This is a shorter version of his reel. I think I prefer it. However, Arron belives the longer one (with a slight modification) will be of more use to him. He never listens to me that willful young man, and yet it seems to do him no harm.
Category Archives: Sample demo reels
Arron Shiver was the darling of his Calarts class, and a huge talent. I know this first hand as I cast him in my film String Theory which he carried on his back. It came as a shock to some ( or at least to me) that less that a year after graduating he and his wife decided to move from LA back to Taos New Mexico where he is from. They had their reasons. His wife was pregnant and they had the support network in Taos they felt they needed .
Naturally…
I over stepped my bounds as a friend and a colleague when I told Arron in no uncertain terms that he was making a mistake. A BIG MISTAKE!
You need to be in LA where the action is. I demanded.
What are you going to do in Taos?
Are you going to pay your student loans by doing community theater? I sneered.
People raise kids in LA all the time.
Please, don’t through it all away, I begged dramatically .
Arron did not listen to me, he never does, and moved back home. The result of not listening to ones slightly older and much wiser friends, is posted below. It is in the form of stats I got from IMDB
# Sex & Lies in Sin City (2008 (TV) (filming) …. Evan James
# Sex & Lies in Sin City (2009) (post-production) …. Bernard
# Spoken Word (2009) (post-production) …. Paramedic
# ,Brothers (2008 (post-production) …. A.J.
# Not Forgotten (2008 (post-production) …. Deputy Pratt
# Love N’ Dancing (2008 (post-production) …. Wedding DJ
# Swing Vote (2008 (completed) …. Greenleaf’s Aide
# Hamlet 2 (2008 …. Virgil
# Sunshine Cleaning (2008 …. Detective
# Love Lies Bleeding (2008 (V) …. Room Service Waiter
# “Comanche Moon” (2008 TV mini-series …. Stove Jones
# In the Valley of Elah (2007) …. Cop
# 3:10 to Yuma (2007) …. Bill Moons
# Naked Fear (2007) …. Dwight Terry
# Save Me (2007) …. Jude
# “The Lost Room” (2006) TV mini-series …. Counter Clerk
# Beerfest (2006) …. Strike Out Kid
# Believe in Me (2006) …. Johnny Price
# Three Wise Guys (2005) (TV) …. Wayne
# North Country (2005) (as Aaron Shiver) …. Young Male Doctor
# “Wildfire” …. Lenny Kellman (1 episode, 2005)
– Pilot (2005) TV episode …. Lenny Kellman
# “Into the West” (2005) TV mini-series …. Maj. Edward W. Wynkoop
# String Theory (2004) …. Johnny
# Elvis Has Left the Building (2004) …. Gas Station Guy
# The Missing (2003/I) …. Rancher
# 21 Grams (2003) …. Young Doctor
# Screen Door Jesus (2003) …. George Herbert Jr.
I would be willing to bet my next paycheck that Arron has worked more than any actor from his graduating class. He makes his a living as an actor (no mean accomplishment) and raises his son (with his wife, Anais) in Taos New Mexico. It’s true he got lucky in that New Mexico has seen an unprecedented amount of production in the last few years. It is not however a matter of luck that the very busy NM casting agent, Jo Edna Boldin has taken a shine to him. His success is a result of his talent that stands out no matter where he lives. So I was wrong. Sue me. Arron’s latest reel is below. I edited two versions, one six minutes and one three. I will post the shorter one tomorrow.
So, this is the shortest of the three but still long by some standards.
Casting and talent agents are people famously short on time and we never want to give them an excuse to skip to the next reel however, Dylan has done quite a bit of work and so it is important to show the breadth of his experience. In this cut I just used the very center of the clips, nothing but the meatiest bits. I re-cut a couple of the scenes to favor Dylan a little, and I still used the one comedy clip as a juxtaposition to all the Alpha male roles he’s played. I don’t think Dylan needs both a three and a five minute reel, and I suppose that he will decide which is more useful to him. The question is does he need a one minute reel? Something that does not necessarily show off his acting ability just his different looks?
Most of Dylan’s clips are Drama, and in most of them he plays an alpha male, i.e. a cop, an army sergeant, a terrorist, a cowboy. However he had one comedy role from American Movie Institution and played against type. He plays a film school dean who’s bloated self importance is at odds with reality. Because it was the only comedy clip, I used it as a sort of glue throughout the reel and let individual jokes play in between his other more serious clips. This allowed the viewer to see where most of Dylan’s experience has been so far ( the tough guy) but also showed his range by juxtaposing comedy clips within. This edit is more than three minutes shorter than the last but still avoids jump cuts. See below.
This week I edited Dylan Kenin‘s Reel and I will be posting it to the blog just as soon as I figure out how…. any minute now. I cut three versions; the whole meglia clocking in at 8.5 minutes, a 5 minute version and a 3 minute version. I would love any thoughts on which version is going to be the most useful to Dylan.
My experience with Dylan was great. He brought his footage over, we watched it together, and talked it about for a couple of hours. Dylan had a lot of tape to choose from; 24, Ugly betty, Comanche Moon, The Lost room, Love Lies Bleeding, and Into the West…. And those were just my favorites. This was an exercise in picking his best clips as opposed to finding any bit of celluloid spent on his behalf. An embarrassment of riches. Below is the longest version. In this version we took what we thought were his best clips and let them run almost unedited. The purpose of this cut is to get Dylan an Agent. His reckoning and one I basically agree with is that an agent is making an open ended commitment to an actor so they would be more willing to spend time really studying them and their work before taking them on. Dylan has the goods so he might as well show them. After all if they’re in a hurry they can fast forward. We hope for Dylan’s sake that they are compelled not to. The cut is below. In my next two post I will also post the shorter versions of his reel which are intended for different purposes.
