Today we’d like to introduce you to Dallas Schaefer.
Hi Dallas, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I am an actor living in Glendale, California. I am currently writing from Cleveland, Ohio where I am filming my first lead in a feature film, the title is still TBD. Most recently I booked my second Co-Star on HBO’s ‘Rap Sh!t” and I have a web series I make my team: Paul Krueger and Taylor Box called ‘Boytalk’. We have just recently released our fourth season, and we are now in pre-production for our first short film titled: ‘MoonRiver.’ A murder/Mystery Action/Comedy. It’s alot of fun. You can find Boytalk below:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQA6Y_w0ZP1TXAj2XnFVGDg
To start my story: I was born and raised in North Dakota. Growing up in ND there was not alot to do, I often spent my free time watching movies. We had an intense movie collection. Around 300 DVDs and lord knows how many VHS tapes. This was around 2006, IMDB was a fairly newer site, and I loved to check out actors on IMDB from the movies I would watch and see who worked with who and this and that. I always wanted to be an actor from a young age. I quickly took a liking to Chris Farley and his style of comedy. He was a HUGE inspiration for me (being a fat kid myself) that I could do it too.
I attended Grant County High School in Elgin, ND where I would film my own incredibly mediocure movies with my hometown friends. One of our best pieces of work was our remake of ‘300’. I sincerely wish I knew where that footage went. After High School, I attended Bismarck State College (BSC), where I earned my Associate’s Degree in Business Administration.
During high school I was in a play called “The Trial of the Big Bad Wolf” and I played the role of Jack Sprat. Our theatre consisted of maybe 20 students and our high school was around 95 students from 9th grade – 12th grade. Small town. But due to the small-town factor, everyone in the town would come to the local community events, such as this play. It was a packed gymnasium, and I was awarded ‘Best Actor’. It was a very small-scale achievement, but to me, it was validation that I had talent.
Once college hit I sort of forgot about my acting dream, I was scrambling to get any degree I could. In fact, I changed my major 5 times. I barely scrapped by with a Business Degree. But I did it!
In 2014, during my sophomore year of college, my good friend Zack Watson (A Theatre Kid) was auditioning for the College musical, “The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat As Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade” and he encouraged me to audition with him.
I auditioned on a whim, and I ended up landing the lead role for Jean-Paul Marat. Fast forward six months later, we had six shows. On the night of the last show we had a packed house, I remember at the end of the play when we were all bowing and thanking the audience. It was a standing ovation, and I never felt better in my entire life. I knew this was what I wanted to do, but I didn’t do it. Yet.
2015: I graduate BSC and immediately packed all my bags and flew to Australia with my good friend Jacob Williams. We spent the next three years living and working all throughout Australia and New Zealand on a working Holiday Visa. It was an incredible chapter in my life, and I don’t know where I would have been if I had not done so. For the next three years, me and Williams were side by side. Two buddies on an adventure.
We worked all kinds of jobs in Australia, from road construction, bartending at hostels, working and living on farms in the jungle off Goldcoast, Buffett Server at the Hilton Hotel in Sydney, I was hired as a recruiter for an Australian Charity that worked alot with “Sea Sheperds”. It was my job to interview potential employees, I had no idea how I got that job. I did not know what the hell I was doing. I guess I was a good bluffer or actor 😉 And of course, partying all along the way in hostels all over the country. We started our own mini Facebook series called “North Dakotans Abroad”. What a time.
After our time in Ozzy went to New Zealand where we spent around eight months in Napier, New Zealand. We were working for ‘Oyster Bay” Winery in Hawke’s Bay. We worked there five days a week, we also were living in a hostel called ‘Kiwi Keith’s”. It was infested with backpackers from literally all over. What was great about it was that everyone staying at the hostel was working on a side kind of farm or winery, so everyone was long-term staying at the hostel. It was a family. We were all a family.
All was going great, and then it came to a point where my Visa was soon to expire, and I did not have another country to go to besides America. Reality was calling me, and I could hear its echo getting louder as the days went on. What was I going to do? The party was almost over. With about three months left, I thought to myself what was the one job I loved to do? Act. Every other thing I ever did sucked. Believe me, I have had alot of jobs. The worst day on set beats the best day at a 9-5.
SO. I made a plan. Moving to LA sounded terrifying knowing nobody and also being like super broke and in student debt and credit card debt after three years of being an idiot overseas. But after conquering ‘Down Unda” I knew I could do anything.
While at work at the Winery, I began to look for New Zealand actor Facebook pages, trying to find an audition, anything I could find. The plan was to find a movie audition, go to it, and audition. And if I got the part, that was my “Sign from God” that I should move to LA.
After a couple of days of barely working and mainly scrolling my phone in the beautiful fields of Hawke’s Bay Winery, I found an audition for a student film in Wellington, NZ. About a four and a half hour bus ride south. I reached out. I got the audition.
Now in these three years, I had never been separated from Williams. He made all the plans, he was the leader, and I was the follower. We were best friends, but those were the roles we fit into. I told him about the audition, and he had his doubts, but I wasn’t gonna let him stop me. That Friday, I got a bus and booked a Hostel In Wellington. The audition was on Saturday. I get to the audition, and I do the thing. No real feedback as to whether I did good or bad (Of course).
I head back to Napier, and I am back to work on Monday. The clock is ticking, and home is calling me. After about a week I got an email from the director, I got the part. I was extatic. Jesus was speaking to me. He was telling me to fulfill my destiny. It’s gotta be a clear sign when something feels so damn good in your stomach when you are doing it that that is a direct indicator from the spirit world that that is what you should be doing. Call me crazy.
I reached out to the New Zealand movie people and immediately let them know I couldn’t do their movie. My visa was expiring. BUT now it was time to make plans for my move to LA. I reached out to a friend of a friend who lived in LA, and I was able to organize a roommate situation almost effortlessly and I bought a car at a great price back in North Dakota while still in New Zealand. The pieces to the puzzle were sliding right into place.
2018: I flew back home, packed that car, kissed the family, and drove to LA.
I got a job at an Italian restaurant at Universal Studios called “Vivo’s Italian Kitchen” where I worked for just shy of two years. It paid the bills.
Once I got to LA, I did all the things an actor does: I was scammed $3,000 for a fake job, I took “Intro to Acting Classes, Improv Classes, all kinds of classes, and began doing student films and background work. An essential part of the journey as you begin to make connections and learn how this rollercoaster of a lifestyle works.
2020: I am casted in a Chinese Movie as a background extra, they flew 70 actors from LA to go be background extras in a Chinese war film and get blown up for the next five months. It was crazy, now I am in China. We are doing combat training, there are 70 Americans, 100 Russians, and 100 Morrocans all portraying American Soldiers. Meanwhile, there was around 3,000 Chinese extras. All of us combat training in Kuandian, China. About three weeks go by. Then:
Covid.
Covid breaks out in China. They canceled the movie. We were stuck in our hotel for about a week, confused, drinking alot, and soon the American soldiers began fighting each other. Everyone was scared. It was like the Lord of the Flys. Eventually, they shipped us all back. They ended up making the movie about a year later only using Rusdsians to play Americans. Honestly, I don’t blame them. We were rowdy.
After all of that, I promised myself I was not going back to a “Real Job”. Only acting from that point on.
Two months go by, and then Covid hits the USA. LA is on quarantine.
Two weeks into the quarantine, bored, losing our minds. My roommate Luke Ahee and I made a sketch called “Boytalk”. We were news anchors, and it was mainly a really dumb inside joke that we eventually put on film. I think maybe three people messaged us and gave us feedback saying that they thought it was funny. That was all the feedback we needed. We expanded the show. We filmed an entire Season. You can find Season 1 Below:
Meanwhile, another dude from the China trip: Paul Krueger had his own Web Series he was making, “MAN OF ACTION”. His show was filmed better, had better actors, and altogether was cooler than our web series. Although I think we were funnier.
You can find Man of Action Below:
I knew I wanted to worked with Paul on his web series, alot of the actors that Paul was using for his web series were all actors from the China trip and coincidently alot of actors I was using for my web series were from the China trip. It wasn’t long before we joined forces.
Paul took me on board to join his ensemble for Man of Action, and then he joined the Boytalk Team. Paul wears many hats. He is a talented Cat. Paul quickly assumed the position of Director, Editor, Director of Photography and Writing. Once Paul joined Boytalk, with my hard work and ability to ensemble a team and Paul’s ability to do everything else. We were able to elevate the show to the standard we have today.
During the filming of Season 2, another American actor from the China trip, Taylor Box joined the team, and now he is an executive producer on the show. We have all been filming together now for three years and plan to take our talents even further. Moving forward, we will be saying goodbye to the Boytalk world, and we are in pre-production for our first film, “Moon River”.
For the past three years, we have worked on this show. Every Saturday. Whether it’s filming, writing, or editing. We have dedicated that day to the making of our show. I am the lead actor on the show and because of that, I have had the great opportunity to consistently act on film with many talented actors.
In fact, since begininning Boytalk and the Paul Krueger merger, I have seen a large increase in my bookings. I attest that to the consistent practice, we are creating for ourselves with Boytalk.
Moving forward we plan to turn Boytalk into a production company and begin to make Films and TV. We plan to move on from the title “Boytalk”…I cannot say any more details on that matter yet. But everyone has to start somewhere.
You can find our most recent Season of Boytalk Below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARth9_SEQ64&list=PLthO_uw4-3Gx9CFviCTLr_RUsaNet1TTb
What is Boytalk:
Logine: Dallas battles life or Death to get his Web Series Boytalk picked up by a major network.
Through the years of making Boytalk, we have made some changes with the show:
Season 1: Boytalk is a sketch show/Talk show that follows the life of Dallas and Luke. The Talk Show Hosts.
Season 2: Boytalk is a sketch show/Follows the story Dallas and Luke. Until Luke quits the show.
Season 3: Dallas must restart and pick up the pieces. So he makes a deal with the mafia to make some money so he can buy camera gear to film his show. Until everything goes terribly wrong.
Season 4: Dallas and his team attempt to film the Pilot of Boytalk. (Sitcom Style)
You can Now find Man of Action on the Boytalk Page as well. Here is the Man of Action Logline: The World’s greatest assassin has quit being an assassin and now there is a $10,000,000 bounty on his head.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
In 2018, when I first moved here. I had like $600 to my name. I was looking for acting gigs on Craiglist (BAD IDEA)….. but again, as a new actor in Hollywood, HOW DO YOU BE AN ACTOR? Like where do you even begin?
I found an ad for a modeling gig and looking back it was full of red flags but I was so naive.
I applied, they replied. The gig was a modeling gig that paid $3,000. Sounds good right?
They asked me to send them some photos and I did, they loved them. They quickly asked my address, and I gave it to them. It wasn’t long before I got a check for $3,000 in the mail. At the time, I thought ‘This Hollywood thing’ was going to be a cakewalk.
All I had to do was deposit the check into my bank account and then rent a studio in my name, after I rented the studio they would organize the shoot, we would do the shoot, and then I would make an additional $3,000.
So I deposited the $3,000 into my bank… They then tell me withdrawal the check for cash and then deposit the cash into a different bank account. I did. After doing that, I never heard from them again.
Two weeks later, the check bounced, and my account was negative $3,000.
I almost gave up, but. Ipushed on. Luckily, I have not been scammed since.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am an actor.
I am building a production company with two amazing and talented creatives: Paul Krueger and Taylor Box. Together, we have a YouTube channel called “Boytalk Studios”.
We have been building this channel for three years, and we have many exciting developments ahead of us.
I was raised in a town of 500 people. Where everyone knows everything about everyone and dreams like Hollywood are laughable.
All my adult life, I have followed signs and feelings and they have gotten me to where I am today.
The Plan: To be the Next Leading Man
The Execution: Continue to Build and Make our own Content through the Boytalk Channel while growing skills as an actor, writer, and filmmaker all along the way. During which booking, Acting jobs on the side and continually act and grow. Then Repeat. Since starting this system, I have had the great honor of being a part of many awesome projects aside from Boytalk. My most recent credits include:
PROJECT ROLE DIRECTOR
FILM
Aimee (2023) Lead Charlie Band
Skrilla (2023) Lead Chris Trull
Sanctuary (2023) Lead Garrett Adams
Roof (2023) Lead Stuart Paul
TV
Rap Sh!t (2023) Co-Star Calmatic
Daisy Jones and the Six (2023) Co-Star James Ponsoldt
I am incredibly proud of this work. I have been working very hard for quite some time, and I love the work. I have so much respect for this industry as that it is truly an art.
Are there any books, apps, podcasts or blogs that help you do your best?
Books: Secrets of Screen Acting by Patrick Tucker
The Alchamist by Paulo Coelho
Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
The Law of Attraction by Jerry and Ester Hicks
Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki
Richest Man in Babylon by George Samuel Clason
Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey.
PODCASTS:
Sport’s Motivation Podcast with Niyi Sobo (Practical approaches to master your goals)
Elevation Church Podcast with Steven Furtick (Everybody needs some good Jesus in their life)
Dave Ramsey Podcast
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dalligation/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Boytalkstudios
- Other: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm10533080/
Image Credits
Top Left: Dallas Schaefer and Taylor Box still from Boytalk Season 3 Episode 10 (Red Photo) Top Right: Dallas Schaefer still from the film ‘ Skrilla’ Directed by Chris Trull (Double pic) One Down Left: Dallas Schaefer and Paul Krueger behind the scenes on the set of Boytalk One down right: Dallas Schaefer behind scenes on the set of Boytalk (Machine gun) Two down left: Behind the scenes of Boytalk Season 3 Episode 5 ‘The Brad Approach’ (Group Pic) Two Down right: Dallas Schaefer and Victoria Vieira behind the scenes on ‘Sanctuary’ directed by Garret Adams Three Down Left: Dallas Schaefer and Paul Krueger Boytalk Promo Three Down Right: Behind the Scenes of Boytalk Season 4 Episode 10 ‘Sexual Harrassment’ (Paul Krueger filming, Dustin Holcomb as Priest, Michael Thantrong as Samurai, and sitting in the distant background is Dallas Schaefer, Taylor Box, and Chris Anaid) Four Down Left: Boytalk Season 4 Poster (top left: Taylor Box, top middle: Robert Deon, top right: Trent Longo, Bottom Left: Kendal Chander, bottom middle: Dallas Schaefer, and bottom right: Chris Anaid) Four Down Right: Dallas Schaefer and his girlfriend Tiffany Brevard on set of Boytalk
