Space Beer?

Ground Control to Major Tom

Ninkasi Brewing Company came out with Ground Control Imperial Stout which was fermented with Space-Traveled Yeast.  The Company is based out of Eugene, Oregon and we actually have some of their beers on tap throughout the year at Irish Times.  How cool though, to have a beer that technically traveled to space!

In addition to releasing this limited edition beer in mid-April they also decided to start a little contest for someone who could make the best video, share it, and then win prizes.  Who better to make a Ninkasi Spec Commercial than Brad, who knows the guys from Ninkasi, and loves beer.  So on a Sunday evening a few of us shot what I think is a hilarious commercial, that transforms a night of drinking with Brad & Jeff, into a space party, where we're not quite sure if we've landed on the moon yet.

You can see our commercial right here: Ninkasi Ground Control...Space Beer?

I'm not usually a fan of dark beer but I really liked this one because it's lighter than a Guinness and has flavors of Hazelnuts and Cocoa Nibs, so it has a slight sweetness to it.  It's 10% ABV in a 22 ounce bottle for $20 at select locations.  We found them at Bev-Mo in Westwood.  But you better hurry because it's a limited edition and going fast!  

Part of our Cast for our Space Beer Spec!

You can check out more information about Ninkasi Beers on their website at:http://www.ninkasibrewing.com/  Enjoy :)

Ribbed Tee Commercial :)

The awesome Ready DEMOlition crew filmed this 'Ribbed Tee' Commercial I'm co-starring in back in August and now that it's edited and perfected it is ready to view!  It's definitely 'Sexy Time...'

We all had a fun time shooting together and what could certainly have been a very awkward situation wasn't at all.  Everyone was very professional, all about having fun and being a positive influence!  Lucky me, I got to take home a couple of the shirts and they are every bit as comfortable as the commercial markets them to be.  I would genuinely steal this from my boyfriend!

Hope you enjoy :)

*To read about the Commercial Shoot from early August check out my previous blog: http://lyndseywegner.blogspot.com/2014/08/ribbed-tee-commercial-shoot.html*

Ribbed Tee Commercial Shoot

You never know who you're going to meet:  Whether it be out at Brunch, working in a bar, having cocktails at Happy Hour, or grocery shopping.  This story begins about four years ago when I was Bartending at Cabo Cantina and I had a nice little conversation about food and acting with two friendly guys, Matt & JP, who later added me on Facebook.  Flash forward to a couple weeks ago when Matt had asked if I could help him out with a commercial shoot he was doing because his actress had to back out at the last minute.  It sounded like a really fun project so I was in!

You get the idea...

Matt currently has his own production company that produces Demo Reels and is also starring in the Web Series, 'Platonic.'  He was directing the Commercial we were shooting for Ribbed Tee, an undershirt you actually want to wear.  I don't want to give away the concept of the commercial but we'll just say it's the end of the night, the guy has brought his girlfriend home, and it's nearly bedtime...  We also shot an alternate commercial ending which I think the crew really loved as we all were laughing.

This was my first time shooting on a RED Camera and the footage looked absolutely beautiful.  Matt was a great director, and the entire crew was super efficient!  Yes, standing around in your underwear in front of the crew might have been a little uncomfortable but when I'm quoting 'Friends' (Pants off, Bing! Didn't see ya there, Gellar!) I was hoping I was making everyone a little bit more relaxed, at least myself.  My co-star Eamon, was awesome, and we just laughed and talked sports for most of the day and in-between takes.  The owner of Ribbed Tee, Mikel, was so friendly, and I was very happy to get to take home some of the T-shirts because they are so soft and comfy!

Mikel, Matt, Eamon, and our DP, Aric...that's a wrap!

Hopefully, the commercial will be finished in the next couple of weeks and I'll be able to share it soon :)

Find the T-shirts here: Ribbed Tee

Matt's Demo Reel Company: Ready DemoLA on Facebook

My Commercial Reel & Karaoke

I finally got my first Commercial Reel edited and finished so it's up on YouTube for your viewing pleasure!  After getting all the footage together I was able to put out a Reel with a few different commercials filmed over the past couple years I've been living in LA.  It's got a nice variety of shots and styles and hopefully can bring in some more work :)

With Halloween in full effect the past couple of weeks thanks to a Thursday Halloween, I finally have a little time to catch up on my blog and Karaoke.  So for Karaoke from a couple weeks ago I started a little theme for myself singing songs with the word 'dream' in the title.  My first song of the night was 'Dream A Little Dream Of Me' by The Mama's & The Papa's which I haven't sang in quite some time while my next song was a new song of the night, Selena's 'Dreaming Of You' which added the challenge of singing in Spanish too!  Next up was one of my favorites, 'Dreams' by Fleetwood Mac and then I changed it up getting into my Halloween vibe for the following week doing 'Are You That Somebody' by Aaliyah which was new for me that night and closing with Heart's 'If Looks Could Kill.'  That's one of my favorite songs off of their self-titled album.

This past week was a little bit busier for McCracken's Karaoke Birthday Party but not before we had a slow start and got a bunch of songs in before the party started.  I keep adding songs to my History Folder so I started with 'Treat Me Right' by Pat Benatar and then singing Garbage's 'Only Happy When It Rains.'  I moved back into Rock with 'Hold The Line' by Toto and then doing another Heart song this week, 'What About Love' which I haven't sang in years!  Since Jamie and Neil were there for the party, we got a couple duets in, 'Take Me Or Leave Me' from "Rent" and 'Love The Way You Lie' by Eminem and Rihanna.  Since I had so much fun singing it the last time, I did Stacy Orrico's 'Stuck' and my closing song, and also new song for the night was 'Living On A Prayer' by Bon Jovi with a little background vocal and harmony from Neil.  We normally sing the slow version with Neil taking the lead, so this was definitely new territory for me!

I always love the challenge of new songs and was so excited to see my friends trying new things like Spark doing 'Somewhere Over The Rainbow' and Sean doing 'The Remedy.'  The boys all got together and did 'Blurred Lines' which was awesome!  Those Karaoke nights are always the best so bringing a theme makes the Karaoke world go round B)

Star Wars Match.com Parody

Almost 2 weeks ago it was time to shoot my Match.com Parody dressed as Princess Leia!  I had worked an insane weekend, doing a double shift the day and night before at The Garage and then Bar Lubitsch, but luckily my call-time was at noon and the shooting location was just blocks from my apartment.  Score!

Setting up our shot for the Match.com Commercial

When I got to set they were just finishing up with one of three Match.com Parody Commercials they were shooting that day so I got changed and ready for mine.  We had a script but did a little improv as well and since I know very little about Star Wars I was given some ideas but came up with a fun little fact that you'll see once the commercial is out ;)  It was a really quick shoot, as all locations were the same for everyone starting with the Confessional style part, then Princess Leia and the other female dater getting ready for the date, then we had our first meetings with our dates, and we finished with a shot of us walking off into the sunset.

Of course, as soon as the shoot was over it was Paparazzi time considering Princess Leia and Darth Vader were in the same room, and we wanted pictures with the rest of the cast and crew.  It was such a fun shoot and everyone was great.  I would love to work with our whole crew that was on set that day because it was light-hearted, we all joked around but got things done quickly and efficiently.  Honestly, it couldn't have gone any better than it did!

The Cast with our Director, John Siscel!

The Darth Vader Match.com Commercial is already up and you can see it here!

 Darth Vader's Match.com Ad

You're going to have to wait for my Princess Leia Match.com Ad as well as being the Dater for the 3rd Commercial we did and they should be up in the following weeks :)

Dorito's Commercial is Live! Please Vote!

Hey Everyone!

Hymnson, Adrian, and I need your votes for our Dorito's Crash The Superbowl Commercial!  Please rate our video 5 STARS and help us win the Superbowl Commercial Contest :)  I posted the link, which will take you directly to our Video on Facebook.

Rate our Dorito's Commercial 5 Stars Please :)

Two thumbs up and 5 Stars :)

Enjoy the laughs and have a fabulous Halloween weekend!

Lots of Love,

Lyndsey

Dorito's Spec Commercial Shoot

I wrote a blog a few months ago about a Casting Workshop that I went to and was extremely disappointed with the Casting Director.  At that Workshop I was initially set-up with a Scene Partner and when we corresponded over e-mail, we both said we would rather just do a monologue or have a reader, and both of us were cool with our decision.  Fast forward about 6 months and Hymnson and I finally worked on a project together!  After trying to set something up for a couple months he needed an Actress for his Dorito's Spec Commercial and I was free and interested in working on the project with him.

The shoot was at a home in Sylmar and it was just Hymnson and I, and his DP (Director of Photography) friend, Adrian.  We got started just after 10 am and rehearsed and went through some ideas for the shoot.  Then we got to shooting after looking through the story boards and we were able to watch the Footage after shooting each section.  That was awesome because if we needed to fix anything or didn't like the way it was shot we were able to re-shoot it.

Screen Shot from the Dorito's Commercial

We had a lot of fun coming up with interesting ideas for each shot.  The whole Commercial could be 30 seconds long and it's for the Dorito's Crash the Superbowl Contest and they've been doing this for the past couple of years.  After running through the opening part we did the insert shots and close-ups of each part.  Then we did the second half of the commercial which involved finally getting to eat some Dorito's and covering Hymnson in chips!  I think the closing was catchy and cute and I'll be very excited to see the final product.

The whole shoot took less than 4 hours and we had a blast working together!  I know we all have so many more ideas and it's great to get to work with such creative people who really want to take control of their careers and I love surrounding myself with motivated people who make me feel excited about my own career!  Thanks guys :)

An Audition...YAY!

I found out yesterday afternoon that my Agent got me a Commercial Audition for today!  I was so excited since things have been really slow right now, so I haven't been going out lately, and I'm starting to get stir crazy to shoot something or work on something new!

My audition was in Santa Monica, less than 10 minutes from my place, so after printing off a fresh resume and stapling it to my headshot, I was out the door in my Homeowner/Mother outfit.  What does one wear to look like a Homeowner/Mother, well, I tried to make myself look older; there's a first for everything, especially doing something like that in LA!  I wore my trouser slacks along with a white lacy tank top and silver cardigan over the top and did my make-up in neutral colors.

I actually went to the wrong suite first; what they had given us in the directions was wrong so I had signed in and needed to write my Agency's phone number down and when I went into my purse, saw I didn't have my phone with me at all.  Now that's a first!  Talk about feeling completely helpless.  Luckily, I found the correct suite just outside and 2 doors down.

When I got to the audition, the two other girls that were there were dressed similarly, although more business-like, and a few years older than me.  I know I'm on the young end of the casting, but they must have liked something about me to call me in, and I'm just happy to be going out for an audition so I'm definitely not complaining!

I grabbed a set of the sides and started memorizing right away.  The audition process went really quick so a couple minutes later, the Casting Director asked if I was ready, and I asked for just one more minute.  He gave me a couple notes about what they wanted and a minute later I was slating and taking photos in the audition room.  The audition is for an on-line Web Service, so I had to show two different sides in the audition.  The first was frustration with having to do research on my own, and having trouble getting help if I mess something up, but then excitement talking about the service that does all the work for you with no hassles.  After my first time, the Producer or Director asked me to do it again but change it slightly, so I went through it one more time, really exaggerating both ends, but still being likeable and friendly.

When I left the audition I felt good about it; not great, but that's not always a bad thing.  Sometimes I can feel really good, but the people in Casting just didn't like me or what I did.  Other times I feel like I bombed and they'll love me and book me on the job.  I was glad I was able to give two different versions of the script and that my words were clear and I didn't have any mistakes!  It would be great to get a call-back after a little break in my auditions, so please keep those fingers crossed :)