well, a year ago today i flew out of kenya and landed in cape town with all my belongings ready to start all over yet again. overall the doors we closing in East Africa, Slingshot Prods never really took off, and to renew another 2 year work permit was cost prohibitive. like, really? are you serious?
so what do you do when the phone stops ringing? you try something new!
i moved to South Africa into the cozy Papyrus Lodge on Winery Road on July 1 2014, and spend the winter on that little lake having killer sundowners getting to know the greater Helderberg area... Sellenbosch, Somerset West, and Strand. after 5 months i was awarded my 3 year Exceptional Skills permit in TV & Film and was able to sign with a talent agency and start auditioning in town. it's been fun to be back in the biz and going to castings and booking the odd job. really fun.
Slingshot has been pretty dormant, although i may have a shoot in Malawi this July so who knows, COTW could be back on the road to Lilongwe! and maybe next year i'm thinking Ireland for the month of July (winter here in ZA is notoriously quiet work wise).
then december last year i was forced to leave papyrus and i found my killer pad at Ocean View tower in Strand on the 15th floor overlooking all of False Bay with floor to ceiling glass that i thought awesome. like a loner, majestic fish eagle, i'll overlook the sea and be a stoic bird of prey high up on 15th floor balcony. above it all. just the sky and the ocean and me.
in truth, recently a peregrine has taken residence on the balcony corner just above mine. he makes a loud racket while it's still dark out chirping or screaming or whatever it is he does. perhaps calling for a mate. i tried it myself...didn't work. in fact, i'm no fish eagle at all... i'm a city pigeon! i need statues and park benches to sit on, and people to watch. i need the city vibe! strand was devoid of vibe (even though i'm still not sure if "devoid" is a word. doesn't "void" say it better?)
so, after 6 months in Stand in my glass tower, i found a place in the heart of Cape Town, City Centre, The Piazza on Church Square on Parliament Street, ground zero for old colonial cape town, and very historic. think charleston without the flag. vibe galore. so i'm pretty chuffed to be leaving my ritz carlton in dana point and moving to a bustling city with a view of Tafelberg (Table Mountain) and Lion's Head.
the new place is not nearly as pimpy as my current crib, but it will do. 3 meter ceilings (12') and has potential. and only slightly more than i pay here. (which is still half of what i paid in DTLA).
so that's the latest scoop! teaching another Master Class presently (only 4 students...hmmm) and training a new cam operator, and maybe doing another kids class Aug 1-2 back in Mpumlanga. nice little article coming out in Callsheet magazine this July, maybe that will open some doors. worth a try.
http://filmmakerafrica.co.za/the-actor-whisperer-on-master-classes-movies-and-moments/
and I just had another reading for Dominion yesterday, but alas, it was between me and one other guy and he booked it. such is the acting life. the funny bit is that the role was entirely off camera as Anthony Head playing David Whele would be playing the scene opposite himself... good David vs bad david. so the job was entirely as a stand in to do the scene off camera with no screen time. which i was 100% fine with me and it was still 2 days work. but alas...
so the big question is am i better off here than i was a year ago in Nairobi.
good question. most would say a resounding Absolutely, and indeed things are happening here and there is certainly a bona fide international tv & film industry here, and commercials. but i have to say, making new friends here has been hard.
i had much more community in Nairobi. Ex-pats, church folk, Master Class and seminar students, a full time employee in Lorella. i lived on a compound with lots of other peeps, so i was surrounded with humanity and i had Pakapaka the stable cat. that was real africa. and lots of friends.
but here in South of Africa... Papyrus lodge was a farm estate surrounded by vineyards and very remote. beautiful but remote. nice sundowners by the lake, met a few neighbours, was a homebody, a time to recharge, but i was remote.
then Strand was a different kind of remote. essentially a retirement town, with amazing beauty and incredible views from a very slick flat on the water, but totally remote in its own way, and no place really to go.
and no one to meet or hang with remotely similar to myself. and i'm not really the type to seek out american ex-pat for ex-pat sake. so in the last 6 months there would weeks where i wouldn't see anyone i knew. just talk to strangers. i can chat up a lamp post.
i was the loner, the outsider, and have never been so isolated. again, great view, but so what? i'm not 90! i need community. preferably the artsy-fartsy scene. some culture. some funky eateries. so that's what the move is all about. getting plugged into the city, finding my hangs, meeting new folks, finding my crowd. community.
but that may not be that easy either. cape town is a clique kinda place. a small town, small city, everyone knows each other or went to school together, and americans aren't necessarily everyone's cup of tea. we're loud, brash, vulgar? IDK, it's a different nut to crack.
so am i better off here in ZA after one year than i was in Kenya? i think there is more upside for me career wise, and more work for me as an actor and director and a better shot at making movies from screenplays i write, but finding my crowd has been hard. town can only better than my high rise, at least i'm out and about and there's lots of theatre to go to and pubs and cafes and all sorts of stuff going on. so it's a gamble... leaving the serenity and beauty i know for DTCT.
the other factor has been the construction going on above me for the last 6 months from 8:30-4:30 every day. enough pounding to drive anyone mad. but still, what is that tells you make a move? how are the big decisions in life really made? what's that voice? your gut? "time to go know or you're gonna die. you need to move for survival sake. and it's now." its curious how that gut voice works. when its had enough, it can be quite vocal. and Bob's your uncle. i'm moving to town!
and we'll see what Year 2 brings!
time for pictures!!!!!!! in no particular order!
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| the view from #1502. hard to walk away. false bay. town in the distance. |
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| more wine tasting here at Steenberg Estate. one of the oldest wine farms in the Cape. |
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| i'm training Justin to operate the 5D. we met on Gumtree, he was selling a lens. he's a big help at HAMC. |
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| my glass tower. |
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| another intense workshop for kids! |
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| the Old Bridge tavern. SSW. |
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| aka Cape of Storms. room with a view. always changing. but i can't sit there forever. |
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| more Steenberg. |
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| 2 master class students acting out Jurassic day! |
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| the Master Class space in Arstcape city centre. |
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| that view! sundowner time. |
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| my friend Jennie Chancey wants this car. the ole Morris Minor. |
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| Verglenen wine estate in SSW. stunning. i'll be back. |
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| a real wine tasting. |
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| i'm getting a gas cooktop island made for the new space. with load shedding, you have no power and it's all electric. |
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| had this workspace to myself for a day. great writing! |
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| authentic wine tasting. hard core. |
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| at a wine estate outside town. |
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| western cape is a beautiful place! |
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| the cheeseburger pizza. |
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| late lunch at Castella Amare, West coast, on the atlantic. |
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| chilly but worth it. |
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| nice label. |
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| lunch with friends, new and old. |
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| fairly typical ocean lunch setting. Castella is nice. |
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| worth the drive, west up the coast from cape town. |
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| "load shedding" is the polite way of saying "power cut"! |
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| wine bar in stellenbosch. |
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| a new cafe find in SSW...yum yum cafe. |
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| Betsy and i are sadly calling it quits after a year together. she's still a great gal but now for sale. |
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| english pub in cape town. |
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| hefty pub cat. |
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| the church next door to my new crib. |
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| a building on church square opposite my new digs. |
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| the new space. master bedroom to the left. spare bedroom left rear. it's a gamble. |
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| hey, it's never too late to start a giant clay pot collection! |
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| aerial view of Helderberg. it's been nice. |
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| nice bottle of Syrah. at de brasserie. |
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| fish eagle point of view looking down. i was pretty high up. ask the window washer! |
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| i will miss de brasserie. but it will still be there. |
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| Callsheet magazine, the tv & film trade pub for all of africa. |
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| throwback pic from 2010 at LAX on my way to michigan to direct Johnny. |
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| the majestic fish eagle. but i'm more a pigeon it turns out. |
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| that view...another killer sunset! |
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| typical ZA cuisine. lovely. THAT'S ALL FOLKS! |
