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Here's a new 'Hangin' with Justins' webisode. This time, thorough hijinks are afoot, as Flattie decides to introduce Glasses to his new friend, Leeroy Fitzsimmonzz.



The idea for this one came from walking through a store in Kansas City one day and seeing that hand puppet. I immediately came up with a name for him, and knew that I just had to put him in a video.

I wrote the script on the way home from KC back in August. While I was figuring out which Justins I wanted to shoot next, I was going through my scripts in the que, and saw the Leeroy script. I re-tweaked it, writing is re-writing afterall, and decided to shoot it yesterday morning. Less than 24 hours later, there it is.

Oh, almost forgot, this also marks the first video where I've broken down the 'wide, medium, and close-up' shots before hand, essentially storyboarding it all out to save time when I shot. So, I broke down into 6 shots, with around 5-6 lines of dialogue to do at each shot, all shot completely out of order. And judging from some of the emotional swings I take seemingly out of nowhere in it, I can see why it's important to prep your actors on the context of their scene. The script is obviously the backbone of that, but knowing exactly where your character is in the flow of the film is paramount. I'm finding that I think a whole lot more about production nowadays than acting, and while I do enjoy the escapism that acting allows, there's something to be said for being the one to piece together the randomness. I've fallen in love with Editing, and she's a sassy wench of a broad.

And I'm not a dramatic actor. I don't feel like I take myself seriously enough to pretend to be someone entirely different. Leave that to the folks that are trained, educated, and practice method acting. It's an art form, for sure, and one in which I am not eager to dabble in at this time.

I enjoy my acting light, full of heart, sometimes edgey, always silly, borderline incoherent, slightly babbling, kinda running-on, decidedly fake, and all around rough.

Making YOU laugh is what I enjoy most, and nothing brings me more satisfaction than when someone tells me simply, 'that was funny.'

I also am brought satisfaction when someone tells me, 'eh, that was alright,' because, that still means they watched it.

We all know you can't win 'em all.

I'm trying to write what feels natural for me. I've been saving larger dramatic events for a film I'm writing, so when I get a chance in-between freelance bookings for artwork to write, my mind always falls to the Justins, and exactly what they've been up to since our last encounter.

Buddy movies are my favorite films of all time. I've always thought Tommy Boy did it all right. Everything. It's no wonder that I emulate Spade and Farley every time I sit down on the couch to do a video by myself. Oh, and throw some Vaughan in there. And some Chase. And some Owen. Well, at least TRY to throw those guys in there, there's no harm in it. Acting IS imitating, afterall. That's it.

Which reminds me, a lot of my friends pop up in my writing, and make it into these videos. I remember channeling my buddy Bryce Wymer in a recent video, called 'Besties'. He does this thing where he frowns slightly, shakes his head, and discourages whatever it was I said, but he does it in the nicest way possible. It's a fantastic move, and I think I got it pretty close in 'Besties.'

Next up in the Justins lives, we've got the fellas taking a trip to Europe. Yes. They're finally getting out of their apartment. They're headed to Easter Europe for 3 weeks with a couple old friends from high school.

Can't. Wait.

Much love,
Justins