Ilk Acting Call, and wait! There’s more!

While Michael Neal (of swords of insurgency) and I work out the details on the contract, it’s looking likely that we can work together to bring some or all of TSCB to the screen. After talking on the phone with him for an hour or so, I think we are pretty much on the same page with a lot of things. So now we need actors and locations and visual things.

Michael is in Virginia, so the actors / actresses should preferably live in VA or nearby. Extras are usually easy to find, as they don’t normally need any particular specifics, but we might need some of those, too (more on that later, perhaps; drop me a line if you’d like to play an expendable low-brow prison/mine guard and could look the part if dressed appropriately). If you have read the book, you have met the characters, but at this time we are trying to get actors for these main characters who actually fit the parts if possible.  Some comments, and then the people needed in no particular order:

All of the main characters in TSCB are smart and competent, so coming across as capable is much more important than sexy or handsome (though the two are not by any means mutually exclusive). The men are very definitely masculine, the women definitely feminine (but not party-girl or trashy). The guys could play a part looking at home at the Battle of Helm’s Deep, as a soldier or Rohan, or in heavy space armor as a MARINE! All men should be at least moderately familiar with guns and weapons in general; SCA heavy combat experience and other martial-arts training potentially a bonus. The women are the sort that you’d be happy to bring home to meet your upper-middle-class family, even when children are present, or at least that’s the attitude they can project.

MEN
Helton Strom, Captain: mid-late 30s, clean shaven with shortish hair, well built, ordinary looking, fit but not gym-rat buff. Somewhat sarcastic, but also genuinely funny. Somewhat modeled on Malcolm Reynolds from Firefly. Can do “serious” well. Lead character.

First Sergeant Harbin Reel: Indian/Sikh, late 40s, tough, buff, hard and intense looking, bearded. Must play the serious and hard-ass senior sergeant well, with occasional sly straight man humor; ideally be able to do an implied face-palm expressing deep disappointment while reclining in a sun-chair in a swim-suit. Looks like he can easily bench-press 250 lb.  #2 main character.

Col Lag: Clean shaven, mid 40s, very fit and solidly built, ready grin and cheerful, but also intense looking when needed, average height to tall, NOT a physical softy. No visible tattoos, scars OK. Serious military man, physically very capable (run / climb / jump / etc) or imposing, even if he’s not gym-rat buff.

SGT Kaushik: early-mid 20s, wiry Indian/Sikh soldier, smart/educated sounding.

CPL Kaminski: mid-20s, big, powerful, buff, Viking/Pole looking guy. Maybe this guy: http://www.todayandtomorrow.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/kneecam_no_1.jpg

Kwon Fogel: 60s, mixed-race far easterner, slender, short, cheerful demeanor, comfortable around a stove or behind a bar.

Henery Stenson: late 40s, to early 50s; fit, short hair, average build. Soldier-ish guy who is a mechanical systems genius and ship’s engineer.

There are other men in the book, of course. If you’ve read it and think you could be any one of them, and you are in the area, let me know that, too.

Women
Allonia: early 20s, cute, full-figured, cheery, warm and wholesome rather than sexy. Lots of dark hair and well-filled curves. Doesn’t look like a victim or a sheep. Allonia is the only female that gets any serious gun handling scenes, (or any partial and very brief above-the-waste nudity, whereupon you’d be acting suitably embarrassed, but we only get there  if we get much more than the bare minimum *ahem* budget). Main female #1 in terms of screen-time. Mostly very nice, welcoming, and sweet. Also a genetically engineered super-soldier, though not truly superhuman.

Quiritis: early-mid 30s, slender/angular build, shoulder-length, low-maintenance blond haircut, laconic speech but comes across as alert and acute, quick precise motions of an attack-ship pilot (which she is) rather than languid movement of a sexpot.

Bipasha: early-mid 20s, Indian/Sikh, beautiful and elegant, intense, does serious business-manager act well. Main female #2

LT Kat: late 40s, used to be very good looking and now a still-fit and good-looking gal, average build. Very sharp military lawyer.

Seraphina Fogel: Kwon’s wife, mixed race women in her 60s, serious but grandmotherly.

There are other women for smaller parts, of course. Let me know, as above.

Kid
Quinn, 5 year old boy. Energetic, intelligent, grubby, outgoing, enthusiastic, fit for age, good running/climbing ability.

I have no idea what sort of pay there might be; that all depends on funding, what scenes get made as we are able to afford them, etc.  The “pre-funding” advertising clip might need little more than a few minutes reclining in a bathing suit and bandages getting R&R with a handful of simple lines (see the “Privates” chapter if you are curious) so that potential investors / donors / supporters can see the cast, and that might be a “on spec” scene dependent on successful fundraising). How long the project will take depends on funding. Where it will be shot depends on funding. How much training you will get depend on funding and role. How many scenes we shoot depends on funding. (notice a pattern, yet?)

How famous you’ll be depends on how well we can pull this baby together. The book has ~16 hours worth of material, more or less, as is. If the early parts go very well, then a lot more gets done as funding flows and viewership grows.

If you can see yourself as any of these characters, send me an email with a very brief bio / skill-sketch and appropriate pic. If you know someone who fits one of these descriptions who is interested, get them to send a micro-bio and pic.

Wait! There is MORE: If anyone who has read the book and lives in the general Virginia area has a location, prop, possibly useful skill or skill-set, movie-making crew experience, etc., ideal location (yes, twice was intentional because locations are important), wants to be an extra (expendable or not) let me know. The more we can get donated for cheap or free, the more we can do. The more we can support good Ilk, Dread Ilk, VFM, etc., for things we can pay for, the better. At the very least, film credit can be offered for any serious material support, maybe even product placement for the right product. If we can create a worthy successor to Firefly, you’ll want to be able to say you were a part of it.

More, Part II– Audience participation: If you don’t want to be on the big screen, but think you know who would be the perfect “well-known actor / actress” and they have a picture you can link to, post the name or link to a pic below in a reply. People can give feedback on how warm/cold they are to what you were expecting, and I can too. It may be unlikely to get any big or well-known names, but that doesn’t mean we can’t, or that we can’t use them to illustrate what we are aiming for.

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