STBD Profile: Erik Schark (aka Rich Mathis)

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Actor Erik Schark explains what it takes to create the unpredictable persona of Rich Mathis. (2:00)

Age and Acting

Hans Rosemond (aka Lloyd on STBD) turned 30 this weekend, which -- as is expected around "major birthdays" -- led to a bit of soul-searching on his part. Having recently turned 30 myself, I know the drill:

1) Realize Orson Welles directed Citizen Kane when he was 25.

2) Realize you haven't, and you're 30.

3) Drink a lot.

Old Is the New Young

Traditionally, actors tend to be a few years older than the characters they portray. The conventional wisdom here is, "You have to have lived THROUGH something in order to convince OTHERS that you're 'living through' it." (This would explain the careers of many Hollywood actors, who portray teenagers well through their first real-life divorces and / or plastic surgery mishaps.)

On Something to Be Desired, our cast also plays characters whose age differs from their own -- but not always in reverse. In fact, Ann Turiano (Caroline), Shaun Cameron Hall (Dean) and Will Guffey (Leo), among others, are all a year or two younger than the characters they portray.

However, the ambivalent passage of time on STBD means that the characters' ages are always a bit vague (i.e., Caroline may have graduated college in 2003, but that doesn't mean she's 26 now). Meanwhile, the actors still keeping aging like clockwork. This means that Ann Turiano is now likely older than Caroline, despite having been younger than Caroline when she began playing her.

And you thought The Simpsons had questionable chronology...

Don't Confuse Age With Experience

Just because an actor is a certain age, it doesn't mean he or she is naturally able to inhabit "younger" characters. Likewise, just because an actor is younger than a character on paper, it doesn't mean he / she can't play older.

The dividing line isn't age; it's experience.

On STBD, I was confident that Ann Turiano could play an older role, so Caroline was created with Ann's "mature" side in mind. Meanwhile, Dean and Leo have never been paragons of responsibility and common sense, so casting actors a year or two younger than the characters themselves seemed appropriate.

(Full disclosure: The characters of Dean and Leo were written as being 22-24 years old well before we actually considered casting. When I realized that the actors I could collaborate with were primarily college students, I resisted the idea of "younging up" the characters to match the actors' ages. Instead, I trusted that their skill would carry us through to believability.

I think we've done well thus far.)

And, if you need further proof that age is nothing but a number, think back again to Citizen Kane: Orson Welles may have been only 25 when he directed it, but he portrayed the title character throughout 60 years of the man's life. Now that's convincing acting. (And great makeup.)

Where Have All the Yinzers Gone?

One question we hear a lot from current AND former Pittsburghers is: "Where are all the yinzers on STBD?"

For those of you who've never graced our fair city, "yinzer" is a term lovingly applied to a subsection of the local populace. It's based upon the colloquialism "yinz," which is Pittsburghese for "y'all."

Yinzers tend to be hard-working, blue-collar, lifelong diehard Steelers fans (or "Stillers," if you speak the lingo). The most defining characteristic is the dialect, and it's that accent that's as inseparable from local Pittsburgh culture as the linguistics heard in Minnesota, Buffalo, Texas, Boston, Los Angeles... really, in most other major population centers.

So: where ARE the yinzers on STBD?

Simple answer: we've never had one, and we probably never will. At least, not on purpose.

Believe it or not, most of the STBD cast are native Pittsburghers. And yet, you've never heard Leo, Caroline or Liz utter a drop of Pittsburghese. That's because they never picked it up during their formative years -- and, even if they did, they lost it during dialect classes in college.

About the closest we've come to a "yinzer" accent comes from Rob Stone, who plays Rich's infrequently-seen lawyer Alex. But we're not going out of our way to play up that angle, mainly because we refuse to believe Pittsburgh should be defined by its dialect. It's the same reason some folks thought Fargo was a negative reflection on the northern midwest: people trapped in that speech pattern tend to come across as "yokels."

We like to think STBD represents a more universally engaged version of Pittsburgh. We think we can accurately portray the denizens of the city without resorting to accents as cultural shortcuts.

Now... if we could only do something about the diversity of our cast... (Though, some might argue, a lack of diversity is also, sadly, an accurate depiction of Pittsburgh...)

The Trouble with Beards...

We were supposed to resume filming this week for STBD, but there's a hiccup -- Ryan Ben (aka Tim) -- informed me that he's been instructed to keep a "poorly assembled beard" for his role in a stage play that runs through August.

Neither of us likes the idea of Tim with facial hair -- especially because I hate seeing characters change appearances for one episode, seemingly for no reason -- but we can't NOT film with Ryan until September, since we're due to have 3 episodes under our belt in the next month.

What to do?

I mentioned this to Rick Hertzig, who plays Glenn, via email when I explained we would NOT be filming tonight. His response?

Tim could be...

- preparing for his role as the apostle Paul in the church choir's upcoming cantata.

- trying to impress a girl who belittled his suspected inability to grow facial hair.
- preparing for an upcoming family camping trip: he has a list of things he's going to do to prove to his family that he is a manly man after an embarrassing episode last year (wet his sleeping bag, got lost in the woods and was found crying, screamed and ran from a chipmunk, etc.)

- trying to disguise himself, hiding from someone... someone from his past, a creepy guy on the bus who keeps coming on to him, an ex-girlfriend from vacation bible school who is now stalking him?

Leave it to the cast to solve my problems...

Glenn Goes Digging

Rick Hertzig (front left) and his crew after a day in the mines.
Rick Hertzig, who plays Glenn (aka "the writer who sits in the corner of the cafe") on STBD, worked on a National Geographic production this past weekend. He portrays the leader of a work crew that escapes the flood which trapped the Quecreek miners a few years ago.

You may also have seen him in this recent Carlow University commercial, or on the set of the upcoming Spike TV miniseries Kill Point -- where he worked as an extra for 16 hours yesterday and received one official meal...

Hmm... Flooding mines and starving extras? Who says acting is all glamor?

On the Fly

Rick Hertzig (Glenn) wonders if Courtney Jenkins (Tabitha) and Ann Turiano (Caroline) are making it all up...
Wondering how much of an average STBD episode is improvised?

Let's look at the three most recent episodes:

Episode #23: "Lonely Boy"

Scene One: Rich asks Dierdre about "the guy who's always writing in the corner"
Source: Scripted (except for Rich's opening and closing lines, "Hey, Stretch..." / "Whatcha Twittering?")

Scene Two: Alexxxis and Caroline (almost) discuss Lloyd
Source: Scripted

Scene Three: Tim tells Dierdre about his online dating ploy
Source: Scripted

Scene Four: Tim introduces himself to "LonelyGirl69"
Source: Improvised

Scene Five: Alexxxis and Caroline give Chloe sex advice
Source: Scripted

Scene Six: Tim and "LonelyGirl69" stay late after Dierdre closes up
Source: Improvised

TOTAL: 4 scripted scenes, 2 improvised scenes

Episode #24: "The Notebook"

Scene One: Caroline lobbies to borrow the notebook from Dierdre
Source: Scripted

Scene Two: Caroline reads Glenn's writing
Source: Scripted

Scene Three: Caroline and Leo argue about... Leo
Source: Improvised

Scene Four: Tim rambles to Dierdre about his "date"
Source: Scripted

Scene Five: Caroline and Leo conclude their argument
Source: Improvised

Scene Six: Glenn enters, Dierdre stalls him, Caroline arrives w/ the notebook
Source: Scripted

TOTAL: 4 scripted scenes, 2 improvised scenes (actually filmed as one large scene)

Episode #25: "Further Review"

Scene One: Tabitha reveals the "bad news" to Caroline and Dierdre
Source: Scripted

Scene Two: Leo and Liz read the book reviews
Source: Improvised

Scene Three: Rich states his case against the RIAA
Source: Improvised

Scene Four: Leo fails to get more money from Liz / Vanity Press
Source: Improvised

Scene Five: Caroline and Todd lament their lives
Source: Improvised

Scene Six: Caroline and Todd come home to find...
Source: Scripted

TOTAL: 2 scripted scenes, 4 improvised scenes

What Have You Learned?

1) On average, half of any STBD episode is improvised...

2) Most scenes involving Leo (at least recently) have been improvised...

3) Most scenes in which we felt a natural conversation would work best were improvised....

4) Most scenes in which we... um... didn't have time to write a script... were improvised...

5) You can do that when you have a talented cast that know how to think on their feet.

The Ups and Downs of a One-Camera Shoot

We filmed two scenes for STBD yesterday at Affogato.

In each of them, characters were having conversations across a divide -- either sitting on opposite sides of a table or staring at each other from different vantage points.

Normally, a professional film crew would use two cameras (at least) to cover this setup, ensuring that the characters' reactions to one another were consistent. But, on our shoestring budget of zero, we use one camera to cover each side of this setup.

How? Multiple takes.

Do you see the potential problems?

The Cons

- If one character ad-libs a line, it may not match the other character's response in the reverse angle.
- If one character changes his or her delivery or motivation during subsequent takes, it may not match earlier takes.
- It may ALSO not match the reactions of the other character, creating a disjointed conversational flow.
- If props are moved, or if one character's hand / body / mouth enters the other character's frame, it could disrrupt continuity.

And yet, despite all of these pitfalls, there are upsides to using a single camera.

The Pros

- Less footage to capture, sort through and edit (in fact, presumably, HALF as much).
- Lighting only needs to work for one angle at a time, rather than both.
- Half a set is NOT in use during the filming of each angle, allowing the unused portion to be dressed / lit for the next setup.
- Fewer potential mistakes by multiple camera operators (and, as a result, only one operator needed).

How a One-Camera Shoot Affects the Actors

This is the tricky part, because the actors always know whom the focus of a shot is on when the camera is only pointed at one of them. This can lead the off-camera conversant to drop his or her energy level. That's understandable, since they can rest assured the visuals of their performance won't be recorded... but that also affects the energy level of the actor being filmed.

If someone is flirting with you, or yelling at you, and they're putting 100% of their effort into it, you'll respond much differently than you would if they're only putting in 50% effort, no? The same goes for actors. Despite their best intentions, it's still inherently unnatural for one to react at 100% when the inciting incident that causes his or her reaction was only delivered at half-energy. The actor being filmed may become self-conscious because he believes he's over-acting -- when, in fact, he's merely doing what he's supposed to be doing.

Suddenly, the entire scene loses its zip.

The solution? Simple. Encourge everyone involved in the scene, even if they're not on camera during that take, to give it 100% every time. It's natural for the off-camera actors to still withhold just a bit, to make sure they have a little something extra in the tank when it's "their turn." But if everyone is running around 80-90% energy, the scene will flow much more effectively -- and believably.