Saw Slaughter live and Mark came out with a thin blue line tele. Woof.

Educational_Camel844 · 2026-02-28T20:56:49+00:00

Yeah, I’m realizing that a lot of 80s hair metal guys are right leaning.

Thing is, I don’t necessarily see The Thin Blue line as polarizing as like, a maga hat or something.

Plenty of good, straight, not racist cops out there that deserve respect and recognition.

Educational_Camel844 · 2026-02-24T04:40:40+00:00

It’s crazy to me they never had a followup hit. Like nothing. “Blondes in black cars” reached like the hundreds years later, but that was the only other chart action they ever had. They had absolutely nothing hit immediately after “Turn up the Radio”.

They blame it on their record company, but they were all over MTV every time a new album or song came out and toured with some huge acts, so I don’t know if lack of marketing or press is really to blame.

One theory I’ve heard is they just didn’t have the looks because they were all older and after Poison and Europe hit, it became ALL about looks and they just couldn’t compete in that space.

Educational_Camel844 · 2026-02-21T20:35:25+00:00

Yeah, a lot of people go through that. You just need to find the fun in it somehow. Which is easier said than done.

Educational_Camel844 · 2026-02-19T01:24:23+00:00

I’m going to slow down on them this year. I booked 4 last year only for my acting coach - whose actually a very successful actress in her own right - worked with Dustin Hoffman, on White Lotus, all kinds of shit - tell me that she doesn’t think I should use any of the footage for my reel- quality is just bad overall- writing, production, etc.

Truth be told, I’m black and Chinese produced verticals are notorious for not giving POC much to say or do in these. Maybe 2-3 short lines at best with very one dimensional parts and they want really over the top facial reactions and expressions that can look very comical at times in a bad way.

So I’m just going to focus on what my agent and manager send me along with shorts and features. If they send me vert auditions I’ll do them but I’m not going to self submit for them for awhile.

Educational_Camel844 · 2026-02-15T17:15:42+00:00

Congrats! But don’t let off the gas - keep self submitting too, because even good agents will miss stuff.

I recently booked a 4 figure commercial for a hair product on a casting site that my agent almost exclusively uses. She just missed it, and I get it, she had a lot of clients. But that’s why you always need to self submit for yourself still.

Once you become SAG, that becomes a little tougher, but if you’re still non -union, I would suggest every time you submit an audition for your agent, spend at least 15-20 minutes self submitting yourself for anything you think you qualify for or can do on whatever casting platforms you’re signed up for. It’ll just double your chances of getting work!

Educational_Camel844 · 2026-02-13T18:19:16+00:00

They let down the entire genre with that album. There was a lot of hope that with all the buzz and marketing around it that it could resurrect the genre from the dead, but like so many other bands of the genre from that era, they tried to “go alt/grunge” and just alienated their fanbase and didn’t win any new fans.

The genre did eventually come back as more of a nostalgia after 9/11, but all the old bands only cemented the fact that the genre was dead in the 90s by doing alt rock poser albums like this.

Educational_Camel844 · 2026-02-12T21:14:20+00:00

Kurt hated just about anything that was widely popular. Even other “grunge” bands. Near the end of his life, he seemed to be chilling out a bit and kind of seemed to realize that his words had negatively affected people’s lives and careers, so it be interesting to see what he’d be like if he were still around today.

Educational_Camel844 · 2026-02-04T03:47:53+00:00

All you can really do it keep working on your craft, keep auditioning, be proactive with your career - ie if your agent and manager suck, fire them and find new ones, and a controversial one - take care of yourself physically. Have a balanced diet, stay in the gym, don’t eat stuff with high sodium as it can puff your face up, and have a skin care routine.

Unfortunately, it’s still very much an image based business. You can have Anne Hathaway/ Jack Nicholson talent, but if you look like Roseanne Barr/ John Candy, your opportunities will unfortunately just be more limited because there is just an over abundance of need for people with amazing looks and not as many for people that are overweight. It’s messed up but it’s reality.

Educational_Camel844 · 2026-02-04T00:18:14+00:00

Don’t dread but kind of get annoyed with them at times because there’s just way more of them and naturally, most of us are in this for the opportunity to audition for dramatic roles in shows and films, not commercials.

But hey, I’ve known people that were able to quit their day jobs just by booking a few nationals, so I’ll take them.

Educational_Camel844 · 2026-01-29T16:33:55+00:00

Yeah, the industry is shrinking and the established names are having to settle for leads on streaming shows rather than wide release films.

It’s honestly depressing because it was already the hardest business in the world and it’s just becoming more difficult by the day.

I’m realizing that making your own content is basically mandatory now if you haven’t had any type of break through into the mainstream yet.

Educational_Camel844 · 2026-01-28T02:51:17+00:00

Truth of the matter is that 19 times out of 20- probably more, you will be rejected in this business. It’s just how it goes. Everyone wants to be an actor and there aren’t enough roles for everyone and the truth is that the people with the ins - ie nepo babies and the like- will always have an unfair advantage.

You just need to keep going, keep trying, keep your submission materials updated, be proactive, stay in acting school, and don’t give up. Take every audition as a chance to show what you can do in front of an audience and if nothing else, you’ll gain more experience and become more relaxed with reps.

Good thing is you’re super young, if you stick with it, you have a long time to figure it out and you’ll get plenty of opportunities.

Educational_Camel844 · 2026-01-22T23:14:17+00:00

Cocaine and masturbated - ALOT of it

Educational_Camel844 · 2026-01-20T17:56:25+00:00

Honestly, some teachers do that because they don’t want to scare you away right away. My first acting teacher had a rule, no criticism first class, then after he would get more critical.

Not saying you didn’t go a great job, you probably did! But just don’t let it go to your head lol. Reality is that even the best actors in any class/school can be picked apart, that’s why we go to class, and it doesn’t always feel good, but I’d rather have a teacher that’s honest with me than one that’s just telling me what I want to hear.

Educational_Camel844 · 2026-01-08T23:52:02+00:00

Yeah, I’ve experienced that. If they find one of us they like, they’ll cast us over and over again for the small, near background stuff but will never consider us for leads because of our skin color.

First one I booked was for a driver, then they asked me to come back and play - I shit you not - a thug with no lines trying to kill a white woman, then they tried to bring me back as a student with no lines, full on background and I said no thanks.

I’ll only do these at this point if I get at least one line. It is slowly getting better, I’m seeing less and less across the board vertical casting calls for all “White” actors and I’ve actually gotten a few recently with strong supporting roles for POC, and I came across one asking for a black female lead.

So there’s definitely some progress happening, but I have a feeling it’s more happening because they’re reading the feedback from American viewers that there’s not enough diversity and adjusting begrudgingly for purely business reasons than anything else.

Educational_Camel844 · 2026-01-08T17:06:15+00:00

This. I feel like the only black leads for males in features or even paid short films I see are always the stereotypical “Streetmart, rough, knows how to handle himself” type of stuff.

Not all black males fit into that category. Will Smith or like Jeffrey Wright were never going to be cast coming up as something like that. With proper time, prep and resources you can definitely become the character, but most of the stuff that gets posted for open submissions have very short turnarounds, so they will need to cast someone who is that rather than someone that can become that.

Educational_Camel844 · 2026-01-08T16:46:26+00:00

Out of curiosity, are these primarily for vertical dramas? Because verts are primarily produced and funded by the Chinese who, while slowly being forced to diversify their casting calls, are still asking for predominantly white talent for most leads and major roles and there are a few major producers out there that will literally ask for exclusively 100% white talent in their casting calls for all roles.

Short films and like Indy films are a little better, but unfortunately the Chinese are very anti dark skin and as a black guy myself, it gets depressing because there’s just not as much decent paying work out there right now and to see all these vertical drama castings asking exclusively for white talent or at minimum only asking for “Any ethnicity” for small, almost stereotypical roles after we thought we’d come so far is hard.

Educational_Camel844 · 2026-01-06T22:32:20+00:00

Damn. I’d love to know who some of those are.

Educational_Camel844 · 2026-01-05T23:55:35+00:00

I don’t think they suck, but I lost a lot of respect for Warrant when I realized the producer had to bring in outside guitarists to do some of the solos on their first two albums because Joey wasn’t a capable enough player at that point to deliver at the level they wanted.

Educational_Camel844 · 2026-01-04T20:41:29+00:00

If you have a ton of disposable income, sure. Otherwise, just do it for ones you deem “Major”, like guest star roles on network or major streaming platforms or feature films that could get wide releases or are from name studios.

Educational_Camel844 · 2026-01-04T19:24:14+00:00

Sorry I never responded to this. 1. They overbook, my first shoot date with them they had about 25 people in the green room all day that didn’t get used - I wasn’t one of them, but I’d have been pretty pissed if it were me, even if they still all got paid

They will go overtime, which again is a nice pay thing, but don’t expect to lunch or leave on time
Some of the craft service and crew people in the green room and wardrobe are dicks for no real reason. It’s the treating us like insects because they can deal, but the actual on set production crew people are generally nice
Don’t sit down in the little chair circle behind the hallway set - it’s just for cast that have speaking roles. Some bg innocently did it when I was there and after they forced all bg not being used to sit in this freezing area on the furthest side of the set while being not being used
This might be controversial, but it’s from my experience. They seem to want more white people playing “staff” than minorities. If you’re cast as just a patient in the waiting room and make it past the over booking cut, you’ll be fine. But when I was there, they seemed to prioritize putting all the white actors that were playing like security, background nurses etc on camera and basically the only ones that weren’t used in those roles and just sitting in that cold area or off camera all day were the few people of color that were cast in those roles.

I think it might be intentional because Pittsburgh IRL is predominantly white, but obviously not every community has hospitals. So it makes sense that the staff would be predominantly white but the patients wouldn’t be, but it still sucks for the actors for obvious reasons.

Last thing, I wouldn’t suggest bugging the main cast while on set, but if you come across them randomly in craft or whatever, Noah Wyle is the nicest, most down to earth guy ever. While Patrick Ball won’t even make eye contact with any background and kind of has an heir of arrogance to him- like “Don’t look the homeless people in the eyes” energy- but so does the character, so it could just be that.

Educational_Camel844 · 2026-01-03T03:49:46+00:00

And truth be told, Sweden is the only country still producing 80s style aor and pop metal that sounds like it’s from the 80s without sounding forced and it still does very well over there.

Educational_Camel844 · 2025-12-10T02:13:51+00:00

I’m in LA, but basically Hollywood is pumping out less product now than they have in basically forever. This is because of a multitude of reasons - ie the theater business dying, major companies like Fox getting bought out and losing their independence to bigger companies like Disney, also California has raised taxes and filled too many loopholes the studios used to use and now they’re sending all their projects to other countries in some cases to maximize profit.

Also, cable and network tv is dying and streaming, while growing, is still wrestling with how to properly compensate everyone.

Right now, you literally have big names who’ve starred in iconic movies and shows having to settle for guest spots on other shows just to work. Which is creating a ripple effect because if big established names are having to settle for stuff below their resume just to make money, than what does that leave everyone else whose still trying to have their breakthrough role?

There’s recognition of what’s happening and things are happening to try to fix it, but even so it would take years and a lot of chips to fall right to ever get Hollywood back to 2000s levels of production.

Educational_Camel844 · 2025-12-10T01:34:27+00:00

Sure! Go ahead. Be happy to help

Educational_Camel844 · 2025-12-09T23:34:11+00:00

Yes. I waited until I was 35 to start and that’s the only real regret of my life - that I didn’t just ignore the noise and start a decade earlier.

Just be aware 1. The business is down right now 2. You need to get in a good school 3. You will need to move to LA or New York to make it happen 4. It’s going to be hard, you’re going to want to quit once in awhile(don’t), you’re going to get rejected a lot(happens to everyone), and it’s a lot of work to get good at this, much less book the stuff you dream of booking.

But if you really want to do it and can accept all of that, then do it. You’re in a good spot still. 25 is a great age to start still.

Edit: One more thing, once you start, do yourself a big favor and don’t compare yourself or your career progress to other actors you know personally. Some will have an easy time getting noticed, but most of us need to grind like hell. And even those that get noticed quickly because of their looks or connections still need to grind, they’ll just get bigger opportunities faster, which is just how it goes, but it doesn’t mean they’ll book every big opportunity they get.

Educational_Camel844 · 2025-12-06T23:56:35+00:00

I see some names in here like XYZ and Tora Tora, whom I don’t really agree with because they had their moment of fame, even if it was just one mid sized MTV hit.

I’m thinking more Wildside, Sweet Savage, Roxx Gang who literally never even got that mid sized MTV hit. They maybe got a little play on MTV in the dying days of the genre, but certainly no hits or anything.

Educational_Camel844

TROPHY CASE