After signing to NDI Talent Agency Vigilante was over joyed to be a legit signed actor. As the months rolled by in the 12 month contract Vigilante started to notice that he was constantly book but none of it was attributed to his partnership with NDI. Vigilante became confused due to the fact that this was his first time being signed so he was unsure if this was the normal way that being signed went. After a few more months of no booking via NDI but still having a full calendar Vigilante decided to leave NDI but never made the announcement due to feeling like he failed.
Vigilante knew that in order to in order to get where he wanted to get in acting that he would have to be signed but was unsure about how he was going to bridge the gap between his current career and being signed again but this time to a legit talent agency. Multiple actors told Vigilante that he should take the acting courses of both Wendy Alane Wright and Coach Mike Pointer. These courses were great and Vigilante learned so much. He was able to fix his resume, get proper headshots, demo Reel and comp card. He also learned how to properly submit to talent agencies, casting directors and modeling agencies. On each course there were separate list of legit talent agencies in every state. Vigilante could not wait to submit to these agencies and rushed the process. After submitting to all the agencies vigilante got no response. At this point Vigilante was at an all time discouraged state but would never give up on being signed again. Confused by why he was not accepted by any agency Vigilante just continued to fulfill his other bookings.
Vigilante got a phone call from one of his fellow actresses Tee saying she had a theatrical audition and she would like him to go with her. Vigilante agreed and she landed the role on the spot. In the parking lot Tee began to ask vigilante why he did not audition. He responded with “I don’t do theater it’s corny”. Tee spent the next two hours rebuttaling the corny comment but it fell on deaf ears.
About two weeks later Vigilante took tee to her first official play rehearsal. Sitting in on the rehearsal as a fly on the wall Vigilante noticed the director kept looking in his direction but was not sure what it was attributed to so he paid it no mind. After about 30 minutes Vigilante was ready to go and was asked by the director if he could let in another actor who was late to rehearsal. Vigilante agreed, let the guy in and left. An hour later tee called Vigilante and told him the director was interested in having him play the lead antagonist FEARLESS.
Immediately Vigilante told tee he would hang up the phone on her if she continued with this fable. Tee continued with the same energy so he had no choice but to believe she was telling the truth after an hour of talking. After hanging up the phone vigilante had conflicting feelings. He didn’t even audition so he felt both honored and like he was being handed something of little value since he didn’t audition. His feelings about theater were still the same and he did not want to outshine his friend tee who worked so hard to be apart of this play.
The next rehearsal Vigilante sat down with director JD Fowler. JD was completely unaware that Vigilante came to this rehearsal to tell him he would pass on the role but thanks for the consideration. The more they sat there the more JD was able to make a lot of great points on why Vigilante show join the cast. After being turned down by every acting agency Vigilante felt what more did he have left to loose and this could be his chance to become theatrically trained. He accepted the role.
FEARLESS; A drug dealing, pimping, iron first ruling gang banger who ran the streets. He has a very interesting back story but you’ll have to see the play in order to get that. This character was both easy and challenging for Vigilante to tap into. He pulled his inspiration from people he grew up with back in Benton Harbor but had trouble maintaining the conviction of a ruthless outlaw as his real life personally is polar opposite. Memorizing a film script is a lot easier than a play script as Vigilante would soon find out. As the weeks went on Vigilante began to nail the lines and the character personality so he made a commitment. This stated that he would wipe out everything he had done before in his career and treat this like his first job ever. Surrounded by some of the most talented singers, actors, writers, musicians and people in Atlanta all in this one play its was truly inspiring.
As the premier date got closer Vigilante was no more and Fearless became an understatement. Leaving the entire set speechless after every scene JD knew Fearless was ready to hit the big stage. Once the entire play was memorized by each member of the cast and crew the focus shifted to promotion. This was Vigilante’s first time doing play promotions. Learning so much everyday Vigilante felt himself becoming a better and more professional actor. JD put tee in charge of Facebook promotion while leaving Vigilante in change of instagram promotion. They both created great layouts and yielded beautiful results.
The day of the show Vigilante go to set what setting up the stage for the real thing looked like and also the nerves of his other cast members. Being mic’d up was new to Vigilante as well. After one last dress rehearsal and lunch before the show everyone had calmed down. It was now showtime and the house was packed. LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION. From start to finish the entire cast of Go Back and Get God took the audience through a complete emotional rollercoaster. Scene after scene Vigilante fell more in love with his decision to join the play. The live reaction to both the dialogue and actions were very new to Vigilante and it fueled him.
After the play Vigilante couldn’t believe how moved the crowd was as his name was called to take a bow. He had never felt so instantly satisfied with a performance of his own. JD set up surprise red carpet right after the play and the halls remained packed for hours after the show was over. Vigilante could overhear people asking JD what city the play was traveling to next, promoters booking the play in their city and even wanting to book Fearless for their different projects. The cast became a family and we prepared to take Go Back and Get God on the road until Covid 19 put a stop to all tour dates.
A few weeks after the opening show Vigilante got new theatrical and commercial headsets, had new demo footage, acting teachers and courses in theater, a loaded resume and a new submission strategy. After using this new strategy Vigilante was receiving offers of representation daily and ended up signing to 10 talent agencies in different regions. It seemed that this was the missing piece to Vigilante success. Who would have thought after Vigilantes thoughts on stages plays and theater in general that that would be one of the greatest acting experiences he ever had. Go Back and Get God will be back after Covid 19 coming to a city near you.
Tune into Vigilante’s Instagram account @Vigilantelom for inspiration and to keep up with everything in his career. Also follow him on Snapchat and Twitter @VigilanteLom to keep up with how you can contribute in his community acts. In you want to catch up on all of Vigilante’s music, interviews, promotional visuals for his upcoming movies and advice on how to make it in the industry on his YouTube at Youtube.com/VigilanteVisuals.
Instagram/Twitter/Snapchat: @VigilanteLOM
YouTube: Vigilante Visuals
VEVO: VigilanteVEVO
