Judd Frazier

The Shoot

Mon, 21 Jan 2008 16:02:11 -0800

I was first up in the morning. Commercials are crazy in regards to the amount of money and attention that go into creating 30 seconds of film. There were about 30 extras (who, god bless them, are always slightly weird), a crew of 20 and a ton of equipment. It’s the closest thing in my life to my old days of playing basketball. When you wake up in the morning it feels like game time and there is a bunch of pressure. I actually love it.

The racer’s name is Michael Waltrip. Which sucked because I constantly wanted to call him Michael Wallstrip (like the famous Lindsay Campbells successful web show for those of you who don’t know it). I had to say my first line in my head before every single take because I was positive I would say “Wow! Michael Wallstrip!”. Luckily I never called him wallstrip.

Michael was a natural. Which is great because often you see commercials that use a non-actor celebrity who are really terrible. But he was improving with me as much as I was with him. It was a lot of fun and the director and people from Napa seemed very happy with it. I should hopefully have a copy within 3 to 4 weeks and will post that as soon as I can.

Thanks for checking out the blog.

The motley crue

Sun, 20 Jan 2008 17:03:36 -0800

The Set

Sun, 20 Jan 2008 12:35:13 -0800

There are 4 different spots being shot. I arrived in Charlotte at 10am and met the other three guys. The studio is off the beaten path of charlotte in an area the city is trying to develop. We sat around for several hours before the director (Jerry Pope) and all of the Napa people showed up. We then tried on different outfits until they were happy. The director continues to amaze me with how laid back and cool he is. It doesn’t hurt that he continues to compliment me on my audition.

I’m back at my Embassy Suites hotel room (Hahahahahah! Stanley?!). Aparently we are privy to something called the “Manager’s Special”. What makes it special you ask? It is an open bar from 5:30 to 7:30. So I will have a couple of drinks and watch Football with the rest of the cast. I can’t remember when I watched football last. I don’t have much in common with my cast mates but they seem very nice. One guy is a heavy jewish comedian who refuses to talk about anything but laurel & hardy and comedians I don’t know from the 50’s. I don’t understand this because he can’t be older than 50. The other older guy used to be a stand up comedian and does some theatre. It’s a motley crue and I’m sure we will party late into the night: say, 8p.m.

It’s weird having a hotel room by yourself. There are two beds in the room. Which will I sleep in? Perhaps I’ll switch in the middle of the night. I think I will also order room service just for the sake of ordering it. Im not even hungry. I will DEFINITELY use a fresh glass every time I have some water. Does anyone know what the thing in a hotel room is that looks like a keyboard stand? Is it for laying clothes out?

Callback & Booking

Sat, 19 Jan 2008 13:11:13 -0800

The callback was on Monday the 14th and I got the call that I had booked on Tuesday the next day. I was at a client’s house so I had to quietly say “Oh that’s great news Ali (my agent). No really. I’m very excited.” and then continue calmly showing the client how to f-ing print a web page. What I wanted to do was jump up and down and scream and then do shots of whiskey. But alas, I had to wait 5 hours to do that.

The director was awesome at the call back. He was down to earth and let me play a lot. I really look forward to working with him. Most directors at commercial callbacks are all business, stressed and don’t have time for any crap. This guy acted like we were working on a play together and we were in the room with all of the people from Napa for around 20 minutes.

I’m going to be playing a fan of a famous nascar racer. I am waiting in line to get a signature. But in reality I have been stalking him and the scene gets very awkward very quickly.

The nascar racer (who is playing himself obviously) is apparently very famous and successful in the “racing circle”. Since I don’t know anything about racing or racers I need to do a bunch of research before the shoot. I don’t want to be the jerk who calls the famous guy the wrong name (which I would do in a heartbeat since I suck with names). “Michael Johnson?”. “No, I’m Michael Jordan.” “Ohhhhh, right.”