On Set! "Banker By The Lake" Short Film!

Over the weekend I acted in Shukai Wang's short film "Banker By The Lake."

The short film follows an asian immigrant, Vincent, having an existential crisis about his job in the banking industry.

I play the role of, David, Vincent's jack-ass coworker.

I auditioned for the part the day after I returned from Montreal.  I was a bit tired, but knew I needed to make an attempt.  The audition was relaxed, and I made the director and the other people in the room laugh with a quick improv.  That night they let me know I had the part and they sent over a rehearsal and shooting schedule.

To smooth over my dialogue, Shukai and I met during lunch for a quick rehearsal.  Shukai liked my improv enough to where he wanted to integrate some of those aspects into the script.

Then last week we had one more rehearsal with all the actors on location.  Through connections, Shukai was able to shoot at the American Express Building in downtown Manhattan near the World Trade Center.

I was in two scenes.  The first scene is in a board room with another actor who plays our boss.  Then the other scene is a dialogue between Vincent and my character, set in an awkward moment in a bathroom; just like Fonzie's office at Arnold's.  We rehearsed all the lines, moments and actions until we were completely comfortable.

Originally we were supposed to shoot on Sunday morning, but that was switched to Saturday afternoon.  I had another job early Saturday morning and was concerned with time, however as small budget productions go, there were technical issues that delayed production.

The call time was pushed to later in the afternoon and the set wasn't ready to shoot until late in the evening.

Once the locations were established the actual shooting was very quick and efficient.  Shukai knew exactly what he wanted and since we had time to rehearse, there were no wasteful takes.

The most difficult part of the whole shooting process for me was getting through the Amex building's security, which is more rigorous than getting through airport security.

I know that Shukai completed all of the shooting over the weekend.

I'll post more information when I learn more about screenings, festivals, etc.

I caught the onset still photographer

Production guys in their makeshift office

Jamie Blond played the manager, Mike. 

The sound guy outside of the board room. 

And then the still photographer caught me.

My perspective, inside of the bathroom.

Shukai, the director, is in the middle.

More shots of production.

Caught on the video assist in between takes.