Project: Get away from your job

Living the life he loves, this Tampa, Fla., native has relocated to L.A. -- making movies and big moves with Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and Chris Moore and “Project Greenlight” for five years. Besides co-producing the first Greenlight movie “Stolen Summer,” and serving as a producer on the latest film “The Battle for Shaker Heights” opening this month, Balis is a featured player on HBO’s “Project Greenlight.”

No real plans

Friday after work I like to have a nice fancy meal at a place like Astro Burger on Santa Monica. I get the burger and fries. Every once in a while, the ostrich burger -- it tastes like beef only a little gamier.

After that I meet up with friends. My job is organizing and planning all week long, so I don’t really like to plan out my weekends.

Outtakes

One place that I like to go is CineSpace on Hollywood at Ivar. We even had the wrap party for “Shaker Heights” there. A lot of the cast was there: Shia LaBeouf and Amy Smart, Shiri Appleby, the filmmakers, everybody from “Project Greenlight.” They showed outtakes from the show. I was in a scene where there was a drive-by French frying. Well, at least they have other rooms where you can go sit down and eat California cuisine or a room where you can watch people on the dance floor.

If I’m not at CineSpace, I’ll go to Bar Deluxe on Las Palmas and check out DJ Pesce. Or I’ll go to St. Nick’s Pub on 3rd Street a little east of La Cienega. I don’t usually try to go to everywhere in one night. I don’t want to spend my night dealing with traffic or parking -- there’s a penalty associated with every move.

Puppy love

Saturday’s I’ll wake up early -- like at about 11:30 a.m. Maybe some sort of dog park activities, there’s a little one on Willoughby. I have a half-black Lab, and half-pit, but he’s great, 10 months old. After that I’ll go down to the Philly Pizza Grill on Olympic and get Philly chicken sub: sauteed chicken, onions, and peppers.... Then I see if there’s some sort of barbecue going on. I’m a fan of the ones that go from day to night, hanging by the pool, or the beach type of day. Yeah -- a full-day montage at the beach between Santa Monica and Venice -- a little beach, a little barbecue.

Reading, eating

Sunday I get up around maybe 11:30 a.m. I read the Sunday paper and Hollywood Life magazine. Then I go wander out for breakfast. I’ll do some sort of lazy of kind of breakfast at Toast -- I’ll get an eggwich, side of fruit, juice, a Coke and a glass of water, maybe a cup of tea. Or I’ll get a lunch wrap, or if I want to punish my stomach a breakfast burrito.

And no, I don’t do yoga or belong to a health club. I like to keep my exercise separate from my leisure. But I’ll usually come back to the house and read scripts. If they’re boring I’ll take a nap. If there are a lot of boring scripts, I’ll take a nap while I’m reading them.

A flicks fix

I stack up my movies. I used to go to the Grove, but it got “Groverloaded” and I hate lines. So now I go to the Beverly Center. I know, small screens and all, but nobody’s there. I pretend it’s my own screening room. But then there’s the Arclight -- great screens and you can call ahead and reserve your seat -- no lines. I hate lines. Hey, “The Battle’s” opening at Arclight. Me and my big, red Afro will be in full effect that night!

-- Carolyn Patricia Scott