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9:11 pm - Fri 12.10.2010
The King Of Beers

The King Of Beers

Well, on a very happy note - I booked the Budweiser spot!

(I don't want to say too much about it, but the setting is a bar scene out of the Old West.)

The callback was Monday afternoon, and I got a message from JS late Tuesday saying I was "on avail" ("On avail" means you're "on the short list"; on the theatrical side, they call it being "pinned". Doesn't mean you got the gig. Doesn't mean much of anything really - it just means they're "interested").

Avails are very nerve-wracking - counting this one, I've had six this year (And it's been 50/50 - Three went my way, and three didn't) - so it was pretty tough when I didn't hear anything on Wednesday.

And when it looked like I wasn't going to hear anything on Thursday, I'd all but written this one off (And with it, my hopes of booking a commercial this year, and breaking my "booking record").

But while I was at my Thursday night WW meeting, I got a voicemail from JS; I'd booked the spot!

But there was an interesting "wrinkle" in the story today; got a call from JS this morning, telling me that they were considering me for the role of "Bartender" (A role that would mean more "face time", as JS put it).

So I was booked for the spot, but essentially, I was going to have another callback, apparently to determine how I was going to be cast within the spot ("Bartender", or "Man In Window").

(They'd called me in for the role of "Undertaker", but at the callback, I sensed that wasn't really working out, but they were still interested in me. And, this business being as confusing and uncertain as it is, it was pretty gratifying to realize, after the fact, that I'd had it exactly right.)

So anyway, today I went to the production company for the wardrobe fitting/callback.

I'd been led to believe I was going to be put on camera as the "Bartender", then afterward, stay around for a fitting, which made a certain sense - If you're not sure how you want to cast me in the spot, don't you want to figure that out first, then have me fitted for wardrobe? - and I'd gotten a call from someone in production to that affect while on the way to their office.

But that wasn't what happened.

They put together two bartender "looks" - one more "upscale" and one "rougher" - then they put me on camera, directing me to do bartender-y things.

Honestly, I wasn't really sure how it was going - I felt okay, I guess, but I didn't feel great, and at the end, it wasn't like anyone said, "Okay, you're the Bartender now" - but I couldn't help but notice no one fitted me for whatever "Man In Window" would be wearing.

(In money-terms, this is all pretty meaningless - anything I do in the spot is going to pay the same - but as JS said, the "Bartender" role would involve more "face time"...and I just think it sounds like more fun.)

The spot shoots in Newhall (Around where my friend Cary lives) sometime next week, and it sounds like it might be a two-day shoot, which would be sweet.

But beyond the particulars of the job, or the number of gigs I've booked this year, or any of that, I'm just relieved; I've been feeling a rising tide of "fiscal anxiety" lately, so it's nice to know (As much as it's possible to "know") that things are, in all likelihood, going to be okay for awhile.

Maybe better than okay...

 

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