WAYNE W. JOHNSON

-I was initially contacted by director Cameron Ebersold in regards to playing the role of ‘Sage’ in his short film ‘New Riots.’ The film is a love story that involves a punk rock band called Thanks Obama, of which Sage is the guitarist. The role was described to me as Sage being “ultra-chill”-possibly stoned thru out. The role also initially had no lines. It was paying though and I’d never played a punk rock guitarist-and there would be a “performance” part and it would only take me a day so I got on board. The song was sent to me a few days before the shoot. I actually learned the guitar parts-doing that always helps when it comes to doing this kind of thing. Since Sage is “ultra-chill,” I made the decision to bring out my “classic stoner” persona for it. He appeared in “Slow Food,” but that is still unreleased so…

-There were three locations for this day. The first was at a bar called The Raven in Oswego, NY with the call being at 8:15 AM. I was on time (“Inconceivable!” 🙂 ) and got all dressed up in my first out, provided by Matthew J Soffietti. I also got to meet the rest of the cast and crew-who were all great to work with. It was also interesting to see that they were filming with actual film for this, not digital. The first of three scenes I’m in was the performance one. Unfortunately, the song wasn’t totally in sync timing wise so all of the band got lost at various points. In addition, my previous music video experience came into play when during the first few takes, the music was skipping a lot. Turns out the player was on the stage-so any movements on the stage would cause the music to skip. I spotted that and that problem got solved. Of course, during all the takes, the one where I had a mid-level shot of me doing the solo, the timing issues on the playback got me and I was a little lost so I’m not sure how I did. I was told it was OK-I hope so. We then did a second scene which was the band and it’s manager at the bar. Now, since I was dressed, I got into “stoner” mode-which means saying stuff off the cuff in that voice. I was doing it so much, and making people laugh, that it was decided to give me a line in the film. We rehearsed the scene a few times and what I was saying was OK, but then when we did the first actual take of it, I changed it and said something off the cuff and it got a big laugh from everyone-a few more takes and that version was in the can. Then came doing ADR-which was nice to see. Basically, the rest of the crew packed up and then they did ADR for all the lines in that scene right then and there. Saves time and is a good strategy.

-The next location was at the Oswego Players Theatre, but we couldn’t stay long cause a theatrical production was actually scheduled to rehearse there, so we broke for lunch and came back when the rehearsal was done. Thanks to Peter & Kelly Mahan for allowing us to come to their home for food & rest. It was during this time I got to try on my second outfit and just relax. I didn’t fall asleep though-although I probably should have. For some reason, the night before I couldn’t fall asleep so I just powered thru the day. Anyway, we went back and this was the scene that was backstage. No lines said here, but I was able to convey ‘Sage” thru mannerisms so he was present 🙂

-The last location was at the attic of the Trinity Catholic School. Got a one work line in this scene. Knowing “Sage,” that was probably quite the challenge 🙂 It actually took longer to set up / tear down the gear than filming the scene. And just like that, the film was wrapped.

-Big thanks to all the cast and crew-you were all great to work with. I’ll do my best to tag you all in the pics, but if I miss anyone, please feel free to tag yourself. It’s always fun being in “Classic Stoner Mode.” As a side note, I got this role as a result of Cameron finding my profile on Backstage.com so see-it works! 🙂 Pics can be seen on my acting page on Facebook via the link below

WWJ PAGE ON FACEBOOK