Today we’d like to introduce you to Lawrence Whitener.
Hi Lawrence, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I was always fascinated by everything Hollywood, but did not work in my first film as Background until 1999. I did not make the commitment to become a full-time Actor until 2011. I then quit my job and went to New York City to learn from any Acting Coach that would accept me. Their training allowed me to be cast by the beautiful Darnell Martin in 2013 for David Baldacci’s “Wish You Well” which made me SAG-Aftra. While On Set, fellow Alumni David convinced me to follow my childhood dream of becoming a writer. For the next five years, I trained under Yale Screenwriting Professor Marc Lapadula. While being “yelled at” by Marc, I continued to travel to NYC auditions getting cast by most of them. I would then always stand somewhere behind their Directors to watch on their monitors what they were looking for. I would also ask incessant questions of all Crew, “What’s that called, what does it do, show me.”
While learning filmmaking and screenwriting, I also volunteered at a T.V. station becoming certified as a cameraman then director then producer. I produced my first T.V. play in 2016. The response was so positive, I reshot it as a SAG-Aftra short film. “RevelationZ” is now streaming on Amazon Prime with 20 awards. I built a full studio in my basement home and shot seven more SAG Shorts. “Saving Robin Williams” is now streaming on Amazon Prime with 63 Awards. While writing scripts and making short films, I continued to act in features eventually working in 91 earning 10 Best Actor Awards. Professor Lapadula encouraged my writing and reviewed my 24 feature and 14 short scripts until he ordered me to move to L.A., “You are that good.” Since Marc’s other students wrote “The Hangover, 500 Days of Summer, Olympus Has Fallen, The Wedding Ringer” and many others, I did as instructed in 2021. I shot my 9th SAG Short in Santa Ana and in my 10th on Crenshaw Blvd. The last is titled “In-Closure” and is my Twilight Zone ode to the unhoused problem. It is screening at the TCL Chinese Theater in March ‘24 already with 11 awards.
As an actor, I worked at Disney Studios pitching my stories to them and literally every other studio always with the verbatim response, “What a great story, why don’t you make it yourself.” Actor Geoffrey Blake told me such a heart-wrenching suicide story about his best friend, I am shooting my 11th film in March ’24 “Its All Good…not” starring Brian Anthony Wilson. What I discovered about Show Business here is that it is not about who you know; it is about who wants to know…you. Until you are “in,” you are “out.” Not a criticism, just a fact. You have to be in the right place at the right time with the right project or look be seen by the right person, who then has to get the right money. If all five of those happen, you might, just might, “make it.” IF film is forever, then I am already immortal with 400 IMDb Awards. So it’s okay if you never want to “know” me because I won’t notice; I’m too busy having fun doing what I love doing.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Being born with a speech impediment, then later diagnosed with Menaire’s Disease, and always suffering from child abuse depression, just getting out of bed often became the daily goal. There were a lot of missed opportunities as an actor when I had severe vertigo attacks. But it was my love of acting, then writing, then filmmaking, which made it all worthwhile. I became an award-winning actor because I learned to share my sadness on camera. My love of writing all day, every day carried me through the roughest times. The sheer joy of working with any Cast and Crew, but especially on my own projects, built so many wonderful lifetime relationships. Unfortunately, my wife of 35 years neither shared my joy or sorrow or love of Show Business. After years of begging to be allowed to move to L.A. to follow my dream, she divorced me yelling, “No one’s ever going to read one of your stupid stories.” So of course, I had to write a screenplay about us once in L.A. “I had, HAVE…a Dream” now has 14 IMDb Awards. What surprised me the most once here is how difficult it is to hire a Crew. Throw a rock, and you’ll hit an actor willing to work for Deferred Pay. But try dangling an IMDb Awards Ribbon in front of even a novice D.P. and you’ll get, “I can’t eat an award.”
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about DOG-e The Movie, LLC?
I had a cat for 13 years, but I LOVE dogs. Author David Baldacci and I took all of our dogs to the same vet for 30 years. We would wave in the waiting room but never talked until on his 2013 set of “Wish You Well” which obviously did. My first feature screenplay under the tutelage of Professor Lapadula was titled “The Handler I, Junkyard Dog.” Like a blacksmith beating his hammer on an anvil, we forged a Vietnam Vet comeback story centered around dog fighting. I formed my production company above and shot its Pitch Trailer in 2016. Both script and POC now have 34 IMDb Awards. There are two dogfighting venues, rural and inner city. Marc encouraged me to write its sequel, “The Handler II, City Dog.” I shot its Pitch Trailer before moving to L.A. That script and short now have 14 IMDb Awards. These are my passion projects. Every day in America, cats, used as bait and dogs, used as fighting machines, die suffering and screaming in the most ungodly ways because the Animal Rights Act does not go far enough or is prosecuted enough. My two stories are written to both educate and motivate their audience to support Congress going after the true reason this horrible blood “sport” exists, The Spectators. There is just too much money to be made at these underground betting events for such little overhead cost. Sanction the Spectators, and you cut off its funding.
What matters most to you? Why?
My professional job is to be the best person I can be every day. That goal is to help at least one person each day, even if it’s just making them smile. That is why I treat my Cast and Crew with such respect. My personal goal is to get my anti-dogfighting stories made. Making all the short films and writing all these feature screenplays is to get me “noticed” through awards so that hopefully, these two dogfighting stories make “the” difference in reducing this travesty to all creatures great and small. Please learn that spouse abuse, family pet abuse, and even child abuse can be traced back in court documents as all coming from a dogfighter background. I know because both ASPCA and HSUS attorneys gave me full access to their files for my research. Illegal arms sales, narcotic sales, and even human trafficking occur at dogfights. Want to know more…contact me.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.LawrenceWhitener.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawrencewhitener/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawrence.whitener
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lawrence-whitener-5a453238/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawrencWhitener
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@klahdkfhlkshdfjkhd/videos
Image Credits
Roger Kabler David Baldacci Marc Lapadula Ed Harris
