Replacing Tropes And Cliche Characters With Real People — It’s always fun for writers to create the bad ass. That evil-as-sin antagonist. The problems often arise when we’re halfway through our stories, and that bad guy runs out of steam. It’s often a challenging time for writers. We demand more madness and fire from these characters as our stories…

Playing a Gotham City Police Officer — As actors, we’re all in competition to get the parts. We submit and audition for wanted roles. Depending on the production, there could be a field of hundreds, if not thousands competing for the same role. To actors, these numbers seem daunting, if not infinitive. As film and TV extras…

Eddie’s Guidance With My Acting Journey — “I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.” — Michelangelo Before my brother Eddie passed away, he received an inquiry to appear in an independent film. Eddie was a character with an outgoing personality. I could see him playing a variety of small and…

A Commitment To Authenticity — “The tigers have found me and I do not care.” — Charles Bukowski One of my favorite quotes. And for years, I misunderstood it. The old me: Hey, I’m a tough guy. The tigers have shown up and I’m holding my ground. They can’t chase me off, ’cause I’m all…

It’s More About Ethos and Relationships — Not Titles, Ego, and Degrees — Being a film and TV extra, my union (SAG-AFTRA) and the WGA remain on strike. As a performance artist, I’m used to survival, stop-gap, and seasonal jobs in between the highs and lows of film and television production. I’ve had my share of managers, supervisors, and small business owners. In…

Are Labor Unions the Last Line of Defense or Holding Us Back? — “The future always arrives sooner than expected.” — Anonymous It’s no surprise today's labor unions are guarding the beachhead of AI advancement. Will straddling this threshold be a positive or a negative for society at large? For union members, it appears essential. Prolonging jobs and targeted industries from the aggressive…

The Making of ‘The Godfather’ — In March of 2022, The Godfather turned 50. Special screenings with a limited theatrical re-release marked the milestone. Interviews, panels, and a great behind-the-scenes book depicting the wire-to-wire process of Mario Puzo’s bestseller to Francis Ford Coppola’s groundbreaking movie. Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli, is a riveting read for…

Greedy Moguls, AI, and the Advent of a Gig Economy — As a SAG-AFTRA member in New York City, I voted yes, to authorize a union strike. Our futures are at stake. The industry has crossed a threshold. Despite our ambition to resolve this matter and get back to performance art, we seek and demand a fair deal. Our next contract…

Flash Fiction — Space travel was a rich man’s game and astronauts didn’t hail from our side of the tracks. That’s why my friends and I never missed a Bandini rocket launch — main events full of fanfare and hope that one of us would beat the odds and reach outer space. Instead…