Backstage subscriber Peter Mastne can next be seen in “Upload Me,” a feature film now in production out of Chicago. It’s the story of a young female YouTube vlogger who is diagnosed with a terminal illness and spends her final days collecting her happiest recorded memories from the web. Mastne was cast as Ezekiel Cross, the British husband to protagonist Shine.
“He’s arrogant and brilliant, but his whole world falls apart when his wife is diagnosed and then leaves him,” Mastne explains. “He’s struggling to deal with not only her terminal illness but also the fact that she doesn’t love him anymore.... We start to see who he is behind the walls that he built to protect himself from the world.”
Mastne says he checks Backstage every day. “When I get home in the evening, I usually open Backstage and spend an hour self-submitting to the various projects,” he says. “[In six months], I’ve already been cast several times. It’s well worth the investment.”
Looking ahead, Mastne says he wants to explore roles that aren’t just black-and-white. “I really like characters who can navigate in the gray without really falling on one side of the protagonist-antagonist paradigm.”
To see your success story in print, tweet @Backstage using the hashtag #IGotCast.
And if you haven't yet been cast, check out our audition listings!