When I got the callback for the lead in the hilarious web series, Nanny Interviews, the director said in the email, it's down to you and one other actress. I thought, Ugh! Why did you have to tell me that?! Pressure is on! And of course I ran into the awkward situation of seeing the beautiful other actress when I arrived a bit early. Turned out to be the lovely and talented Jill Saunders, who I didn't remember at the time, but had actually known through mutual contacts years ago.
Today at my favorite (ahem) place to audition, CAZT, I had a callback, where I noticed only one other actress had been called back for the role I was auditioning for. Here we are again!
Not exactly... the casting director came out to talk to some of the actors about the wait and to answer questions, and turns out the other actress was here for her first call!
What do I do with this information? I'm interpreting, "We like you Beth, but we're not fully ready to commit." OK, me no likey that line of thinking.
I think I'll just ignore it and take my "I got this" energy in the room!
Did I break my CAZT curse of NEVER booking at that place? Stay tuned...
If you're an actor in LA, you've probably been late to an audition before. And 9 times out of 10, that's no big deal, because when you get there, traffic-weary, possibly a little sweaty and frustrated, they're running 20 minutes to an hour behind schedule, so you're playing that hurry up and wait game. Which is frustrating, but it's better than showing up 5 minutes late, expecting the norm, when the casting assistant tells you, as you sign in, "We just called your agent." Ugh!
And then there's the other end of the spectrum... getting there early. Sometimes that's unavoidable if you're coming from a long distance. Not stressful, but presents its own issues What do you do? Head inside to see if they'll see you early? What if they haven't started your role yet and they get annoyed? Wait in your car and meditate? Going inside to wait seems logical, until you remember that weird "actors in the waiting room" dynamic. Car seems much more comfortable. Go for a walk? Call a friend? Find a quiet spot and beat the lines to death? Again?
Well, today I decided to head on in early and just see what happens. Turning the corner I see a guy outside the casting office throwing air punches and karate kicks. What? Really? Is Keifer Sutherland auditioning for this? I headed back to my car. Too weird even for me. A few minutes later I decided 30 minutes early was not crazy early, so I headed in. Karate guy was on the floor doing twisting yoga poses. Gave me the polite head nod "hello" as I walked by him to sign in.
Oh actors! Who knows? Maybe I'm the biggest weirdo who doesn't have some pre-audition ritual.
Karate, huh? Hmm...
So I went into CAZT today for a role I'm too young for but I didn't care. I've been audition starved long enough and was ready for an inconsequential dip in the fascinating process of auditioning. Ahh! Not putting it on my resume yet, but it went OK.
And my commercial agent was pretty insistent that I go to an OPEN CALL (insert long series of various gasps here) today. Yep, you've probably heard on the radio or elsewhere that Flo from Progressive Insurance is looking for an assistant. Sure, getting that job would be quite the jackpot, but that doesn't make up for the fact that it's a friggin' OPEN CALL!!! I didn't have it in me to make the trip to Hollywood and Highland, so I busted out my Flip cam earlier today I uploaded my audition to be Flo's Assistant for Progressive Insurance. Um, should I really be doing this? Much less asked to perform such a task... by my agent? Well, aside from this "audition", he's pretty damn good, so I'll shut up now.
Well, it's not terribly flattering or fabulous, but that's no reason not to share! Here it is:
Beth Wants to be Flo's Ho Audition
Ok, not a stellar on-track actor day, but I'm getting my legs back :) And my ankle! YAY!!
The best thing... or the only good thing, about having no auditions lately, is I haven't had to grind my teeth over the 405 to the 101, to hit The Valley for weeks now. People complain that The Valley is so hot in the summer. I complain that it exists. It's hot in the summer because, it's hell. I guess it wouldn't bother me that it exists if people didn't consider it LA and expect me to go there. No one asks me to go to Bellflower, so I don't complain about that. And sure, plenty of folks live there and love it. But then, plenty of folks love jelly, jam, and Disneyland, none of which I see the appeal in.
Well, tomorrow I'm breaking my audition fast! Off to... CAZT. If you haven't read it, I blogged about CAZT back in January http://bethsheala.wordpress.com/2010/01/18/lights-camera-pay/ which led to one of the owners, Moses, offering me a free trial. Here was my response to that experience: http://bethsheala.wordpress.com/2010/01/24/cazt-the-verdict-is-in/ Call it a mental block, but I just don't feel like I get any love from my auditions at that joint. Hell, at least it's not in the valley.
Wish me luck! Apparently I could really use it since I managed to twist my ankle today while accomplishing the very challenging task of walking. Ice please! Ahh...
Oh my acting career! To say it's been a dry spell for me the past few months would be quite the understatement. Not just in terms of booking bupkis, but also in terms of auditions. Or rather complete lack of auditions! So, I've stewed about this long enough. Time to take some action! Earlier this week I shot off this email to my reps:
I've been wondering... do you think changing my look might help me out? I'm really open to almost anything at this point: short hair, change hair color, become a scientologist, anything! Let me know if you have any thoughts on that.
But I'd also like your two cents. What if I cut my hair? Say chin length? Shorter (keep in mind my ears REALLY stick out)? Blonder? Are there just a few too many blondes out here? What if I went brunette? A redhead? I'm open!
Here are some more pics of what I look like now, that I just happened to have online:
http://resumes.actorsaccess.com/bethshea
Thanks and Happy Tuesday!!!
If you live in any city with traffic, well you probably just wish you didn't. It never ceases to amaze me how on my way to an audition at 11:30 AM on a Tuesday, I end up in gridlock hell. Why aren't these people at work? Well, we're probably all going to the same audition. On many a roadway, one incentive for disgruntled commuters, is carpool lanes. Personally I don't know a single person who carpools to work, but many, at least in LA, currently get to use the HOV (high occupancy vehicle) lane because they drive a hybrid. Soon, plans for stricter CA regulations will only allow qualifying hybrid vehicles (those that achieve city-highway fuel economy of 65 mpg or better or are powered by electricity, natural gas or some other alternative fuel) this very special treatment, knocking down the once awed after Prius to the silver medal podium. And while I applaud these very green efforts, I say, screw positive reinforcement! How about some punishment? I propose the SOLV Lane. The Single Occupancy Large Vehicle Lane would require all of the Range Roving, Escalading, Suburbaning, solo commuters to drive in one, and only one lane, the SOLV Lane. No longer will us compact car drivers be stuck in traffic staring at the behind of a giant SUV we can't see in front of or fearing that the morons changing lanes to right and left, will fail to see us, because... our cars are just too small to see! Oh how I long to fly past the ultra cool, over-sized sunglass wearing, road hoggers, bumper-to-bumper with their own kind in the dreaded SOLV lane as I cruise past on to my way to wow the ad agency for my Midol audition. Yay!
