Global Chinese Universities Student Film and TV Festival

I had the distinct pleasure of visiting Hong Kong for the 13th Annual Global Chinese Universities Student Film and Television festival this past April held at the Hong Kong Baptist University's Film Academy. What a wonderful experience it was!

Participants in the 13th Annual Global Chinese Universities Student Film and TV Festival

I got to meet student filmmakers from all over the world, from the UK, Prague, Australia, Korea, China and more. The best part of being at the festival for me was watching all of their films and getting a new perspective on filmmaking. Studying film in the States, living so close to Hollywood, and reading the trades everyday, it makes it very easy to have a myopic view of cinema. Thankfully, experiences like this allow me to open my mind to so many different expressions of cinema and visual storytelling that ultimately make me a better filmmaker.

Q&A Panel Discussion after our respective film screenings

The festival was so much fun, and what made it even better was that our film The Homecoming won the silver award for Best Foreign Film at the awards show for the festival. I am so honored and proud that even though our film deals with the particularly American issue of mass incarceration, that the film was still able to touch people on a universal level. I must say that I was completely humbled by all of the people who came up to me after our screening to tell me how much they were moved by and loved the film.

Receiving the Silver Award at the Awards Ceremony

A huge thank you to everyone that supported me and the film, and to our gracious hosts at the Global Chinese Universities Student Film and TV Festival!

So I was on TV the other night...

Hello friends!

Some great things are happening. In the past month or so, I've had two shows that I got the pleasure to be on air on their respective networks.

Time Traveling Bong on Comedy Central

I got to play a futuristic resident of the United States that helps two time travelers on Time Traveling Bong for Comedy Central in the final episode of the mini-series titled "Chapter 3: The End...?". I got the pleasure of working with the über talented Ilana Glazer, Paul Downs, and writer-director Lucia Aniello, all of Broad City fame. It was as fun to shoot as it is to watch.

Scandal on ABC

It has been a dream of mine to appear on a Shondaland show, and this past season 5 of Scandal, I got to do just that! I appeared on the penultimate episode of the season titled "Trump Card" as an aide to the former First Lady and Presidential candidate Mellie Grant. I got the pleasure of working with the fabulous Bellamy Young and wonderful Cornelius Smith Jr. Working with the Scandal group was a dream come true!

Check out Time Traveling Bong on Comedy Central's website or download it from iTunes.

Check out Scandal on ABC's website or on Hulu.

Hong Kong here I come!

I will be traveling to Hong Kong this week to participate in the 13th Annual Chinese Universities Student Film and Television Festival. We have submitted The Homecoming  for consideration and we will find out on the first day of the festival whether or not we have been accepted.

It will be so exciting to meet other student filmmakers from all over the world, and I will keep everyone posted with some pictures and updates on the festival.

The Homecoming is finally finished!

My thesis film, The Homecoming, is complete!

My team and I had the pleasure of screening our final product to a warm theater full of friends, family, and fellow students at Chapman University's Dodge College of Film and Media Arts. We got a warm reception and are excited to now share the film with the world.

We have begun the process of sending our film out to film festivals, and as soon as I know which festivals they will go to, I will make sure to keep you all updated here on this blog.

Click on the image below to go to the film's website!

Some Yes's and some No's

Living the creative life is full of ups and downs. 

Here are my latest yes's:

The biggest yes would probably be that I just signed across the board with Shawn Brogan at The Brogan Agency. Many thanks to my manager Chris Lee for setting up the meeting. I am really excited to work with her team when we all come back from break in the New Year!

I auditioned and got accepted into The Groundlings school for improv. I am excited to begin the next phase of my training.

I had a couple of no's:

I auditioned for my first lead role, and as I haven't heard from them by now (two weeks later), I'm going to assume I'm not moving to the next round. The cool thing about this particular audition is that I had to do a self tape, and taping myself has shown me so many things that I want to work on to become better.

I did my first Casting Director workshop today. This one counts as a half yes half no. While they said that my acting was good for what I brought in, the scene I selected was not particularly my type, so it was very difficult to give them exactly what they were looking for. What makes this a good "no," means I am that one step closer to nailing down my type which anybody in the biz knows is key to figuring out how to make your money.

I feel like, as long as the no's balance out the yes's, I'm still in good shape. 

I love this life and I'm looking forward to 2016!