So im currently trying to get a feel for my character Sticky’s environment, so i can feel where he’s coming from. The more that i feel sticky’s background and history, the more i can become him in Ball Don’t Lie. So Brin and I decided what a better way to feel sticky then to go to a venice high school basketball game. We went and checked out one of their playoff games on a Thursday night when they played el camino real. As we were watching the game i was taking note of several different things. Things such as how the players acted, what typed of kids were on the team culturally, what were the styles of clothing the kids rocked in the crowd, how the players interacted with the coaches, and whatever else i could soak up in 48 minutes.

Come the day of the screen-test, I was a little nervous, but not too overwhelmed with what I had to do. I knew I had prepped, practiced and rehearsed so I felt good. For me, if I have something I have to do where I have to perform or talk or act, I try to look at it like it’s just a basketball game or a practice or a hoops drill. I break it down to the basics, then I rehearse or practice the move until it becomes second nature. So in applying that procedure to acting, as told to me by Brin, it made things real easy and everything was smooth throughout the screen-test. I felt comfortable, like I was at home doing this acting thing.

Obviously it paid off, because producer of BDL, Michael Roiff, said he was more than satisfied, he is downright excited to see me on the big-screen doing this Sticky thing. I know that there is a lot of work ahead, but I look forward to working on the film further and really turning myself into Sticky. I am Sticky.

I know I wrote about SEMI-PRO yesterday. Also in the film are ANDRE 3000 of Outkast and Woody Harrelson… So with the film thing adding up, it was looking like I am going to have to stay in Cali until the AND1 Tour starts in July, being that BALL DON’T LIE is going to be filmed in May immediately after SEMI-PRO. Some of the new folks on BDL wanted me to prove that I could act and I was more than welcome to the challenge. So, we had planned a screen-test even before I auditioned for SEMI-PRO.

We did the screen-test about a week-and-a-half after the SEMI-PRO audition to prove to the producer that I could be Sticky. I worked on the scenes that were going to be video-taped for 2 weeks with director Brin Hill, who really gave me a lot of insight and broke down the scenes to make things a lot clearer to me on how to carry them out come the screen-test. After many hours of preparation, rehearsal and practice things were becoming easier for me. The hardest things for me were to get me out of my natural state of calmness and to really embrace Sticky’s OCD habits. I finally got to read with another actress who was auditioning for the role of Anh-Thu, who is my girlfriend in the movie, the day before the screen-test and that was really helpful. To be able to read with someone else and be able to react off what they give you throughout the scene is amazing. We went through the scenes for about 2 hours and things really began to become clear to me… (more on the screen-test tomorrow)…

Andre3000 will be in SEMI-PRO.

The Cali saga continued…

I flew home the morning after the streetball game in Victorville and I get a call as soon as I land telling me to fly back out to LA ASAP for an audition being held at Lincoln Valley Rec Center for a Will Ferrell movie about the 1970s ABA. I jump on a bird and return right back to LA. The audition was crazy. It consisted of about 400 ball players and the flick was lookin for about 35 players to make 6 teams. I made the first cut and had to live in a motel for a week in order to keep going back for callback auditions with less and less players. On about the fifth day I heard that I would be on the rival team of Will’s squad, Dr. J’s Nets. So I’ll be on the hardwood in a movie due out late next year titled SEMI-PRO, which is currently being filmed in LA right now…. (I’ll hit you with more to the Cali story tomorrow)…

Billy Paultz of the New York Nets in the ABA.

So, word’s out. I’m in Cali. I’ve been spotted on the Strip, on the pick-up courts and at a couple hoops games. I know y’all are wondering how I got here - so here is the saga of Fess goin’ Cali on you…

Since I’ve been out here in Cali things have been real good too me. Originally, I came down here in early February to play in a streetball fundraising game out in Victorville, CA., about an hour outside LA. A close friend was promoting the game and he had myself and a couple of teammates from AND1 come down to play in his hometown against some locals. The game turned out real nice, I scored over 30 points, dropped 8 dimes and it ended up being my streetball career scoring high. So that was a good look, but it was only the beginning of the opportunity down here… (Check back for more of the story tomorrow).