NOLA Film Scene with Tj & Plaideau
A podcast about acting, filmmaking, and the improv scene in New Orleans.
NOLA Film Scene with Tj & Plaideau
Hick Cheramie: The Resilient Journey of a Cajun Actor
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What does it mean to find success in the entertainment industry during slow times? Hick Cheramie returns to our show after two years to share the profound wisdom he's gained navigating the unpredictable waters of an acting career while maintaining his day job in the oil fields.
Sponsored by Jana McCaffery Attorney at Law. Have you been injured? New Orleans based actor, Jana McCaffery, has been practicing law in Louisiana since 1999 focusing on personal injury since 2008. She takes helping others very seriously and, if you are a fellow member of the Louisiana film industry and have been injured, she is happy to offer you a free consultation and a reduced fee to handle your case from start to finish. She can be reached at Have you been injured? New Orleans based actor, Jana McCaffery, has been practicing law in Louisiana since 1999, specializing in personal injury since 2008. She takes helping others very seriously. If you have been injured, Jana is offering a free consultation AND a reduced fee for fellow members of the Lousiana film industry, and she will handle your case from start to finish. She can be reached at janamccaffery@gmail.com or 504-837-1234. Tell Her NOLA Film Scene sent you
Follow us on IG @nolafilmscene, @kodaksbykojack, and @tjsebastianofficial. Check out our 48 Hour Film Project short film Waiting for Gateaux: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5pFvn4cd1U . & check out our website: nolafilmscene.com
All right, we're live. Nola Film Scene is in the house. He's TJ, he's Plato, he's Hick.
Speaker 2:Thanks, for having me, guys. I think this is the second time I was promised to be on Theo Vaughn and I've been tricked again.
Speaker 3:It just keeps happening, man, I mean, how else are we going to get the famous Nick. Cheramy yeah.
Speaker 2:I guess first time shame on you, second time shame on me.
Speaker 3:So what you're saying is there won't be a third?
Speaker 1:yeah, of course there'll be a third if I'm invited back. If I'm invited, yeah, maybe next time we'll get theo on too, just so he can go stop talking about me. Hick, hick, how have you been in the past two years? Welcome?
Speaker 2:back. I can't believe it's been two years. Like it really hit me the other day. I was like, wow, that's two years ago and I think as we get older, time just flies away faster. I've been well. I've been busy and lucky enough to stay working. Things are great, family's happy, my partner's happy. She made me a nice coffee with my little halloween jack-o'-lantern on it, which has a content. She started this the last halloween and I've kind of just kept it all year. But I've been good man, I can't complain nice yeah, and we're live on, we're live we're live on my account in a minute but I've shared the youtube link everybody follow.
Speaker 1:Make some comments. We're gonna see if we can answer some. We don't know. We're still working the tech, come talk to us if we can break away.
Speaker 2:I don't know what the saints are doing right now. If we can break them away from the saints game, I think it's probably finished by now it's.
Speaker 1:It was probably finished a little while ago, I'm sorry to say, unless they came back. They were trailing, but they're still scrappy, they're still fighting. So who dat, who dat, baby?
Speaker 3:LSU pulled it off yesterday. Yeah, man, my alma mater is not doing good this year. This is the first losing season they've had since I became a student in 2019 or so. Who's your alma mater? Liberty University? A student in 2019 or so? Who's your alma mater? Liberty University? They're just struggling this year.
Speaker 1:But I digress, they do that insurance Liberty, liberty, liberty, bibbity.
Speaker 3:Different Liberty.
Speaker 1:Oh my bad, but I mean, if they want to throw me a commercial, you know, Bring it Hick. One of your new movies that I'm so excited about is the Foy Pronounce it right, you pronounced it right.
Speaker 2:You pronounced it right.
Speaker 1:And you've got some great Cajuns working in there. You do, man yeah. You do, yeah, a certain cook, a certain cook, cajun cooking with Hoss.
Speaker 2:Cajun cooking with Hoss. Yes, cajun cooking, lost Hick.
Speaker 1:We'll keep going. Hopefully we'll get him back on live in his technical problems.
Speaker 3:Yep Technical, I mean one for technical. My dad used to say one for no problems, I wouldn't have any problems.
Speaker 1:That's deep man. I don't know the gentleman, cajun Cookerwood Haas. I love his videos because he'll watch people all over the country trying to make Creole and Cajun food and once he gets frustrated, throw that in the long grass. And you don't put tomatoes in gumbo. We all know that. But God help you if you put that Old Bay anywhere. That's Yankee stuff and I am getting it. Oh, that was you sending it to him? Okay, I thought I was getting a message from beyond. By beyond, I mean my phone.
Speaker 2:Y'all lost me, man. I went to another dimension.
Speaker 1:You got thrown in the long grass.
Speaker 2:I got thrown in the long grass. But yeah, Cade Haas, he's a great guy and they kind of pulled him in on this because he's such an entertainer when it comes to his videos. He has a huge following and he's a great guy and we we talk, probably at least once a week, we chat, texting each other. Yeah, he, his videos are so funny. And and the director of the FWA which, by the way, means diarrhea and Cajun it's a, it's a gumbo of genres, you know horror and comedy. And David Rabelais, the director, he brought in just everyone local from influences like Corey Ledoux and Brittany Boudreau, and you know, he just brought in a bunch of great people within the Cajun culture and who are influential.
Speaker 2:And when I kind of saw the project, I was like man, I was like I got to be a part of this. So him and I connected and he was like you know, he's like I have no budget. And I was like dude, like he's like I'm not going to take up a lot of time, I'm like dude, I don't care, Like I want to go do this, Like I'm like dude, I don't care, Like I want to go do this, Like I'm not worried about money, I'm not worried about my time. The scheduling was a little tough because the two leads in it are Kristen Renton, who was in a lot of amazing series she was everything from In the Stories to Sons of Anarchy and then her partner, Nick Manning, from the New Orleans TV reality series, Nightwatch. He's the other lead in it. So I got to work with them and, yeah, it's funny Like this guy can write. David can write. He's somebody who lives within our culture. So I think that everyone who watches this from here is really going to get like every phrase. They're going to understand probably every joke. They're going to understand like just everything in it, because it's just so deep in Cajun and Acadian culture. So I was excited to do it and I had a really cool role. You know he's like it's kind of fun, man, how God works sometimes. You know he kind of puts the right people in the right place, because he's like it's kind of fun, man, how God works sometimes. You know it's uh, he kind of puts the right people in the right place, Cause he's like look, I have this role but this will be like days to shoot, but I don't want to keep you, you know, long and my schedule has been really nuts. So he had a role for me of the Cajun archivist, who is the guy who, uh, they go find to find out the history about the curse of the foie, right, and he's like man. He's like can you do creepy? Like I, kind of really I'm like bro, I got you, dude, like I got you. So I played this like really creepy.
Speaker 2:I improvised a lot of what I did and it you know, there's not much work. I look at and I'm like man out great, but like it turned out really great. I seen a rough cut and, uh, it was funny because, traveling with Taryn who who's another social media influencer and has a really cool page and following, she came to set to interview me and it was kind of cool because she got a lot of the good networking opportunities with uh, meeting the director and then meeting kristen and nick and that kind of spread off for her to do, have more uh interviews to be done and content. So we're interviewing and and she's like so what's kind of going? Before the end she's like what's kind of like, what kind of kind like, what's going on today, what are you going to do? And I'm like I was like, well, they don't really have an idea of what I'm going to do. I was like we have dialogue. I said I'm going to do this and I was like I'm thinking about probably doing this and I'm probably going to.
Speaker 2:So everything I got to do was like I really caught them off guard with it. So it was like just real natural reactions to my weirdness and I played like a savant, a Cajun savant of somewhat of some sort. Cajun savant of somewhat of some sort who just for some reason ingest like in cajun culture, information like super fast and and and I and I tend to just absorb it like a sponge and uh, yeah, I don't want to give the scene away too much, but man, it was, it was so fun and, yeah, y'all be looking for the foie. I'll go follow david rabel, filmmaker, and you got some really cool stuff coming out and he has other things planned out in the future and maybe, just maybe, we can get him on this show and then you guys can connect, because he does have future projects and that's some really cool networking possibly, you know.
Speaker 1:Hey, let me interrupt real quick. Are you picking up the Echo?
Speaker 3:Brian, let me just hit, stop, because I can't toggle on echo cancellation.
Speaker 1:In other words, we'll be right back, we'll be right back.
Speaker 3:We'll be right back after these messages.
Speaker 1:We're back. I hear you now, and I don't hear us with an echo. So tech problem solved, we're back folks.
Speaker 3:We're back, we're back.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much for sharing that, hick. I'm not only going to reach out to the director but some of your Cajun co-stars, because we know I'm going to play a Cajun in a movie we described on our two-year anniversary special and Yousef described it like a Cajun. Obi-wan Kenobi Like Tony Sachery meets Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Speaker 2:I did, uh, I read that or heard that somewhere actually, yeah, yeah, that's funny there's been some Cajun projects lately.
Speaker 3:I did an audition I think y'all probably auditioned for the same project, I don't know if it was for the same character but one of the one of the takes they wanted in a little bit of a Cajun accent changed. I changed the wording of the one that I did in Cajun, you know, because in in Cajun culture I always heard people saying motorbike instead of motorcycle, like that was the thing. It doesn't matter if it's a big full Harley or a dirt bike, it's a motorbike, a motorbike. But in normal, you know, like the way I grew up, motorcycle, dirt bike, whatever, motorbike, whatever. So I changed it. I said motorbike for that because the dialogue was actually motorcycle, but for that one cage intake I said motorbike, you know, to make it a little more culturally accurate.
Speaker 3:Well, hey, why don't you talk to us a little bit about the interview stuff? Because when we started this podcast I was coming off of a film in Texas and it was my first time getting interviewed on set like behind the scenes interviews, and I was getting interviewed with the guy that was my scene partner and he was a YouTuber, so he was used to talking on camera and answering questions and he had done a few of those things and I felt like a deer in the headlights. I've been interviewed before but I just kind of felt like I wasn't quick on my feet and I thought, well, you know, starting a podcast, it might help if I'm talking to people regularly. So Brian and I talked about it, we got it going.
Speaker 3:You agreed to come on and be our first guest and I've since had a few nowhere near the quantity that you've had of these interview style setups. Can you speak a little bit to that? Because it's kind of weird, because they tell you don't look at the camera. But in an interview, especially a content creation type interview, it's a little bit different and we talked a little bit before we started today about that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know I've done like. You know, like this instance, instance, you know, if I was to, when you're talking, I'm looking at you and the camera's here. You know I'm saying so. You can see, my eyeline is focused like to you. I have brian here in the middle. But if I was like a while ago we're talking about like, when I switched to saying like you know where I'm speaking to the audience, I looked up at the camera to speak to the audience and in the beginning of first of all, I'll say this about interviews Never in my life would I have ever thought that people would have cared what I had to say at all. Right, so I think in the beginning, getting over that was pretty tough for me. Where people were interested in, maybe in what you're working on, or people are interested in your story. Where people are interested, maybe in what you're working on, or people are interested in your story, or people are interested in whatever sobriety yeah, my sobriety and whatever it may be. And then, how did I come from here to here?
Speaker 2:and yeah you know and and I can't even count how many times I've told that story, because every different interviewer wants a part of that story. So you know I'm always telling that story. And what different interviewer wants a part of that story? So you know, I'm always telling that story. And what I learned is in interviews is you have a lot of them who will send you questions ahead of time, and I don't. I don't really care for that. I don't want the, you know, premeditated answer type question. I really don't like to know what an interviewer is going to ask me because I feel like it takes away from a natural dialogue between the person interviewing you and, you know, the interviewee or whatever you may be called.
Speaker 3:And I agree with that, and that's why we don't. We don't send out interview questions. We have some, some standard types of questions that we ask, but it varies from guest to guest because everybody's got a different background. And I agree with you that's. That's part of the reason we don't do that, because I I feel like it takes away from exactly what the point you're making right now.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's just, it's more organic and and and I love to be, you know, you know act something on the spot and not knowing what it is, you know, I think that's you know. Act something on the spot and not knowing what it is, you know, I think that's you know, as a human being, it's a challenge for me and it just keeps that dialogue, as I said, you know, organic, you know. So, in the beginning it was a lot of interviews where you had these questions ahead of time and so what I learned quickly on was just to tell the person I'm like, look, just, I'm an open book, ask me whatever you want. Like I will talk about whatever you want, like I have nothing to hide, I have nothing that I'm shameful of. So, just, whatever you want to ask me, ask me. But I think we were discussing, before I jumped on you and I was, and Brian was, you know, these different style types of interviews. You know, I started doing interviews back before COVID, but it was still, you know, zoom or whatnot. It was still all online, like we are now, and I was basically just doing interviews, like I am now, and then it kind of, after COVID, it kind of moved to some in-person stuff, right. So, like in-person stuff, as you were discussing or started to discuss, is a lot different, because now you're having dialogue with a person say, to my right, I was just in doing one recently but you're speaking to her followers and her audience, right.
Speaker 2:So I learned kind of at the beginning it was kind of weird because I would stay just engaged with the person and I'm like, what is the audience really seeing here? Are they really just seeing my profile and they're seeing? They're not seeing any emotion in my face? They're not. They're not really. Are they really connecting with what I have to say? So, as we kind of talked about earlier, you know, I've figured out that I have to speak to the audience also because I mean, that's why I'm here. I'm sure they interested in what I have to say. But like, really, this person's bringing me on to engage with their audience.
Speaker 2:And you know, that's when I kind of like I realized, okay, I gotta talk more to the camera because, as you said, as an actor, like one of our big rules is we never spike the camera, we never look straight into the camera, like if I'm acting out of scene and I'm talking to this guy here and I'm like, yeah, joe, I'm like, yeah, you know, I'm not going to be like, yeah, joe, and joe's away. I mean, you know what I'm saying. So we have all these eye lines to follow and these characters, especially when auditioning, and they're just not there and we have one reader, you know. So I had to learn that it's okay to look at the camera. It's okay, really.
Speaker 2:A little while ago we talked about this for a little short break we had, as I was talking about it, yeah, david Robiley. He's a great director, he's a brilliant writer, he does a lot of funny stuff and this was going to be a good one. So y'all be looking out for the foie. You know what I'm saying. So I'm switching to the camera now. Uh, but in the beginning I didn't really know that concept. Uh, as you said, I was kind of like a deer in headlights because first of all, uh, you know I will be. It doesn't happen, no more. But I would be more nervous sitting down for an interview than I was like on a film set.
Speaker 3:Right, I remember talking to you when you were scheduled to go do your first panel as an actor. You got invited to be a celebrity panelist, and you were. You were a little bit nervous about that. Yes, yes, I was, I was definitely. You had done a lot of interviews up to that point related to your sobriety. But there's a whole different feel to it being in person when you've got all those eyes at you versus it is when it's remote.
Speaker 3:Right now, it's just the three of us, and who knows how many people are watching remotely, you know yeah, you know, and and it definitely is in person, it's completely different.
Speaker 2:Now, like I still get nervous. I was at a premiere at the baton Rouge Underground Film Festival last month maybe, where my film Evangeline was featured there. And like the getting up on stage and asking the questions and Cameron will say like, like dude, like you had the audience engaged, like I was, like I was nervous. She's like you can't even tell you know. And one thing about her is like she's like you can't even tell you know. And one thing about her is like like this morning we had a major primetime audition. I did the first take and I'm like, oh, that's good. And she was like, let's try another one, you know. And I was like, ok, so I did another one and then, like we played it back and she's like this is the one, like this is the one, like this is the one If I'm going to, like this is the one. I'm like this is the one If I'm in a book, this is the one. I trust her with my life and especially my career. But she'll tell me she was like you didn't look nervous at all.
Speaker 2:Now, next month is something new for me and I know you guys are big, especially Brian, are big on these cons, right, yeah, yes, and it's yes, number one, I'm honored to be asked to sit at a con as a celebrity guest, but with that comes a lot of anxiety. I just can't see people wanting to come and get my autograph or take a picture with me, and nobody might want to because they might not know who the hell I am. But that has really and Cameron can testify to that in the past couple of months has brought up a lot of conversations of of, uh, doubt and anxiety. Uh, I was like, okay, I was like I got all this stuff printed up, right, because that's what they do they get this table. When I have the whole banner and the stuff printed up and, um, you know, I'm like okay, so, like pricing. So I was gonna like call billy slaughter, I'm like and billy with like what chart? And I was like you know what man like I don't know if I'm a charge, right, it's like 117 investment for me.
Speaker 2:And I'm like if anybody comes out to see like little old me and what's something like no dude, like I just I just can't see and and there's probably gonna be a lot of people are gonna be like, dude, you need to do this and you need to chill, you need to. But I just feel like so blessed that somebody would take their time out. First of all, they buy a ticket to go to this thing and then like I don't know, it's so weird, it's I don't want to say weird, but it's just so humbling to me. Yeah, if somebody would come to me and it's like, hey, man, I can get a picture with you. I like you know, I want to get an autograph of this print or this picture here, and so I don't know how that's gonna go.
Speaker 2:It's scary, you know, and and I've already put in my mind that probably nobody's gonna come and talk to me or or do anything but that one. It's new waters for me and it's scary Usually. I'm at a stage now in my career where I don't get really nervous about anything. I mean, I did a guest star role on a big television series and I was not nervous about it, but like this I'm like nervous about. So I guess we're going to see in October if these things are meant for me or or, or they not. And I think the guy who runs it, davey, he's a great guy and I was like super humbled and honored when he asked.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, when he asked me to do it. I mean that you know they talk about us actors, the grind and how busy we are, but like I see this guy and I see everywhere he's at and what he's putting on and what he does and he's he's a machine dude Like this is a person that is very passionate about what he does and you could tell it's a very selfish passion to have other people come and enjoy these things and and learn about whatever they learn about there and and to be able to to access things that they're not able to access and like it's just I don't know, it's a beautiful thing and it was one of the reasons that I was. I said yes, you know, it was one of the reasons I said yes, I was like this is just a great thing this guy does and to bring all these people together, it's just a beautiful like thing. I'm not in that world like brian is. I've never actually went to one where billy was at and I was to visit with billy and joseph from five nights at freddy they were both there and christian stokes they were all. All three of them were there and I went to like support my fellow actors and I ended up just wrapping out with billy a while and people were coming up to his table and joseph's table and I went sit in on their panel and and listen to our panel and they're for support. But what I seen was just a lot of amazing artistic human beings, a lot of people with huge passions for things that we produce in the entertainment industry that we work in, and I don't know man that did something to my heart.
Speaker 2:I didn't, I didn't get it before. I'm like what, what, what? You know what? Even I would see brian and I'm like I'll get it. Man, he's like so into it, he's so into it. Well, I went and now I know why it's like this. It like this, it's very communal, it's very family, it's very and I just that was my fault for not so much judging a book by its cover, but maybe not understanding the content of the book before I opened and read it, and it was just it turned out to be a beautiful thing for me.
Speaker 2:So when Davey did reach out, totally honored, scared, yes, but honored, and I'm going to be doing it next month for like two days, I get to sit there and do this amazing thing, this, this opportunity that I'm sure other people would just kill for, you know, to have opportunity to be a celebrity guest at some kind of con, you know. So that I'm nervous about and that's new waters for me. And you know, I still think it's going to be a great experience and we'll see how it goes. You know, man, I'm just a dude from like the bayou who works in the oil field, like that's it, you know. So that's a little overwhelming for me. You know, it's the same as TJ said. I think that's what brought a lot of the fear and anxiety with the celebrity guest panel.
Speaker 2:I don't look at myself as a celebrity, by no means. I mean, I don't think I'm not, like I act because it's therapy for me, it's. It's a different world now, because now people want to see that character, people want to meet that character. So now it becomes a different thing. Yeah, I'm at no level as like billy or or creek or christian, as these guys who had these, really, but like it's still scary, you know. Yeah, of course, because it's like I said, it's new to me, but as the days have gone on and it gets closer and closer to this thing not saying I wasn't excited about it, but I keep getting more and more excited about it. I keep, I guess my gratitude continues to grow to be able to attend something like that and experience it from behind the table.
Speaker 3:Well, so I first let me say I don't think there's anything wrong at all with being humble about it and maybe, after you get there and get through this event and you're not wanting to charge people for the experience and you see exactly what you just said people wanting to see you for some of the work product that you put out, that's, that's a good thing at the end of the day. That's what it's about, and I'm actually really impressed. I mean, I I've known you for a long time and that's one of the things that stood out about you early on was your humility, and you didn't know me from Adam and you were willing to answer questions and help me out with advice on self tapes and auditions. And I'm like man, you ever got this, what do you do in this situation? And you never acted like you were better or too cool for school to answer those questions, and I think that's really going to carry you a long way. It really is. There's plenty enough people that are jerks about it and it's cool that you're not, you know.
Speaker 2:I guess this is the lingering thought of like I'm not supposed to be here If that makes sense. You know Exactly, I'm not supposed to be here, if that makes sense, you know, uh, exactly, well, well, no, the imposter syndrome like, okay, so far the con, that came back for me, but as far as an actor, I've, I've gotten over that, that mountain right but like I don't think, I don't think I'm talking about is for the convention yeah, I don't think I'm supposed to be alive, not in a grim way, but it's like the life I led.
Speaker 2:I'm like man, like God saved me for something you know, and I'm like I'm just lucky to be breathing, like I'm lucky to be, to get up every morning in that bed, morning in that bed, and I'm lucky to be able to get up at four something in the morning and dress myself and go and work 10 hours in the oil field and then come home to an audition and do this audition and I'm beat and I'm tired and I've. Thank God I have such a supporting partner because my time is so limited with her. Like you know, it was like grocery shopping and then I had a producer director doing wardrobe stuff and and and I'm setting up for this and there was a couple other things on my an audition. There was just things on the list and then here I'm here now you know.
Speaker 2:So that's another thing too, like and I think we've discussed this before is make sure that if this is the road you take or this is the life you want, that you have the proper support system. You know, especially the one who's closest to you, and God bless her man, because she has been. I mean, look, the girl's going for her master's right now. She is a full time as an academic advisor. You're still muted, brian.
Speaker 1:We might have lost him. There's no red dot in his corner. There's another tech issue, folks. We can see when someone's fully engaged with the internet. When their computer is here, he comes. We think he's going to be linked together.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it'll all be one solid episode.
Speaker 1:We're back.
Speaker 2:Yeah, sorry about that guys.
Speaker 1:No, not your fault. I did want to stop you because a couple of things you said. You don't know what your purpose would be, and at least one is you are an inspiration for those struggling with alcoholism.
Speaker 1:I don't know how many have come up to you how many will come up to you, but you are shining light in that. You got out of that, you survived it and you strived. You became something great I don't want to say became something you know realized your potential. It'd be a better thing In the con world since that's my world and that's Comic-Con, not being a con man I think you should set up your table and just talk to people as they come by. A lot of times, people behind the table just sit down, just say, hey, how you doing you know free photos with you and you can charge like $5 or $10 for the pictures. It's your time and you've paid for those pictures. Now, if they're not selling and people don't want to do that, then you can drop it down.
Speaker 2:If I do make any money, I'll donate it into charity.
Speaker 1:That's fine. I'm not saying you're going to get rich off of it. My thought is break even on what you spent, right, but you don't make enough money, you know, between the films and the stuff that's your thing. I don't think you should devalue yourself from the start, even though you're not seeing it like that. You're worth probably more than five bucks, but that's my opinion on it, not much more.
Speaker 2:I appreciate that. I appreciate that.
Speaker 1:So thank you for those kind words and that those suggestions and that advice, we we are also getting our own table, tj and I, at Cajun Con, which we've talked about. We're going to have a little bit of merch. My signature is terrible. I bought a calligraphy thing to learn to do a thing, not that I want to. I've been asked once when someone found out I was deaf, tj, have I said that I was in Bill and Tiff, you were a guest.
Speaker 3:Photo double right.
Speaker 1:I was. I don't know how you found that out.
Speaker 3:I've heard it once.
Speaker 1:I haven't signed any autographs. I haven't been up to that level, but I wanted to be prepared for it. So at some point it's almost it's like when someone wants to give you a gift and you're like no, no, no, that what they enjoy giving you the gift.
Speaker 2:So someone asking for your autograph means that they like you. Yeah, so it's, it's, it's. It's happened like I mean, I'm male, I'm male headshots out pretty often. People reach out, they're like, you know, and cameron does a great job at, you know, printing them up and I'll sign it, write a little note and and she'll, uh, you know, get it all packed up and get everything mailed off and you know, so that was something kind of to get used to.
Speaker 2:People were like, hey, you know, like, do you have a headshot with your autograph? And then, I think it was like two weeks ago, there is this ill child and they are doing a benefit and I can't make it because I'm going to be on set next month, or this is November for a film, or next month. I got a, I got a film I'm filming in October and I got a film that I'm filming in November, sort of like, can you donate like an image of you from a film or from a whatever, like which signature? Like we want to auction it off, and I was just just like, oh, my God, like of course I can. So you know, I've, I've, I've kind of done that. I've just never charged anybody for it. Uh, yeah, it was. It was kind of like um, like I said, man, it was it's it's all new to me, but I'm excited. I'm excited to and I'm just that type of person, brian, like you were saying, if people come by say, I'm just that type of person that likes to converse and have conversations. So I think I'm going to be okay with that part of it. But you know, I've been praying about it and meditating on it and I'm excited to do it. And you know I'm just going to go do what I do. I'm going to show up, suit up, show up and be there. So I'm pretty excited about it. But before we were going, um got cut off. I was going back to Cameron, you know.
Speaker 2:So these long days we're talking about the support. Both of us are like worn out, like worn out from our day. And then you have that person there who's like and look, I'm gonna be honest, it could be major network, it could be independent film, it could be a commercial, it could be whatever and I'm just like oh, I was like, I'm not feeling this, like I'm tired. I've been up since 4 am and she's there and she's like this is what you do, like remember why you do this. This is what you do. And she'll be like look, I'm going to start supper, get in that room, get yourself set up. She's like we're going to read over. She's like you did your script breakdown. We're going to read over. She's like and then we're going to go in there and we're going to do what you do.
Speaker 2:So make sure you have that person or those people in your life that support this lifestyle, because it is not an easy one. It is nonstop. You won't hear nothing for weeks and then all of a sudden it's hammering down on you and the stuff you get outside of your agent doesn't stop. For the stuff they get, agent Life none of it stops. The interviews won't stop the whatever it may be, it just does not stop. It's ongoing and it's constant. And if you're not having anything come to you, you're working on stuff and you're working on you and you're working on your methods and you're working on your methods and you're working on whatever it is you got to work on to make you a better actor, to help you audition better, to help you break down a script for script analysis better. It just doesn't stop. But you have to have that.
Speaker 1:Yep, I agree tenacity is the key yeah, yeah, you gotta relentless.
Speaker 3:It seems like it hasn't really slowed down for you at all. For me it has come to all but a screeching halt. It just hasn't picked back up.
Speaker 2:For me, really the last year audition-wise there are hundreds and hundreds of other actors, a lot of actors I speak to, who are just there's nothing for them right now, you know, and there's nothing that they they early on in their career, so they haven't really had a chance to build up when it was popping and, and you know, so they, they, it's stagnant. You know, and and trust me, like I have my months of being stagnant, you know, like I came off of a film in April, right before the film boom, big Apple TV audition, boom, big Hulu TV series audition. I didn't book neither one of them and then I went and I filmed this film, uh, in April of this past year. And because of my work ethic, because of my acting, because of bringing me on to their next film, I'd assigned contract about a month ago that I start to film in November. Director, writer, the DP all love me, they're bringing me back. So that's what led for that film.
Speaker 2:And then, out of the blue, you know, I had really not a lot of auditions this summer. I spent a lot of time just in the oil field, one every few weeks. Maybe it would pop up a little commercial work here, there, you know, a little ad work here or there, but I mean nothing like. I mean weeks and weeks and weeks without nothing. And then, sure enough, like recently today, major Apple TV series audition, the other day, major TV series guest role audition, a guest star audition, you know. So that just came in like a wave and then I just signed a contract two weeks ago. I'm filming a film playing Joseph Poliquin's uncle in a film that we leave for next month and film that you know, but, like from May till, I think, they reached out to me and we, in September last month, end of last month, nothing, you know nothing. I mean it was crickets and you know, this is what I've learned is that when it's crickets, that's the film, gods, casting director, gods, whatever you want to call it saying, hey, work on you. So what I did was I spent a lot of time just working on me and and, and you know a lot of and a lot of insight, stuff of inside stuff, you know, and how could I use more of me and my acting and things that? I'm like man, I'm learning things, auditioning that, and I've booked some really great gigs, but I'm learning things and auditioning that wasn't even doing before because I got to spend time with me as a human being. You know so I was able to do a lot of like research within self, you know.
Speaker 2:So this thing is like sobriety. It's kind of weird and I always say this, and I just said it in an interview that just aired is that it costs right and the rent is due, like every day, no matter if you're hitting on something or you're not, you're still paying your dues in some form every day to this craft. And that could be from true life experiences and really stepping aside and really learning about what you just experienced as a human being and kind of retaining that and remembering and learning from it, because you're going to have an audition in probably five or six months from now and you're going to be like man. This character kind of went through what I was going through at this time, yeah, and like I remember how that made me feel and I'm glad I really dissected that feeling and I'm glad. I'm glad I really stored it here and here and can use it now in this moment where it's needed.
Speaker 2:So that cricket time is when you really do a lot of your work.
Speaker 2:Right, for me it is, it's when I do a lot of my work. It could be in school. You know what I like to call it is living life on life's terms and learning from that. That's the school right. We can get taught all that technical stuff with acting right. We could get taught eyeline and we can get taught lighting and having the proper backdrop, and we can get taught all that stuff that when we start to use our human experience for our characters. For me it's truth and that's what I want to be truthful, you know. So those times are important. They just as important as you being on a film set. I truly believe that's from my own experience. It's it's it's using that downtime to learn who you are, who you are as an actor, who you are as a human, you know, and taking those experiences, I mean let's we all open and we fringe tj that downtime where you see people close to you booking or you see booking. How did that make you feel? I?
Speaker 3:feel discouraged. Before the strike I was averaging four, about four auditions a week and I've had three in the last. Well, since the beginning, since January, I've had three. I've had two callbacks. I did one commercial. I feel like I got pretty close on this last commercial audition I did, but I'm just not getting auditions period. In the last year I think I've had maybe five and all but one have been for commercials.
Speaker 3:I'm not allowed to self-submit for auditions. Now if it's a project that somebody's advertising on Facebook or something like that, I can reach out to a director but I still have to pass it by my agent. But as far as getting auditions, it's just not happening. I mean, I'm happy for people that are getting the work and doing stuff and of course I've done projects, but it's all been personal projects that somebody has done. I say that I've had three from my agent. I did one audition for a film, a short. My daughter was doing her very first film audition. It was a live Zoom and the director knew, or the filmmaker knew, that I was an actor and he said, hey, do you want to read for something? And I'm like, yeah, absolutely. He sent me a side real quick. I read it and I booked it. But that that kind of thing aside, I'm just just not getting them right now. Yeah, and I don't. I don't know how to affect that change.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I think that change has a lot to do with the industry right now. Man, you know, and I'm sure I know myself and I'm sure Brian can relate, and you can relate, as we're tired of that excuse the way the industry is, and it's just, it's what's happening in the industry right now and I think that's where a lot of our faith has to come to, where we say, you know what, like, let me trust this process. You know you said you felt discouraged and that's okay, that's completely justified. You know it's important we don't sit in discouragement and it's important we use that discouragement to our advantage, right, so, you know it's picking up a book and studying a new method, it's researching other, different audition techniques. It's taking that discouragement, that feeling like I talked about earlier, and using that in a future role that will come up for you. I promise you. It always does. It's going to come up for you and never forget how you felt during this period in time. You know, and it may be just you having to make some different choices with agents or management or whatever it may be, because we all got to remember, at the end of the day it's business. You know.
Speaker 2:I think that sometimes we forget that, we forget that this is a business and the people above us, that's what they care about. Is money Right? And at the end of the day, when we do a project, I mean honestly, I love my craft, I love the, I have a passion for acting, I love acting. It's why I did the flaw, you know. Like I didn't have to go to my agent with that because I didn't make no money. Anything I make money on, I go to my agent, no matter if I book it or not, like or she does or I do or whatever. Like that's just a mutual respect that her and I have. It's for me it's just good business, of course, you know. But uh, yeah, man, it's okay for you to feel that. And, and, and I want you to know, you're not alone in that, because I have a bunch of acting friends and there's just I mean, you think about it, man, look at the productions we have nothing going on. Like we have nothing big going on. We don't have a lot of things going on, and you have places like I mean you guys look like I. Rarely I self submit Like I just the other day I was having a conversation it was Brian Brian's like hey, did you sue this thing on actress access? And and I'm like I was like dude, I'm terrible at opening up that app and looking for roles.
Speaker 2:Like I feel like that if, if there's a role for me that my agent doesn't find, they're going to come to me and think I'm right for this. And I've been lucky enough that people have come to me and they're like, hey, I've turned down probably about four or five films in the past three months because I'm and they came to me like man, I have this role, this is you. Like you, this is, this is your role. Like I wrote this and I feel like you wouldn't do it, but like I got to think of it as business too. You know, okay, I'm not traveling here for free. You know I'm not buying, going to spend money on wardrobe. I'm not. You know, whatever it may be like, if my agent don't find it, I'm not going to look for it. Like I'm just not.
Speaker 2:The fly was a cultural attraction. I had to it. Uh, I read it. It was the guys just comedic. Timing and writing is amazing. So I was like I got to be a part of this. It's my culture, it's my, you know.
Speaker 2:So sometimes, man, like you just have to trust that process and kind of sit back and enjoy, like really enjoy that time.
Speaker 2:I'm not going to lie to you, man. Sometimes I sit back and I'm like, please, no auditions this week. And I know that sounds horrible, but like sometimes, sometimes like I want to come home after working 10, 12 hours in the oil field, take a shower, eat supper, spend time with the woman I love, and like not hear about acting. You know, I'm not saying that because I don't like acting. I'm saying that because I love acting but I love my life too. So I feel like when I don't get an audition and I don't hear nothing for a month, two months or whatever, that's God saying like okay, here you are, you're having the time to build real and new human experiences. I'm giving you the time to read and become more knowledgeable on your craft and I'm like you know what I trust that Now, in saying that, I'm not going to say that I don't feel discouraged, right, but it helps me overcome that discouragement. It really does, you know, because I have that faith. Yeah, that makes sense.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think you exemplify an attitude of gratitude and I think that's something that will get you through, because my part I might have had 10, 15 auditions for the whole year, maybe a little more, and I've booked one thing.
Speaker 2:That's a good ratio number bro, yeah, so.
Speaker 1:I'm happy to book. I'm not complaining and we've all talked about this offline. But I wanted to use it as an example. I booked it in August. It was scheduled for August and got rescheduled for September, and then I got the notes on it, I got the call sheet, I got the wardrobe. Three hours after getting that email I got another email saying it was canceled or postponed again.
Speaker 1:I'm like what the hell's going on? And I'm frustrated and my wife said it seems like they're, you know, screwing with you. How long are you going to let that happen until we shoot? Yeah, you know, vacation coming in October celebrating my 18th wedding anniversary. I don't want to do it on that. The rule is if anything makes me SAG eligible, I'll skip the vacation. If it's non-union, let's see where it lands. You know what I mean Because, like there's a two part to our vacation, the first part is a little more expensive, so I don't want to have to. I think I can get a refund, I think I can save my money, but I don't want to lose my money on that. But I have to if I have to. That's the job we chose.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it is. You know it is the job we chose. You know it's. It's the months without hearing nothing, the year without hearing nothing. That's that we went into that, not not knowing. You know, and, and TJ, you did use your time wisely. You went and and you did other projects where you got to work on your craft of acting, you know. So. You know, and you have this show Y'all been doing interviews, which has to do with acting, you know.
Speaker 2:So like you're still staying busy. It might not be the busy I want sometimes, it might not be the busy Brian wants, it might not be the busy you want sometimes, but like we have to look at, you know, going back to gratitude, that we have something to stay busy. You know I mean remove acting. None of us ever heard of acting, none of us ever studied acting, none of us ever wanted to be an actor. We're not actors, we're just three dudes talking and I want you to take your everyday life experiences like a job.
Speaker 2:And then the time you get to spend with your family, you have to look at it kind of like that. You know you have to look at it. That you know. This is what I make time for here. What's important to me here? Well, my family's important to me here. My job's important to me here. My job helps me support my family. You know, and that's what you really have to concentrate on is that, and it's fitting that acting in that, you know, and you look at like, okay, look at all these things, what's more important, right? Well, it depends on what you believe in. For me, it's God, then it's family, then it's acting, and it's always going to be that. It's always going to be that.
Speaker 2:Now have I made some sacrifices before for family over acting, absolutely, but I made sure everybody was cool with it. I have that discussion and then I have to make sure that I'm still being that loving father and I'm still being that loving partner and I'm still being that loving partner and I'm still being that hard-working, dedicated, loyal employee. If I am going to do that, in other words, everybody's going to get that version of me loyal, hardworking, you know, and so on, you know. So I mean trust the process, man. It's not worth going crazy over, it's not worth beating the crap out of ourselves. Far, it's great, there's a lot of cool opportunities we have. It's a passion we have, it's something we love to do.
Speaker 2:But at the end of the day, it's not everything you know, it just isn't. You know, sometimes I think about like man, I moved to the countryside of France and just disappear, just me and my loved ones, and I'd be completely happy. I'm not saying there's a little part of me that would be like man. What could I have done in the film industry? That's always going to be there, it's a part of this.
Speaker 2:But you have to look at what your priorities are and in reality for me it's God, family, acting. That's it and I always keep it like that. If acting's not going so good, guess what? I got God and family, and that's always going to go good for me. God and family, right. If you have God and you have family or whatever your higher power is, if it's the universe, whatever you believe in, and you have family, your support system, your true foundation of the man you are and what you built, or woman you are and what you built, or whatever you are and what you built, then guess what Acting is going to be just fine, rather it's full force, or it's not Right Because you have those things above it. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's a really good outlook on that and I feel, I mean, I feel the same way. For me it's it's the same same family and then work.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and you know what?
Speaker 2:I don't care what interview I do and I don't care what it does to my reputation and what it does to my career, but I will always talk about I'm here because of God.
Speaker 2:It might be my concept of God, a God or a higher power of my understanding that I choose to call God, but I will always because I'm here. I'm here alive, talking to y'all because of my faith and what I believe in, and that's not something I talk a whole lot about, but I always, always make sure to mention it, because I wouldn't be y'all would have no interest in talking to me if I was just some random oil fuel worker who wasn't an actor, right? But God had allowed me to beat addiction and he allowed me to get rid of all these character defects and he allowed me to be a better person and to be loving and compassionate. And then he said you know, I'm going to give you a gift to go and tell a story, right? So without that, I mean, let's be real, Neither one of you would want to have me on live right now if you didn't know me well, not about an acting podcast, but we'd still love you you're still around there because you, truly, I'm looking to be.
Speaker 2:You get the point I'm making right, you know, like, uh, we would have never met through acting and and I would, I would just not be here, just like I would have been in that interview the other weekend or the past ones, or a con or or whatever you know. So I always, uh, always concentrate on that and always concentrate on my faith and I always concentrate on on my why. You know, we forget that sometimes, like what's your why, the why man is so important and why?
Speaker 1:why do we have to run out of time? It's been a great talk. I wish you could go on forever and I know you could talk and I know I could keep talking, but TJ's ears are starting to bleed Nah, not me. It's been great having you on again, my friend. We'll have you on again in another two years.
Speaker 2:Before that yeah, man, let's do a. Yeah, let's do every every two-year thing, but, uh, I'm sure, yeah, thank y'all for having me, man, I'm grateful that y'all used your time away from your families and from sunday afternoon to to sit here and and chat with me. I'm super grateful for that. And uh, yeah, man, I uh got movie next month, movie november, and then hopefully just a very quiet christmas and I thank for all three of us and my other acting friends that you know, I truly, truly am manifesting that we all have a prosperous, not only in our personal lives, but most, you know, which is most important, but our acting careers, that we have way more opportunities and we succeed in our goals in 2026 that we have for ourselves as actors For sure.
Speaker 1:Don't give up on 2025 yet, but yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we'll drop Hick. We'll drop your socials in the in the thing below. Spell for the non-Cajun French speakers in the audience. Spell the name of your film.
Speaker 2:It's called the Curse of the Fois F-O-I-S. So be looking for that and it's. Yeah, I just want you to know I have a very pivotal, but not a huge role in here. This is about the two main characters and them going on this journey to find out what's actually going on and the history of it, and I'm grateful for David Ravale for letting me be a part of that and he worked me in just in time, enough for me with my schedule and, yeah, I'm excited about it. Thank you so much for promoting it and talking about it, of course.
Speaker 3:Thanks for coming on, my friend.
Speaker 2:Thank y'all, man. Y'all have a blessed Sunday afternoon.
Speaker 1:You as well.
Speaker 2:You have a good.
Speaker 1:Monday.
Speaker 3:I'll try, Brian, we'll stay on after he goes for just a minute and plug our sponsor. Oh cool, Bye.
Speaker 1:Hick. See you, hick. Hick got to click the button. He go bye-bye.
Speaker 3:There you go. No, I was a. I can. I can do it from the producer tab.
Speaker 3:Really good interview. So this will be coming out. We'll have the recorded version of it stitched together from the tech technical difficulties where we had to drop a couple of times. We'll have that stitched together into one episode to release on Wednesday. And also want to mention our sponsor, jenna McCaffrey, attorney at law. She is currently running a special for anyone in the entertainment industry. She is a personal injury attorney. She doesn't do contract law or anything along those lines. She can direct you to somebody if you need that type of help. But if you're injured and not just in the entertainment industry, but if you're in a car wreck or you're injured, whatever the circumstance because she is an actor, she's offering a discount to people in the entertainment industry to come talk to her. Her consultations are always free and she will work very hard to get you what you deserve. Yes, and we also will have her contact information linked down below and it's on all of our socials, so she's pretty easy to find. Jenna McCaffrey, attorney at law.
Speaker 1:If you can't find her, come to us on socials and we will send you over to her. That's right, we'll get you the help you need and also.
Speaker 3:Thank you Sorry. Thank you, Jenna, for sponsoring the show.
Speaker 1:Thank you, we really appreciate it. Because of her sponsorship, that allowed us to sponsor Cajun Con and we've got golden tickets to give away. So it's a two-day con and these golden tickets will get you in for both days for free.
Speaker 3:So reach out to us. Go ahead, it's at the Lamar Dixon. I talk for a living. It's at the Lamar Dixon. I talk for a living. It's at the Lamar Dixon. What is it called? Convention Center Lamar Dixon and Gonzalez.
Speaker 1:Cultural Center.
Speaker 3:Cultural Center.
Speaker 1:Check our posts. Check Cajun Con's posts. Check out their social media.
Speaker 3:December 6th and 7th, correct, and there will be a lot of celebrity guests at that event 80 celebrities. This is, hands down, the biggest convention I will have ever gone to, and we get to sponsor it.
Speaker 1:We get to sponsor it. We get a table. We get to sit down, we get a booth. Come see us at a booth. We'll sign stuff if you want. Maybe we'll charge, but probably not.
Speaker 3:We will have some swag, some t-shirts and some other things.
Speaker 1:Maybe some giveaways too.
Speaker 1:There will be some giveaways, Some games. We're going to play a dice game with people, but more on that later. But reach out to us. We will send you some golden tickets. We have a limited supply, so first come, first serve. I've already started sending out to certain people, even ordering special envelopes to get it out to them. So we want you to join us at Cajun Con. Hick will be at Creator Con and there's a couple more cons coming to New Orleans. We're exploding with cons. We are indeed Good. More chance to meet people, that's right. It's been great talking to you.
Speaker 3:Jay, likewise. We'll see you next time, folks.
Speaker 1:See you.
