One Path of many choices

• “One Path of many choices”

At this point in my entertainment career comedy is a good chunk of it. Been in entertainment for twenty plus years and about half that is in comedy. The art of stand up comedy is a difficult cut throat world as any field of entertainment is. The difference, you are alone. Actors, even douche actors, are still working with other actors in any given project. Musicians have their band mates, but a comedian goes up and wins or loses on their own. Though, it doesn't have to be that way. In comedy, I work with “Top of the Bottom Pile” a team of like minded comedians. We work to change the game, because the game needs a changin!

'What it takes' vs 'what is presented' is a compelling thought. Last night I had a chance to audition for a 'passing spot' (Turned into a regular comedian) and I was not passed, but I was not said no to. I was give in a chance to make a few changes to a set which was considered offensive. A set of jokes I have done for a while in featured and headlining spots, which always got laughs. In fact, the night of my audition I was getting good strong laughs through my set. But it comes down to something bigger than my 'Talent' or how good 'I' think I am. Entertainment is controlled by 'Gatekeepers' and there is no Zuul. Good thing I am the 'Key Master'!

I say this for one reason. We control our own path. When one person says no, you must find more power and strength to create your own YES. Who controls the gatekeepers? There is always someone higher on the food chain. Why not let it be you? That's why I work so hard to gain power. I, when opportunity allows it, love to open doors for people. Because I know what it feels like to be told 'no'. It is a sucky, crappy, feeling. There is no reason you should be told no. What is great to one person might be crap to another. George Lucas was told Star Wars was stupid, even by the cast and crew filming it. Follow your drum beat and become your own path.

• Make A Right Left Here (My official page website)
• BBR Productions Inc. (Direct company link)
• Top Of The Bottom Pile (Comedy Tour I Am On)

Casting a cast

• Casting a cast

It begins, the next level in the world of possibilities! Things are aligning to a point of unstoppable momentum. Every year things must continue to grow. If by steps, leaps, or extremely large bounds. This passing week me and a team of people I work with held an audition for a web series. Thirty plus people are sending their interest to act, and in addition there were even more after the fact. So now we are handling Self Tapes. Self Tape is when you film your audition and send it in. These are steps, not to filming, but to a means to an ends. Every step leads to a stronger stance to help others. To help a cause, to give an open door to chance.

Everyone deserves a chance in life. Becoming more involved with producing projects gives our team opportunity to excel at the triangle of life. Networking with different actors, crew members, investors, and only to name a few. This will also help us with Marketing our Brands, and who we are as people. What our personal motivation can lead to. Our perseverance and hard work. There is nothing more exciting than coming up with an idea, figuring out how to make that idea come to life, then getting a team together to bring that idea to life. One step at a time. That's how it has always been for me. Each year, every idea!

At the end of the day, I did nothing on my own. A person couldn't it. The hands of many bring life to ideas. The supporters of the cause pushing and rutting for you to win. They are your energy of encouragement. Everyone helping in bringing life to this idea. Working within their strengths to find the money, build, write, draw, cast, act, crew, etc, etc!!! One person is useless. My proud sense of accomplishment comes from believing in those to my left and to my right. We are equal. Some work harder than others, some have more skills, even so, others might not even know what they are doing, and that is okay... because doing anything is still something!

• Make A Right Left Here (My official page website)
• BBR Productions Inc. (Direct company link)
• Top Of The Bottom Pile (Comedy Tour I Am On)

Yes, no, I understand...

• “Yes, no, I understand...”

One of my pet peeves is yessing me to death to get me through my thought. More important is my time when I am out and about doing my rounds. We are all very important people because we are people. People have value, therefore they are important. That doesn't mean they are annoyingly unaware of their time. Most are. Every second is worth a thousand lifetimes to a person on their deathbed, and here we are, some, if not most, eating up our time doing things we don't love, or understand.

Recently read a really nice passage. “Most people know what they do, some know how they do it, but very few understand why.” Come on, that is beautiful. So I got to thinking, what do I do? I am an entertainer first and a consultant second. How do I do it? I keep busy networking, marketing, and practicing my craft while maintaining my Triangle of life. Why do it I do it? Because I enjoy creating from nothing and to work my butt off until I have so much power I can help others get to the top!

What does this all mean? It means I am very passionate about speaking my mind when it comes to helping / guiding people. When I hear a person going down the road taken most it worries me. They are giving up their precious minutes based on rules and ideas they don't understand. Hopefulness is scary to me. I want to see everyone with a dream succeed. I wish I had a person who knew what I know in the beginning to tell me. Wait, I did! I had mentors and they all got me to where I am today!

Live your minutes away, don't waste them in naivety.

• Make A Right Left Here (My official page website)
• BBR Productions Inc. (Direct company link)
• Top Of The Bottom Pile (Comedy Tour I Am On)

That's a wrap!

• “That's a wrap!”

There is nothing more exciting than a film wrapping! We shot our final scene on this past Tuesday for 'All in the Course'. I suppose I have to dream up a poster for it now. I have crayons, so that shouldn't be too hard. I really loved the experience working with a professional crew and cast on this project. Now it is edit time! The process of getting all the shots cut down and aligned to where they have to be. Maybe even placed in an order which makes sense. Either way, the fun is about to begin for me. Editing is my least favorite part, but it is important to understand. When I work with editors in the future, I want to be able to speak their language.

All in the Course was definitely an undertaking, in a good way. I learned a lot of prep, budgeting, organizing, who I want to work with for my next project, and even how to establish locations. Making a film is one thing, getting it made is another. My first short film was 'A Super Hero Villain', which was about 10 minutes long and took around a full day to film. Seven hours or so to get everything. This project was easily five days of filming, locations all over the place, fight scenes, speaking, and we had three cameras. Yeah, three cameras. Talk about getting the shot you want.

I have another project coming up, untitled so far. We started preproduction already. It will be a web series and completely a huge project for me. I know I have a team ready and willing to make this an exciting time for us. Oh the fun of filming. I'll be directing, acting, writing, and producing again. However, I am bringing on other directors and writers to help take on the load. If I can get through this process I know I can do anything. Working with 'TEAM RISE TOGETHER' and showing studios what we can do on our own is going to help change the game. You want to act, act... write, write... direct, go and direct.

Make things happen by making things happen. Anything is possible if you keep moving forward.

• Make A Right Left Here (My official page website)
• BBR Productions Inc. (Direct company link)
• Top Of The Bottom Pile (Comedy Tour I Am On)

Radio, TV for my Grandpa

• “Radio, TV for my Grandpa”

Got a radio show. Okay, thanks for reading. Check back for more news and a lot of stuff is happening!

I hate blogs like that. Where's the panache? I mean, give the audience something to read about. So, I like to bring up the subject matter in my first paragraph. When the audience is able to jump right into my subject then boom! Radio! I got a radio, internet. It was nice getting this opportunity! Radio is a great way to be heard, but more important it is a nice place to let others be heard. All steps must lead to the upstairs. Well, you could go downstairs but I mean, I have leaks down there. See, now I can move onto some other things, like how I feel about, or my thoughts on the idea.

If there is one thing I enjoy, it is being able to talk about anything, but with direction, to people willing to learn, listen, enjoy. More importantly; Be entertained, Educated, and have a sense of Edification while on the journey of Thomas Talk. Also, this world is much better when people get to help others have a voice. While I will be on each week, guests and other people are going to have my door open for them. A voice must be heard, but about what? I want people to laugh, while learning about the business of life / entertainment / other crap. More so I want the journey of successful people to be understood.

Hmm, this is where I normally express what I learned from the experience. I'll go on about how it added or took away from my life, and how I will grow from it. This will be my forth internet radio show, and about my thousandth time on radio airwaves. So, the experience is fairly familiar. This time around I look to have a lot more fun doing it, and I'll be ready for anything. I really hope I can bring a sense of change to the community when speaking. That is important to me. I want to change the game. I want to let people know there are other ways around making things happen. We, as people, must become the light of inspiration!

Also, the studio is in Dumbo, Brooklyn. I mean, come on! Dumbo.

• Make A Right Left Here (My official page website)
• BBR Productions Inc. (Direct company link)
• Top Of The Bottom Pile (Comedy Tour I Am On)

Produce Results

• “Produce Results”

There are people waiting around hoping for something to happen. How much would really come from it? I would rather bet my calculated chances on a risk than wait around hoping to be discovered. Life is too short to wait it out. I am a go getter. I have been asked what got me where I am, how did I make so much from so little. Hard work? Nah, hard work is too much work for me. Why push yourself beyond your limits!? I hear this turn a lot; hard work got them to the top. Hard work made them the best! I don't believe in hard work. Hard work is the stock boy packing out seven boats a night only to be told he could do more or better.

I work productively. Consistent, with direction, towards completing my S.M.A.R.T. Goals. It is that simple. Okay, not so simple that I do and I succeed. Wait, yes it is. I write down what needs to be completed, and I do that thing. It's not about hard work, it is about consistently being productive. Work Smarter, not harder. I have faith in my method. And so do my clients, that's why I teach them what I do. Everything I have worked productively towards is consistently causing doors to open in all my fields. “Everything you do must affect everything.” I live strongly to this coded ideal, this way of life. I am always working to rise.

When I meet people who work harder, or try and raise the stakes, raise the game, I think “Why not just change the game which works best for you?”. We all learn differently. We all have strengths and weakness in life. As we learn how the game works we adapted and improvise to succeed. My whole life was filled with failures in the minds of others. To me, I have never failed. They were opportunities to succeed and grow in life. I have acting, comedy, writing, consulting, producing, and even more on the horizon, that make all my dreams a reality! There is a method to my madness and it will continue to Produce Results.

Become your action, become the living action to your dreams!

• Make A Right Left Here (My official page website)
• BBR Productions Inc. (Direct company link)
• Top Of The Bottom Pile (Comedy Tour I Am On)

Green with screen

• “Green with screen”

On Tuesday it will be September 1st and August will have come and gone. Wow, eight months just up and went out the window. It is almost the end of the year again. Four full months to go, and what have you done with your career / life? This is a solid question because each year gone is one never to be seen again. I write these blogs to inspire, to get a person thinking, and to show you that a no body like me can make things happen. I made a SMART Goal list that when I moved into Brooklyn, each year would have a strong conclusion in it. And each year my audience has read and followed this Blog, they have seen me grow, change and evolve.

From music, to comedy, to acting, to owning a theater, to moving to Brooklyn. These are strong accomplishments which got me to where I wanted to be. I had a plan, and have a plan, which is working. My first goal moving to Brooklyn was to make sure I utilized my SAG-AFTRA membership to the fullest. I wanted to get involved with the union, and now I am. I wanted to get an Agent or Manager for Acting, Comedy, and writing. I have. I also started audition for larger roles this year. I want to inspire. I want you to know, I am a no body. I am an unknown celebrity of sorts. I am in the shadows like most people. The difference?

I do. I make available the life I want to live. I have a structure that makes me accomplish all my goals in a timely fashion. One must move along in life. You know what though? All my efforts are because of my Network, Market, and Practice mentality. And everyone who is with me on the journey gets to benefit from it. We all help one another, we all work with one another. I am no Island! Yes, I want to inspire through action, but my lovely readers, you must aspire to take action. Become more than an idea, team up with people and get your name out there in bright lights saying “I AM HERE, I AM ALIVE!”

Oh, and I got a green screen! OH THE FUN TO HAVE!

• Make A Right Left Here (My official page website)
• BBR Productions Inc. (Direct company link)
• Top Of The Bottom Pile (Comedy Tour I Am On)