I love experimental projects like this.
This was equal parts on-camera and voiceover work in an interactive video.

Interactive video, eh? How does that work you ask? Well, basically you, the viewer, are in the mind of Jed while Two voices in his head guide you, allowing you to make choices, directing Jed toward disaster or rapture. Other patients include a famous escapist, a religious scholar and an ex-nurse. All battle mental illness, banding together to help Jed escape. But can you ever outrun madness?

I’m Serge, one of the two voices that guide you. You know the good angel / bad angel thing… well surprisingly, I’m the good(ish) guy. The rational, logical one trying to keep a lid on the chaos. Not exactly in my wheelhouse, but my best friend is totally this guy, so I did my best Brian Watkins interpretation.

A highlight from this project was working with Vicki Lewis, a very talented woman who’s work on News Radio I just loved. Very fun. Ron Jeremy was also on set. Great crew, super fun project. Thanks again Mercedes Bryce Morgan (director), Ilan Benjamin  and Michelle Hantman (writer), Josh Epstein and Timothy Kerigan (producers), and Ian Quill, Cinematographer, and everyone else on this one.

See “Video Game Work” for more voice work in games.

Mike Vaughn is SERGE in Chatterbox: Escape the Asylum

Chatterbox, which is backed by the experimental entertainment company Adaptive Studios and produced by the media-tech company Eko, is more indie than those other projects. 

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“Magic Mask” was actually a student art film project.

What many people may not know is that most professional actors do all kinds of projects for all kinds of reasons. I had great experiences with advanced/senior/thesis Film School student projects including this one called “Magic Mask” by Rachel Zhou at the ArtCenter in Pasadena.

3 Things about this role:

1. The content is obviously satire, but it’s surprisingly close to the actual voiceover auditions I get for informercials. So it was fun to take this content up a notch and bring up the cheese factor. I’ve never actually been an on-camera informercial host, but I have voiced a few.
2. For this shoot, it was one take as they slowly pushed the camera in closer. I’m used to having a script in front of me for this type of material, but by take 3 we were good to go.
3. I bought that jacket at the Los Feliz Goodwill 5 years earlier for a halloween party, and I still have it to this day.

Check out my On-Camera Comedy Samples, see if you can tell which ones are student films and which ones are not. And by the way, if the price and timing is just right, I might be able to help with your student or low-budget project. 

My professional home recording studio is also used for on-camera auditions and bit roles from time to time, so let me know if you’d like to see my take on anything.

Cheesy Informercial Host

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I found one of my more favorite characters while shooting “The Wall.”

This might have been the second of the three films I did with director Rachel Zhou at the ArtCenter in Pasadena sometime between 2015 and 2016.

Here are some things I remember from this project:

• I didn’t really find the entirety of this character until after rehearsals and a few takes. Pretty sure I didn’t land on the voice right away either.
• It was a real treat to explore the edges with this character while on set, and see how it all landed on the lead.
• The entire cast and crew were as professional as those found on big-name, big-budget sets.
• Playing a purgatory gatekeeper, who appears to be tired of his gig. But who really loves to mess with select victims was more fun than even I imagined.

Check out my On-Camera Comedy Samples, see if you can tell which ones are student films and which ones are not. And by the way, if the price and timing is just right, I might be able to help with your student or low-budget project. 

My professional home recording studio is also used for on-camera auditions and bit roles from time to time, so let me know if you’d like to see my take on anything.

Creepy Overworked Gatekeeper

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To be honest, I didn’t really want to book this one.

But I’m glad I did. I had a fun time getting into hair, makeup, wardrobe and even smoking and bunch of fake cigarettes.

Here’s a quick little rundown of what happened and some trivia bits that are probably only interesting to me. 

• The people running casting for this show were also casting for the HBO series “Westworld” and I really wanted to just get in-front of them more than anything else, so I wasn’t actually looking to book the “Toys That Made Us” project. I did one audition and a week later they asked if I could come in for a callback. I was still recovering from a cold so I had to pass. Cut to 3 days later when they called and said I had booked the role. I asked, “Are you sure you got the right ‘Mike’ since I wasn’t at the callback?” They replied, “The director booked you from the first audition.”  
• While getting the wig on, I commented that I was beginning to look like a fat Weird Al Yankovic. That got a lot of laughs. Truth hurts.
• It was a long day-to-night shoot and covered 4 different scenes. All the scenes were cut except for the one you see here. Those other deleted bits included a lot of smoking by my character, so I guess I did that for nothing. Ha.
• If you look closely at the details on the hallway walls, you can see the massive effort the art department put into the shot. The big shot of the Millennium Falcon the big studio was even cooler in person.
• Notice the red head guy behind me in the big studio? That’s fellow actor Michael Cavanaugh who I trained with at UCB. It’s always funny to see who you’ll run into even in a huge city like LA.

Check out my On-Camera Samples for more bits. And yes, if you’re casting talent for Westworld, I’d still love an audition.  

But seriously, my professional home recording studio is also used for on-camera auditions and bit roles from time to time, so let me know if you’d like to see my take on anything.

First Scene of The Toys That Made Us Series

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I got an email one day asking if I’d be interested in a NYFA (New York Film Academy) short film project. No audition, nothing. Well, that’s not totally true, I had auditioned for Alexi Vanderstraeten months before. He remembered me and just offered the role of  “Randy,” a likable looser who discovers a new power.

The film was shot over two days in Studio City and just block from the Dave and Dave Recording Studios (Now called LA Digital Recording), which I used for one voiceover audition and one gig. It was a very convenient situation.

See more of my on-camera work here.

Here’s a full list of the great NYFA students who worked on this fun one:

Alexi Vanderstraeten, Director, Writer
Danielle Dankelman, Executive Producer
Jessica Serio, Co-Producer
Renaud Tilquin, Executive Producer
Stéphane Vanderstraeten, Executive Producer
John Rosario, Cinematographer
Alexi Vanderstraeten, Editor
Kenechi Oragha, Set Decorator
Emily Jacobsen, Makeup Artist
Jessica Serio, Assistant Director
Sam Aston, Boom Operator, Sound Mixer
Alexi Vanderstraeten, Digital Effects
Simon Drivdal, Key Grip
George Leone, Assistant Camera
Jonathan D. Moss, Assistant Camera (as Jon Moss)
Patrick Rosenfeld, Gaffer
Emily Jacobsen, Costumer
Fernando Camargo, Script Supervisor
Anastasia Reinhard, Production Assistant

Mike Vaughn plays with himself in Magik Randy

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