"Skills v. Skill"

It's really easy to watch a good performer and say, "if I had enough money to buy a magic illusion, I could be in Vegas" or "I wish I had enough time to practice juggling, I'd be better than that guy at the Renaissance Faire".

The thing is, juggling, the magic tricks, the balloon animals have nothing to do with skill. These are just skills.

I am pretty honest about my skill level. People are really impressed by my juggling, my magic, my balloon skills. But I know what's out there and balloon for balloon there are people that make me look pretty lame...

But are they funny? Can they hold a crowd? Can they put it in a routine that keeps kids (or adults) in rapt attention? Some can, some can't. I can take a balloon and do a 12 minute routine trying to blow up a balloon, breaking it eventually making a very simple dog and getting a huge applause. The skill I've worked on is the (in my case) clowning.

I think a lot about actors and comedians. I've heard so many people leave a play and be amazed at the memorization by the actors. I have an acting degree and for years after, I thought that was the skill to master. I had a breakthrough in a class one day when I realized, memorizing is just like making a balloon dog, it's just a skill. Memorizing is just the starting point, then you take off with the acting. Learning the balloon dog, learning the juggling pattern, learning to force a card is the starting point. Then you take off.

This is a world opening thought process. I was discussing this concept with a guy I know at Aikido. He is a consulting chef, meaning, he has a company that helps create menus for places like Jamba Juice. So he knows a lot.

It was great to discuss this with him. He is a master at making food but he got in a big way and had the same frustration in the world of food production. I'm not much of a cook, more of microwave maven but there is such an art in cooking, I can see the connection.

This skills v. skill thing is everywhere. I think it's a human condition we have to recognize and break. Everything from thinking history is about memorizing dates, to filmmaking is about having the best camera out there.

"That Old Economy!..."

This is post number 100, that's really cool! In fact really cool for a guy with half written scripts, joke books, notebooks of half written ideas for books on bulletin boards, in piles, in file cabinets on this ol' computer! So, let's talk about the economy.

I'm trying to listen to the economy right now. I think the economy is like a little kid, you have to be very quiet to hear what it's saying.

I tend to talk and complain with my friends about lack of work. We are all bouncing the same old ideas off each other over and over. Reminds me of that old definition of insanity, "doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results"

A huge problem with creative people, we tend to listen to each other or watch each other for ideas. I'm not all that interested in doing what's already been done. Yet, I catch myself doing what's already been done.

I am quietly listening to the economy. It's saying lower your prices...it's saying, no one knows who you are...

This is tough to hear. But the reality, I have a 2 to 3 year window of being famous. Kid's love me from 4 to 7 or so. Kids love Barny and then groan at the dinosaur when they are 7. I'm in that same category (I'm a big fan of Barney by the way. I think it's remarkable to keep children's attention and clearly focus on one topic, "I love you" for 30 minutes) Kids and their families move on rapidly. I am everything to them from 4 to 7 years old and forgotten after that. That's just what happens. It's pretty neat when I run into 17 year olds and they say I was at their party many years ago and they still remember. Financially, you get an opening of a few years, then kids move on to other things. They are not hiring me.

The economy is down so people are hiring less, which means I'm seen less which means there is less competition for what I do. Because people don't see clowns out there, they are not thinking of clowns at events. It's a catch-22. The more entertainment you see, the more likely you are to hire entertainment but you have to get hired in the first place!

I'm at a crossroads. So the economy is a very good thing for me. I've wanted to transition out of the living room circus into more of a teaching writing role for a long long time.

This is my 100th post. This blog is slowly being noticed. I've got big ideas for the future. I'm nearly done with my first book. It's a book of comebacks for entertainers that work with children. It should be ready to send to a publisher in the next few weeks. It's a fairly simple concept of writing jokes for what you hear a lot as an entertainer "is this your full time job?" things like that.

I've got, just under 2000 responses to these kind of questions.

This book, if it's published..., will not change my finances much, it's a very small specific market but it lines me up to be a teacher, which is something I would really like to take on. It also lines me up to write more books. Joke writing comes very easily to me. So easy in fact, I have a hard time thinking of joke writing as a skill. I had a friend ask for jokes for a county faire show the other day. I sent him 20 jokes 10 minutes after I got the email.

I'm also a video guy. I do it all the time. I've gotten pretty good. I have ideas for turning an area of my house into a small studio. I don't even have to spend much money. I don't have great equipment but I have a good eye and I've learned a lot about lighting. Consumer equipment is incredible, I can't make a TV commercial but I can make very very nice how to videos for youtube.

So, the economy is talking..."don't fight...you have strengths...you are a writer...you are a teacher..."

Of course in the meantime, I may have to start buying lottery tickets!

"What's it like to work on a commercial"

I often forget that things I do are unusual compared to most people.

One thing that I do is spend time on television and movie sets. Not nearly as much as I'd like but a number of times a year I work around very big productions. This means grip trucks (those are large trucks filled with lighting equipment) wardrobe people, make up, craft services (food on the set) and lots and lots of production assistants (PAs).

My son Duncan just shot a commercial for Sony Playstation. Basically, since this is my son, I'm so much more excited than anything I've done professionally. Plus, I had to be on the set as a legal guardian, so I could observe and get in the way more.

Duncan has the same agent as I do in San Francisco. To do commercial acting, you have to have an agent, it's the way you are submitted for auditions or modeling or voice over work.

My agent is Mary Tonry, Tonry Talent. I've been with her for 10 or 12 years. Pretty long time. I like her a lot, I like the staff a lot. They are super nice and really supportive.

So here was the process.

Allie in Mary's office called and asked if Duncan would be available to miss a few days of school before they submitted him. Sometimes I get these calls and say sure! When I hang up, I sort of forget about it, you don't tend to hear back. Duncan had just finished a play at school, I wouldn't have had him miss being in the play, that lets a lot of people down. This was Thursday around 4 in the afternoon.

Friday morning around 10:30, they call and say they would like to check Duncan's availability. This means, they like him a lot and want to make sure he really can be there. At this point they've chosen a bunch of actors in each category and they are comparing them side by side and discussing which they like most.

That was really exciting, I sent an email to Duncan at school. But still it's also a long shot from this point. They may have 10 actors for that one spot, that's still a 1 in 10 shot. Who knows they might even have more and they are just checking.

I get another call an hour later. I needed to update his clothing sizes. They just need everything organized.

I sent an email with his shoe size, sports coat size, waist... Checked around 3 to make sure that they got the email. Allie said, you know how it is... we'll keep our fingers crossed.

10 minutes later Allie called and booked Duncan!

The most unusual part, there was no audition. They never even asked me to bring him somewhere where they could just say hi and see if he actually looks like his pictures. Luckily, I just had his pictures done so they look a lot like him, same glasses same hairstyle. Kids change a lot, so it's easy to get out of date on the pictures.

Saturday someone from the wardrobe department called, double checks his sizes, shoes etc. They have to shop for various things to try on him. They will buy a lot of things and return a lot of things later that are not used.

Sunday, someone from the production office calls and tells me Duncan has to come on Monday for a few hours, time is not certain yet but he will rehearse and they have to fit his wardrobe.

Monday I got the exact time and location by email. (yes, this is all last minute stuff). I got Duncan at school around 10:20. brought him to the Playstation office about 30 minutes from San Francisco. We were met in the lobby by a production assistant who brought us to the make shift wardrobe area. There was one other kids there.

We met the producer and the director and of course the two wardrobe people. Plus this is in the middle of Playstation so it's really cool, stuff all over the walls and people cubicles had crazy 6 foot creature cut outs.

They had trouble deciding what Duncan should wear. He tried on about 6 different combinations, including shoes. When you watch the final production it doesn't look like much, jeans a t-shirt and fleece but colors and looks have to be coordinated and they have to match the other actors and the backgrounds.

The kids all met (plus all of us moms). We went into a small room with a TV where they taught the kids to play a demo of the new game "Deadmun's Quest". Playstation is promoting the new "moves" game system. This is a game for next Christmas, it's still a long way from being done. There are God knows how many designers, engineers still working on it. This was a prototype the kids used that was about 10 minutes of the game.

They all practiced. And they said they would tell us the exact location later Monday night. Yup, it was shooting the next day and they still were deciding. That is pretty normal for this sort of thing. I tend to live life in general that way, so I just accept it.

Got the email later with directions and details and our call time (what time we have to show up). They sent me an Excel spread sheet with everyone's name and contact information. I only needed one or two numbers but this is how it's done. I was surprised there were 50 or 60 names. Duncan and I were getting really excited. Up to this point we didn't know much about this thing, it could have just been a camera a director and a lighting person, what did we know?

The commercial was shot in a huge very very expensive house in the shadow of Mt Diablo, this is a high end community 40 miles from San Francisco. When we got there, there were trucks and guys with tool belts carrying lighting equipment cables, cars parked everywhere. this is a pretty quiet street with big houses. It's really cool. I can only imagine what the neighbors were thinking and imagining what was happening across the street.

We were greeted (luckily) right away by the producer who told us where to go.

Inside this house, there are cables, lights, monitors, runners on the nice floors where the teamsters were walking. They used a whole room just for 3 monitors for a person to watch as it was shot. They had 2 people watching a laptop and a special feed just to watch the game as the kids would play. Everything with any sort of logo was gone.

There was a tutor on the set, since they were dealing with minors. They were supposed to do 3 hours of school work. Mostly the kids just used it as a day off. Duncan did actually have a lot of school work, it was 2 weeks before finals.

The main job of the tutor is to make sure the laws for using underage workers are obeyed. This was not the set of Harry Potter, it was just a day off of school for most of the kids.

One by one the kids got into the make up chair. Did a little make up and fixed their hair. While he did this, I got a coffee and bagel.

On to the set they go. There is a hubbub of activity all around. I stood out of the way with the other moms and watched and giggled. I was just so happy to watch my son do this, I chucked all "cool" out the window. We don't get to do this very often! The other moms were acting more cool than me but since I was willing to act like a geek, they let go a bit and let out their excitement too.

The director, assistant director, camera person, representatives from Sony, lighting person rearranged the kids over and over. Had them pretend to play, switched kids, changed clothes slightly, changed lights, shouted things like "there's a hot spot near the edge of the couch"

Then the kids had to act like they were having a good time. Over and over and over and over. The camera was on a track so it moved in around, about a third of the way around them. Because they needed specific actions, they would shout, "use the arrow now, pull out the throwing stars! Smile, move slower, move faster" They spent two and a half hours just on this shot. All the kids did great. After 30 minutes it's not that fun anymore for sure, it's just tiring.

Then they switched kid's positions, some went back to do school work or read. They would bring kids back as they needed them.

We broke for lunch. Lunch on sets is awesome. Fully catered, steaks and pulled pork. It's way easy to overeat. Amazing deserts. They set out long tables for crew and "talent" to eat.

I love free food, I always have to control myself in these situations. Especially lately when I've noticed, I'm becoming a big fat clown.

Back to work.

Kids did school work while they switched the camera and lighting and shot the kids from behind into the TV. The first time they used the TV for real. From behind they masked the TV with green to insert the game later. The lighting on that took a long time, it has to perfect so you don't notice that the game is inserted.

Again, shots over and over and over. Eventually switching kids out.

Then the kids shot for hours in front of a big green screen they had set up in this 4 car garage. Mostly the kids danced for a different game. They didn't use those shots even though they spent hours shooting. That's the way it goes.

The day was done around 5:30, we arrived at 8. Tiring, full day. We happened to have tickets for the Giant's game, so we drove there, my younger son met us. The benefit of living in a large city, kids can get around easily and do things like meet at a baseball game.

I was more tired than Duncan. He still had homework to do when we got home at 10:45, after getting up really early, shooting a commercial and going to a baseball game.

That night, I posted the pictures I took on Facebook. Duncan was a bit embarrassed by me taking pictures but he was really happy I did. The next day word got around his school like mosquitos finding new campers. Duncan was a big shot for a day with kids asking him about the commercial all day. How cool would that be when you were 17?

For me, that was the best part. Because I make my living as a performer, I don't get to give my family the things I would really like. We don't eat out very often. We take driving vacations. We can only get a newer car (never brand new) when it's absolutely necessary.

But not a lot of parents could give this experience to their child, so that made me feel good.

The commercial was used at the giant Sony E3 conference in LA, starting two days ago. They were using it in under two weeks from the production! That's a fast turnaround. Especially when you consider this thing has to be approved on many levels. There is a lot of money riding on this for Sony. I understand they spend millions and millions of dollars on a game, so they don't want to mess it up with a bad commercial.

Everyone is asking me about money and residuals. Here is how this one works.

This is showing on the Internet only. That is a specific contract. If they use it on TV or in movie theatres or in another country they have to have me sign a new contract. I have a feeling they know what they are doing and there won't be other contracts.

Duncan was paid for the day. He got paid about double the day rate again, because there are no royalties and he got some money to go to the fitting. The agent gets 10% of the whole thing. It was a good amount of money. Especially for a teenager.

Since Duncan's going to start applying for colleges, this is a nice little gift for him. It will buy pizzas and late night coffees for a few months.

Here's the commercial! Enjoy, I'm just so proud.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2N81kqBSgqg

"Getting Motivated!!!!!"

Do you get blocked on your projects. I'm not talking about someone hiding the clicker to the garage door opener but you get in the way of you?

Here's my project du jour...

I have a lot of writing in notebooks, files on my computer, I send jokes to myself by email, I try dry erase boards.

I've got a lot of 2/3 done projects.

I suppose it's the curse of the creative mind. I have all good intentions that this time I'll follow through to the end...

I think I found away with my current project. I have a book of come backs. My son helped me with a new name for them "right back at ya's" I removed all the Don Rickles insult stuff. I love writing those but I don't allow them to see the light of day, too snotty.

I have been collecting comebacks for "is this your full time job?" and "Quit Clowning Around" for years. I sold my first version of my 500 comebacks after workshops I would teach. I can't say it paid for the copying costs but it's a neat idea of a book for children's entertainers and I've always returned to it.

February March I want nutso on it. Writing literally 50 to 100 jokes a day. Asking magicians, jugglers clowns, balloon makers, face painters... What do you get asked a lot?

I had them all over the place. But I did have lots and lots of jokes.

I went on vacation in late March with my younger son. And lost all momentum and haven't been able to start up again. Talk about frustration with myself. The work now is organize the jokes into categories, format it so it looks nice and send it off to a publisher. Yes, a lot of work but I've always had a dream of being a published author.

Today I found a way. It's been tough this year to make a living. Slow as can be.

The frustration with this book, I know it can get published, I know I can make a little money from it. Well it's worth the gamble anyway, it's just my time.

I hung a sign up today next to my computer. "Work on your book for Duncan and Dustin)"

I will do just about anything I have to to keep them fed, in good schools, with nice clothes.

I found my motivation. All my nonsense in my head stopping me from working on this project can't compete with possibly making some money so I can get a car for my son when he goes to college. Or pay for music camp for my younger son.

It's tough, I am fighting it but I'm working. That's really cool!

"Fundraising Shows..."

These types of shows are intriguing to me, I've done hundreds and hundreds of fundraiser shows. Mostly, I've just been hired for them but I have been producer of quite a few over the years.

Here's the idea, you provide the show and the promotional material, the beneficiary provides the venue, sells tickets, you split the door. An easy fundraising opportunity and a win win really.

The fundraisers I've run, (for my kid's schools) have required a faire amount of pushing to sell tickets. The easiest way to do this is to get someone at the school that is willing to go up to people and say "how many tickets can I put you down for?"

Here are the things that seem to work really well.

Do the show on a Friday evening. I've tried other nights, for some reason people are picking up their kids and they are still in the school mode.

If the school is close, ask for an all school assembly one or two days before the event. I go in do 5 to 7 minutes on stage. It got the kids really excited. The children went home saying there was a clown at school, can we go please?

Invest a few dollars in a nice poster. I buy 12x18 posters at Costco for $2.99 each. They look incredible. Get 10, it's worth a few bucks.

Provide images for the school to use. Let them plaster the school with their design starring you. Let them use their ink.

Mention in the school weekly letter the kids take home.

Always be nice but take control. The more promotion the school does, the more they will make, the more you will make.

The school will think people can't afford anything, they will try to price the show at $3. The people that will show up, don't care if the show is $15 or $2, they are there for their children. The people that complain about the price of the show don't show up even it's free. I promise you this is the case.

A school of 300 will yield attendance of 175. You will likely get around this number if you pick the right night. This number includes adults, so you are probably getting around 100 kids.

Hopefully the school will sell t-shirts and snacks and make a lot of money from this.

My friend Jay does a fundraiser for his show at a large prestigious theatre locally. Each year he raises around $7000 to $9000. He gives all of this to his children's school but if he kept half the school still would have been quite happy with a check for $3500 just for having fun at a magic show.

I'm a fan of projects where everyone comes out a winner.