My introduction to 'acting' and the great humans behind it

“There’s something untainted about amateur actors where they haven’t developed any ways of working.”

Kudos and its beer Dome that was part of a “fake ad” made by Invercargill’s Nick McGrath and James Wilkinson.

They say to live a little you’ve got to open yourself up to some vulnerability.

Stepping outside your comfort zone many call it.

It’s not something I personally jump at. Even writing this “first person” piece makes me uncomfortable.

But here goes, I’m ready for the jibes that might follow this tale.

A few years back Nick McGrath asked me if I’d give him a hand with something. It was at a few days’ notice.

McGrath’s passion is filmmaking. His partner in crime - so to speak - much of the time is James Wilkinson.

The Invercargill pair is a talented combo. If there were tickets available to watch the random chaos that goes on in their minds, I’d be asking for front-row seats.

Invercargill film makers Nick McGrath, left, and James Wilkinson.

A while back they had come up with an idea for a fake beer commercial while working on another project, all as part of their wider Second Beer productions.

They then discovered an American film competition for fake commercials. It provided a reason to make that beer commercial that they’d dreamt up.

They had about 10 days to film it, edit it, and enter it. That’s when I got the call.

McGrath asked if I could play a role in it.

Yes, it’s a 30-second commercial with basically no speaking parts. I’m aware I wasn’t signing up for a feature film.

But my first thought was ‘no, thanks’. I point you back to the whole comfort zone and my reluctance to step outside it.

However….

Firstly, McGrath and Wilkinson are two of the better human beings you’ll meet. They are hard people to say no to.

Secondly, when involved in another project, I got a true appreciation of their passion for film, and the limited resource they have available to do it.

That too makes it hard to answer no. So, away we went.

The fake beer ad that was filmed was satire. It was a nod to the bald men of this world.

My role was - well - basically the butt of the joke. A guy who looked out of place hanging out with a model as I was in the ad. That role was played by Lily Johnstone, who does actually have both acting and modelling experience.

Over a Friday evening and a Sunday, that “ad” was shot. It included many moments of me pondering just how I had ended up in this situation and the fact I now couldn’t get out of it.

But under the guidance of McGrath and Wilkinson, and the patience of Johnstone, I managed to fumble my way through it.

“We’ve been in this game for a while in terms of wrangling together low-budget stuff, so you do get a sense of what we need to pull it off,” McGrath says.

It includes people lending a hand with film locations, props, you name it.

The help of amateur actors is all part of that. McGrath says it actually has some benefits.

“There’s something untainted about amateur actors where they haven’t developed any ways of working.”

The earlier project I previously mentioned that the pair had been working on was a pilot for a series based around a rugby club.

They roped in plenty of Southland rugby folk to be involved in the shooting of that. Most had no prior acting experience.

Included was long-time Southland rugby coach Peter Skelt who reluctantly agreed to play one of the main characters.

In fact, it took a lot of convincing to get Skelt to agree.

McGrath says they pushed hard because they couldn’t have found an actual actor that would have brought the same level of authenticity to the role that Skelt did.

Back to that beer ad. As it turns out it didn’t get anywhere in that American competition.

That I thought was the end of it. Chalk it up as one of life’s weird moments. That was in July 2019.

No one, basically outside of those involved in the filming and those assessing it as part of the US competition, had actually seen the 30 seconds of bizarreness. And I’ll be frank I was more than happy with that.

Just recently McGrath flicked me an email inviting me along to the first NZ screening of Matt Inns’ short film The Ballard of Maddog Quinn. Which has since gone on to some international success at film festivals.

Other Invercargill-made short films including Ernie and Riven were also going to be screened.

As mentioned, I respect the passionate Invercargill film community and was keen to check out their work. The plan was to attend and follow it up with a story in The Southland Tribune.

Although McGrath forgot to mention one important detail in that invite.

As I sat up at the back of the SIT Centrestage theatre, admiring the various short films, up popped the start of a clip that was all too familiar.

That fake beer ad we had filmed close to four years earlier started to play on the big screen. I was outside that comfort zone as I scanned the audience of hundreds and viewed their puzzled looks as it played out.

While I watched with a horrified look, much to the delight of McGrath and Wilkinson it got the response they had hoped for at the right times from the remainder of the audience.

“We hadn’t had any eyes on it. The only eyes we had on it was when we sent it to the competition and it didn’t place anywhere. So we thought perhaps the joke didn't resonate with the Yanks.",” McGrath says.

“[But] it got a good reception [at the Invercargill viewing], at the right moments.”

I guess there’s only one thing left to do but to give you a look at the “ad” itself. The band-aid was ripped half off at Centrestage recently, it might as well be ripped off fully now.

Go easy on me, please.