Auditions, models and ESL

I self-submitted on some projects and received an email inviting me to audition for a short film. I got the sides and the character breakdown and spent the next day reviewing everything and really let the character sink in. I was lucky to have 2 days to prepare and felt ready to go on audition day. I took some extra time so I wouldn’t be rushed and of course, the bus was late, the subway was delayed and I got off at the wrong stop in a panic. Awesome start.

I managed to arrive just on time and as I was walking into the casting studio, a tall, gorgeous blonde model type walked in ahead of me and I ran up to catch the door behind her. She paid no attention and so I arrived just in time to have the door slam in my face.  I cursed at this glamazon and made my way to the studio. As I walked around the corner, I walked into a waiting room full of models – blondes, brunettes, tall, thin, holding their portfolios in their laps. Great, I thought, I have to wade through model land to get to my audition. I saw a sign in desk just beyond the blonde who had slammed the door in my face and walked over to find out where the audition I was there for, was. “Oh.” said the receptionist, “you found it. Just sign in here and you can take a seat with the other girls behind you.” I’m sorry…whaaaaaatt??? I’m auditioning for the same part with the model casting behind me?? This day gets better and better.

I squeezed in next to two models and one of them smiled at me and said, or tried to say “Hi, nice to meet you. I’m Sasha and I’m here to read for the Rebecca role.” What she actually said in a very thick German accent was: “Hi, nice meet you. I Sasha. I here to take Rebecca part.” It took me a second to translate the broken English but then it dawned on me, all these glamazons were also reading for Rebecca. I wondered if there was some mistake on my resume…did it accidentally read that I was 5″10 and not 5’3″? Or maybe they meant to reply to someone else via email and boy were they in for a surprise.

One by one, the girls were called in and I realized that if I leaned up against the wall, I could actually hear their auditions. The majority of them clearly did not speak English very well. I could hear them ad lib their lines and hear the CD ask them to try it again and at times, coach them through their auditions. I could hear them giggle and chat with the CD and it actually helped me  feel much more confident.

Finally my turn came. I went in and the CD glanced up and there was no chit chat, just “OK, whenever you’re ready.” In my mind I nailed it. I knew my lines, I really took on Rebecca and let her breathe through me. I felt great. I waited for the CD to ask me to try it again. Instead she looked up and said “Ok thanks.” No emotion, no smile, barely a glance in my direction. That was it. I wondered if I should have feigned an accent and pretended to not speak English. In and out in 2 minutes. That’s just the way it is. As I walked out, Sasha was being walked in and a few seconds later I heard her let out a giggle.

I made my way back down the hall and had to dodge a girl power walking towards me. She was petite, short bob, funky glasses and she stopped me to ask if I happened to know where the audition room for the film I just auditioned for was. I told her when she meets up with American’s Next Top Model, she’s found it. She gave me a weird look and made her way past me. I opened the front door to hear a “Are you friggin kidding me??” from the hall behind me. She found it. I should have told her to fake an accent.

Oh the glamourous life.

67 sleeps!!

Hold that plane!

The countdown is on! Move day is officially Oct. 31. Sharing my move day with Halloween. I’m going to be dressed as a Canadian moving to LA. Thanks to Aeroplan, I collected enough miles to get myself a flight to lalaland for the amazing price of $111.83 (taxes). So that was a huge savings! And I managed to rent a room off a friend – she has a fab condo right in the heart of Hollywood with a pool, gym, en suite laundry. So I will be living in heaven for the next 7 months. After that I guess we shall see.

Right now I’m concentrating on settling things up here, selling everything and also getting my son off to university. Oh ya, that. We managed to get his room sorted finally so now he knows what he’s bringing. We threw out about 3 garbage bags full of crap. And now he has a few loads of laundry to take care of. Lots on the go! I also have a roomie coming to rent his room for the next 2 months so that will go towards my LA fund. And save me on rent in the meantime.

One small dilemma in my otherwise solid plan – the fur, aka The Spice Cat. Yes, that furry purry fluffball – have not yet figured out what to do with her while I’m gone. Had hoped my daughter could take her, but she has to convince her father, and we’re not feeling confident on that one. Sigh. I have 67 days to figure that one out.

Moving on a budget..a small budget

So now that everyone knows I’m moving I now have the fun job of figuring out the hows and how muches. Thanks to Facebook, there are actually groups dedicated to Canadians making the move to the USofA and I’ve joined a couple to see what people recommend in terms of shipping items or finding rental apartments. And I guess everyone that joins these groups are self-made millionaires because some of the advice I’ve gotten makes me wonder if I was supposed to win a lottery first. If I won the lottery it would certainly explain the things some people recommend. Maybe they get a kick-back on how many people use the services they refer. So in the meantime I’m just figuring it out and weighing all my options. As I find some good stuff I’ll share what I find here. And if any of you reading this have suggestions on shipping boxes or finding affordable apartments, by all means comment away! Let the moving games begin!

Booked!

Wasn’t I just complaining about the July Blahs? Ya…that was me…then I booked a sweet gig – national OOH and web commercial. Spent the day on set shooting and posing and shooting some more then waiting then shooting then waiting and waiting…all of this in crazy July temperatures…did I mention this was outdoors? And a wedding scene? But it was a ton of fun even if I did get a sunburn. Ya…outdoor shoot with no sunscreen…not so smart. My face will be on billboards and transit ads nationally. Booyah! July whaaaaat?

Doors

There’s that saying about doors…one closing and another one opening. Sometimes you choose to close the door behind you and sometimes you are forced out, but no matter, because as the saying goes…another one opens. Had my big kahuna audition this week. I didn’t make it to the next door. But I did make it to another door. That door is the possibility of getting a better agent. And my agent doesn’t suck. She’s just not getting me into the doors I need and this agency can do that for me. So while you may be trying to get into one door, another one down the hall opens instead. Doors, gotta luv em.

Big Kahuna

I don’t know if that’s how you spell kahuna but that’s how I will spell it. Because this is the Big Kahuna. But it comes with an interesting twist. So I have a pretty major audition to prep for. But it didn’t come from my agent. Let me explain. I have an agent. I signed with this agent back in September. And then it was reeeeallly quiet. Things like TIFF and Christmas came along so I understood. But then it was a New Year. I got one or two auditions here and there but mostly from stuff I self-submitted on. I heard “it’s not busy” more than I can count. And I believed that. Why wouldn’t I? I looked at the breakdowns and didn’t see one breakdown suited for me. Made sense.

Then 3 months went by and I thought hmmm…in 7 months I’ve had maybe 3 auditions. So I checked in again. Still slow. I took new headshots, even went to LA and checked out some workshops, came back and still nothing. Got another audition. Then nothing. Knew lots was gearing up, saw production trucks on every downtown street, heard about friends going on auditions…checked in again and didn’t hear back. Called. Nothing. Emailed again and got the standard “it’s really quiet right now. Nothing is happening. The trucks you see are for shows where they cast from the US.” uh-huh.

So I did what any actor would do, I started to shop around for a new rep. Picked my top 3, nothing crazy. A few at a time. See what the consensus was on my materials. Got a call the next day from an agent who happened to be looking for my exact type for a TV show. So my email came at the perfect time.  Could he send me the materials asap and get me on tape? Uhh whattt? I mean YES and AMAZING right? Except, I’m still repped by my current agent and this agent wasn’t offering to rep me, just offering me the shot at this opp and if I got the part, they’d sign me on the spot. Sooo if I don’t get this role, they won’t rep me. And why hadn’t my current agent got me in for this role?

So here I am. This audition is the Big Kahuna. Recurring role on a big TV show. I get it, I also get a new agent. I don’t get it, I keep looking. And THAT my friends, is just how it goes.