Shorts

So the past half a year or so I have had to realize I am a daddy. Other than that I have been working on short after short. A few turned out to be more about learning from unprofessional film makers than about getting great content. I am always humbled by every gig I book. I thank God for leading me into a place where I know it is not all about me and how awesome I am. I am with an agent now…not on the legit board yet but I am hoping that will change come the end of April. I will be getting back into a class this week for the first time in almost a year!! I miss playing in a sand box with a talented teacher leading me. Alright. Love ya. Imitate Him.

Damned Waters a new play by Greg Paul Thomas is the most recent project I have been working on. It is a play about how the past and the people in it can act as roots that keep you where you are. This of course is just one characters perspective but she is the center of this story. WOW I THOUGHT I FINISHED THIS POST! The show was great...I learned a ton. My buddy Brennan Vickery (way better actor) really helped me with his feed back. He told me I need to be a 4 year old as soon as the lights are up. I checked out a lot in my performance because I was mad at certain inconsistencies in the circumstances. He told me I looked like I didn't care in the first act. I applied the notes and my the last run it was awesome! Ahh It has been a while since the show...I learned once again that I have gapping holes in my craft. I need to grow in focus and discipline. Isaac

MY SON MY SON JUDAH ROMAN

On September 8th at 13:34 our son Judah Roman Haldeman was born! There is a new meaning to everything I do. This is a truth repeated by fathers down the line...when I held my son in my arms a whole new weight was felt. There is a fire under my butt! There is new purpose to all that I do. These are the phrases I would hear my friends saying as they had their kids...I 2nd them:) So I am hoping the work will show the new depth that come into my life. Isaac

I have done a few things since my last post...I just am not a blogger...I feel like a poser.

So I have grown so much in the past year or so. I have grown confident in my weaknesses as an actor. I am auditioning more and booking more. I will be in a play In Aug. I take class with Terry Schreiber and I will say that He is the man. I'm a daddy now.....YUP!! Renee and I are having a baby boy, Judah Roman in Sept!!! I know that there are a ton of things I still don't know regarding the business side of this industry...which is why I will be doing a showcase with TAP NYC in Oct. That is all I have for now. I will write more...this is mainly a place for me to force my self to articulate my thoughts about my journey as an actor. I believe that it will be some what unique because I actually care more about the Gospel of Jesus Christ...that goes over awesomely with the industry heads:) I love them though. Isaac

Christopher Mahoney: Madness

Wouldn't you love to get paid to do something you love to do?! Hows acting like a schizophrenic and rolling around a room full of paper? How about frantically drawing on that paper with charcoal followed by rolling around in those?! Well During the shoot for Madness that was exactly my job description ...well they didn't say that out right or anything.

Christopher Mahoney is a man who knows how to strum his guitar and make sounds that point to some of the greats. When I say point, I mean it reminds you of some other great guitar heros, (no reference to the popular X Box sensation.). It was for his song Madness that I had the pleasure of playing John, a welder who has been out of work for sometime and can no longer afford the basic things in life, like schizophrenia medication.

The scene is John in his barren basement apartment in BK, where he starts to have a breakdown. John's only comfort was searching for a pattern with in all of the voices he'd hear.

The shoot was awesome. Shoebox Story Productions had everyone maxing out in their specific positions, rather than bleeding over into each others' job descriptions. The Director Melyssa Vázquez was so great to work with. She was gracious to me while working with me and feeding me things as I worked. The process was organic and free. I was given very little hard line direction so I could go where the work was leading.
>I don't want to say too much considering I still have not seen the final product, but the process was tons of fun. My main take away is the more professional the crew, the safer the environment is for the actor. Everyone allowed me to set the gage on the space I needed to work. I can always see places where I can grow as an actor, but I have nothing negative to say this time. I have some other projects coming up in the near future and will be sure to post.

Facing Discouragement...Growing from A Low Place.

The reason I have waited so long to post is not due to lack of projects to write about, rather the lack of work I feel good about. I have hit some nice walls over the past few months that have been used to grow me as a husband, man, and actor. All actors have work they are not particularly proud of. So, what do you do with it?

I submitted for a role that called for an actor who can handle "extremely emotional scenes". The role was of a boyfriend who has a mentally sick girlfriend (nut shelled), but we were only going to shoot a trailer for the short film. We meet up in Bronxville and right away started to discuss the shoot for that day. To cut to the chase I was not feeling it at all during the most important scene. I felt like I was acting rather than experiencing truth.

In my mind i was searching for someone to blame. "Ahh, the director wasn't directing, my partner isn't being real, it's the writing the writing is weak!! I am hard on myself as most actors are so I will usually default to my responsibilities as the performer and end up with the finger pointing at no one but me.

At the end of the day it doesn't matter who's fault it is, but what can be gleaned from the shoot. My wife is irreplaceable as a source of encouragement. She reminds me of God's will in my life and my relationship with Him and that I can rely on Him. She reminded me of growing from a place that has room to grow. "Isaac you keep learning new things that you can take away from each and every job, so remember what you learned from this for next time."

For me it is not about relying on myself and how great I can be, but rather realizing that I am loved by an awesome God who, in fact is the Creator of all things. I believe I was created in His image and likeness which is why I desire to, in turn, create. I will post this as an honest statement that I am not disillusioned and look forward the hard work and growth ahead.

Remind Rewind: A short Film

Three weeks ago I received an email from my good friend Kevin Foong about a Frenchmen in need of an actor. David Dang was the man from France that i met with to see if we were a fit, and I can tell you that we were, right from the start. He and I spoke for at least an hour at Starbucks on 71st and Broadway, about his vision and about our common interests. I was picked to be the male lead in his short film which is always a nice feeling.



So I am learning a lot about the things that can go wrong on a shoot if you can classify the sun not staying exactly where you want it to in sky as something going wrong. Even in the shortest of short films time can be your worse enemy because like my buddy Josh G. always quotes "You can make time and you can lose time, but you will never find time." Time=Light When you are shooting on a absolutely gorgeous sun drenched day. I did not love my performance...I felt unnatural and somewhat cliché in most of my lines. Now it is possible that I was just stuck in my head allowing the stress of the time crunch to weigh in on my performance, or I could have been off in general.



I have some great take- aways from this shoot that i plan to "put in my hopper" so I am content with the job. David is a talent that keeps on honing his skills with each and every piece of work he puts his hand to. We plan to work on something the next time he is in NYC or I am in Paris. So "THIS IS SUPA COOL FOR ME."