Hi! I want to first of thank you for checking my new blog out. I recently had a friend ask me to guest post on her blog. Once I found out how cool this was I decided to create my own. And here it is...
I chose the name very specifically. I was introduced to this phrase a few years ago when I was working in a call center. Long story short it obviously stuck with me. Given how my life has unfolded over the last year I would say its a phrase that needs to be dusted off and used as a blog title because it truly embodies how my life truly is these days.
I want to use this forum for many different reasons....most of which is to communicate and reach out to people. I also want to engage my readers to help me with a project later on...but we'll start this blog for now and cross that bridge when I'm ready to present it to the masses.
Some of you already know me. Those of you that do, you can totally appreciate it when I say I am weird....but in a good way right? Around 2 years ago I had hit a point in my life where change needed to happen. I wasn't happy and felt very restless. It was almost having a temporary case of ADD. I couldn't concentrate, didn't sleep well, felt discouraged that life was passing me by and that I hadn't done a thing to even make it very exciting. Well, with that being said, the journey I have take to get to this point is not for the weak. I work hard and try to always push myself.
After going through the motions of pointing out to myself that life wasn't progressing, a friend of mine, someone who had been pushing me towards starting up in the film industry, tried to convince me I should start acting in the film industry. Now that is a loaded statement....how does one start in the film industry is a very loaded question. Once that has eluded me for many years. This blog is going to chronicle this journey and show you that if you put your mind to it, anything is possible.
I should have been acting right out of highschool. There were a few things that redirected me. I moved down east to Quebec in 1987 to live with my dad. The school I went to, as fun as it was, was totally lacking in the arts. I went from a school in Sask that had active music and drama programs to a school that didn't. I was going to go to John Abbott in Montreal but the old story of dad wanting his son to follow in his footsteps and join the military sent me on a different journey. Now don't get me wrong...I was very fond of the military and it was good for me as a young man to experience this, but I knew I didn't fit in right from the start. I spent three years in the navy. Met some awesome people...got to shoot guns and march.
So my friend comes up to me and shows me the cool picture of her first experience being in a movie. She was playing a corpse. I instantly wanted to be a corpse too! So, I signed up with a group that was scouted for back ground performers for various shows. Just over a month later I got my chance to do background on a show called InSecurity on CBC. I was like a kid in a candy story! I got to learn to act natural, pretend I was talking to someone by mouthing the words watermelon and grapefruit. I learned what everyone's roles were on the crew. It was an experience that set the tone for what I needed to do with my life. It totally changed me!
I then got cast into a show called Edge of War. My first episode I was casted as a Cuban rebel. I was totally excited about this opportunity. But I was taught a very valuable lesson from the moment I walked on set. It was to "Be patient Glenn!" When I got on set, I was told that because I had long hair and that they didn't think this production was worth me cutting it, that I would most likely be far background which meant I wasn't going to really be seen. Was I dejected? Yup! Did I feel like just packing it in and not doing this? Sort of. Did I? NOT!
While my big break came when the weapons handler/pyro effects guy was handing out the weapons. He handed one to me and I immediately, as if by instinct, checked and made sure the weapon was safe. To the uninitiated, they wouldn't catch that. But to the experienced, you know when someone is comfortable with guns and knows how to handle them. This is big to a film guy because the experience shows up on film. From that point forward, not only was I in key scenes but close ups were normal. The director even thought I had enough experience to lead other actors in a scene. One of my close ups happened to be me firing a machine gun and yelling out "Never surrender boys" in Spanish. The director and crew started calling me Chico...and that name has stuck with some people. I appeared in a total of 3 episodes out of 6.
This year has been a year of milestones. I started writing, did a few shows of stand up comedy, bought a new car, acted in Blood, Lies, and Alibis, 3 commercials, and one short film. My biggest acting milestone came when I successfully auditioned for a role in the movie Bread Thieves. I played a meth head. (Shameless plug: http://breadthievesthemovie.com ).
So...that brings us to now. I thank you for your time....look foward to grabbing your attention later for another posting...
Glenn
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