THAD UPDATES AND DVD INFO!
MARCH-JUNE 2009
Finally finished shooting Stalking. The stress of production is over, but other stresses have popped up recently. Mainly financial shit. My dental work that needs to be done is going to cost $2800. Not sure how I'm going to pull that off. And on top of that, I gotta go to court soon and possibly go even more broke. But hey, at least Stalking is wrapped.
JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2009
Been working full-time on Free Radio's second season. Haven't had any time to shoot Stalking these last couple months. Once I'm wrapped on Free Radio, I'll be able to continue Stalking. I've been antsy about it. I really want to shoot more of my own project, and I fear it's gonna get cold if I wait too much longer. I've got some dedicated actors, though, so I'm not too worried about them losing interest. I guess I'm just anxious to get more accomplished, since the project has been on hold all this time. Plus I discovered there's a lot of re-shoots that need to be done, which is extremely frustrating for both me and Eddie. When you spend hours and hours in the middle of a cold night to early morning working hard on something, only to discover that a lot of it is unusable, it can really make your heart sink.
NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2008
Started shooting Stalking with a small, but great-to-work-with, cast. It's been fun, but difficult. Lots of work ahead. With only me and my friend Eddie producing the project, it takes a while to get scenes done. We shot from midnight to 6 in the morning for a scene that will only end up lasting about a minute after editing. It feels like we've done a hell of a lot of work so far, but I know there's a long way to go. This is another one I wrote, am directing, starring in, and of course will be editing as well. We'll see what happens, huh?
SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2008
Found out Free Radio is getting picked up for a second season. I'd almost given up hope. The reason this is important is because I ended up having to pay a television/radio union called AFTRA $1,500 to become a member just for working on Free Radio, which means I didn't make much money at all after all the expenses. Now that I'm a paid up member, this means I'll actually be able to keep the money I make on this second season. Why should you care? I guess there's no good reason you should... but I'm sick of being poor, so I'm happy about this DAMMIT!
FREE RADIO AND OTHER VARIOUS SET PICTURES
JULY-AUGUST
With Late completed, I realize that I'm ready to make another drama. My next project will be called Stalking. I wrote the script years ago. Since all I made back then were weird comedies and stop-motion films, I wasn't comfortable shooting a drama. But now, with the kind of reaction Late has gotten, I know I'm capable.
I'm not going to put Late online. If you want to see it, just let me know. There are ways.
MAY-JUNE 2008
Finally finished editing my longest short film to date, LATE. I'm not going to put it on youtube for two reasons. It's almost half an hour, and it's not a comedy. I don't want to have to chop it up into three parts, because I think internet audiences have a short attention span. Also, since it's more on the serious side, I have a feeling people who are familiar with my other videos might get bored if they're expecting another comedy. I'll have screenings here and there. Email me if you're interested.
I got to work with one of my favorite directors, Sam Raimi. I was an extra for 4 days on his new movie, Drag Me To Hell, in a gypsy wake scene. He was really nice. I had met him before at a signing, but it was even cooler to be directed by him. That was another thing that impressed me with him as a director. Most directors just sit behind a monitor and have their assistants direct for them. Even though I was an extra, Sam Raimi actually called me by name and gave me specific direction. He didn't leave it up to a PA or 2nd AD, he directed me personally. Very admirable.
JANUARY-APRIL 2008
Spent all this time in Illinois and got bit by a brown recluse spider. I was bed ridden for like two weeks. Anyway, during these three months spent out of state, I didn't work on any movies. Wrote a lot of music, though. This is what my bite looked like.
DECEMBER 2007
One of my favorite comedians, Neil Hamburger, was guest bartending in Silver Lake one night, so I brought my video camera and documented part of the evening.
I've been getting a lot of hate mail on The Polack and The Jew, which surprises me, because it's one of my tamest videos. But it's kind of funny how people can take something so ridiculous so seriously. The bitching is only coming from Poland. No one else has had any complaints.
SEPTEMBER-NOVEMBER 2007
Worked full-time for 5 weeks on an awesome show called Free Radio. We had a lot of great guests come in. I play the sound engineer. Pretty much glorified background work, but if you watch VH1 in February of 2008, you'll definitely see me. Fun times!
Plus I helped my girlfriend (at the time) make this music video for a contest.
We shot this in two days.
JUNE-AUGUST 2007
Shot a ketchup commercial for this contest Heinz was having. I didn't win or anything, but hey, it's just another project for my reel. If you want to check it out, you can do so right nya.
Also, I finished shooting Late (that serious film I've been working on). Right on time, too, because my lead actress just moved to Berkeley. Haven't started editing yet, and frankly... I have no damn idea when I'll feel like getting started on that shit. I'll let you know when I do.
Oh, and finally something good and worthy of an actual update has happened! My stop motion Lego music video, SNOWMAN, got played at Comic-Con by Spike for the Sick and Twisted Animation Festival. It was a success, and I signed a contract for more theatrical releases. So if the Spike (and Mike) Sick and Twisted Animation Festival comes to your town, you can see my video on the big screen. Pretty cool, huh?
GO HERE FOR MORE ABOUT COMIC-CON
JANUARY-MAY 2007
Another bad relationship come and gone. Being cheated on in two relationships in a row inspired me to start shooting a film I've been wanting to make for a while. It's not a comedy, which is why I've held off on it, but I definitely feel like going in a more dramatic direction with my movies. Not all of them, of course, but with the shitty things that have been going on in my life... I don't feel very fucking funny. Now's a good time to start something serious. So keep checking in for more information on the progress of my short drama, Late.
JULY-DECEMBER 2006
What was supposed to be the best year of my life really just ended up being the biggest fuck over I've ever experienced. Long story. But in the months before I made a huge mistake by flying to the 50th God Forsaken state, I managed to complete two new videos.
First, I shot a music video for my friend Nathan Payne. It's my attempt at a film noir piece.
Next, my parody of crappy sitcoms... which some would argue IS a crappy sitcom.
JANUARY-JUNE 2006
Weirdest and by far the coolest music video I've ever been a part of! Brian Posehn (Mr. Show) and Scott Ian (Anthrax) teamed up to do a song called Metal By Numbers on Posehn's new comedy album, Live in Nerd Rage. They were looking for people to get in a mosh pit for the video, and I volunteered. I moshed with a ninja, an ultimate fighter, and (get ready for this shit)... a viking riding on top of a real horse!
Did a really quick job as a hotel clerk in this movie called The Rose of Sharon. Funny thing about that one... my friend Paul stars in the film. He was like "Woah, I know this guy!" Needless to say, I was also really surprised to see him... especially as the lead!
Played a student bouncer in this movie called The Boys' and Girls' Guide To Getting Down. Pretty much a rounchy sex comedy. I didn't say anything in it, just had to act clueless and do some funny facial expressions and physical things.
NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2005
Not much going on... in a giant pit of depression.
AUGUST-OCTOBER 2005
The Janitor DVD came out on Sept. 9th. I was too curious about what Andy had to say, so I bought a copy. Here's what it says in the commentary during my scene...
ANDY: That other guy in the scene is Thad, he's a dick!
JOHN: Thad is a wonderful man.
ANDY: Thad's an ass!
JOHN: You are a horrible man.
ANDY: I hate you, Thad. You are an uncreative, worthless piece of shit!
TJ: Tell them why you hate Thad.
ANDY: (a really long series of bleeps indicating something very bad)
It's funny that they actually had to bleep out something on an unrated DVD. It's cool, though. I realize he was very drunk. I actually saw him at this thing called NecroComicon, a horror comic convention. I was there to see the Kids of Widney High and Rudy Ray Moore of Dolemite fame. Also, the main Janitor film makers were there to demonstrate how to do the FX for one of the scenes in the movie. When I got there, it was half price to get in because OJ Simpson was supposed to be there, but wasn't on that particular day. I was disappointed to hear that Rudy Ray Moore had left early... but I hear that he stayed to see The Janitor and really liked the film. So anyway, it was time for The Janitor FX thing, and ironically enough, they were demonstrating MY scene. So it was kind of funny to see some volunteers to play the 3 different parts, and one of them playing me of course. I'm glad I didn't have to play me again, because I recall it being a very uncomfortable process. When I did that scene over 2 years ago, I remember fake blood being in my eyes, up my nose, in my mouth, and in my underwear. I do admit that it was still pretty fun, though.
I worked two really long days and nights on this movie called Southland Tales. It was from 6am on Tuesday to 3am on Wednesday. Then we had to be back on set by noon on the same day, and worked until 8am on Thursday. I think I got three hours sleep between Tues. and Thurs.... if that. Even though I said I wasn't going to mention anymore background work, I had to bring up this one. Why? Because it's going to be a kick ass movie! It's a sci-fi/musical/comedy/thriller starring The Rock! I peed next to The Rock by the way. It was like 4 in the morning. I didn't want to say anything or look over though, because we were both tired, and if he thought I was looking at his junk, he might have kicked my ass. And I really didn't want to have my ass kicked by The Rock in a bathroom at 4 in the morning after working almost 20 hours straight.
JULY 2005
Okay, this is pretty ridiculous. I play an Arab guard in a History Channel special about the Book of the Dead. They shaved my face, painted me brownish, and tucked my long hair up under a fez. I'm so painfully caucasion... I can't wait to see how ridiculous I look on TV.
I played a 1980s metal fan in a Backstreet Boys music video. Now, say what you will about their music, but those guys were fucking cool to hang out with. They were funny, nice, down to earth people. The video is for a song called "I Just Want You to Know." It's very pop sounding, but for some reason, everyone's dressed like it's a 1985 heavy metal concert. In fact, they played metal songs during the shoot, instead of the video's song, because they wanted proper energy from the metal head actors... and they sure as hell weren't getting it with that Backstreet Boys tune.
APRIL-JUNE 2005
I was on Jimmy Kimmel Live again, this time as a self-hating PETA protestor. Tinky Winky clubbed me in the kneecap... and that fucker actually went full force. Oh well, I put some ice on it, and felt better while signing all the paper work for my 400 dollars. I only have like 4 seconds of screen time, too! That's like 100 bucks a second! Ridiculous, huh? Ridiculously awesome! Heheh, definitely the coolest job I've had.
The Janitor DVD is going to be sold in stores. Apparently, I get some shit talked about me in the commentary. To tell the truth, I don't mind much... as long as I get a free copy. I mean, hell, I helped him out for free. The least he can do is give me a copy, right? Well, either way, it's pretty cool that Andy's finally getting his movie distributed. You can go to the site to see exactly when it's coming out. And hopefully I'll be getting a copy before the release date.
Also... I'm pretty much a fulltime extra/background actor now. Most things I've been on won't be worth mentioning just because there's so many now. Lucky You, Material Girls, Flicka (I saw a horse break its neck and die on the set for this one), Rent... just a few of the projects I've done recently. Not big parts by any means. I was a Texas Hold 'em Player, a Paparazzi, a Rodeo Spectator, and a Bohemian. It's fun times. So now the updates will be limited to more important things, like speaking/featured roles or whatnot. Keep checking... maybe it'll happen.
CLICK HERE FOR PICTURES OF ME ON VARIOUS SETS
JANUARY-MARCH 2005
When I got a job on the HBO show Deadwood as a prospector, I had no idea it was going to be a full time thing. Luckily for me, it was. They needed guys with long hair and/or scruffy faces. It turns out that a lot of the older guys on this show had been working it since day one. That means that they have relied on Deadwood as the main source of their income for 3 years or so. After only a couple months of me being on it, shooting wrapped for season 2. I met a lot of cool people there, and I'll probably go back when they start up season 3. On the days I wasn't working Deadwood, I'd try to find other movies/tv shows. I played Cody the Disreputable Canadian Friend on Jimmy Kimmel Live. All they did was take a bunch of pictures of me looking drugged out, so that Jimmy Kimmel could make a joke about me while my picture was up on the screen for 5-10 seconds. What else did I do? A Progressive Commercial, an independent film called Virginia... hmmm, I think that's about it. I really haven't been doing background acting that long, so my resume is far from huge... if you'd even want to list background experience.
CLICK TO SEE MY FIRST JKL APPEARANCE
DECEMBER 2004
I played a zombie in the movie, Last Rites. It was pretty fun. I got to fuck around with blood and get blown up and smashed and punched and 2x4ed in the face. They gave me like 20 dollars for gas money, but that was about it. I talked to some of the other zombies in the movie, and they told me I should join a casting company so I could get paid more for doing work like this. I figured... hey, I already enjoy doing this kind of shit, so I might as well get paid for it in the process. I joined up with a casting agency like two weeks after that. I got to be an extra on Wes Craven's Red-Eye soon after I joined.
CLICK HERE TO SEE MY ZOMBIE PICTURES
OCTOBER 2004
I was hit hard by the loss of my external harddrive. I haven't updated my website since then. This will be the first time in over 5 months. What was on my harddrive? Well... all my original movie projects! All the uncompressed video files, all the premiere project files, all the mpeg'd versions of my movies, and all my captured video files. Oh wait... the list goes on. All the saved webpage files were lost... so whatever I didn't put online, I could not get back. The pictures that went along with my webpage files were also lost. Some unfinished scripts, my unfinished novel, my poems, my short stories, and my saved essays from college were also on the drive. About 5,000 mp3s, and about 200 videos were also on there. Even though they took years to collect, those mp3s and downloaded videos can be replaced... unlike most of the other things I listed. You know what else sucks? I bet I'm leaving out a bunch more stuff that I lost on there. Anyway, it took a while to get over. Actually, I'm still not over it. But I'm slowly trying to replace some of the work I lost. I was able to get some mpegs of my movies back, but the original uncompressed files are pretty much gone forever. I guess sucky quality is better than nothing... I guess. This has been a really painful blow to me and it's definitely affected my productivity.
NOW THE DVD INFO
Thad's DVD includes higher quality versions of Revenge, Confrontation, and The Vending Machine of Death. Also featured are my oldest lego death stop motion movies and my lego man music video, On the Outside...song by Oingo Boingo of course. Older stop motion is also included, such as my lego man sword fight, lego man eye stab, and a clip from the adventures of little black boy. Happy project is also on there if anyone is still reading.
Bonus features: Commentary by THAD on Revenge, Confrontation, The Vending Machine of Death, and On the Outside. Chapter Selection for Revenge so that you skip some of the bullshit and get to the kick ass fight scenes...even though the whole movie is good. Outtakes from Revenge. Stills from my Crazy Man comics. And MENUS!!! Oh wait, that's not really a special DVD feature, is it? Well, it is for me, because I've never been on DVD before, so again...MENUS!!!... and BUTTONS!!!!!
Now you may ask... "but Thad, how do I get a copy of this spectacular DVD of outstanding lego man stop motions and tolerable, but short, live action movies?" There is a way, my friend... aquaintance... or complete stranger. You can email me and I'll sell you one for the low low price of $7.99 + shipping, unless you live really close, then fuck shipping!
"But Thad, I don't have a DVD player, can I just buy a VHS copy?"
Yes, but I wouldn't recommend it. DVDs are the wave of the future, dude. Wave of the future!!!
The Toaster is also available on DVD. It has some outtakes on there as well. Since I don't think it's fair to charge almost 8 bucks for a DVD with only ONE movie about 11 minutes long on it, I'll throw it in with the original Thad DVD for $10 instead of $7.99. If you JUST want The Toaster, $5 will do it. I wish I could afford to give out free DVDs, but I'm poor.
If you want a DVD quality version of SNOWMAN, my new Lego music video for the band Daiquiri, I can throw that in with the Toaster for $7, or if you want all three DVDs: Toaster, Thad's short films, and Snowman... hmmm, let's say $12. That's pretty good, right? Three DVDs for 12 dollars! Well... I think it's a damned fine deal.