10:23 pm - Fri 3.01.2013
The Second-Best "Lab Rat"

Had an audition this morning, for the Disney XD show Lab Rats (for the role of a used car salesman).

There were ten other actors there, and though it was almost a half-hour after my appointment time before they actually got started, once they did, it moved pretty briskly.

I'd prepared pretty well, but could have done better - really have to work on my "working on things" muscle - but that said, I felt fairly confident and clear about what I wanted to do with the scene.

While I was waiting, I heard a lot of big laughter when one guy was in the room...but for whatever reason, it didn't worry me that he was "killing it" with the scene or anything (I interpreted it, instead, as them knowing the actor personally, and I'm moving past the point where that automatically troubles me).

Then when it was moving closer to my time to go in, I was close enough to the door to actually hear another actor's reading...and I thought he was terrible - He sounded like he was literally just reading it off the page after seeing it for the first time.

So that was pretty encouraging.

Finally, it was my time.

I went in, and we said our hellos.

There wasn't a chair, and I thought that was weird, since the scene takes place in the cubicle of a car dealership (And it put me in an awkward position, looking down at the casting director who was reading with me), so I asked for a chair.

(Small thing, but I think an important one - If you want to sit or stand or move around or whatever during your scene, don't be afraid to ask. In an earlier stage of this game, I might not have.)

Honestly, I wasn't satisfied with how I'd done, feeling I'd done better "in rehearsal" than in the room (Which is very frustrating).

But when the Casting Director looked to the Director to see if he had anything he wanted to say, redirection-wise, the Director shook his head and said, "I loved the energy" (Which made me happy - That was a specific choice I'd made, versus turning this character into another "Sad Sack", cause the scene supported either take).

So I went home, and probably within an hour, got a call from Sharon (My agent) - I was "pinned" for the role.

I didn't get it - my nemesis ("Another Guy") got it instead.

Which was disappointing, and a little frustrating - why do I come out "Second Best" so often? - but less disappointing and frustrating than it might have been, because while I always need to book whatever job, it's not like it's my dream to do kid's shows (If this was for Breaking Bad, or Justified and I didn't book it, that would be major-league heartbreak time).

Also, while I was waiting to get (what I'd hoped would be) confirmation on the gig, I got a text that I had a commercial callback on Monday (Editor's Note: The Lab Rats shoot would have also been on Monday).

I've been crying a lot lately about wanting "art" and "commerce" to come together (Meaning I want to have opportunities to actually act while actually getting paid for it), but that marriage hasn't happened quite yet, and right now, I need the "commerce" more than I need the "art".

So I'm hoping the way this story ends is that I book the commercial, and this becomes another example of how losing out on a gig can be a good thing (Because it clears the way for the gig you're "supposed" to book).

Then I want them to bring me back for another crack at Lab Rats, and I want to book that too.

And I want it to be a better role than what I just went in for.

But in the meantime, onwards and upwards...

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