R.I.P. Raymond Baxter

Friday and rehearsal with K. I suggested (and he agreed) that we would only rehearse the 'moments' in our scene and NOT the lines as this would free us up to concentrate on being open and available to work off each other (as we'd have to be REALLY listening to each other not waiting for cues) and be having a real conversation. Well, I had my page of moments and he had his and it worked a treat. Open, spontaneous, real - definite progress from Monday's class and it felt great. We also discussed SRs, what each of us thought about the progress of the class and ourselves and the different elements of rehearsing them. K felt that the personalisation could be skipped over but then said that he was having issues relating to the language of the SRs, the fact that they are not written in contemporary style. I told him that the whole point of the personalisation stage of the rehearsals is that, by putting the meaning and ALL the moments of the SR into your own words and making it PERSONAL, when one comes to laying the SR text on top of the meaning and the moments fleshed out and worked on in the personalisation stage, the verse is delivered with very real and human emotion albeit in a bygone style of language. That's why the personalisation stage is THE most important stage of these verses. I told him to take a HUGE swing, don't be embarrassed or self-conscious about HOW the words are coming out and don't give a toss about what anyone is thinking. It's all about YOU, for you and by you. I told him that if I become a story in anyone's future as far as they relate the time that 'the mad Brit who was in my class many years ago just leapt around like a fool or did 'this' or 'that'', I don't give a flying fart. Why should I? No-one is going to remember me as the guy who wouldn't take a chance and was worried about what people thought of me. Nope, not me, sunshine!
Watched Good Night and Good Luck in the evening. Excellent.

Here is the first episode in the series 'Daisy the Doggie', a series appearing on Revver. It's my dog and my voice, funnily enough.
Up the Video Revolution, chaps!!

Thursday and (almost) did SR no.6 but we ran out of time. Happens some times. Some people seem to be taking bigger 'swings' with their material which is definitely the way to go not only with these but with anything you're doing! Don't be timid, take a big swing and if you've done your work, understood the meanings and all the moments, you'll have it 'in you' and you'll do a great job. If you don't work on it, generalise the piece, gloss over the meaning and miss even one of the moments, you'll probably miss the point. Do your work! Let the piece sink in over however long you have to prepare it - a day, a week, whatever. Put yourself in the position of someone delivering your piece, the history, the back story, everything, just as the person saying it would be. Only by doing that will you understand what it is and how it should be performed. The more time you give yourself to let it work on you, the less likely you'll be to force your emotions and 'play' your story.
Anyway, back home, out with Uncle J and the monkey and off to the Bev Center for some Panda Express - yummy and then onto Under the Sea. Spent a couple of hours there chatting to random parents, watching a room full of kids having a ball. Fun!
Back home, dins and a movie, Lackawanna Blues, which was excellent.

Wednesday. Monkey -> school. Me -> scene rehearsal with K. Decided to concentrate on the moments in the scene, not the words which are hanging us both up. I have written down mine on a piece of paper and I suggested K do the same and that we just work with those pages for the time being.
Got later and later so had to go and pick up the monkey and skip the SR rehearsal.
Home again and M zipped off for a job interview for another non-profit company. Monkey went out with Uncle J. Fun and games. Composed and uploaded a vid to Revver which has launched its new site today. Pretty damn cool. This is THE NEW VIDEO REVOLUTION on the 'net, boys and girls. Watch this site very closely and watch the others falter... for certain. You heard it here!
G, R, J and I all hit a very large Hollywood launch party in the evening for a certain web video site!! Tons of beautiful people and lots of smiles and sideways glances as everyone tried to work out who everyone was. I love this town!

Tuesday. Monkey, J and I headed off for big boys' haircuts as littl'un was well keen on having his locks chopped. Into Supercuts we went full of expectation only to have to have the monkey almost bottle out of his cut. J and I had to go first and it took a balloon and a promise of a nice big Jamba Juice to entice him! He looks great and it was well worth the effort!
Then we went off to the beach via a really cool 50s Diner on SM Blvd. Great decor, nice staff and good food. J had his first taste of Monte Christo which, for those of you who don't know, is a turkey, ham and cheese sandwich deep fried in batter and served with icing sugar sprinkled on top and a side bowl of syrup! Sounds disgusting but tastes amazing! He liked it!
Santa Monica was overcast which was a nice break from the beating Sun we've had for months and months (well, I suppose this IS Southern California, not Margate)! Spent a couple of hours on the beach looking for shells and generally passing the time before a walk on the pier. Home again, tired but happy. Littl'un had, of course, passed out in the car before we got home and he tipped into bed without a fuss.
Watched a tivo'ed PBS mystery which was excellent before more tea! Chatted to G and Blz who has found a funding source for any scripts I may happen to have in the range of 10-$12M... hum... I think I can come up with a few of those...
More good news from the UK from CC...

Monday was a busy day. Up at 7 and took the monkey to school. Saw B and he explained the recent events (too private to go into here) and why someone had said what they said to M and I. Headed off to class. Door activity into the scene with K. T thought that we weren't actually having a real conversation, rather it was being 'performed' - I go with that as I need to really work on the moments and forget the words at this stage of rehearsal.
Had a voice audition at my agent's office for a Powerball lottery (might be California, might not, not sure). I positioned myself by the mic (as you do), my agent fired up her computer, gave me the nod and off I went. When finished, she told me that it was perfect and I didn't need to do another take. Result. That's why they call me "OneTake" (well they don't actually).
Picked up the munchkin and off to pick up J from LAX who had just arrived from London - yeaaaaaa! He was looking very well and we headed home with the munchkin in the back seat jabbering all the way! J had brought a TON of Cadbury chocolate (the real stuff, not the stuff labeled Cadbury and sold in the US which is actually made by Hersheys in PA - read the label!), three boxes of PG and six packs of Peanut KitKat Chunky which is amazing but you can't get it in the US! Quickly headed into heaven with choccy and tea in hand followed soon after by a diabetic coma brought on by too much sugar!! Just kidding! J was cream crackered and we all had an early night. Chatted to G.

Sunday and headed out for a picnic in Griffith Park. Headed to a spot I noticed in my visit earlier in the week and spent a hour in the company of two or three kiddies' birthday parties... ahhh. Littl'un still poorly and has the hacking cough of a 20 a dayer. Poor bugger. Still happy as a sandboy though and full of energy. No change there!
Came home and cleared out the house for J's arrival tomorrow - hoorah! Some late-night work on The Pillowman and off to bed.

Saturday was another Daddy day care day (don't you love two in a row... I know I do!) which involved taking him to a rather splendid kiddie birthday party at a friend in the Hollywood Hills. The kids had a ball and the small but select group of parents there made for a very nice afternoon. A swim in the pool, yummy cake, lots of toys, lots of chat - great stuff. Dropped munchkin off at a playdate and headed off for a couple of hours with the missus. Hit Jerry's which has had their menus redone... very, very badly. It may not sound like a crisis worthy of a blog entry but I'm telling you that the change from the enormous piece of card emblazoned with all the tasty fare Jerry's has to offer to a wire bound laminated book with a full page advert on every other page has destroyed the Jerry's experience so much, we probably won't eat there again. I'm sure we won't be the only ones either. What are they thinking? Has everyone sold out in LA? Is nothing sacred?

Friday was a Daddy day care day as monkey was too ill to go to school - coughs and sniffles (as they do). 'Worked' on the script for G's project later in the evening. INCREDIBLY late night/early morning. Chatted with G and he seemed please with what I'd done.

Thursday and Spoon River No.5 - Seth Compton. Hummmm, T thought it was very good although he wasn't convinced that I'd nailed everything in it. Ah well, that's what class is for. Always pushing, always learning...
13 in class today. Can't help thinking it's going to get smaller!
Well, dear reader, the meeting went extremely well and G, R and I were very pleased with the prospect of working with these guys and girls. They were very pleaased to see us and it was smiles all around in the office when we walked in (they probably do that with everyone though!). The deal is basically "however much work we put in is directly proportional to the rewards, both artistically and financially." I can work with that kinda deal! A good result and we hit The Old spaghetti Factory in Hollywood to celebrate (oh yes... we have style and class, of that there is no doubt)!!