Andre Boyer – My So-Called Co Star Life

By: Jamie Steinberg

Q) What are the recent projects that you are working on?

A) One of the busy projects I’m working on has been writing a second season for my web series “My So-Called Costar Life” and I’m also slated to shoot a movie that is a comedy called A Perfect Chaos where I play one of the best friends. I tis like “The Office” meets “Desperate Housewives.” I play one of the best friend of the husband who is trying to get his life together and possibly divorce his life. Outside of that, I’m currently working on a dating app. I’m in the development process of that. It is called “Angel Funding.” I’m meeting potential people who want to make the app and design it.

Q) How idea come about for your web series “My So-Called Co Star Life?”

A) the idea came from me being such a nostalgic TV fan. I grew up watching Will Smith on “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” and “My So Called Life.” I watched “Boy Meets World,” Full House and “The Wonder Years.” I grew up in Japan as a military kid so we didn’t have cable. I didn’t get to watch those TGIF shows. I grew up idolizing Will Smith and watching Jim Carrey on this short called Rubber Face before he did Ace Ventura. I came up with the idea because everyone wanted to be like Will in the industry and now people look at YouTube stars and other stuff. When I was growing up, people looked at Leonardo DiCaprio, Denzel Washington and actors that were in my age range who are still in the industry because they are the elite.

Q) What did you find challenging about creating your own web series?

A) I would say the most challenging thing is finding the right people who want to work with you and have the same like mindset because there are a lot of people who want to tell their own stories or have their own ideas of what you are trying to do. Financials weren’t a problem for me when it came to this project, thank God. It took me maybe three months of pre-production for the web series to find a producer, AD and likeminded people who wanted to jump on the project and make it feasible. It worked out! I had great people. I had a great AD. She was amazing and did everything I could ask for and more.

Q) Talk about the casting process.

A) When it comes to casting and being an actor, you would think that everyone wants to be a part of something. So, I did reach out to some name talent that would be recognizable. Even some of my friends who are recognizable I had to have them audition. Sometimes there is an ego when it comes to that process because people say, “I deserve a part” or “I deserve this.” No. No one deserves anything. Everyone has to read and audition. I went through local casting services to find people for specific roles and I held auditions. The best people got the job. It wasn’t necessarily about look. I had breakdowns for specific characters and I had everyone audition. The best person got the job.

Q) Who were some of the actors that stood out for you while filming?

A) The agent, Bob Sherer. Bob and Adam (the DP) are uncle and nephew. I did not know that before hiring them both. Bob is kind of like a Paul Giamatti type and he just blew me away with his imagination, where to go with racial stereotypes, playing an actor who is also an agent who is also a casting director. This character was interesting to play and he definitely killed it for me. And the casting director Diane Adar…Although she was only in one episode, herself being in the role being a casting director and being as intellectual as she was – it was just hilarious to me. I don’t consider myself as a standout. That’s one of the reasons why I called it “My Costar Life” because everyone plays a part in my life.

Q) What did you learn or take away from working on this first season?

A) One of the best things I have learned from this is to be very thankful for what I have. Of course, people in the industry worry “what is next, what is next, what is next” and I’m totally grateful that I had this experience as being a writer, producer, director and actor on this. It was finding different ways of communicating with people – because not everyone communicates the same way. I think being thankful for everyone who wanted to be a part of this project and people who were so enthusiastic about me doing this on my own.

Q) How were you able to manage all of those different positions at one time?

A) It was stressful! [laughs] I was able to manage it because my script was already locked before I shot. I already had a great studio location and hired a great DP in Adam Sherer. He was amazing! He had a great understanding of the script and knowing how I wanted to shoot. Using less actors in a scene is ideal when you are doing things on your own because you don’t want to complicate the scenes more than it needs to be. You have a shot list. I hired a great script supervisor to make sure their they are on point. Everyone who helped me out behind the scenes was definitely key to the production.

Q) What do you hope viewers take away from watching “My So-Called Costar Life?”

A) I hope they understand it is funny and that they laugh. l hope they enjoy it, smile and think, “That’s an interesting play in who Will Smith is in 2016.” I think people try to make too much of a parody of people and this was more of an homage to Will Smith and what he created and the 90’s sitcom and what they created. I hope people love the music video. It’s kind of funky and cool.

Q) What can fans look forward to in Season Two of the series?

A) My second season will be more in the style of “The Wonder Years” so every season will be a different play on a 90’s sitcom.

Q) Is there anything else you want to be sure we share with our readers about the series?

A) I plan on making a season two, hopefully by the summer of 2017. It will be more in the style of “The Wonder Years” with a whole different play on sitcoms. It will be a little bit more dramatic with a comedic twist. I’ll be singing for the intro instead of rapping, which will be really fun. When I put it on Facebook for the first time people were really excited to see it and see me. People ask me when I’m doing another one and throw out ideas so I’m open to it.

Watch My So-Called Costar Life: http://www.mycostarlife.com/work