Adam Creighton, Voice & Film Actor (Ramblings)

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Adam Creighton, Voice & Film Actor (Ramblings) (Subscribe)

People, by nature, have some interesting things to say. Here are some of my things. Some about acting. All about living ...

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Actors, don't be putzes

This ticks me off.

Are you video game fan? Are you an actor (similar to me) who at least partially got into the voice acting side of the Biz to do video games?

Then don't be this guy -- someone who spills the unannounced beans on a video game sequel.

Hey, it's a brave new InterWeb 2.0 world, but that doesn't abdicate the actor's responsibility to protect a potential client's intellectual property. And I wouldn't be surprised if this violates the Breakdown Express terms of service (the audition notice service for which he's a subscriber).

If you're a client, wouldn't this make you think twice about posting your breakdowns? If you're Breakdown Express, wouldn't you be worried that this yutz could cost you business, because clients would inappropriately paint you with the same distrust brush?

Hey, I'm an actor, and a blogger, and a subscriber -- but I don't blab.

Labels: rants

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Tuesday, November 06, 2007

WGA strike

I'm bummed by the Writer's Guild of America (WGA) strike.

You can catch some good pithy insights and links to supportive and antagonistic thoughts on the strike on the DealFatigue blog (and Peter's an insightful, good guy).

But let me talk about why I'm bummed.

I'm bummed because, as a consumer, shows are being put on hold, indefinitely. First casualties were things like Leno, Letterman, Colbert, and Stewart. Shows like Rules of Engagement and Two and a Half Men followed suit. Heroes may go into early re-runs, which it will likely survive, with its rabid fan base. But my being bummed as a consumer is a wee bit selfish.

I'm more bummed because striking writers may be responsible for killing shows like "Friday Night Lights". Almost cancelled after its first season, it's seen new life in a second season on Friday nights. While many folks have cried foul on a time slot where "shows go to die", it was actually probably a strategic network decision -- with little ratings expectations for a Friday night time slot, "FNL" arguably only needs to marginally well to get moved to a better slot in the short term, or renewed for a third season in the medium term.

There are good folks on "FNL", and they're twiddling their thumbs and losing work and may need to go on to other things which will kill that show (if waning interest from early reruns doesn't do it first). And it's the one network show filmed in Austin, so if you pull that, you impact that acting and commercial community.

I'm bummed because this strike probably takes WGA out of the video game opportunity they've obviously been pursuing.

And, yes, I'm bummed that, as a working professional actor, I'm impacted by this strike. Projects I was up for are on hold -- TV, movies, advertising, voice over, and the like. Anything touched by WGA talent.

And I'm bummed, because -- not to be alarmist -- with a stoppage in writing work and slow down in ancillary work, shorting of advertising spend, an indeterminate strike period before being ended by a likely mutually unfulfilling compromise, followed by a return of writers to network slots populated in their absence by reality and game show TV not needing as many of their services, this strike could cause or exacerbate a nationwide recession.

I saw an interesting comment from one of Letterman's writers saying he though many of the strikers didn't realize how emotional the strike would be, because there are other people who are there friends, who are hurt, and "it isn't their fight."

I don't want to be disrespectful, but ... duh.

Peter's more measured about it:

"... a strike would seriously harm the overall health of the industry. Everybody
involved knows that."

And:

"... a strike is a lose-lose outcome for everyone in the business; the writers
in particular, regardless of any gains for the Guild at the negotiating table."

There are pros and cons to unions and strikes. I'm not the guy to debate that.

But should a group have this kind of potential impact on people outside of the group's affiliation?

Or am I overstating the impact?

Labels: biz, ramblings, rants

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Monday, July 02, 2007

iPhone madness ...

iPhone attempts to usurp the smart phone regime (300 parody).

OK, I got sick of all of the 300 "This is madness!" parodies, too.

But I with the Friday iPhone launch craziness, the fact that I'm a thinking techie guy, and various headlines (ZDnet, etc.), I was inspired to create my own little 300-inspired riff.

Besides, I was feeling a little left out of the whole parody insanity.

Not that I'm wishing Apple any ill -- more power to innovation. It's just that they're not a handset manufacturer, this is their first foray, it has some initial hiccups ("Has variable call quality and lacks some basic features found in many cell phones"), and launching on Friday night, causing weekend activation hiccups to take longer and be more costly (stories range from 6-39 hours) wasn't the smartest thing I've seen done.

And I am miffed at their inarguably impressive ~75% market share for MP3 players -- and I'm miffed because their innovation has been overtaken by geek chic, and iRiver, Samsung, and others (arguably) have better, cheaper alternatives. And geek chic is pointless.

All that said, this is probably the sexiest U.S. phone out there, and once they get past the hiccups, watch out, world!

Labels: ramblings, rants, technology

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Friday, April 20, 2007

Video game blog heartburn ...

For those who follow my video game blog, I haven't been able to post, and don't know when I will be able to again.

Blogger.com (Google) forced an upgrade to their new version last night, and though I can't log into my old account, that's where my video game blog is. Not here. Where I'm typing.

I've opened a trouble ticket, but given how alive the Blogger/Google help boards are, it looks I am one of many, many screwed over people.

I'll give it until shortly after this weekend, and if it's not resolved, I'll look at moving to TypePad / Moveable Type / Habari / whatever isn't Blogger.

Labels: rants, video games

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Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Networking for actors ...

I was going to post another "Acting Tools" type post about tech networking tools I use on the toy job front and how they can be used for acting, when I realized I should probably back up and talk about networking in general, first.

So, this is also a soapbox post. You've been warned.

Networking is a pretty harped-on skill set for any vertical market; acting is no exception. Networking helps me figure out what opportunities are out there. Networking creates opportunities for other people.

I used to be really good at networking. I mean, really good. A few years ago, on both the high tech and acting fronts, you would have been hard pressed to not find me everywhere. Sometimes, I was at different places at the same time. Seriously, I was that good.

But then I stopped doing it.

Why?

Because I honestly didn't like how good I was at networking. I got into situations and saw people doing the networking thing, and they weren't sincere. They were looking at opportunities for themselves, and didn't give a damn about the people they were meeting. They were superficial. They were exploiters. They were users.

I so didn't want to be them.

So I did sort of an over-correction. Scaled back. Took some time for me. Worked on the relationships I'd built, and the relationships I wanted to build. Met people through people I knew, and met some wicked cool folks. It nicely coincided with some life stuff and me being just generally tired.

It's not like I was working any less as an actor. On the contrary, I was working harder as I was still busting my tail (yes, I have a tail) on the marketing, training, craft, performance, and business side of the Biz.

And then, some time after my "over correction", I came to a realization that I wasn't "that guy", and I got back to focusing on networking that makes sense for me. Contrary to how that sounds, that's not selfish networking. I call it "mutually beneficial relationship building" (which should be redundant, but unfortunately isn't") -- networking that fits in with my personality and style and values.

Here's how it works for me.

I meet someone, and we talk. I find out what they do, what they'd like to do, and what makes their day worthwhile. And I talk about what I do, what I'd like to do, and what makes my day worthwhile. And we figure out if we've got stuff we want to do together that makes our days worthwhile together.

That's right, kids, we have a conversation.

And then, independent of whether we can do something together, I try to keep that person in mind when opportunities come up for them, even if there's no benefit to me.

And here's where it gets a little ... weird.

Just like I'm good at networking, I'm also good at recognizing opportunities. I was at a networking gig a couple of weeks ago, and as a room full of people talked about what they wanted professionally, little light bulbs were going off left and right (up and down?) in my brain, and I saw opportunities for them with relationships I'd built, and I got that information to those people, made introductions with other people, and so on.

Oddly, lately, people have been complaining about this.

Why? Because they're sure I have an "angle".

It got back to me recently that a group of folks had made me the topic of conversation as they were trying to figure out how I benefited from the things I'd tried to facilitate for them individually.

How sad.

I mean, I guess it is a little weird.

I had a company approach me recently for a job. I then met someone who was looking for the same kind of job for which I'd been sought out, and I pointed him to the company, told him to research them, and if he was interested, I'd get him in touch with my contact. In essence, I was bringing a competitor in for a job I had a shot at.

But you need to understand where my heads at. I genuinely like helping people. I like solving problems, and seeing opportunities and synergies and acting on those is solving a problem, with better bennies (helping people). And I don't care about competition, because my competition (professionally or acting or running or whatever) is me. No one else.

And I feel convicted that knowingly keeping someone from a gig of any kind is tantamount to fixing a game or throwing a fight -- it's not a legitimate win.

Now I'm rambling.

The net-net is I think networking -- really effective networking -- shouldn't be exploitative "what can you do for me" usury. It should be relationship building. It should be mutually beneficial. And when it's not mutually beneficial, it should be beneficial for the other person.

If everyone had that mentality, what kind of cool world would this be?

Hmph. Time for me to go hug a seal.

I warned you this would be a soapbox.

Maybe tomorrow I'll do the tools post ...

Labels: acting, biz, business, ramblings, rants

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Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Dumbest business moves ...

Not really related to acting, per se, but there are definitely lessons in here that apply to it.

Over at CNN, they're running a story on the 101 Dumbest Moments in Business.

There are some doozies -- seriously, they thought they could get away with giving shares of stock to a corpse (#48).

But #77 is my favorite:
"After Bank of America announces plans to outsource 100 tech support jobs from the San Francisco Bay Area to India, the American workers are told that they must train their own replacements in order to receive their severance payments."
Wow, that is pretty dumb...

Labels: ramblings, rants

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Tuesday, September 26, 2006

When "Idealism" means something else ...

"Adam, you're very idealistic."
Lately, I'm much more aware of people and what they mean -- as opposed to what they say.

My epiphany today is people usually aren't being positive when they say this. It's kind of like saying "thank you", but not meaning "thank you" (watch the edited-for-television version of Goodfellas, if you need help with that concept).

At best, they mean,
"Adam, you're being naive."
Or the slightly more derogatory, "Adam, I think that's very Pollyanna."
The wake up I had, though, is it's usually a bigger deal than this. When someone uses this phrase with me (particularly at BigHugeCorp), it's when I'm taking an ethical stand.

For example, OneWhoHasPower at BigHugeCorp once sat me down to say, "Your doing the right thing is much admired. However, 'Doing the right' thing can be a little subjective." (Note: It wasn't at this little sit-down.)

So, assuming I am in the right, they're not praising me for my idealism -- they're marginalizing my stance to justify their lack of one (or to justify their stance on the "wrong" side).

Put bluntly, if I'm doing right, and they don't want to invest the effort or burn the political capital, they minimize my stance as being "idealistic" -- and implicitly unrealistic, and therefore not valid.

Well, thank you ...

Labels: rants

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Friday, September 15, 2006

The day I took the low road ...

I know someday will by my last day at BigHugeCorp.

Maybe I'll get to choose it; maybe I won't. Maybe I'll work there until I die. Maybe I'll die prematurely.

Usually, I have delusions of grandeur about may last day, where I'll do something big and important and elevated that means something and changes that soulless entity to a bastion of employee kindness.

And, sometimes, like this week, I have a really, really bad series of days where I lose faith that there are thinking individuals worthy of trust in the world, and I think, "Maybe I'll just wear one of these shirts on what will become my last day of work" (Not safe for work; or those easily offended):

My wardrobe for my last day of work

Maybe the hoodie. And the thong (so I feel pretty). And I'd drink coffee from the mug. And if I still had Loki, I'd bring her to the office and have her wear the doggie tee (even though I'm opposed to dogs being dressed up). That's a picture.

Damn, I miss that dog ...

Labels: rants, toy job

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Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Yesterday at BigHugeCorp sucked

I sent and received about 200 Emails yesterday.

In a 10 hour day, that's an average of 3 minutes to per message. Are we really receiving, comprehending, evaluating, and delivering considered responses in 3-6 minutes?

Of course, 3 minutes assumes that all I'm doing is Email. Which I wasn't.

Looking at my IM log, I had like 27 separate IM conversations, and there were 4 scheduled conference calls, multiple other ad hoc calls, hallway meetings, and personal interactions.

Sure, many of these happend concurrently; but that doesn't make this whole problem better.

We are so broken ... Gotta think about how to fix it ...

Labels: rants, toy job

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Thursday, August 31, 2006

I'm stuck.

I'm emotionally constipated...

Labels: acting, acting process, ramblings, rants, training

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Thursday, August 24, 2006

I have a problem with clock watchers.

And legalists in general.

Labels: ramblings, rants

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Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Patriotism(less)

I'm thinking about ranting about Patriotism. Or, rather, the lack thereof.

I'm not moved to rant yet, but I've seen and heard some pretty disappointing stuff from people lately. Things that make me lose respect for them at best, and really question their ability to think at worst.

That's not true. At worst I question whether they should be in our country if they're so vile and vindictive and hateful of the things that let them have their unreal quality of life.

I'm close to being moved to rant.

Labels: rants

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Wednesday, August 09, 2006

"Prepare for battle." "Never tire of doing what is right."

"Prepare for battle." "Never tire of doing what is right." "Prepare for battle." "Never tire of doing what is right." "Prepare for battle." "Never tire of doing what is right." "Prepare for battle." "Never tire of doing what is right." "Prepare for battle." "Never tire of doing what is right." "Prepare for battle." "Never tire of doing what is right." "Prepare for battle." "Never tire of doing what is right." "Prepare for battle." "Never tire of doing what is right." "Prepare for battle." "Never tire of doing what is right." "Prepare for battle." "Never tire of doing what is right." "Prepare for battle." "Never tire of doing what is right." "Prepare for battle." "Never tire of doing what is right." "Prepare for battle." "Never tire of doing what is right." "Prepare for battle." "Never tire of doing what is right." "Prepare for battle." "Never tire of doing what is right." "Prepare for battle." "Never tire of doing what is right." "Prepare for battle." "Never tire of doing what is right." "Prepare for battle." "Never tire of doing what is right." "Prepare for battle." "Never tire of doing what is right." "Prepare for battle." "Never tire of doing what is right." "Prepare for battle." "Never tire of doing what is right." "Prepare for battle." "Never tire of doing what is right." "Prepare for battle." "Never tire of doing what is right." "Prepare for battle." "Never tire of doing what is right."
.
.
.
(Ad infinitum.)

Labels: ramblings, rants, toy job

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Wednesday, July 26, 2006

I'm doing better today

But last night, I was mad. We're talking rip-roaring pissed.

OK, maybe I'm still a little hot.

Why?

Because after having a good evening as a guest speaker for my film coach, Van Brooks, and his audition class (I blogged about it, but it seems to have gotten lost in the ether), I went back to my old house to confront the people there.

(For those needing closure, I did, indeed, sell my old house. Which I take to be proof that God loves me, does not want me in unreasonable debt, and will even deign to work with real estate agents on my behalf.)

Anyway, I'd ordered a number of things that never showed up. After tracking them for a couple of weeks, I found out that they'd been misdelivered to my old place. Misdelivered and never returned.

The first few times I called the new owners, they'd hang up when I said who I was. Finally, they answered, and said I could come by pick up the things.

So last night I show up to pick up my stuff, and I see the home owners look at me through the shades, then close them. I knocked several times before they had their daughter answer the door with my packages.

The packages had been opened.

They had used or tried to use my stuff. I had a set of anniversary pens BigHugeCorp sent to me, and they had fingerprints all over them. I had some stuff specific to the new house that they couldn't use, but they'd opened the box and unpackaged everything and tried to use it.

I am so disappointed.

They sent their daughter, because they didn't have the character to face me themselves.

Worse? They're an American minority about which there are some negative stereotypes, a minority which is a big part of my own ethnic heritage.

If you don't like stereotypes about your ethnicity, don't be a freaking stereotype!

I can't get my head around trying to steal other people's stuff.

I'm still kind of hot about this.

Labels: rants

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Friday, July 21, 2006

We don't take care of each other ...

We were informed today as an FYI at BigHugeCorp that a company somewhere near us is doing mass layoffs, so we can expect large amounts of Austin City Police to be around, "just in case".

What a broken culture it is in which we live.

Labels: rants, toy job

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Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Legal Training for Managers

Today, as a manager at BigHugeCorp, I endured a couple of hours of "Legal Review for Managers" training.

There were 55 slides, but here's the summary:

Can you be sued?
Yes.
Can they win?
Yes.
Does it matter if I'm right?
No.
Who's fault is it?
Yours.

I spent the time being sarcastic with a few of my fellow managers, making various paper airplanes out of the handouts, and punking one unfortunate individual who chose to be a good corporate citizen by locking his laptop while he went to the bathroom. Since he locked it to a rolling chair, I rolled it right out to just outside the bathroom.

All kidding aside, the two hours of training frustrated and disappointed me, because it was all around avoidance management -- not management by partnership, or management by doing the right thing.

Are there companies out there that encourage genuine leadership, and put accountability where it belongs?

What a broken culture we're building ...

Labels: rants, toy job, training

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Sunday, July 02, 2006

My friends are idiots

I love them, but they're idiots.

We were supposed to go to the 7:10 Alamo Drafthouse showing of Nacho Libre for a friend's birthday.

However, two of my friends showed up at 7:05, and realized they'd forgotten to pick up the birthday boy. Rather than get their tickets from me so I could save seats, they turned around to go get him, then called me and asked me to exchange my no refund tickets for the 7:35 show. Which is sold out.

Love them. Idiots.

Labels: rants

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Friday, June 30, 2006

Lake Charles, Louisiana

We just left Lake Charles, our first stop since leaving New Orleans.

Y'know, Lake Charles sounds like a resort town. Not so much.

Most. Foul. Taco Bell. Ever.

Next stop: Houston (hopefully).

Labels: ramblings, rants

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Thursday, June 29, 2006

Hammond, LA

We're stopping off at Hammond, LA, to top off before hitting New Orleans, which we should hit right about rush hour. Nice.

Labels: ramblings, rants

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So hot ...

So, my brother's new-to-him car keeps trying to overheat. Lucky for us, if we turn off the air conditioning, we're fine.

So, the last couple of hours to Jackson have been toasty, which sounds fun, but isn't.

Labels: ramblings, rants

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Wednesday, June 28, 2006

We've landed

We've landed. Hower, our luggage (though gate checked) is missing ...

Labels: ramblings, rants

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Getting on the plane...

I'm just now getting on the plane for Chicago. When I should be landing in Chicago.

Y'know, I could have spent a hundred bucks less and got 4 more hours of sleep to end up in Chicago at the same time.

Not that I'm keeping track.

And those are my knees, perv.

Labels: ramblings, rants

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United Airlines sucks...

I'm supposed to be in Chicago right now.

I'm meeting my brother, who's driving from Ann Arbor, MI, to pick me up, and we're roadtripping to Houston (by way of New Orleans) for his new job.

I'm supposed to be in Chicago right now.

The flight was on time last night. At 5 a.m., as I'm heading out the door to get a side with silver-screen debut acting buddy Aaron Hallaway, I get notice the 6:40 a.m. flight was delayed until 8:30, due to a "crew rest delay."

They wouldn't switch me to a 6:30 American Airlines flight, unless I was an international traveler in danger me missing my connection -- even though there were 3 seats left when they closed the door.

At 8 a.m., 5 minutes after the next American flight to Chicago had left, they informed the gate agent (not her fault) the flight is now further delayed 'til 10:45, 'cause they're short one flight attendant. Is this a union thing? The flight is only 1/4 full.

I'm supposed to be in Chicago right now. My brother is.

Labels: ramblings, rants

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Monday, January 30, 2006

"Mtherfcker!!!"

That was the title of an Email thread last week between me and a more talented friend.

Last week, for whatever reason, it made me smirk every time I saw the castrated expletive in the subject line.

This week, the word summarizes how I feel.

As a member of the Austin Film Society, I was going to sign up for their members-only University of Texas Radio-TV-Film Department's special offer Master Class.

The Email invite told me "SEATING IS EXTREMELY LIMITED", registration would open at 10 a.m. today, and I had to be logged in to register.

I logged in this morning, went to the registration screen, and refreshed the page constantly until 10 a.m., when registration went live.

My browser session took 10 minutes to connect, after which I was forwarded to a page that said, "The event is now full."

Makes me wonder if a bunch of AFS insiders did early registration. But, admittedly, I'm feeling pissy.

Why am I so upset?

How's this for a list of possible guest speakers?

I'm on the waiting list, but I don't hold out much hope that I'll get in.

"M*therf*cker!!!"

Labels: acting, rants, training

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