10:16 am - Sun 3/07/04
Got Callbacks?

Had a callback for the Hyundai thing yesterday morning (If you're keeping score--and I certainly am--that was my fourth callback in the past five auditions).

It's a different production company than the Hyundai thing I did last month. I was a little disappointed by that--I'd hoped it was Boxer Films and they actually wanted me back--but I got excited when I saw that this company (Tool) produces the "Got Milk?" ads, or at least they did the latest one (In addition to "Got Milk?", there were pictures from a couple other commercials I recognized up on the walls).

Before the director arrived, as the minutes ticked by in the too-small waiting area--there were about 25 of us, and 8 chairs--some of the guys were grumbling about being kept waiting.

And I understood the feeling--Actors are supposed to be on time or early for our appointments (One casting agency called JS when I was five minutes late for a callback), while our time means nothing to a lot of these people--but that said, it didn't seem like a good idea to get snarky about it with the woman running the audition, as some of the guys did; aside from the politics of it, you don't want to put yourself in that frame-of-mind before going into a callback (Before I paint myself as "Saint Jim" here, it was mid-morning, I didn't have another audition to get to, and I had all the time in the world before work. I might have responded differently in different circumstances).

When the director finally got there, things moved pretty quickly; Basically, they called us in three at a time--a "boss" and two "employees"--had the boss say his line ("Okay people, let's get started..."), and then each of the "employees" had to improvise some b.s. about a report.

I was the "boss" first. The director had me say the line, while the camera was on me, then twice more, while the camera was on each of the other guys. Then he switched me and one of the other guys, and we did it again.

The biggest requirement for playing the "Boss" seemed to involve being somewhere in a range from "balding" to "bald", the better to show off the prosthetic bump on our head (There was much joking in the waiting room about how "Going bald finally pays off...!").

This didn't feel as good as the Comcast thing. It felt more perfunctory, and obviously had little to do with acting and everything to do with a "look".

That being the case, I felt my heart sink just a little when the woman running the audition said there might be more callbacks next week for some of the roles; I know this shouldn't be my attitude, but I'm starting to feel like "enough foreplay already!".

But you don't need to tell me-- better a callback than the alternative.

I'm just anxious to book again, and a union national would be just the ticket!

Well, I want to write a lot more, but I'm exhausted (I had a flat tire on the way home last night, and ended up having to walk about four miles home), I have no groceries in the house, and I have done exactly Zip to get ready for Mark and Jane on Tuesday, so I should probably cease and desist at this time.

But before I do, I wanted to thank everyone for the latest round of comments in here. Like other D-landers, I'm downright addicted to hearing back from the people who are reading along, and the sense that people are wishing me well out here really does help keep me going.

Anyway...See ya!

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