Posts filed under 'WWW?'
Untraceable in Portland
source: Lakeshore EntertainmentEven actors who have moved from Portland to LA to break into the film industry know Portland is a great city for movie making.
Wil Olandria is driving from LA to Portland next week to begin six days’ work on a new Diane Lane movie, Untraceable, starring Colin Hanks, Billy Burke, and Joseph Cross.
The actor is happy to be headed to his home town for a few days, especially since his brother, Warren Olandria, a resident of the Washington DC area, will be in Portland. It will be the first time Wil, Warren, and their parents have been together since they attended a family gathering in Las Vegas almost a year ago.
Some measure of Wil’s enthusiasm is directed at the Gypsy, which some call a frat boy dive and others a hip Karaoke bar. Wil quips, “Look out Gypsy! I’m coming home!” A big fan of Karaoke, he used to work at the 9 Ball as a Karaoke DJ.
What’s Wil Watching?
Poker After Dark
Says Wil, “My Vegas itch is comin’ back!”
Add comment April 4, 2007
Student Film, TV, Big Screen — Wil Does it All
photo credit: Amazoboy,written & directed by Ryan Burcham
What do student film Amazoboy, CBS’ emmy-winning Ghost Whisperer, and Twentieth Century Fox film Starship Dave have in common? Wil Olandria, that’s what. In the last week, Wil has been on the set of all three productions.
Amazoboy, a Los Angeles Film Studies Center (LAFSC) student film written and directed by Ryan Burcham, is about a young boy who dreams of being a superhero. Wil tells us with a grin that he got to play a store owner who helps foil a stick up.
While he’s never watched Ghost Whisperer, Wil was glad he got the call to work the show’s finale, especially after working five hours, but getting a paycheck for eight. He was also glad he wasn’t brought in to work the late call at 7pm, which was for 300 people; it’s hard to get noticed in a crowd of that size, and, Wil says from experience, “The bigger the extra call, the worse the working conditions and treatment of the extras.”
Ghost Whisperer stars Jennifer Love Hewitt as Melinda Gordon, a woman who uses her ability to see and talk with the spirits of the dead to help them resolve the issues of their former lives so they can move on to the next world. Hewitt is well known for her role as Sarah on Party of Five and its spin-off, Time of Your Life. Wil did see her on the set, but was more surprised to see Jay Mohr, who did a 39 episode stint on Saturday Night Live in the mid-90s.
Unfortunately, Wil’s call to do background on what he calls “a weird movie”, Starship Dave, didn’t turn into any actual screen time. According to Wil, the call was “for pedestrian work, but they ended up using only one lady.” The other twenty or so extras, Wil included, stood around and watched.
Standing around watching garnered Wil his biggest star sighting to date: Eddie Murphy. Murphy, a versatile and prolific actor, is currently best known for his voice work as Donkey in the Shrek movies, video games, and TV shows. Donkey fans will be glad to know Shrek Goes Fourth is in pre-production.
What’s Wil Watching?
The Big Kahuna, starring Kevin Spacey, Danny DeVito, and Peter Facinelli.
Add comment April 2, 2007
Screen Actors Guild — To Join or Not To Join?
image credit: www.sag.comDeciding if and when to join the Screen Actors Guild is an important step in an actor’s career.
SAG, a union with over 118,000 members, has been protecting industry workers from potential abuses in the workplace for seventy years. SAG actors make more than double the wage of non-SAG actors, and are guaranteed the right to breaks, meals, and reasonable work hours and conditions. Membership also conveys to potential employers that an actor is serious about their work. The current initiation fee is $2,277, and annual fees are $116 plus a percentage of an actor’s total SAG earnings. If that doesn’t say “serious about my work”, nothing does, especially given that over 70% of SAG actors make less than $8000 a year.
It’s no surprise, then, that Wil Olandria has been struggling to decide whether or not he’ll join SAG. He was shocked when he heard the initiation fee had jumped $700, calling it “a surprising kick to the groin.” He was eligible when the fee was lower, having worked on an industrial piece for Hewlett Packard produced under a SAG contract, but had decided to wait.
Several so-you-want-to-be-an-actor books encourage aspiring professionals to wait to join until they must join, because once an actor signs up with SAG, they miss a lot of non-union work. “The key is to join when you feel you have built up enough of a body of work that you can show an agent,” Wil says, noting that agents “won’t even look at you if you aren’t part of SAG.” Finding an agent is one of Wil’s goals this year.
In the final analysis, Wil is glad he didn’t join SAG when he originally could have done so. “If I had, I wouldn’t have been able to be part of Brown Soup Thing.” His plan now is to do as much non-union work as he can and join SAG mid-summer.
What’s Wil Watching?
Casino Royale, starring Daniel Craig
Add comment March 21, 2007
Central Casting Calls
photo source: www.FOX.com
Background work isn’t for the faint of heart. It may lead to long hours standing or sitting, unsatisfactory weather, and low pay. It may also lead to a principle role, which is why so many actors, Wil Olandria included, start their Hollywood careers in the background.
Wil tells it straight when he says, “Background work sucks.” That doesn’t mean he thinks it’s beneath him as an actor, or that he’s a background slacker. Quite the contrary, which is most likely why he’s so excited by his latest call from Central Casting.
Wil has just been hired to work background for Bones, starring David Boreanaz. Boreanaz is best known for his depiction of the vampire, Angel, in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel.
While Wil has worked in student and independent films, this will be his first time on what he calls “a real, honest-to-goodness Hollywood set.” Wil’s thrilled by the possibility of meeting, or just seeing, Boreanaz, stating, “Yes, I’m a geek, but I’m stoked!”
What’s Wil Watching?
Freaks and Geeks
Add comment March 11, 2007
What’s Wil Watching?
Geoffrey Rush as Peter Sellers as Dr. StrangeloveWil Olandria, as we at Wil Fan already know, is a huge movie buff. Sometimes he lets his fans know what he’s watching; today it’s The Life and Death of Peter Sellers.
Knowing that Wil hadn’t seen the movie, Big Paul (Paul Panganiban) gave it to Wil, urging him to buff up on his Peter Sellers trivia, since Wil hadn’t seen much of his work. “I saw some of the Pink Panther Series as a kid,” Wil noted, “but that was so long ago. I do remember watching Being There…” He showed that movie to his United Methodist Youth group sometime in the mid-90s, when he was a youth pastor at Montavilla United Methodist in Portland, Oregon.
His opinion on The Life and Death of Peter Sellers? “Geoffrey Rush is Amazing.”
Add comment January 16, 2007
