I can to help you. Please feel free to respond to my blogs. Ask questions. Make statements. Compliment me. Contradict me. Challenge me. When I was a 7th grade teacher, I used to tell my students that they always had the right to challenge authority RESPECTFULLY. So I give unto you the same. But please do be respectful. It's just me. I'm just one person. And it's all just my opinions and my experiences. And, yeah, I might be a bit sensitive at times. Just ask any ex boyfriend....or my mom.

I'm a real person. I'm just like you. I have a job, I have friends, I am trying to date (um, he-who-will-not-be-named-for-now - you readin' this?)....I'm everyman. But for you skeptics or for those of you wondering, "Who the hell is Jeremy Gordon?" Check out my IMDb profile and see the projects I've worked on: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1873883/
Or check out my Facebook profile: http://www.facebook.com/jeremygordoncasting?ref=profile
Or check out and join my Fan Page (we're up to 876 now, whoo whoo) at: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Jeremy-Gordon-Casting/111830532171593
And/or my group, Casting Directors for Actors at:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2212264917

For now, it's goodnight blog, goodnight Facebook, goodnight computer, goodnight virtual readers (though since this is not even published yet, that reader base is ZERO) and Goodnight Moon, still one my favorite books. Thanks, mom.

Much love and happiness,
Jeremy Gordon, CSA