After giving it a great deal of thought I decided its time for me to take a six month long hiatus from filming after October. But until then I still have alot of work to do. There are two projects I have lined up. They are pretty big undertakings if I must say so myself. (There may be a 3rd non SOL related project but I have not made up my mind about that yet) As it is There are several projects either getting editing work done on them or waiting to get edited. The SinsofLegend/Daughters of Legend teaser project is getting worked on by Danielzilla. This was shot awhile back and will introduce the concepts for what will become two more SonsofLegend spin off webseries. The teaser will debut as a SonsofLegend "Origins" Special. This is also a kind of filler episode of SonsoLegend since I've not released a new SonsofLegend episode in quite a while. Danielzilla shot the first season 2 episode of SonsofLegend already but we have been having alot of trouble getting the actors picked for this episode to come back for other episodes. Some people are just flakey and others just wanna get paid. I don't have a problem paying people. I've been doing it for years. I do realize everyone has bills so from now on I'll give all my actors/actresses at least minimum wage for their time and not listen to folks who say not to pay the talent. Apparently there are alot of people who feel that way. Danielzilla also shot some scenes to be used in future SonsofLegend and DragonManx episodes. Next month I plan to shoot a kick ass outdoor scene that will be combined with the DragonManx stuff to make a complete episode number 4 for season 2. I may try to go to Detroit in Oct to shoot another scene that will introduce a new love interest for DragonManx and put that in ep 4 as well. Originally I'd planned to bring back Phillip (from his coma) since Monte told me he was moving back to Cali from Texas but the move has been put on hold for at least six months so that will have to wait. Now that "The Crazy African" has moved in with me I'm able to save up more money thus a trip to Detroit seems reasonably do-able this time around. I gotta book my ticket at least a month in advance though. The lowest prices I have seen are in the neighborhood of 4 hundred bucks. I'd be flying out the day before Halloween and returning three days later. Still don't have a place to stay though. Nathan and I are still on weird with each other because he pissed me off maybe a week or two after I got back to LA. I was on my way out to the movies and even though I was close to being late I decided to quickly text him to request he open the netflix movie I had left there before he dropped it in the mail so netflix wouldn't just send it back thinking it hadn't been watched/recieved. If that makes any sense. But Nathan was like "I think you meant to say please" or something to that effect. I called him to see if he was joking and he wasn't. He took the text as I was being rude or something. Even after I repeatedly assured him I was not. After about 15 minutes of going back and forth he seemed to reluctantly agree maybe I wasn't being rude. Of course I asked him if there was something else behind this or if there was something else on his mind but Nathan said no. Maybe he was just having a bad day or something. I do feel bad because the few friends I do have I'd like to hold on to them. Nathan has run across some really fucked up characters in his life. Sometimes I think this is why he has a bit of an edge about him. Maybe oneday we will pick up where we left off but its not likely to happen.
I know I've said this before....a certain editor/director is very good at what he does yet I find that its difficult to get along with him at times. I mean we BUTT heads and I find myself going to deep dark places. We argue on set sometimes too in front of the cast/crew which is really unprofessional. Considering he got into it with the last PA I picked....well maybe its not me. Maybe its a guy thing because he usually hires women PAs. Could be an aggression thing. I'll have an idea and he'll simply knock it down or second guess me. He has straight out told me what he was gonna use in my script. Chalk it up to sleep deprivation? I dunno. What I do know is I NEVER have these kinds of issues with anyone else I work with though so its potentially toxic. These things make me dread coming on set or putting together a production. Dude is a fast editor. He gives me a good price and he's GOOD. Getting even better too yet I honestly feel in my heart now might be time to start getting the hell out of Dodge. The last project I did I didn't even say anything about it ahead of time because I didn't want him to know. That was the first time I have ever done that. Ask me why and I can't even find the words. There have been other situations trust me. Some decisions are not easy to make. Even when you know its for the best. Not saying he's a bad person. Because he's not. I'm just saying my nerves have reached THAT point. And thats all I'm gonna say about that.
So I hired this cool DP months ago. His name is Chris. Chris has already done some stuff for me. Last weekend we did the pilot for "Daughters of Legend". He's also done a cool episode of DragonManx. He's a fun guy. Easy to work with and easily accessible. We're doing the pilot episode for "SinsofLegend" this weekend. Its gonna be quite an ambitious project I gotta tell you but its a relatively easy script with few actors in it. Now I'm always worried about scheduling because actors can at no moments notice get booked on a bigger budget project....yet I'm mostly worried about post due to some pretty wild special effects work. Did the call sheet yesterday. There are four actors total. Five if you count me. The episode starts with some voiceover from Karter Spellkast. Karter is the son of Devin Spellkast who is the face and driving force behind the SonsofLegend program. Karter and Devin absolutely hate each other because Karter used to be a super villain until something happened that made him change. Karter has now decided to form his own company called "SinsofLegend" which hires security guards who used to be super villains but are now looking for an opportunity to do something better with their lives. The first scene of the episode introduces us to the gangbanger vampire Elliot (He's already appeared in DragonManx) and Angkor (A new character) Angkor wears a blue ring around his neck with power similar to the Green Lanterns but it corrupts like The One Ring so you can use it as long as you basically avoid letting it touch your skin otherwise it'll drive you insanely evil. Angkor's ring was passed down to him from six generations of villains. Angkor is trying to be a good guy because he hates his father who happens to be disgustingly stinking filthy rich. He stole the ring from his family who took it from his dad when he went overboard in his schemes. After six generations of badness Angkor believes he can bring back honor to his family name. Angkor may be bi. Elliot and Angkor come across a fire flinging super villain who steals a mysterious book they are guarding. After a car chase and a spectacular battle which happens in the second scene Elliot and Angkor manage to stop the thief and recover the book. After the credits roll there is a short scene where Karter gives the book to Goyangee (my character) Which explains why Goyangee ends up going to Detroit in his own webseries. In October we're doing a desert type DragonManx scene involving an ancient city being brought up from underground (by the evil reality warping clown Mr. Chiklets and the diabolical psionic Dr. Pernell) to serve as a sort of utopia for gays and lesbians who wish to live in their own society. Like I said there may be a Detroit scene too but I gotta see how my money is looking because I don't wanna break the bank. I'd love to have Goyangee in some sort of love scene because its something we've not really seen yet. But finding a guy to play a love interest has been tough. Why? Well its not hard to find fem type gay actors but the masculine types of guys I tend to find interesting mostly seem to be hiding unless I'm looking in the wrong places. I've used date sites before and recruited folks off the streets. Maybe I need to start going to black mens groups or checking out the clubs. Its easier to approach guys in these types of settings anyway. They do sometimes think you're giving them a line but it helps when you've got some kick ass looking footage up on youtube to show them. And yes I am open to casting a man of another race as a love interest too. Sometimes its easier to deal with gay men who are not African American. I said African American not black in general. In my experience alot of American gay black men can often be kinda mean and have some issues. There is alot of self hate going around in this city too. The way some of these guys look at you. Its almost like "Drop dead" or something. Someone told me recently people seem to act as if you are trying to pick them up if you say hello. Can't speak for anyone else but I always get happy when someone says hello to me. Its actually quite rare. I think sometimes I'm getting used to this and when I go places where people are nice I just don't even know how to process it. Still one can't do a story about a gay character without giving him some kind of a love life. Don't even know how comfortable I'd feel about doing a sex scene. I mean if I had a body like Vin Diesels or Frank Ocean I'd be less self conscious. Plus the first time I did a romantic type scene I got hard and the director laughed at me. I kinda laughed too. Not much. People do want you to have the perfect body in anything these days if you are gonna take off your shirt. Still love scenes can be tastefully done fully clothed. Just kinda move the camera and then fade out when things start to get too hot and heavy. What if I had to do a hot shower scene with Michael Sam,Frank Ocean or Zachary Quinto? John Amaechi? What if it was with all four of them??! Could I cope without "embarrassing" myself? One can only dream. Still what would it do for DragonManx if there was a hot shower scene or any scene for that matter; featuring a well known celebrity and what would be the likelihood of pulling it off? Hmmmmm.... Could be something worth looking into I think.
More than likely the Detroit trip is gonna happen next year around April. Realistically I wanna move into a bigger apartment. We need a bigger space and I am tired of fighting a seemingly never ending battle with unwanted "guests". I mean it was one thing to finally drive off the pigeons who'd taken over my balcony but roaches ain't no joke at all. I've tried just about everything short of hire an exterminator to come in and spray. Thing is there are so many people in the building now and too many don't really seem to care about keeping the place clean as to not attract pests. After living there since Jan 1997 it is definitely time to leave. Spokane is a nice little place not far from Canada or Detroit and I could get a fresh start whilst continuing DragonManx since he's based in Detroit now. These are just some of the things I have to think of. Besides the fact I have a man living with me now who might actually be the last of a hand full of truly romantic LTR oriented gay man left alive in this city. Seriously. Sometimes I don't trust "The Crazy African" but he's reasonable 99% of the time. Taking him with me might not be a good idea if I could support both of us during a transition. Then theres the other thing weighing heavy on my mind. Over time my connections with family have faltered because I've been so focused on my goals yet as time passes I realize....well I realize I need to start spending more time with these people who knew me when. Time to come out of my shell a bit. I think I've proven myself as a man out here in the wilderness. I beat the big bad monster so its time to go back home. Not with quite the prize I imagined but at least I'm not empty handed. Wish I was exaggerating when I say I tend to look away when I see another black guy. And I hate that I feel that way. Its been all over the news recently this Michael Brown issue. As a black man I can certainly relate to the anger of the community. My community? I ofetn don't feel a part of it at all. Even though I have been called an activist of a sort. I know full well what its like to be ordered out of a car at gunpoint by police officers because they thought I was somebody else. I know what its like to be racially profiled. Followed around in stores. Searched because I "looked" suspicious. My struggle isn't all that exclusive yet I feel like I mostly stand apart from my race. Truth be told I tend to feel I stand apart from the human race. Every now and then a news article will pop up or something will remnd me of the goodness humanity is capable of. Like tonight on the news I saw a story about a teacher who ran out of sick days due to her cancer and a bunch of teachers came together to give her their sick days. There is so much evil in this world that sometimes we can lose track of the good. There was a guy on tv some radicals beheaded and I told one of my co-workers when I was her age we never had crazy stuff like that happpening on tv. She said social media makes all these things possible though. People using the media to spread their own brand of cancer I guess. Fear. Hatred. It does seem like so many people are angry too. I remember how fun it was to read comics now so many are dark. It used to be fun to go read news articles and forums on IGN.com but now it like Xbox live and PSN is populated largely by cynical,homophobic racist people all of whom are ANGRY at me because....well because I'm not angry. Well I guess to some degree I am angry. But mostly its anger I learned to channel constructively. Then there are so many people running around with mental issues. Maybe we all are mental yet if something is holding you back on achieving happiness in this world its not really rocket science to go find help for whatever the problem is. Just so many bipolar people and light cases of dementia. Yeah I know who you are even though I don't say anything. (Sigh) We are none of us perfect but for GODs sake either get a bandaid to put on that or get rid of it so the rest of us won't have to suffer. Please. Please?
