4:49 pm - Sat 10.02.2010
Playing \"The Long Game\"

I'd been working on this entry since last night...then inadvertently closed the page a short time ago, and deleted everything.

crap.

Anyway, had the big "lunch date" with Shelley on Monday.

Was not terribly amused by the little prank the Universe played on me that day - when I started to get ready, I discovered I had no water (Cause the water heater was being replaced) - but I did the best I could under the circumstances.

(Did I mention that it was, officially, the hottest day in LA history...?)

Shelley had left a message on my voice-mail saying she was running a little late, so our 1:00 o'clock meeting time ended up closer to 1:30.

"So how did it go", you're wondering?

If you want the Reader's Digest version, it was great.

I'd told myself, going in, that we had X, Y, and Z we could talk about, and that it would probably be best if I didn't spend the majority of our time together talking about myself...but any little pre-set "game plan" I had in my head quickly went out the window; we immediately fell into conversation, and didn't stop until I checked my watch (I was supposed to meet up with my friend Howard at 4:00 to see The Town) and saw that two hours had passed in about ten minutes.

On our way out, I expressed how much I'd enjoyed myself, and floated the possibility of another outing.

And, happily, she instantly agreed, but issued a bit of a caveat - I would need to "bear with her" because she was reticent about getting into a dating situation (Not her exact words, but that was the sentiment).

I told her I understood - joking that, being such a cool guy, I understood she'd need time to "calm herself down" and "tamp down the excitement" she must be feeling under the circumstances - but "in the moment", I wasn't sure I understood; was she saying, "I just want to be friends", or "I like you, but want to take it slow"?

I'm way more used to hearing the former

And if she'd only expressed a "resistance to dating", I'd be thinking, "Well, that's that".

But "You'll have to bear with me" I'm taking at face-value - Meaning, she likes me, but wants to "take it slow".

(Just got off the phone with Cary, where, amongst other things, we talked about the very events I'm describing to you now.)

Anyway, as I just told Cary, "My last relationship was during the first Clinton administration, so I'm pretty okay with 'taking it slow'...".

...but I do want to "take it".

(I called her a short time ago, leaving a message inquiring about her availability in the coming week; right before we parted company on Monday, she asked if I liked listening to music, mentioning that she has a number of musician friends. So I'm imagining that listening to some of her musical friends be musical might be the centerpiece of our next outing.)

Had a really fun (And really rare) movie audition yesterday.

It was an almost three page scene of dialogue as "Ralph", an expert on "alien abductions".

I booked the audition on Wednesday, and the "breakdown" specified that we might be asked to read the scene "straight" once, then to improvise.

Anyway, when the time came, it didn't shake down quite that way - The casting director wasn't in the room when I was being put on tape, so I asked the reader how I was to proceed (Whether to do the "straight read" first, or what), and she basically said to read it "mostly straight".

I was afraid the one read would be the only read I was going to get, and I didn't want to be driving home, imagining the CD watching my tape and wondering why I didn't improvise when the breakdown had asked for it.

So, in my mind, I "split the difference" - I didn't go off into outer space, since I assumed that wasn't what they were looking for anyway (I assumed they meant "put the scene in your own words". So I stayed close enough to the script that the reader could follow me), but I very liberally added things and dropped things and re-phrased things.

I told Cary that, since I'd had the scene for the better part of the previous two days, it didn't really feel so much like "improvising" as "re-writing".

And not to break my arm patting myself on the back, but in my own estimation, I did a pretty good job.

We did it once, then they asked me to read the first page again, faster and a little more excitable.

Since I thought most actors' take on the role would be to play it kind of "caffeinated" and "squirrely", I'd opted to "go another way", but I didn't have any "issue" - or difficulty - picking up the pace and being a little more "intense", since that was just as legitimate a take on the role as what I'd done the first time (And the second time, I opted to stay closer to the script).

Anyway, I had a great time, and was very pleased on a number of fronts.

1) In six years, this was only my third time in this particular casting office, and I was much happier with this visit than the previous two (I was actively un-happy about those first two visits, to the point where I was surprised they'd called me in for this one, wondering if they'd simply forgotten who I was).

2) I felt I'd gotten the chance to do pretty much everything I would have wanted to do...and "executed" very well (And I don't feel that way after every audition).

3) It was just fun - Getting to play an honest-to-goodness character in an honest-to-goodness audition.

Of course, the possibility of booking a nice little part in a movie is pretty cool.

But booking the role is the one thing I can't control - I did everything in my power, and the fact that I did my best, and had fun, has to be good enough.

That wouldn't have been "good enough" a few years back, and it's only becoming "good enough" now.

But I think I have a little more of an understanding of "the long game", and the notion that it's not so much about "booking the role" (Though that's nice), as it is about making an impression, being remembered, and being asked back...and then booking the next role.

That's why I was disappointed, but not terribly broken-up, that I didn't book Shameless.

After my first audition, they brought me back in in less than two weeks. Then they "pinned" me after my second audition; clearly, I'm in their heads now (As I said to Cary earlier, if I were a betting man, I'd be willing to bet that, if the show doesn't get canceled, I'll end up booking a role on it before too long. Or barring that, on some other project of theirs).

The other reason I have to "put this one out of my mind" (Like I really should with every audition) is that I have no idea of the "turn-around" - I don't know if this audition is it, if there might be further audition/callbacks, or how long it'll take for any decision to be made.

So bring on more auditions, Universe, please and thank-you, so I can move on...then be surprised and delighted when I book the job.

previous - next