I love you guy, I really do. Making Bloodshot has reinforced that feeling. The cast is filled with talented members of this site like Alexthed, Lady Dandy, Gregg, Decker, Mr. Aspiring Actor, Hedonistic Actor, and many more. All of whom have been a joy to work with, turned their lines in early and, if they needed to redo anything, did so without any fuss. Yep, working with Expressionists on a Podcast Play is a joy.
Then there are the times you step outside of the site for actors…not so much of a joy.
To be fair, everyone who you will hear in the final product of Bloodshot was fantastic to work with, but finding those people meant wading through a sea of flakes. For the lead role of Megan I cast no less than ten different actresses, all of whom were dying to play the part until they got it, and then immediately quit (some didnĆ¢ā¬ā¢t even bother to tell me they were quitting, they just vanished without a trace).
Whatever my next Podcast Play, it will feature nothing but Expressionists, but what to do when no one here fits what your looking for?
Ox_Bigley knew what to do. Recently Ox came to me with an idea: Lets help the members of this site become better actors by setting up an improv project. He figured this would not only help with the Podcast Plays but also just help people in general become more natural performers. This guy was looking out for all of you, wanted to help in any way he could. isnĆ¢ā¬ā¢t that a lovely sentiment?
We all know Ox by now, heĆ¢ā¬ā¢s one of our earliest members and pops up all over the place. HeĆ¢ā¬ā¢s a double threat, producing videos like I Eat Weird Crap and blogs like The Unbelievable Truth. For more than a year now heĆ¢ā¬ā¢s been one of our most productive members, putting himself out there constantly with entertaining content we can all be proud of him for.
I love it when people here step up with ideas. Sometimes I get emails from people saying, Ć¢ā¬ÅI donĆ¢ā¬ā¢t mean to bug you, youĆ¢ā¬ā¢re probably busy, but I had an idea I wanted to run by you.Ć¢ā¬Ā Bug me? I love it! I love it when people come to me wanting to make the site better. ThatĆ¢ā¬ā¢s what this place is all about. Whatever success we have is a reflection on all of us, everyone who shows up here every day to make Manic Expression a better place, whether with ideas of just a fantastic blog or video.
Ox probably didnĆ¢ā¬ā¢t think much of his idea regarding the improv project. To him it was just a way to help make the Podcast Plays and other productions better. Was he thinking about all our members who do want to be actors? Members who canĆ¢ā¬ā¢t afford to take an acting class and can benefit from the knowledge that improv can teach them? Was he thinking about how beneficial this would be to people who aspire to be critics or video producers, people who maybe arenĆ¢ā¬ā¢t the most natural performers who can learn a lot from how to improv? This idea, small though he may see it as, could make all the difference to them.
Changing the world isnĆ¢ā¬ā¢t about solving giant global problems. You donĆ¢ā¬ā¢t change the world with signs and slogans. You change the world by thinking about someone other than yourself. Will this improv project make a major impact in the history of existence? No, probably not. Could it make a major impact on a handful of people and help them achieve their dreams? Yes, it could. ThatĆ¢ā¬ā¢s how the world changes – one person at a time.
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