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9:34 pm - Mon 3.05.2012
The Thing That Changes Things?

The Thing That Changes Things?

A potential "game-changer" of an audition tomorrow...

It's for a show called Friday Night Dinners, a pilot for an NBC comedy starring Tony Shalhoub and Allison Janney.

I'm auditioning for the role of "Marley".

A series regular (The character is currently slated to be in 7 of 13 episodes).

When Brett called to tell me about it on Friday, I made him repeat that "series regular" bit a couple times, just to make sure I was hearing him correctly.

Happily, I was.

"Marley" is the weird next-door neighbor...which is the role my friend Jane has always said she could see me playing in a series (And clearly, the professional casting people agree with you, Jane!).

I'm going in tomorrow (To Dava Waite casting, where I've only been once or twice before), to be put on tape for the producers.

If I get past that hurdle, the next step would be a producer session, with the production people in the room.

And if I get past that hurdle, there'll be another audition in front of the network people (If I've gotten to that stage, and the choice is between me and two or three other guys, my contract will already have been written up and signed - they do that so the actor they ultimately go with can't then jack up his "asking price").

The show is written by Greg Daniels, who's written for Saturday Night Live, King of the Hill, The Simpsons, The Office, and Parks and Rec.

In short, this is big stuff.

Really big.

I've been spending a lot of the past couple days "taking my temperature" emotionally; being excited, not being excited, veering between telling myself "Most pilots don't become series, most series don't make it through a first season, etc" on the one hand, and imagining life as a successful tv actor on the other (Interestingly enough, after paying off bills and personal debts and what-have-you, and imagining the particulars of actually working on a regular series, I'm a little vague on how else my life would change, exactly).

But I think it might be best if I focus on the audition in front of me, plan on doing my best, and let whatever's going to happen, happen.

(As I said once, a long time ago, "I should really stop trying to 'control and predict' things...cause I suck at it!".)

There really is a lot more I want to say about this - I think it's interesting, for example, that this audition is, alternately, striking me as "a long time coming", because I've been here 11 years now, and as "surprising", because I don't see myself as having enough credits for people to see me as "series regular" material - but I'm spending time doing this when I should be looking over my sides (As I told Howard earlier, "I'm not sick of them yet, so clearly I need to put in some more time").

But in closing I want to say this, and it's not bullshit - Just the fact that I'm getting to do this (I'm going in to be a series regular on a network tv show!) is pretty amazing.

And I'm going in with the attitude that this happening would be pretty amazingly cool...but if it doesn't happen, that's not the end of the world; on the contrary, it could be just "paving the way" for the even better thing waiting in the wings.

In other words, I think this is going to be "The Thing That Changes Things", regardless, and in ways I can't begin to imagine...

 

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