It’s been six years since longtime Lansdale resident Rich Henkels decided to follow his heart, quit his family’s business and become an actor. Now, his latest production – “Workforce – The Pilot” – is filming in the heart of Lansdale.
“It’s the pilot episode of what the writer has created as eight full written episodes, and 14 are in conceptual development. The focus is on the work environment set in the 2007 to 2009 recession,” said Henkels, who also executive produces and stars in the pilot. “It’s a manufacturing environment beset by financial failure and other failures.”
In the pilot — which is described as a drama with comedic elements — those failures are attributed to things like union versus non-union issues, poor ownership, and divisive management teams.
“The story is about a general manager who is hired to resuscitate the place. He might be the last one they hire if he can’t turn things around,” Henkels said. “They lost money hand over fist in the last six quarters, ownership is losing patience, and he has to figure out a way through it and work with the group.”
Henkels said his lead role is witty, smart, and funny, but he also has demons to wrestle with.
“That’s just real world, right?” Henkels said.
It all would not have come about in Lansdale without the help of Henkels neighbor, Borough Manager John Ernst. Henkels called Ernst to see if there were any manufacturing environments in Lansdale that would serve as a set for the pilot.
“He put his thinking cap on, and he said one to try was Joe Trave. I met with Joe and long story short, we shoot the sizzle reel in July on their space on Third Street, and we’re using the place for the pilot,” Henkels said. “Village Handcrafted Cabinetry helped make this thing happen.”
By the end of February or early March, Henkels and his crew will be filming the pilot.
“(Trave) is really great to work with. A real professional. He’s fair and we’re dotting all the I’s and crossing all the t’s,” Henkels said.
“We couldn’t have done it without John and Joe. They are incredibly supportive, and anyone that knows John and what he’s done for the borough, will not be surprised. He’s a real gentleman and a true professional,” Henkels said. “Joe is incredibly cooperative.”
From Full-Time Infrastructure Engineering Sales Executive to Full-Time Actor
The Valley Forge-born and Utah-raised Henkels settled with his family in Lansdale in 2001, where Henkels and his wife at the time, agreed to send their sons to parochial school. One son now resides in Los Angeles, and the other lives in New York, he said.
Henkels then became involved in Lansdale Little League and coached at St. Stanislaus.
“I moved here when I was working for Henkels & McCoy for 19 years. I started getting into acting full-time in 2016,” he said.
“I was in TV news for 15 years – that was my first love. But, at that point in my career, I wasn’t going to make it big time in tv news. I was married and had kids. Something stable made sense,” he said. “The family business found me. After that, it was not feeding my soul very much, and there were other thoughts and preoccupations, and I did some professional exploration and found I wanted to try and get into media and acting.”
Today, Henkels is a full-time actor, though most full-time actors usually have a side gig to survive, he said.
“I’m financially secure, but I also need to make a living,” he said. “A full-time actor makes their living with acting as the primary job, and anything else is referred to as a ‘survival job.’”
Henkels has acted in national commercials and worked gigs from Washington, D.C. to New York, and even in L.A. and Utah.
“You’re willing to go anywhere they want you to work,” he said. “Even the best actors and the most well-known actors will have periods of time where they can’t book a job. You’re constantly searching.”
When you become a full-time actor, you recognize it is all a leap of faith, he said.
“No one goes in with trepidation,” he said. “If you do, you won’t be successful.”
Acting is a hard path to choose, he said.
“You have an undying belief in your ability and faith to manifest destiny,” Henkels said. “If you believe it’s supposed to happen, then put the time and energy and commitment to make it happen. It’s plain and simple.”
Location, Location, Location
Henkels’ success has helped other actors and actresses through the pandemic, in the way of the actors collaborative Actors’ Think Tank, a weekly, friendly, down-to-earth Zoom gathering of thespians who meet to brainstorm and network. Sometimes there are special guests, like Kevin Bacon, and often there are talks with Philadelphia-based agents and actors in L.A. and Atlanta.
The collaborative also helps bolster the Greater Philadelphia Film Office (GPFO) and its members and supporters.
“If anyone out there is interested in the area of investing in the pilot, or supporting it through a charitable organization, you can do so through the Greater Philadelphia Film Office,” he said.
One day, an Actors’ Think Tank member brought to Henkels’ attention a script penned by his uncle about a special general manager called in to handle a failing manufacturing facility in a recession. Henkels said the writer, Joe Fenico, after having seen a picture of Henkels, wanted him to be the lead of the pilot.
Henkels gathered a director, an audio technician, and a camera operator, and shot a sizzle reel at Village Handcrafted Cabinetry in July 2021.
“It’s like a trailer,” Henkels said. “But a trailer is built from the video and film they shoot when doing a project. A sizzle reel is written to raise money and interest.”
For the five months that followed, Henkels pulled together a budget for the pilot.
“It’s a complete and utter gamble,” he said. “As my father always says, ‘If you bet on anything in life, bet on yourself.’”
With any luck, somebody will buy the pilot, and it will be off to more success.
“To be able to have such a great environment to shoot a pilot is a luck of good fortune,” Henkels said. “I would think Lansdale is as good a place as any other place. It takes an environment and an interest in arts, and it takes funding. These are things that make things happen. Artists and actors, writers, and directors have to find a place to do their projects. It’s fortunate we knew people here who are curious and interested.”
Henkels said the GPFO, which facilitates the production and development of film and television projects in southeastern Pennsylvania, can help Lansdale become a film and media attraction. For example, anyone with warehouse space willing to rent out as a studio or for production of a television show or movie can inform the GPFO, who will in turn inform its members who may need such a venue.
“There’s no reason why Lansdale couldn’t be a place,” Henkels said. “Movies and TV are all about real people, and Lansdale is chock full of real people.”
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