Matt Shevin was dressed up as a big bottle of Texas Pete hot sauce when the ax came down.
Shevin had just arrived on the set along with another actor, who was costumed as a different flavor of Texas Pete’s, to shoot some print ads for the hot sauce and then some TV commercials.
“I was supposed to be portraying the buffalo wing style of the hot sauce, which came in different versions, and the other actor was supposed to be playing the regular hot sauce,” said the aspiring Manhattan Beach actor.
As is usually the case on a commercial shoot for print and television, a director, ad agency reps, and client were all on the set.
Suddenly, the hot sauce client wondered why they needed two actors to portray the different styles of sauces, instead of having just one play both roles. Not wishing to challenge the client, the ad agency people quickly pulled Shevin aside and told him to step away from his costume and leave the set.
“They were really wimpy about it, and didn’t bother to try and dissuade the client from dismissing me,” he said. “But I understood what they were up against.”
Having worked as a copywriter for three top advertising agencies, Shevin could see it coming.
“I just knew when I saw the client whispering in the agency people’s ears that something was about to come down that wasn’t going to bode well for me. The agency folks were really apologetic. But you can only imagine how I felt having to leave the set and walking away wearing only a red unitard.”
While others might have hung up their tights, the adman-turned-actor shrugged it off, and vowed to keep moving forward. He relinquished his role as a hot sauce more focused than ever on proving that he has what it takes to conquer the world of show business.
Shevin, who gave up a lucrative career as an advertising copywriter for the classic Hollywood dream, dedicates himself to endless auditions, working with agents, learning the quirks of casting directors, and accepting rejection.
Since 2004 he has booked nine national commercials, including one for a Nintendo video game, worked on a couple of infomercials, booked a lead role in a pilot show, and filled his Internet Movie Data Base with a long list of minor credits as well as leading roles in small independent films, some of them shorts. Shevin has also appeared in an improv sketch on “The Tyra Banks Show,” and was painted blue for a remote sketch on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.”
Working blue
The “Tonight Show” sketch was Leno’s first after he returned to the show when Conan O’Brien was bumped as host.
In the pre-Oscar sketch, Shevin played a member of the Blue Man Group, with Leno knocking on doors at the Oakwood Gardens Apartments in Burbank — home to many aspiring actors — asking residents if they intended to watch the Oscars, and, if so, would they be willing to dress up as one of the nominees.
“In my scene, a bunch of college-aged partiers were transformed into Navi from the film Avatar, and the Blue Man Group, sensing a color-based theme, showed up to the bash. It was pretty damn funny. It was a long day, eight hours in makeup, but worth every minute,” Shevin said.
He said the tricky part about playing a Blue Man is that it takes about three times longer to remove the makeup than it takes to apply it.
“It gets everywhere,” he said, “I literally had blue on my eyeballs.”
Late at night when the shoot was over, Shevin changed in his dressing room and went onto the Tonight Show set. With the lights in the studio dimmed, the audience gone, and the band’s instruments on their racks, he lifted the drop-cloth from Leno’s chair, sat in it and savored the moment.
In the quiet of the empty studio, he thought about the hard work and obstacles that he still faced as an actor. Then he got up from Leno’s chair, took one last look, and walked out of the studio.
“Jay is a really hard working and nice guy,” Shevin said. “I was really impressed with him.”
Casting his net
Between acting and auditioning, Shevin updates his popular blog “Inside the Actor’s Studio Apartment,” about his experiences on auditions and job sites. Fellow actors share some of their ups and downs as well.
Shevin drives into Hollywood about four times a week to take part in casting workshops where actors pay a casting director about $40 per class just to submit headshots and be seen.
“They will pair you up with another actor or actress and have you do what is known as a cold read. And often, you will have only 10 minutes to memorize a scene. It is really a concentrated dose of auditioning,” he said. “Many actors get really nervous when doing it, but I love it. It gives me an opportunity to get out there and show my stuff.”
In casting workshops, Shevin enjoys the opportunity to play various roles from a lawyer to a dad.
Sometimes he said, “I get to play the crazy boyfriend. And it’s fun, really fun. Also, there are usually about 20 other actors or so, and everyone is really very supportive of one another. They will laugh a little harder and clap even louder when you finish. They identify with you as a fellow actor.”
That came as a surprise to him — he expected actors to be more cutthroat with one another.
When it’s time to audition, Shevin said, actors must develop a Zen-like ability to go into casting directors’ offices, relax, and give them what they need.
Many casting directors will test actors on auditions by leaving a chair in the room to see if the performer can sense whether he needs to sit or stand.
“Hey, if I am supposed to be playing a cashier, I should be standing, not sitting. But many actors will sit. And I guess it’s not too hard to guess that they probably won’t get cast for that part.”
Shevin also believes that casting directors really want actors to succeed, and get the part for which they are auditioning. But he advises actors to closely study the role they wish to be booked for, and understand what the casting director is going to want before going out on an audition.
“You really need to do your homework. If I am auditioning for a role of a lawyer, I may not be one, but I have to be the Matt Shevin version of one. Being from New York, I have a little bit of that New York anger in me. And that’s what they really want. They want the angry Matt Shevin New York guy.”
East coast roots
Shevin, the son of a podiatrist and the middle of three boys, was raised in Rye, a suburb of Westchester County, New York.
“It was a great place to grow up,” he said, “It was the kind of town where dads would commute into the city.”
He attended the University of Maryland as a theater major, and landed an internship at a major advertising agency in Washington D.C. His agency mentors suggested Shevin attend a grad school in Atlanta, so off to the Georgia metropolis he went to study copywriting.
He went to work for an ad agency in New York, and in time relocated to L.A., where he wound up working for two major west coast advertising houses.
The big plunge
His last day job, at Saatchi and Saatchi in Torrance, provided a comfortable income, allowing Shevin to stash away enough cash to ponder the big question: Should he remain in advertising or throw caution to the wind and follow his acting dream?
“I loved working in advertising, but it could be very challenging and stifling. I had my good days and bad days. They could be very long days, too. I remember one Sunday working on a campaign until about midnight and realizing this sucks. I wasn’t getting paid any overtime,” he said.
“That’s not to say that I didn’t enjoy seeing commercials that I had written running on TV, while I was at a local bar with friends. It was actually very rewarding,” he said. “Commercials are really 30-second movies when you think about it. There’s a beginning, middle and end, and there usually is a conflict, a plot of some sorts. However, I felt that burning desire to be the guy in front of the camera, instead.”
Shevin found that after booking and directing actors for various radio and television commercials, he developed a better feel for the trials and tribulations of the performers he worked with. And he discovered, while casting and working with actors, that he really respected them and “could hang with them.”
The acting bug was starting to bite again, and he knew that in order to pursue his dream it would be necessary to leave the comfort zone of steady employment. Breaking the agency apron strings, he started working freelance as a consultant and copywriter on various projects. And this was something he could do out of his one-bedroom apartment, a few blocks from the Strand in Manhattan Beach, which he shares with his longtime pit bull companion, Petey.
Full speed ahead
Enrolling in acting workshops, Shevin immediately threw himself into the Hollywood rat race, never looking back.
He hired two agents for representation, one for commercial work and one for theatrical bookings. There was no doubt in his mind that he was on the right track.
And his ad agency experience helped prepare him for an actor’s ultimate bête noire: rejection. Copywriters pitch numerous ideas that never make it on the air, and actors deal with the same kind of uncertainties.
“You can literally go on hundreds of auditions in this town before you book that one job, that one job that gets you some attention and recognition,” he said.
Shevin said he would rather be acting than doing anything else.
“I knew what I was getting into when I decided to pursue acting, and that is why you will never hear me complaining about all the auditions I have to go on and all the times a casting director might reject me for a role. All I can do is work on my craft and go in, doing the best that I can do. Eventually, I will find that one steady acting job. I think all talented actors do.”
“There are no overnight success stories. When you hear about an alleged overnight success story, you have to realize that doesn’t really happen. The actor or actress has most likely been at it for over 10 years,” he said.
“You need to plant all the seeds before you finally see those trees growing. You have to keep reminding yourself why you’re still going out on all those auditions and sending out all those postcards to casting directors. And while they don’t always call you in right away, in a year one of them will. That’s just the way it happens.’
While walking on the Strand with Petey on a sunny afternoon, Shevin’s cell phone rings. It is his commercial agent asking about his availability for an audition, later in the afternoon.
Reviewing the script on his Blackberry, he quickly calls back confirming that he will be there, which means a long drive into Hollywood and memorizing his dialogue before arriving. However, Matt realizes one thing that many actors often forget: being called in for an audition already makes you a winner, even if you don’t get the part.
“Look, I want to work. And I will do whatever I have to in order to land a job. I had one acting teacher tell our workshop that he had coached over 10,000 actors in his career. And I remember him telling the class that every actor who wanted it bad enough eventually worked,” he said.
“That’s where I am at. I want it bad enough. I just don’t mind the long drives to auditions. Besides, when I leave a casting director’s office, I get to come back to Manhattan Beach and go for a walk with Petey on the beach. Most actors have to drive back to the sweltering Valley or some crappy little place in Hollywood. I really consider myself lucky. I mean we really are blessed to be living at the beach,” he said with a grin.
West coast vibe
Shevin believes that growing up in the Big Apple helped him develop self-confidence, and might even make him “a little cocky” on auditions.
“Look, New York is a fast-moving town. You have to move quickly when you get out of a cab on their streets because people are moving and they’re moving fast. I think it’s why I talk so rapidly and tend to be a little more aggressive. It also gives you that Seinfeld-like sense of humor, which can really help one survive in a place as competitive as Hollywood,” he said.
“Living in New York helped me to learn how to read people. You develop good people-profiling skills,” he said. “When I booked those five commercials last year, I knew the minute I walked out of the casting director’s office I would get the jobs. Yet, on other auditions, I could tell it just didn’t feel right and I wasn’t going to get booked.”
One aspect of his life that has required little work is adapting to Southern California life.
“When I was growing up back east, I imagined L.A. as being a place with lots of sunshine, great looking girls, surfing, skateboarding and celebrity sightings. And it turned out to be everything I expected it to be and more,” he said. “I would probably never move back to New York, unless I landed a gig on a soap opera being taped there.”
And does he have any advice for someone who is working in another field but entertains the idea of becoming an actor?
“I would advise everyone to become an actor. I think it’s a great and fun business. Just make sure you are financially sound or you have some kind of part-time job, or can somehow hang on to your fulltime one. I did have some money in the bank and continued to do some freelance copywriting when I really went gung ho with my acting career,” he said.
“And you’re never too old. Just have patience. There are many actors who started in their 40s and 50s. You could be 80 and start an acting career.” ER
