PAINPANG.COM: ACTING JOBS FOR ACTORS AND NON ACTORS

New publication/production is hiring. Now shooting American Nihilist.

ACTORS, ACTRESSES, NON ACTORS

...WANTED

ACTORS, ACTRESSES and NON ACTORS (over 18, living in the Buffalo, N.Y. area) are needed for video production work on the screen adaptation of new literature: plays, experimental narratives, illustrated narratives, graphic novels, art books. Plus, separate video works to accompany the printed works as companion pieces will also be created.

What to Expect

• All works study and experiment on the conventions that separate works of fiction from works of nonfiction. As filmmakers, we are not interested in making traditional works of fiction or documentaries. We are more interested in focusing on the unique problems that arise from challenging the boundaries we draw between what we consider to be real and what we consider to be unreal.

For example, unscripted (video documentary or documentary-like) nonfiction material shot of you will be reworked and cut together with scripted and improvised fictional material shot of you (along with computer generated locations, objects and events) into a final motion picture that is clearly presented as a work of fiction. And creating imagery and storylines that clearly fall into the fantasy, horror or science-fiction film genres is one way that the final motion picture will be structured in order to achieve certain identification as a work of fiction no matter how much documentary material is inserted into it. Again, we are not interested in making typical genre movies. We are only interested in appropriating their particular devices and fabrications for fantastication... in order to achieve our own ends... One of which is to create fiction from nonfiction and have it so that the resulting fiction cannot be easily mistaken for fact.

• No physical nudity is required, only emotional nudity. Unlocking and capturing the surprising truths unleashed by spontaneous moments of raw emotion is the foundation of our filmmaking process.

• Spontaneity is more important to us than preconceived ideas. This includes ideas about acting. Ideas about what constitutes acting, acting skills or acting talent are only useful to us if they actually help the actor or non actor to achieve a true state of spontaneity. We are only interested in acting that looks like someone who is not acting. So we are keenly interested in any form of non acting that has a powerful ring of truth. This is why we use non actors who just want to be themselves on camera, even when we need them to do some scripted material to create a fictional storyline.

• This is our directing principle: Just be yourself on camera. This is our acting instruction: Just learn to be yourself on camera. This is our working theory: The transformation of non acting into acting is similar to the transformation of non art into art. You focus on the truth. And we'll focus on how you look. So leave the makebelieve to us. It is your truth that will make our fiction compelling.

• Spontaneity is at the heart of our creative process. We enjoy being surprised as much as the audience does, so we value spontaneity as an endless resource for surprises and happy accidents. Being open to spontaneity is a way to expect the unexpected so that one can see and realize more than one's mind is capable of planning and executing. For spontaneity is a deeply mysterious fountainhead of unpredictable actions, emotions, ideas and events that often turn out to be more interesting, more convincing than preconceived ones.

• To capture a sense of truth and spontaneity, we video record a lot of documentary (or documentary-like) material that is unpremeditated and unrehearsed.

• Formal training, skills or background in acting, theater or improvisation is welcome, but not necessary.

• Work Method: In the Modernist tradition of "always inventing one's work and method as one goes along," we are alway prepared to freely deviate from any planned course of action if another path or creative process suddenly appears to be more rewarding.

• Mail us (not email) your information about yourself. We will contact you to set up an appointment as soon as a part is available for you.

What to Send Us & Where to Send It

There is no application form. Snail mail Painpang.com any photo and background information about yourself that you would like to share with us. (Feel free to include anything you would like to send us that does not require us to mail it back to you.) A professional photo or formal resume is fine but not necessary. Professional work experience is fine but not necessary.

The only profession we are interested in is doing what we love. And loving what we do is the only professional that we are interested in. The origin of the word amateur is traced to the Latin word for to love, amare. Thus it is far better to be an amateur who loves than to be a professional who does not. We at Painpang.com are all professional amateurs in this sense, though this is not a hobby for any of us but serious full-time work. And in this spirit, we are only looking for talented and dedicated amateurs like ourselves.

But any actual professional work experience in the field of acting or elsewhere will not be a mark against you. It can only help you. So please feel free to include it. We are not opposed to professional actors. We are not opposed to artists intent on becoming successful. We only oppose that aspect of any profession that unfortunately jades, calcifies and kills talent only because the profession itself is not creative enough to recognize it and know how to use it. We may fail you too. Yet our creative process specializes in utilizing the raw materials of human expression that no one else has previously defined as a skill or named as a form of talent. So if you have already achieved recognition for being skilled or talented, then you are already ahead of the game and we hope to further advance you. And if you are just beginning or are fighting for more recognition, Painpang.com will fight alongside you.

Send your info to:

Painpang.com

P.O. Box 1005

Buffalo, New York 14231-1005

(We will contact you to set up an appointment as soon as a part is available for you. Whereupon we will let you know what the work pays. Working hours are flexible.)