mostly david ephgrave

The last few days have been a strange mix of being pencilled for a job shooting* in South Africa at the end of January, trying to speed through a passport application in time to get a visa to do it and feeling rough enough to have a COVID-19 test too. Thankfully, I received the good news that I haven't got the virus this morning, which was a relief. The trip to Africa's southernmost point, however, fell through on Friday. And while the job would have been a great way to start the new year (particularly when work's so scarce), I must admit I'm a bit relieved; now's not exactly the time to explore far-off lands, even if I'd hoped to kickstart a collaboration with Ladysmith Black Mambazo. The passport situation was stressful. My old one expired on the 31st December and I'd only just applied for a replacement a few days earlier when the request for a self-tape for the job came through. As soon as my agent told me about the pencil, I was on the case trying to fas...

Much of today was taken up with filming a self-tape audition video for a casting that came through Spotlight. This inevitably meant I didn't get around to the things I'd earmarked for the day, but such is life. It was still productive, though the technology was not playing ball for much of it. For one, I was doing a lot of balancing of devices on top of guitar cases etc so I could film myself - which I'm sure Spielberg does constantly - and then hoping for the best. I was also trying to tick all the boxes of their quite specific requirements within my limited set-up. It was nice to have a casting enquiry come in for a change. It serves to reiterate how different things could be if I had good representation again. When I saw the reference images for the person I'd be playing if I got the job, I could see completely why they'd asked for me, but it would be nice for this stuff to not come up once in a blue moon; just think how many things that could be perfect for ...