Random Calls, An Audition or Two

I wish I'd had a flurry of activity this last week or two to fill you in on, but I didn't.  I did have an audition, with another one coming up soon.  I did work two long, good, bill-paying days as an extra on The Good Wife.  I got a call from someone I thought might be done with me.  That's about it.

The audition was for a new web series.  It was one of those where I was in and out before I knew what happened.  We ran through a short scene twice, and I think I did well taking the adjustment for the second run, and I guess that's about all I can hope for.  Looking back with that 20/20 vision we have in our minds, the show is probably going to be pretty out there, tonally speaking, so I think I could have gone a lot further with that.

A friend asked recently if I'm able to move on after auditions.  He's not an actor, but he's dating another friend of mine who is, from grad school.  I told him I'd gotten pretty good at letting go on an audition-to-audition basis, but the problem I face these days is after having a run of a few months with either no auditions or no interest after auditions, I'm experiencing a much deeper, soul-crushing, "what else can I do" distress.  I got over that with the web series I did book.  It just takes one thing to hook you back in.

  My audition this weekend is interesting.  It's for a student film, and the breakdown described it as being sexual but not gratuitously so.  They clearly laid out what they're expecting from the actors, and what the storyline is, and when I got the script I was able to verify that for myself.  Aspiring directors, take note: we're judging the heck out of you based on how you word your breakdowns.  Were I to book this, it would be a good challenge for me.  I've yet to do material like that on camera, and if I did it on stage it was either in college and/or so bad I forgot it.

The call I got was last week, from a respectable commercial agency with whom I'd worked briefly in the beginning of the year.  I had assumed they'd all but forgotten me; glad to know I was wrong, though I couldn't make the audition.  It was a call for a same-day afternoon audition, and I of course was working on The Good Wife.  I was as appreciative and apologetic on the phone as I could be, and the agent's assistant said not to feel bad since it was a same-day thing.  Hopefully she meant it, and I'll hear from them again.  A thing I love and hate about this business is that one call can start you down a path that could change the landscape.  It's exciting to know that as soon as next week I could be working on something I could never have predicted.  It's frustrating to think about how little control I have over that.

Background work.  I could write several hundred words on that alone.  I see it as having no more impact on my acting career than any other day job, like answering phones or waiting tables.  In terms of plain old work, it's not a bad way to make money.  In terms of being tantalizingly close to people making a living doing exactly what I want to do, it makes me want to put my head through concrete.  The Good Wife is a great place to work though; the cast and crew have always been extremely nice.  You do get treated like people there.  The fact that I have to say that should indicate how bad it can be on other sets.  But I read a lot.  I ate good food.  I got great advice for getting on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?  

I think I have a new plan for paying off those student loans.

(Photo by Tara Leigh)

--Colin Fisher

Comments

[Toronto Actress]

Hi there!

New reader here. :)

I used to worry about having to say "no" to same-day things...In fact, I went so far as to not make plans JUST IN CASE. But agents do understand that the actors on their roster are people too and generally for same-day things, especially for commercial auditions, I truly don't think they would ever look down on your for not being able to make it.

But then I always have that "what if" dialogue in my head...What if I was able to go, and booked it...Or the CD gave the agent great feedback which could have led to something else, etc. - and I go crazy. So I think it's best to let go and not worry about it too much.

Best wishes for lots more phone calls!

[Colin Fisher]

Hey Toronto, thanks for commenting! Yeah, the assistant did sound truly sympathetic, so hopefully it wasn't a turn-off. I go through constant cycles of trying to be available, going broke, working, missing auditions, making myself available again, rinse, repeat. Luckily my day job is fairly flexible and my boss understands what I really want to do so missed auditions are rare, as they should be.

Here's to ringing phones!