Hit the road jack

So you would think that after living in Thailand, travelling on the sketchiest of busses jammed packed full of sweaty people and all sorts of animals; that taking the Greyhound bus in Canada would be a luxury.

Well, you would be wrong.

Unfortunately I've come to this realization too late and now Im stuck breathing in recycled gym locker air while listening to the crazy guy in front of me have an argument with himself. Im not fully sure but I think he might be winning the argument by the sounds of it......

Leaving the rest of us clearly loosing.

Im an hour in and I have about 15 or so hours left before I reach my destination (Vancouver-Edmonton) and hopefully sometime during that my nose might forget that it's inhaling someone else's suck.
Deodorant is cheap for a reason people.

So in an attempt to distract myself, I going to try and pen out what's been going on with me in the last month and what my plans are. This might be a long one. Hopefully you ALSO have a spare 15 hours to kill....

Well, about 2 weeks ago I got back to Vancouver and let me tell you; after breathing in Bangkok for the last 5 months, nothing could ever smell better than west coast air. Seeing those beautiful mountains makes a guy realize just how lucky we are to be Canadian. As I look out the window of this waiting room on wheels, I watch the beautiful landscape roll by and it reminds me of the first time I drove this road. It's been 6 years now since I packed up everything I owned and drove west on this very road to Vancouver.

It's one of the best things I ever did.

I had been working as a restaurant manager in Edmonton and while through that job I met some amazing people and some of my closest friends; in the end I needed more. Secretly, I had always wanted to work in film. It just seemed so unattainable that I never actually considered it to be a real option.

Kyle's lava link profile

Well one visit out to see a good friend from college Kyle Hart was all it took to change my mind. He was working as a writer and a Directors assistant and was doing really well. If he could do it then why couldn't I? So I quit the restaurant, packed my bags and hit the road.

                                                                 A video I made about my move out west.

Unfortunately nothing is that simple. Once out here I quickly learned the truth about working in the film industry in Vancouver:

It's a war of attrition.

After about 6 months of trying, I finally got an entry level job (production assistant) on the set of a show called Smallville. I was elated. It was an entirely different (and pretty intimidating) world so I shut my mouth, did what I was told and learned as much as I could. As excited as I was, I quickly learned that this is not exactly a fun job. You get shit on by everyone. You work a minimum 15 hour day (often longer) and do it for weak pay. You spend hours by yourself standing in the rain freezing your ass off and you do it all so you can learn and work your way up. It's a gruelling way to get there but it's the same road that so many have take before me.

So I put my head down and worked at learning everything I could about the industry and how films are made. I also watched the actors work their craft and learned what to do and what not to do on set. It was an invaluable experience. I will never forget it.

The problem was that it wasn't enough (it never is) and I needed a new challenge so I started doing work as an extra (also known as a Background Performer). Still on set, still shit work but different responsibilities. This job is beyond hilarious and I could spend hours going on about just how ridiculous it is but I will save that for another time.

But again this was only part time work so I needed more. I ended up finding another weird job that fit perfectly with what I was doing. I got hired to act in training simulations for medical students. They would train me to play all types of different patients from guy with a ruptured spleen, to schizophrenia, to finding out I have cancer and Im going to die. I remember having to memorize all these different “characters” lives and lines and often would have 3 or 4 people in my head at the same time. The cases can get extremely detailed and I would be going nuts just trying to keep it all sorted. “Do I have errectile dysfunction today or suicidal tendencies? Maybe both? How's my stool looking? When's the last time I had sex? Am I allergic to penicillin?” (I would just like to apologize to all the roomates that got stuck playing what's wrong with me over the years. Your sacrifice was appreciated.)

Then the job accumulation just kinda snowballed. I started collecting jobs like it was a hobby. I got a job at a cool little jazz bar (Guilt and Co), I found another job working part time for a catering company and then another at a high end hotel.

Under table nap time?

Hardly noticeable wine stain.

I started working for a bunch of promotion companies and I started modelling for photography classes at 4 different schools. 

YOU'RE A MONKEY DERRICK!!!!

Before I knew it I had 12 part time jobs and was busier than KFC on welfare check day  just trying to keep it all sorted (I can say this because I actually worked there as a kid). All this while I was still auditioning and booking jobs as an actor. Often I would have to sneak out of a job I was working, go to an audition then sneak back in and hope no one noticed. This didn't always work out....

Ahhh memories.

It was enough to give a guy actual schizophrenia and Im still amazed I didn't have a mental breakdown.

So things where rolling. I was working tons, making lots of contacts and slowly but surely booking more and more acting work. 

And yet somehow I was broke.

Turns out Vancouver is ridiculously expensive and despite all my jobs I still wasn't getting ahead. So in order to save money I did what anyone would do:

I built a styrofoam fort in my living room to live in and turned my one bedroom into a two. I built a loft bed to increase space and partitioning walls to divide things up. Sounds kind of cool right? Well it kind of is... until you wanna have sex.

You try bringing a girl back to your bunk bed fort. “Hey are you scared of heights?”
Not exactly a win.

"But my pants are already off?!"

But it didn't matter. I was doing it. I was working as an actor and finally feeling like I was getting somewhere. Who cares if I was surviving off granola bars I stole from set. My agent (an amazing woman named Bridget) was getting me lots of auditions and I was actually booking a decent amount of them. Somehow during all this I booked a modelling contract in Asia (something I never imagined I would end up doing in a million years). So off I went and after 5 months in the land of the elephant I find myself back in Vancouver.

With no job and no place to live.

Fuck. I probably should've thought of that before I came home.

Ok now what?

Well, after giving it a neurotic amount of thought I can only see 3 viable options:

1. Getting things going in Van again.

2. Moving to Toronto.

3. Going back to Asia.

One look at my bunk bed fort was all it took for me to realize something I was too scared to admit before I left: Vancouver has just gotten too expensive and the film industry in Van isn't anything like what it used to be. I can't go back to my gypsy life of 12 part time jobs and 1 audition a week. Im 31 years old and maybe, just maybe, it's time to stop taking the term "living" room literally.

As sad as I am to admit it; I think it's time to leave Vancouver. 

                                                  I will miss you Vancouver. This lady however, not so much.

So that leaves TO as the best Canadian option and realistically that is where I should be if I want to be a working actor. The only problem is if I move there then it means I need to commit to being there for a good while to get things going. No more travelling..... which would be ok except for one thing:

How often does a person get the chance to travel the world AND make money?

Can I really walk away from that opportunity?

All of these things run through my head as I sit here watching the beautiful scenery of the mountains roll by. It takes me back to how uncertain my life was 6 years ago when I first did this trip out to Vancouver. How nervous I was to leave everything I knew behind, pack up my stuff and head into the unknown.

It's then that I realize something:

Not for one day have I ever regretted it. Sure I miss my friends and family in Edmonton immensely but taking that jump made me the person I am today. It forced me to grow and build myself into a person I never would have imagined myself as 6 years ago. 

Maybe it's time to do it again......

So there it is.

Im going back to Asia.