Go West Young Man 30

After my interview with Laury Oppendum, the casting director of Hill Street Blues, I talked over her suggestion, about going to Los Angeles, with my agents at The Gage Group. They said ,why not? They indicated if I did well in Los Angeles, it would help me in New York when I came back, as actors with Tv and film credits were sought out to do Broadway plays. The Gage Group was very highly regarded in Los Angeles so I would have top notch representation there.

Since Sorrows Of Stephen , I had expected to get calls to at least audition for different plays at the other public funded equity theaters in New York besides The Public Theater. It was almost 2 years since I did Stephen, yet not one call from them. I was offered several Off-Off plays but I turned them all down. I wasn't ready to go backwards and I felt I would be selling myself short by working for nothing after the success of Sorrows of Stephen and my breakout in Tv with Baker's Dozen.

I talked to my new wife about La and she mentioned she had an aunt in La and we could crash there until things began to roll. Actors that had been to La always talked about how much they hated Los Angeles and missed New York . Their main complaint was the isolation. You could work with someone in La, develope a relationship during the shoot and when the project is wrapped everyone goes their seperate ways ,scattered all over Los angeles, and never see them again unless you crashed into them on the road.

In New York, you kept in touch with people by just walking down Broadway. Even when I still lived in Queens, I would take the subway to the City and get out on 57st. and Broadway. I would walk from 57st to the Equity lounge on 46st and Broadway. On the way I would run into actors that I had worked with and we would stop and gab for a moment. Up at the Equity lounge, actors would hang out and use the phones. It was fun and very social.

I had one good friend in Los angeles, Robert Pastorelli who was in Gray Spades with me at the Ensemble Studio Theater. He had gone out there after Gray Spades and had already done a couple of guest spots on Tv. He said , come on down, you will get more work than you can handle.

The agents said if I go I should leave soon, it was June 1982, and the hiatus would be over after the 4th of July and the tv production would begin for the new season.

Everything seemed to be pointing west. I got an old Toyota that was still in the family and at the end of June we drove out of New York toward Hollywood.

This ends the first chapter of my life as an actor. In looking back I think I succeeded in my gamble. I went from a totally green actor who was in the first play I ever saw, in 1973, to going to Los Angeles as a working actor with a substantial resume and great representation in 1982.

Feast and famine 29 1982

We finished the back order 5 episodes and I felt I did well. CBS scheduled "Bakers Dozen" to start airing in the spring of 1982. This was not a good sign as it was not picked for the fall season . The producers said it was because there was a change in leadership at CBS, during the strike, and the new bosses at CBS favored shows that they had a hand in producing. It still had a shot to make it on the fall schedule if the ratings were exceptional. If picked for the fall would mean another 17 episodes would be made.

The day came to air the first episode on TV and I sat with my new wife and friends to watch. I was disappointed in what I saw. In my opinion, the two negative choices the producers made was to put in a phony sounding laugh track and casting a connected but untalented actress in the lead female role.

Although the show was a cop comedy, it was shot on film on the streets of New York and I thought the laugh track cheapened the show. When the ratings came out, the show did not do well and was cancelled after the 6 episodes.

That is the nature of this business, feast and famine. I went from a series regular on the brink of stardom to just another out of work actor.

That was depressing enough but I received a bill from my former manager, Lyn Kressel for 25% of the last 5 episodes. Now, I paid her 25% for the pilot but then she was accused of a conflict of interest and quit managing. I thought, why should I pay her for the last 5 episodes when she wasn't my manager anymore, which meant she wasn't trying to get me more work and advance my career.

Lyn claimed it did not matter that she wasn't working for me , the contract I signed with her stated that I had to pay her for any work I got from the pilot.

I got a lawyer and fought it and never paid her any more money. Of coarse I had to pay the lawyer which was almost as much as her bill. I didn't care as I felt I was being screwed.

Was this a mistake? It probably was as she went on to become one of the leading casting directors in New York. My new agents, The Gage Group, did not want to get involved and gave me no guidance in this matter.

Every actor I talked to, said I was crazy for going against Lyn Kressel as she would black ball me.I didn't listen to them as my experience with most actors was they are a bunch of wimps and would wash Lyn Kressel's dirty underwear if she asked them.

I still had enough money for awhile ,even with a new wife, but something had to happen soon or I would be broke again.

One day, my new agents sent me on a interview with Laury Oppendum, the casting director of Hill Street Blues, a hit cop Tv series shot in Los Angeles. When I went into the interview with Laury, she said that she and all her co-workers in La raved about my performance in Baker's Dozen.

She said I would be perfect for all sorts of guest spots on Hill St. Blues but unfortunately, she can't hire me from New York, but if I was in Los Angeles, she would not hesitate to have me in to audition.

I went home thinking about what Laury had said. I never to this point considered going to La but I was not getting any calls from the other Equity houses in New York and I had burned a few bridges.

My mind raced as I walked home. La,La, should I go?

Sag strike stops streak 28 year 1981

I completed "Baker's Dozen", a CBS pilot for a TV series, and it couldn't have went better. Everyone was pleased with my work including Ron Silver, the lead. A couple of days after we wrapped the pilot, CBS announced that "Baker's Dozen" would be picked up for another 5 episodes. This meant that in the next few weeks I would make more money than I had made my whole life up to that point.

I was nervous, it was to good to be true, something would go wrong, and it did. Screen Actors Guild picked this time to go on strike. This meant that all union film and TV projects in America had to stop production.

Why do actors strike? Yes, there must be some protection for actors, such as: safety on the set, keep track of residuals and carry the health plan. These are good things that the union does for us. But when they opt to go on strike, then it had better be a life and death situation.

The rich actors that make millions of dollars don't care, they already made it and can rest comfortably in Malibu , until the strike is over. Or they may go out of the country, away from SAG's jurisdiction, and make a couple of million doing a foreign produced film.

But what about actors like me? What we need is opportunity to show the world and the industry that we can contribute. Who cares about the nickles and dimes the union is fighting over, such as: more money for extras. I don't think serious actors, that work hard for years to develope their craft, should have to have the rug pulled out from under them so some housewife in Long Island can make extra money and have an exciting day on the set.

The strike went on for 6 months. I received a few offers for plays during that time and I turned them down until I received a offer to a play at Ensemble Studio Theater. The play was Gray Spades and I had done the play in the past. (see chapter 16).

I really didn't feel like doing a play while I was waiting for the SAG strike to end. I was having a great time around town. It was great, I would walk down the street or go into Jimmy ray's and you could see it in their faces, the respect, awe and of coarse envy, all at once.

What convinced me was the director, Risa Bramen. She was young, smart and aggressive. Risa went on to become one of the top film casting directors in the business. She picked it to do something edgy and to impress people with her versatility. A couple of other cast members were Robert Pastorelli, who went on to be a regular on Murphy Brown and Sam McMurry who also was a regular on Baker's Dozen.

When the play opened, for it's short run, the audience was filled every night with agents and casting directors. After the run I received a call from The Gage Group a top talent agent in New York and Los Angeles. I had a interview with this agent a couple of years previous and their attitude, at the time, was very dismissve. They asked me to forget about that and swore they would work for me diligently. So finally I had a agent. Not just any agent but one of the best.

Finally the actor's strike was over and I would be shooting the other 5 episodes. I was riding on cloud 9. All my life I have been broke. My father was a gambler so my family lived just above the poverty line.

Now, I would live the good life. I was so happy that I went out and got married again. I am not going to talk much about this marriage as it resulted in a beautiful daughter and her privacy should be maintained.

Bitter sweet success 27

The shoot, for the pilot on CBS, could not have gone better for me. I had one scene where I pick the pocket of another character and the actor playing the role didn't realize what I did and it was all caught on camera. The producers and everybody involved thought it was great and my position was secure.

There was a particular incident that I remember. We were shooting a scene inside a bar and an actor I knew from Jimmy Rays came in to do extra work. Now this particular guy would tell me that I was a fool for working for no money when I was doing Off-Off Broadway. When he saw me , he came over and congratulated me for being smart and to do some extra work. I didn't say anything but as the day went on and he saw that I was not only a principle but a regular, he asked to be excused saying he was sick.

This actor could not accept that someone he thought was inferior to him, rise to the top while he languished doing extra work which is the dregs of show business. I never saw this actor again.

Getting this job changed my life, mostly for the better but there were some negative consequences. Up to this time all my close actor friends were struggling, working as waiters or cab drivers like my self. We would comfort each other in our misery of the struggle.

Now I went from a struggling actor to the fast track of the business. Friends that I got drunk with, friends that I performed plays with me in the outer reaches of off off, shunned me and treated me with suspicion as if I had betrayed them. They assumed that I had changed so they beat me to it by not saying hello when we ran into each other, unless I acknowledged them first.

I should have been more understanding. I felt they were not happy for me so I retaliated by walking away from a lot of old friends who I felt were not true friends but jealous of me.

In looking back, I am sorry for the way I acted to their insecurity. I know how painful it can be to give everything you have to make it as an actor and get nowhere. How painful it can be to see some one that you think you are better than, all actors think they are the best, have some success while you languish in shit jobs. Laying awake at night, worried that you will end up in poverty with no children, alone and broke.

I know because I felt that way.

Filming on the Streets of NY 26

The day came for the first day of shooting for "Baker's Dozen"TV pilot  for CBS Television. I was nervous as this was my first job on film to be shown across America and  possibly a life changing venture.

The first scene I was to shoot was the scene I had auditioned . I was determined to play moment to moment and create the illusion of the first time. This is essential in film, to be spontaneous and in the moment.

So here I am in my own trailer on Broadway and 45th Street waiting to be called to the set. I looked over my scene and was sure of all my intentions and what my character wanted. The knock at the door came and the ad escorted me to the set, passing onlookers behind barricades. I felt like a star, as the spectators looked at me with respect and awe. I got hold of myself and not let it go to my head. After all, I haven't shot anything yet.

We shot the first scene and it went great basically because I was working with a great actor, Ron Silver. We hooked into each other and created a relationship between the 2 characters, Ron's Detective Locasale and mine, Jeff Diggens the pickpocket.

After we rapped my scene, the producers Sonny Grosso and his partner Bud Jacobson came over to me and complimented on my performance. This enabled me to relax and enjoy myself for the rest of the shoot.

All the theater I had done over the past 7 years paid off. The scenes I had in the pilot were easy compared what I had created on stage. The major difference is the lack of rehearsal. In theater there is usually 4 weeks of rehearsal but on TV the only rehearsal is right before you shoot while the crew is setting up the scene.

SCORE 25

So now I had someone in the industry representing me, Lynn Kressel at least for this project, Bakers Dozen.

A couple of days later I had another call back with the producers to read with the lead actor in the pilot, Ron Silver . Again the waiting room was full of actors auditioning and I recognized a few from the previous auditions. I nodded my head hello and received a cautious response in return. Every actor in there knew that a job like this could change their whole life and the tension in the room was thick. Strangely, I wasn't that nervous, maybe because going this far in the process was a morale victory.

I went in and again I gave a good audition and a day later Lynn's assistant called me in the state of amazement. I was going to Network, CBS to audition again. She said that the producers wanted me for the role but the network had to approve of me. She seemed astonished that I was getting a network audition being that I had no film or TV credits . This was a choice job, not only because it was a sold TV pilot for CBS, but also it was to be shot on the streets of New York.

The day came for the big network audition. When it was my turn to go in I was ushered into a small theater with about 75 seats and everyone of them was filled by different employees of CBS. This would have been a good house for most of the Off-Off Broadway shows I performed.

I read and I got some good laughs from the CBS audience.

When I left, I went over to Jimmy Ray's to unwind and check my answering service. There was a call from Nina, Lynn Kressel's assistant, to call right away. When I called Nina sounded like she had seen a ghost. " You got It" You got it" she said in amazement.I got off the phone  and mentioned to a couple of actors hanging out that I just was cast in a TV series for CBS. They looked at me with suspicion as if I was just another bullshitting actor. I didn't care and walked dreamily uptown with no destination in mind.  I was happy but not  surprised.

IMDB for Baker's dozen

Trying out for the Big Leagues 24

Sorrows of Stephen finally closed at the New York Shakespeare Festival Public Theater after 195 performances. I wasn't that surprised as the replacements were not as good as the original cast members. John Shea, the original Stephen in the show , was replaced by Don Scardino a nice enough actor but without the easy charm of John Shea. The attendance went down and this exciting and happy time in my life was over.

I had thought I would get a job in one of the other equity theaters around town but it was as if I never worked at the Public and now back to where I was before, without an agent or prospects.

I did have that audition,that I got myself, coming up for a new CBS pilot called "Baker's Dozen" a comedic cop show . I worked on the scenes I was to read at every spare moment I had and when the day came, I was ready.

I went to Lou Digiaimo's office for the audition and the waiting room was full of every different type of actor as several parts were being cast. I waited for my turn as actors went in one at a time and came out a few minutes later. I watched as they went in ,head held high ready to impress, and when they came out of the audition, head down with a slight look of dismay on their face. It is obvious when they come out of the room, which actors thought they did well and those that didn't.

When it was my turn, I took a deep breath. This is important to do in order to bring maximum oxygen to the brain. I went into the room and was introduced to Sonny Grosso, the producer. Sonny was a former narco cop and the film, The French Connection, was about his police career . He also was the producer of the film, The 7-Ups.

I read the two scenes and when I finished , Sonny had a smile on his face. Lou said .thank you very much and I walked out. I think my shoulders were more slouched than normal but that is normal after a audition as you not sure how well you did. No one fell out of their chair laughing but I felt I did what I wanted to do with the character and was satisfied that I was able to show these people that I am alive in this world and put it behind me as a morale victory.

Two days later I received a call from Lou's assistant to come back the next day for a call back.The assistant asked who my agent was and I told him I didn't have one at the moment. He just gave me the time and place and didn't react to my lack of representation.

I went on the call back and this time the room had about 10 people there to watch my audition including Bill Persky, a established TV director from Hollywood. I wasn't too nervous as by now I had the material memorized and was confidant that I had the character.

I auditioned and felt again that I accomplished what I wanted with the character. The next day I received another call from Lou Digiaimo's himself saying that I would be getting another call back and that I needed someone to negotiate for me if I was to go further in the casting process.

Wow, this was real, they wouldn't be asking me back again if they were not really interested in me for the project. But who do I get to speak for me, I had no relationship with any agents.

I called some of the actors I was friendly with from "Sorrows of Stephen" and Bill Converse, a Yale Graduate and understudy for Stephen, said I should call Lynn Kressel, at the time a top commercial casting director. He said she had seen the show and commented to him how much she enjoyed me in the show.

I called and Nina, Lynn's assistant, said that Lynn was going to manage 5 actors. I asked what about me and I was brought in to interview with Lynn Kressel, who agreed to represent me for this project.

Now I had a well known person in the industry to represent me. It was now 1981 and have been pursuing acting for the last seven years and now all my hard work may be paying off.