HNHS grad lands role in AMC reality show 'FilmFakers'
Nick Altman
The Herald-Press (Indiana), November 22, 2004
http://www.h-ponline.com/articles/2004/11/22/news/004mccoy.htm?1c

Zach McCoy had been duped.

The Huntington native had just spent a week filming an independent musical, believing that he had finally gotten his break into the acting world, only to learn that all of his hard work hadn't been for a musical at all. In reality, McCoy was an unsuspecting victim of the new American Movie Classics television series "FilmFakers."

"Of course, immediately, we were all a little upset. The two girls I was with were crying," McCoy says, recalling the moment the actors were informed that they were part of a gag. "Everything that you believed and everything that you went along with had been pulled out from under you."

"It's really kind of showing how absurd the movie business is," McCoy says. "It's kind of a parody of the movie business."

The series includes actors who portray producers, directors and other workers behind the camera. Then, three unsuspecting actors are cast for parts in the "movie" that is supposedly being produced. During production, the "producers" and "directors" do whatever they can to make things difficult for the actors.

McCoy, a 1998 graduate of Huntington North, is in the episode titled "Song Island," a musical parody which will air at 10 p.m. Wednesday. (AMC is Channel 34 on Comcast cable in Huntington.)

In the episode, along with the show's regular cast, McCoy has to tolerate the demands of former "American Idol" runner-up Justin Guarini, who acts like an overly demanding diva, McCoy said. (McCoy has since been in contact with Guarini and says the Idol star is in fact very down-to-earth.)

McCoy earned a spot on "FilmFakers" by auditioning at an open casting call for an unknown "independent film." After four auditions with as many different scripts - the four episodes of "FilmFakers" include mock sci-fi, western, musical and cult-action-gore movies - McCoy was told he had earned the lead role in a "small independent musical."

"There were no hidden cameras, because they told us they were filming a behind-the-scenes documentary," says McCoy, whose lifelong dream of becoming an established actor had seemingly come true.

"But what ended up happening was the real show is what they were filming behind the scenes," he continues.

While McCoy was initially angry, frustrated and shocked to learn that he wasn't actually cast as the lead actor in a musical, once he saw "FilmFakers" and the way the episodes are constructed, he couldn't help but laugh. After all, even if McCoy did get duped, it will be seen on cable television and he'll gain exposure that most young, struggling actors can only dream about.

"They're really funny," McCoy says. "And the actors from the other shows have gone on to do other work, and they've gotten calls from agents."

And McCoy adds that the laughs from the show are not at the actors' expense.

"It's more praising us - kind of saying, 'these actors put up with so much, and they still get through it,'" he says. "We still made the movie at the end of the day."