Ah, high Summer and our garden is in full bloom! But, like all gardens it requires vigorous and vigilant weeding-  particularly weeds of the predatory and poisonous variety.  These weeds are generally easy to spot. You get near them and your neck hairs rise, your stomach tightens, your gorge rises, and your Guardian Angel sounds like Martha Raye as she shouts "Get the heck outta there!"

The weeds to which I refer are soit dissant agents and casting directors who prey on neophyte or struggling actors' ignorance and or desperation.

Just the other day a call came in about a so called talent agency whose request of the women who registered with them as ACTORS NOT MODELS (don't know about the guys) included updated photos every three months in--wait for it--bikinis. Yup, from all angles. And these are not just Bay Watch 20-something babes. A quick and discreet call to said establishment revealed that they do not, strictly speaking, represent actors because they are not yet franchised. They said they would be franchised at the end of the month. Not surprisingly , a second call, this time to the unions, confirmed that that was, keeping to our horticultural theme, so much manure. Never heard of them.  Maybe they meant a McDonald's franchise.

Lest you think that just fly-by-night concerns indulge in such exploitation, consider the established casting type who routinely asks for pretty young things in bikinis frolicking up and down in the office for "special projects" such as a friend's oh-so-tasteful nude photos.

Hey, you wanna strip, go right ahead. More power to your elbow and any other body parts. And I hope you are well compensated for the future damage such exposure could well cause you. But if the suggestion gives you pause (or any of the other above-mentioned symptoms) you have every right to decline. No one who really matters will think any less of you. Quite the contrary.

"No." It is a complete sentence. See the period? If you have, about anything in the biz or otherwise, the SLIGHTEST niggle about an agent, a casting director, a client, a director, check it out!

And just to set the record straight once again (and because I hear this constantly) ACTORS IN CHICAGO DO NOT HAVE MANAGERS. Folks can call themselves any darn thing they want but it don't make them so. I may fancy myself a world class brain surgeon but I doubt you want me mucking about with your medulla oblongata.

And don't give people money in the hopes of work. You don't pay to register. You don't pay to audition. You don't pay the agent before they pay you. And you can't complain after the fact. The "Gee, I thought maybe it wasn't such a good idea but well…" won't wash. Common sense and a sense of your own worth are great antidotes to these toxic elements.

Rip out the weeds! Report them. Don't let them choke you, trap you, ruin you.

Real work going on in or around  town includes the films Batman shooting until September, Ammityville Horror rolling until October, and Roll, Bounce which is also here until September. In the definite maybe column you can spot a piece of Derailed for Miramax and an indie entitled 5/25/77. The intriguing title refers to the night Patrick Johnson, the director of Baby's Day Out, first saw Star Wars in his native Waukegan. Please, I really do not want to see Vancouver standing in yet again. A tentative maybe (there IS a difference) is All Fall Down, the film version of that Scottish play, The Architect which was produced locally some years ago. Former Chicago stage manager Matt Tauber is set to direct.

Please add Ralph Prindle to those cast by Jane Alderman for David Cranfill's ALFA insurance spots.

Tenner Paskal Rudnicke have been busy with commercial projects for Best Buy, Smokey Bones restaurants, Triaminic, Illinois Criminal Justice Institute, Kraft Philly Chili & Cheese Dip, Midwest Airlines, and St. Vincent's Hospital. Bookings went to: Lily Mojekwu, G. Riley Mills, Janice O'Neill, Dylan Swope, Matt Rice, Monica Pedersen, Michelle Lenz, Zondra Rivera, Tony Ramirez, Phil Camacho, Maria Prieto-Yanez, Jessica Vilches, Pat Vern Harris, Kiersten Kingsley, Al Lash, Michael Termine, Terry Kane, Kevin Martin, Lacy Coil, Shana Goodsell, Robert Heitzinger, Danny McCarthy, Marc D'Andre, Danielle Hoetmer, Derrick Nelson, Paul Sass, Ashley Heins and Caitlyn McWhorter.

We'll catch up with Claire Simon in the next issue.

Peace.

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