Today we’d like to introduce you to Don/Michele Vallee/Matzen.
Hi Don/Michele, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
After retirement, we joined a senior citizens program and traveled throughout Texas with a group of folks but quickly got bored. We felt like we weren’t quite old enough to be seniors. One day, while perusing Facebook, Michele saw a post asking for background people in a feature film. She thought, why not, and applied. The writer/producer called us and said we would be perfect as “Kitty’s parents”, characters in the film with a couple of scenes with lines. We decided to give it a try and were hooked! On our way home from the filming, Michele thought we should keep track of these new adventures separately on Facebook from our regular pages, and thus Cast-a-Couple was born! Cast-a-Couple is now found on Facebook, Instagram, Backstage, Casting Networks, and YouTube.
From there, we acted in a few more films and have since moved primarily to commercials, print, and content creation. The commercials included local, national, and international TV and streaming channels. A few of the commercials were Stans and Wagner’s HVAC, Cody Pools, ARW Home warranty, Headlight Glasses, Cornerstone Caregiving, etc.
We also have some print ads making their way around Austin and include Pop-a-Lock, Intel Luminex, CRW Homes, Greystar properties, etc.
One of our most favorite gigs was for RoosterTeeth’s “Best Friends Today”. It was an unscripted comedy show where we played one of the main characters’ parents. We really enjoyed this because it was completely improvisational comedy. We were included in nine shows before RoosterTeeth was shutdown by Warner Bros/Disney. ‘Best Friends Today’ really got us a lot of visibility and put us on the map.
Our involvement with content creation happened by accident. A company contacted us directly through an online actor’s site after reviewing many of our video clips. After the first one, we learned enjoy content creation because it allows us to express our creativity for various products and film at home.
We are always looking forward what is next. It always is a surprise, and we love surprises.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
We have always treated this as a fun hobby and never about fame or money, therefore there never really has been any struggles. The most difficulty we came across was setting up a camera at home to properly film us. We never had training in content creation, so it was a challenge in the beginning, but exciting and we feel we have improved our craft greatly.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
We are both retired professionals from the Tech world, Michele as a system’s analyst for Conrail, and Don as a Data Architect for several Health Care companies.
What was your favorite childhood memory?
For Michele, it was being on the swim team throughout school and her family’s country club. She began swimming at age three at the YWCA, and by age 5 was winning competitions and continued to win through high school. Michele continues to be an avid swimmer to this day.
For Don, it was baseball. His father was an excellent pitcher who was being scouted by the Mets and Yankees until he was drafted into the army. When he was discharged, he started a baseball league that traveled New York State and Don enjoyed attending every game with his father. It brought a love to baseball that he continued playing through school, moving to softball as he got older.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cast.a.couple
- Youtube: @cast-a-couple
- Other: https://www.backstage.com/u/Cast-a-Couple/
