"That's not a gun - THIS IS A GUN!!"

2/28/09 - The day had a weird start. I did a cardio workout on the elliptical for 45 minutes(728 calories burned...wahoo). The workout prompted an ocular migraine which starts with blotchy spots in my vision and ends with a migraine headache. I was concerned I wouldn't be able to drive Hunter to his auditions. Thankfully..my vision cleared up enough to get him to his auditions. We raced over to Abrams Artists for his voice over audition. The voice over is for an animated movie called The Legend of Santa Claus where Hunter is reading for Tap the 7 year old boy. Notable star voices already committed to the movie are: Richard Dreyfuss, Zooey Deschanel, and Sarah Silverman. Hunter had a blast in this audition because it was in a sound booth with headphones and a boom mic. It was off to his print go see with H&M Photo. There were tons of kids of all shapes and sizes. They measured Hunter and took a couple of snapshots and we were free to go. Hunter ended up playing basketball and swimming with his buddy Keeton(From Dallas). I took a nap to get rid of the headache. To finish off the evening Daddy cooked spaghetti for dinner and we watched Lord of the Rings.....Night Night Termite..We are planning on adventuring tomorrow so keep posted.

BRAD PITT SIGHTING IN LA!!!!

I can't believe we got a picture of Brad Pitt!! WOW..He is as sexy as Andrea says...Ha Ha. The funny thing is that this picture will help Andrea not miss me because she hates it when I grow a goatee. Today was a pretty laid back day(the reason for the picture of me). No auditions today but it was a sharpen your skills for tomorrow day. Hunter has been studying his voice over animated movie script for his audition tomorrow. We also received word on a print audition from JLA Talent for an H&M print go-see tomorrow. Hunter ended the evening from 6-7:30 taking an acting class with Patrick Malone. This was his first class with Patrick whom came highly recommended from Hines & Hunt. Hunter enjoyed the class and looks forward to his auditions tomorrow. Hopefully we will get some good news on the Subway call back or maybe a callback on the Trix commercial. Keep posted...till tomorrow.

Welcome to our home!!

Wednesday 2/26/09 - This is a pic of the majority of our apartment. It is 900 square feet and the mirror in the picture is a pull down queen size bed. It has everything we need, we are located right next to the clubhouse which has all the amenities. Today we kept busy and got more work possibilities. We headed back out to Santa Monica(B-E-Autiful) for the Subway call back. Hunter felt really good about his performance on the call back. There were allot of bigwigs in the room and he said they responded favorably to him. After the callback we got a call to go to JLA Talent(Print Agent)and take some photos. The photos are being submitted for a possible Lands End Catalog shoot. We also received a script for a voice over in an animated film which we set the audition for Friday. Susie from the Clutts Agency(Dallas Agent)called and said that Smuckers wants to set up a taping Thursday of Hunter in LA. They want to see what he looks like and how he sounds now. Susie said the next round of Smuckers commercials will be filmed in May. Hunter finished out the evening by taking a workshop with Little Red Door Entertainment. They have produced kids that have been in tons on TV series & national commercials(too many to mention). Say a prayer and hopefully we will get some good news from Subway. We miss and love you Momma and Grantsy pants.Type at ya later.

Hunter's First Call Back!!

Tuesday 2/24/09 - Waahooo!! Hunter got a call back on his first audition ever in LA!! The Subway commercial started with 400 kids and they want to see Hunter again. I posted yesterday that Hunter had an audition for Twix Candybars today. We showed up today and Silly Rabbit..the commercial was for Trix. Hunter ended up getting another audition for a commercial promoting a toy for Ice Age 3. It feels great to get some positive feed back(Callback) and have 2 auditions today. Your prayers are working. Hunter's spirits are high from the callback which will hopefully translate into a quit confidence to help him book the job. I got news from Hines & Hunt and they aren't keen on the idea of the documentary company filming Hunter. I don't want to jeopardize his chances so that is on hold for now. Thanks for the motivating comments...we miss you.

Sharpen your Skills!!

Monday 2/23/09 - We are like firefighters on call. When your not in action you need to sharpen your skills(That analogy goes out to my Aunt Wendy/Firefighter). Hunter had a good day of sharpening. He did his school work, practiced his drums, pitched & took ground balls, played knockout(basketball game), and finally he finished off the night with a Acting Workshop. The work shop was with Deborah Lemen who has appeared in 50 plays in LA & New York, written or directed a dozen movies, and worked opposite Patrick Swayzee, Rob Schneider, and Seth Rogan. We got some good news today...Hunter has a commercial audition tomorrow for Twix Candy Bars..keep posted!!! We love and miss you...keep sending your prayers. Final note: Thanks for taking the time to sign in as a follower...every follower motivates us and makes it worth my while to keep posting the blog knowing we are getting love.

Oscar Party

Sunday 2/22/09 - We had a GREAT day today. We played an exciting game of wiffleball with Camden, his Dad and some other boys. We had the last at bat down buy 3...I hit a 3 run homer to tie it up and Hunter hit a walk off home run to win the game 18-17. We were down by 9 at one time. Hunter's coach David Lovell would be proud. Possible exciting news!!..After wiffleball we meet with a Oscar nominated(Twin Towers)documentary company that is filming a documentary on child actors at Oakwood. They want to film us as if they were a fly on the wall and follow us around in daily activities and auditions. They are very reputable. I told them I would run it past Hines and Hunt and get back to them. It could be a neat opportunity to document a part of our trip. We finished the evening at an Oscar party at the clubhouse. As you can see in the picture the documentary company is filming the event. Special love goes out to my mother(Mimi)...Happy Birthday Mom...We love and miss you. You are a special person and we sure are fortunate to have you in our lives.

Pre-Oscar Journey

Saturday 2/21 - Today was a site seeing day. We had an awesome day checking out the Pre-Oscar setup. I attached a slide show of 64 pictures. Click on it to view the pics in a larger formate. The Oscars will be a zoo tomorrow but today we were able to navigate through the crowd. Some notable crowd members consisted of Spiderman, The Joker, Darth Vader, Jesus, Barney, and Marylin Monroe. There are some crazy people out here FOR SURE!! In the slideshow I took a picture of a colorful crazy guy, he kept repeating "I AM THE THE NEW MARYLIN MONROE". After we checked out the Oscars we drove up Mohalland Drive(Hollywood Hills)which is a mile away from Oakwood. WOW...What beautiful views. I snapped a few shots. I will get some better ones on a clearer day. Oakwood has a free brunch for the Child Actor Families so I should get some good info to post tomorrow.............stay tuned!!!

HUNTER"S FIRST AUDITION!!!!

Friday 2/20 -GREAT NEWS!!! Hunter had his first commercial audition. Let me give you a hint on who it was for...5 Dollar..5 Dollar..5 Dollar foot looooooonnnggg. Yep you got it...SUBWAY. The audition was at 5th Steet Studio in Santa Monica at 4:30. Santa Monica is 26 miles from Burbank(Oakwood). Eddie told us to give ourselves an hour to get there because of Friday traffic. We left 1:20 early to be sure we wouldn't be late. OH MY GOODNESS!! I almost pulled my hair out...the traffic is unreal here. We pulled up at 5th street at 4:29 and raced inside. 5th street studio's films the auditions and sends them off. It was a good thing because Hunter came out of the Audition like he just got a lashing. He said the guy filming the audition was very strict and our call time was the last of the day so I think he was was ready to go home. Keep your fingers crossed he gets a call back. After the audition we had a chance to go down to the pier and check things out. We had a great time and headed back into the traffic monster. THANK YOU...for all your support. This is an exciting adventure but your comments and support help us along and make it easier to be away from you'all. We constantly check to see who is following and your comments, so keep em comin'. The Oscars are on Sunday and they are setting up the red carpet so I think we are gonna check it out......keep posted!!!

Making New Friends

Thursday 2/19 - We finally have a day to get settled in. Our apartment is 900 square feet. We decided to cut cost and get the partially furnished unit. We brought the extra things not provided in the partial furnished unit. I set up the DVD player, Electronic Drum Kit, PlayStation, and tidied up the unit. After we spent the morning doing this and Hunter finished his schoolwork we decided to have a little fun. We went swimming, through the football, played badminton, and chilled in the jacuzzi. Hunter made first friend since we got here. His name is Camden(13 years old)and he is also an actor. He came out to Oakwood last pilot season with his dad and has been here since. Camden has three sisters and a mother that move out after he had success booking commercials and a pilot that never ended up funding. Camden showed us a cool spot to play wiffleball where we ended up having a blast. After wiffleball we ate and got cleaned up to go to a piano recital performed by the Oakwood kids. The documentary crew was filming again and we met more parents of the kids. Lots of the kids are currently on shows that are airing now.

Ballroom with Brian Fortuna

Wednesday 2/18 - We went to Hines & Hunt to meet the crew, check out the office, and tie up some lose ends. Their office is only a mile away from Oakwood which makes life easy. We spent the rest of the day getting groceries, buying a universal pan(for cooking), and sheets for our queen size bed. The highlight of the day was the ballroom class with Brian Fortuna. Rosie sets up activities for the child actors. Hunter was not looking forward to it but you couldn't tell once he saw the girl to guy ratio. Brian was on Dancing With The Stars two seasons ago and tough the kids how to Salsa. Lots of Laughs!! We also found out that there is an Oscar winning documentary film co. that is filming this season at Oakwood. They are constantly chasing kids around with their cameras. Maybe Hunter will get some face time in a documentary??

Time to Sell Yourself!!

Tuesday 2/17 - Tuesday is a busy day. After two long days of driving, today is Hunter's time to sell himself to his prospective agents. Hines and Hunt(Hunter's Manager)will represent Hunter for theatrical jobs(TV & Movies). The management company only has a small amount of clients and works directly with their client(Hunter)and they handle his agents. Hunter has two appointments today with Abrams(Commercial Agent) & JLA(Print Agent). These appointments consist of interviewing Hunter, reviewing his headshot and resume, and having Hunter act out a scene they have him memorize when he arrives. Hunter rocked it!! Both agencies agreed to represent Hunter. We also had to get Hunter a work permit which allows him to work as a minor as an actor. Great day!!

600 Miles to LA

Monday 2/16 - We left Tuscon AZ at 9am and got our first glimpse of the HOLLYWOOD sign at 4pm. There was lots of rain along the way but our spirits were on a high. We made it!!! Safe and sound!! We are staying at the Oakwood Extended Stay Apartment complex. Oakwood is a 1/4 mile up the hill from Warner Bros. studios and NBC(where Jay Leno's tonight show shoots).Oakwood is a famous complex that houses actors, musicians, and entertainers. Oakwood has a activities director(Rosie)that caters to child actors. Rosie's office is plastered with famous child actors, most notable was Zack Efron.

1000 Miles to Tuscon AZ

Sunday 2/15 - We left Sunday morning at 8:30am. We drove till 11:30pm which equated to 1000 miles and landed us in Tuscon AZ. What a beautiful scenic trip. This drive aloud me to reflect on what a great bonding experience was ahead for Hunter and I. Hunter read me 100 pages aloud of his latest book he was reading. We were constantly saying "Check that Out" "Oh look at that". We saw HUGE cactus, Windmills in the hundreds, and breath taking mountain ranges. There was a stretch where the speed limit was 80mph. A special thanks to Lucinda Ellis for hooking us up with a discounted rate at the Fairfield in Tuscon AZ. Needless to say we slept like two rocks...ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

The Journey Begins

The logistics have been hammered out. My work was incredibly cool about the opportunity which allowed me to work in LA. Hunter's school was understanding and open to help provide me with a syllabus to follow along in a home school scenario. We found the perfect place to stay in Oakwood. My wonderful wife would hold down the fort and afford us to take on this endeavour. We packed up the FJ Cruiser and prepared for a 2 month trip and 1600 miles of driving ahead of us.

Hunter's Adventure

Welcome friends and family. We have had multiple requests to share the experience of our trip so I decided to set up this blog. For those of you that didn't know, We are very proud to announce that Hunter has signed with a management company called Hines and Hunt based in Los Angeles, CA. Hines and Hunt wanted Hunter to come out for pilot season which runs from February thru the end of March. We felt it was Hunter's time to go for it so we scrambled to hammer out the logistics to make it happen. Of coarse there were allot of things to get done in a short amount of time like talk to my work, talk to Hunter's school, figure out where we would live, figure out how we would get there, etc. Since I am starting this blog 5 days into the trip I am going to break the blog up into daily sections & back track to make it easier to understand. You only live once...step outside of the box and amazing things can happen. Thanks for your interest in our journey and support. ALL PRAYERS ARE WELCOME!!