4:33 pm - Tuesday, Mar. 13, 2007
\"Circularity\"

Tues 3/13/07 (11:47 a.m.)

Having a hard time getting started...distracted by the Internet (Just logged off), and my powerful desire to get a call from JS or PMG (For an audition, a callback, a booking, whatever), and I�m struggling to figure out what I want to say first. But anyway...

It�s been an interesting period of time.

I�ve been very happy that the commercial auditions are coming fast and furious (I believe yesterday�s audition was #17, and we�re two-and-a-half months into the year; for a frame-of-reference, last year I had 37 auditions total. So I�m hoping this means 2007's going to be a banner year for commercial auditions...and bookings).

And the auditions have been fun, by and large, funny spots where I�d actually have something to do, where I�d get to play a little �character�. Gigs that, when I think about it, offer better �parts� than the two things I�ve gone in for so far on the theatrical side.

Yesterday�s audition, for example (For Nabisco).

I went in for the part of a �donut��which amused me right there�but while I thought the tone of the spot would be a donut-version of the �Maytag Repairman� (�I�m so lonely...�), it was actually better than that; I went in with an actress, and the scene was us in a car, with me playing the �donut� as aggrieved boyfriend/lover��What, so now we�re not talking? That�s rich. It�s a far cry from last night, when you were all over me...�.

(Her reply? �Shut up...!�)

The �tag line� is something like, �Have a better relationship with your snacks�.

I find that scenario pretty funny, and think a lot of other people would too, so that would classify as a good �get� for me. Cause whatever I do, be it commercial, tv, movies, or stage, and however much money I�m getting paid to do it, I really want whatever-it-is to be entertaining.

The audition I had on Friday, for AirTran (An airline), would be good too�In that one, I was the manager of a Chili�s-like restaurant, watching a college-age kid in a Jalapeno pepper costume do a lackluster version of the company jingle; I start out all businesslike, then when I tell him �No, that�s all wrong--Ya gotta sell it. Here, I�ll show you...�, suddenly I turn into a combination of Bob Fosse and Louis Prima, before reverting back to my managerial self��There. See what I mean...?� (I think it�s one of those �Need to get away? spots).

With years and years of experience in community theater musicals, that spot seems the textbook definition of �right up my alley�.

I find both those spots very appealing�Not just because they�re both funny and involve playing �characters� and would show me off to great effect, but also because they�re very different from the �Bahamavention� spot (Since my theatrical gigs so far haven�t resulted in very impressive footage, I�m thinking that if I got the right contrasting commercial spots on a reel, featuring me being two different kinds of �funny�, that might help me on the theatrical end, either in getting an agent, or being seen by casting people who don�t know me yet).

And speaking of �the theatrical end�...

On Sunday, Ivy Isenberg�a former casting associate from Paul Weber who�s now on her own�ran into me at the theater (she was there to see The Namesake).

She was one of the casting people who called me in last year, after seeing me at a workshop (for a co-star role on The Minor Accomplishments of Jackie Woodman, a cable pilot). She remembered me, and told me she�d really liked my reading�she said it was very funny--but a friend of the Producer ended up getting the part.

Of course, while it wasn�t fun hearing that it really is sometimes �who you know�, I was pleased she remembered me-and remembered me being funny-and, reading between the lines, seemed to suggest that if it had been up to her, I would have gotten the part instead.

Then she said, �Make sure you catch me after the movie so I can get your contact info again...� (Since she�s still a little bit jumbled in the new office).

I was usher-greeting that night (Another nice touch�She got to see me be funny as �Myself� in front of a group), so I knew �catching her after the movie� would be tough, if not impossible.

Then, as I walked away, I remembered I had a couple of my new �Actor� business-cards in my wallet, and while the previews were still rolling, I went to where she and her date were sitting and gave her one.

Now this contact is even more noteworthy than it might sound, for two reasons:

1) She�s the only casting person I�ve ever heard tell people, after doing a workshop scene, �Wow, that was really terrible�. In other words, she�s tough (Some of the workshop people have less flattering terms for what she is). But for some reason, I took to her immediately, and I don�t typically respond very well to �mean� people (I guess I just found her more �refreshingly honest� than �mean� or �bitchy�).

So anyway, to have her make a point of telling me what she told me means something. She doesn�t just give strokes willy-nilly.

2) When I ran into Scott David at the theater a day or two before, he didn�t make any mention of the Criminal Minds audition he�d brought me in for in January (Scott David is an associate for April Webster, that does Criminal Minds and Lost).

(For the record, I didn�t feel very good about that audition, so I wasn�t surprised he didn�t wax lyrical about it himself.)

But at least he remembered me.

Remember how I started this entry saying that I was having a hard time getting started, in part because I was distracted by my �powerful desire to get a call� about an audition or a callback or a booking?

Well, I took a break to walk Lady (The neighbor�s dog), and on my way back into the apartment, I got a call from JS (Which I let go to voicemail), telling me I �might� be working on the Lexus commercial tomorrow, so �stay by the phone� (And call him to confirm I got the message).

I don�t know if I�ve even mentioned the Lexus commercial in here. It wasn�t one of the spots where I�d be doing a funny bit or playing a fun �character� or anything like that; they just wanted weird �character faces� for some bizarre �dream sequence� (In other words, I�d �be getting paid for being ugly� again. But I guess that�s better than not getting paid for being ugly).

I got the call from JS a couple hours ago, and he said he expected to know �in a couple hours�, so once again, like with the Jiffy Lube �avail� that didn�t come through, it�s feeling like �no news is bad news�.

But I guess we just have to wait and see.

(On the �glass half-full� side�as if making all that extra money wouldn�t be a pretty "full glass"-- if I do book the job tomorrow, it couldn�t fit more easily into my �schedule�; it�s one of my days off, and I don�t even have a workshop in the evening.)

Well, I was going to write a lot more (I didn�t even mention the big "investigation" to-do at ArcLight, my discomfort after the last AMG meeting, or my growing distaste for the US economic system), but I�ve run out of time.

Besides, I think getting the call I wanted to get at the beginning of the entry is a nice �closer�.

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