Now THIS is what AnD is all about!

This past summer, I was in a low budget feature film called "Beautyworld" that's currently in post production and the director contacted me right before I flew back to the States to see if I can head up to Shanghai to do a few reshoots.

Unfortunately I was heading back to NYC the next day so I could not do it. We discussed it a bit more and we decided maybe it was best that I dig up a second unit in the States and film some additional footage there!

Well, after a quick email to my comrades Simon and Derrick, I accumulated a few good contacts for a DP and crew.

Once I landed in NYC, I thought to myself:

"Myself, why on earth do I want to contact people I don't know when I can just as easily source out a good crew on Alive Not Dead?!"

So after a week of bumming around, flying to Texas, going to Hawaii, weekend in Maryland, then going back to New York, I logged onto good ole AliveNotDead dot com and proceeded to scour the artist listings for a good cameraman and crew.

Well, in this case, it was a cameraWOMAN. And she was fantastic!

Her name is Wei Pun and you can view her AnD profile here: ROCK STAR!

Right before filming...

Right after filming...

What can I say? Wei was the utmost professional and she introduced me to this AMAZING cafe up in Long Island City. Cafe Henri. Damn good crepes!

We spent a day taking care of the logistics and preproduction and then the next morning?

A GORGEOUS day filming on the Coney Island boardwalk in Brooklyn. Wei offered so much feedback and came up with some amazing angles and shots. For just ONE scene!

We ran into a homeless person that was in the background of one of our shots. He kept coming up and harassing us informing us quite fervently that he was a card carrying Union member and needed to be compensated if he was going to be filmed.

I think I would have taken him more seriously if he wasn't waving around a Snapple lid and declaring it his "Union Card".

The best part of this story? I sent the footage back to Shanghai and the director tells me that, though the footage looks great, he may not be able to use it since it looks like I gained about twenty pounds since the last time my character appears in the film.

Yep, I'm a fatty.

But I'm ready for my close up!

Thanks Alive Not Dead, we're living proof the system works!