New Cast Member Added!

Hello readers!

Just flew back from Nashville and boy are my arms tired (sorry couldn't help it)! Last week I planned to write about my recent trip but then more important stuff happened so that'll have to wait. So lets get caught up.

Updates:

And the 1st Supporting Cast Member is....

I extremely pleased to announce the supporting role of "Miguel"

has been given to my long time collaborating actor Miguel Caballero. Miguel has a rich resume of acting experience. He studied and received his BA in acting at UCLA's School of Theater, Film & TV. He was a member of the Latino Theater Company Laboratory in 2003 - 2005 where he had a leading role in the award winning play Melancholia. His TV resume includes appearances on shows such as CSI: NY, ER, JAG and The Visitor. He has starred in several independent feature films and is currently producing and starring in the much anticipated feature On the Run.

My personal background with Miguel goes back to my first year at LMU. In casting for my first student film I was fortunate enough to meet and cast Miguel for the lead role of my short "Chicas on the Way." I quickly saw once we began working, that Miguel was more than just talented, he was reliable, and he was inquisitive. He didn't simply settle for me to direct him like a puppet on a string, he truly up-ed my game as a director by forcing me to think of things I hadn't considered or offering suggestions about his character or scene which had eluded me.

Therefore, it was a no brainer that I set out to work with him on next two student films at LMU. Miguel took the role of the antagonist in my bastard child of a film "The White Room" and once again took the lead role in my thesis film "Big Meet." After film school, we unfortunately lost track of one another. But as I set out to write the feature length screenplay that would become Love, Concord I completely had Miguel in mind for the supporting role of the older brother. So much so I got lazy and simply named the character Miguel.

As I set out to hold auditions for this role my inner voice told me I had to at least try to get a hold of Mr. Caballero and see if he'd be interested. So by the grace of luck, Miguel didn't change his phone number and soon enough he called back. I offered him the role, he read the script, and the rest is history! Again, it's very exciting to have Miguel on board and already he's doing more than simply offering his acting talents, as he's trying to help me with the casting of the two most difficult roles.

Set Back on Camera Purchase

About two weeks ago I set out to finally buy a Sony EX-1 on eBay as I'm at the point where I need my own prosumer grade HD camera for freelance gigs. I found what looked like a decent deal on eBay. The seller was offering a lot of accessories but the catch was the camera had a lot of hours of use on it, and it look more than a little worn and torn. After asking questions about the appearance of the camera, the seller assured me it was all in excellent working condition an that the digital pictures on eBay were just poorly shot. So I bid and won.

Several days later I got the camera and was enraged to find the camera had a giant crack at the base of the handle and the handle itself was splitting apart exposing it's electronics to the elements. I wrote the seller back immediately telling her I wanted a refund because this was clearly a sign of how poorly treated the camera was. Oh and those "poorly shot" photos were not poorly shot. The camera was filthy with dust and muck. So she replied with an offer to fix the handle for $75 which was unquestionably well below what it would actually cost to repair.

Therefore, I had to file a complaint to eBay to get my refund. Once I did that eBay instructed me to ship the item back. I promptly did just that and two days later I get an email from the seller accusing me of leaving the battery charger and a memory card out of the package. She threatened to not refund my money until she got them back or paid the several hundred dollar cost to replace them.

This chick was a total scam artist, because I not only put everything back that they shipped me I rechecked about 5 times before I gave it to UPS for delivery. When I confronted her about it she then accused me of not requiring a signature for the delivery and that it must have been broken into while sitting in front of her home. Yet another lie! Who would steal a charger and memory card and not a multi-thousand dollar camera sitting in front of a house?

I investigated with UPS and they confirmed the delivery driver hand delivered it to someone at the address. So finally eBay intervened and must have put pressure on her to refund my money. And I'm happy to report I got my money back via PayPal yesterday, two weeks and countless headaches later. I may have lost the $40 bucks to ship it back to them but better that than the several thousand they were trying to scam me out of for a $hit camera!

The moral of the story is....don't buy video cameras or anything of significant value from eBay! Especially if the photos look as crappy as your gut instinct tells you they are. Or in the very least research the buyer before you commit. But in this case this woman really did fool me, because all her seller feedback was positive. So again buyer beware of large value items on eBay. The website may offer a money back guarantee but it's certainly not worth the hassle to save maybe a few hundred bucks.

Well that's all folks! Have a great week!

Forward!

-Gustavo