9:50 am - Thurs 1.09.2014
A Tale Of Table Reads and "Pooping Issues"

The other day, an actress friend on Facebook posted as her status something like "Have had an audition, two callbacks, and booked a national commercial. 2014 is getting off to a quick start...!".

For a moment, I hated her (I wanna be happy for people who are doing appreciably better than I am at any given moment...but sometimes it's tough).

2014 hasn't gotten off to that quick of a start for me, but I'm not doing badly, by any stretch of the imagination; I have another episode of Shameless to shoot - another guest-star (YAY!) - and my first commercial audition of the year this afternoon.

Would be nice to book a national early on in the year. Would be nice to feel like "things are going to be okay" for awhile, and not be chronically worried about staying afloat.

And - dare I dream of such things? - it would be nice to get "ahead of things" enough to pay off everyone who needs to get paid off, to take another run at my sleep issues, to "put my money where my mouth is" morally/politically, to put some money away for the future (A future that otherwise looks pretty grim), and to maybe even buy myself the occasional article of clothing or fun whatchamadoodle without feeling wracked with anxiety and guilt.

That may actually be more than one national commercial can accomplish...but it would certainly help.

Anyway...

I've been invited to the Shameless table read today @ 1:30, the first time I've been invited to the table read (Apparently, at the request of the episode's writer).

And as the script currently stands, I'm in, not one, not two, but three scenes in the episode, which is a new record for me on the show.

(So I want the table-read today to go well enough that they don't end up re-thinking their decision. Cause I'm sure nothing I'm doing in the episode has to be a "Kermit" bit.)

The commercial audition is afterwards, which adds a certain - hopefully imaginary - "degree of difficulty" to the proceedings (I don't like having more than one "acting thing" in a day, particularly when they're both in the same part of the day, and some distance away from each other. It's too stressful).

But I've endeavored to "plan ahead" as much as possible, so hopefully, things will go smoothly.

...and they did.

Got to the Shameless read-through very early, so wondered around the lot for awhile before going in (Walking in with the CD, Jon Frank Levey, and his staff - Which gave me a nice opportunity to thank him again for what's been the pinnacle of my career so far).

I was a little disappointed that Bill Macy and Joan Cusack were not there - Particularly JC, since I've never met her - but it was nice seeing Emmy Rossum again (Who I worked with once in the first season, but have only seen in passing since), and cool that Steve H. ("Kev" on the show), who I've worked with a number of times now, was happily surprised when he saw me.

And the general "vibe" of a table read is just fun - I'm always a little nervous (Though that's more because of what I've read about table reads - like how you can get fired if the producers don't like how you do - than anything I've actually experienced), but in reality, everyone's pretty happy to be there, there's free food, and it's fun to hear the whole episode play out.

At some table reads I've been part of, everyone goes around the room and introduces themselves, but at this one, they just introduced the main production people, and the guest cast (I was introduced as not being new to the show, but new to the table read).

(11:25 am)

Well, I just got - via email arrival of the newly revised script (After yesterday's table read) - news that has put something of a dent in my happy memory of yesterday's events.

Two of my three scenes...have been given to another character.

Telling myself it's just a couple lines, and my big scene remains mine...at least for now (And among the reassigned scenes, there's only one kind-of-funny line).

Also, to be honest, one of the scenes feels like a throwaway - in terms of my character's involvement - and the other felt, to me, a bit "out-of-character" for my man "Kermit"(It's a funny bit where the characters in the bar agree a particular bit of bad behavior is "unforgivable"...EXCEPT "in certain situations", and I see "Kermit" as a basically good guy, who wouldn't agree with the sentiment expressed).

So in acting terms, there's nothing there I'm gonna miss. And I can see, in my own mind, why the decision might have been made, not necessarily having to do with the "quality of my work".

And my Inner Cynic sees another possibility, which is basically, "We don't really need to have him do those lines - Why don't we give them to someone else, and we can save the extra $500?" (The difference between my co-star and guest-star money. But really, they never have to bump me up to guest-star, so there's no reason they'd "hang it out there", only to take it away).

Mostly, I'm just embarrassed - This is making me feel like I "over-share" on Facebook, and need to shut the hell up till whatever-I'm-doing is a done deal.

Anyway, the reading was fun, and the scene that's basically my big scene of the episode (And now my only scene) was very well-received in the room (I actually thanked the writer on the way out, "for giving me such a fun bit to do").

(Just got off the phone with my manager...He theorized that, possibly, the three scenes are scheduled to be shot on different days, meaning - since I've already been booked as a "guest-star" for the episode - they'd have to pay me $7000 as a straight-on, capital-G "Guest-Star", instead of $1500 for a "same-day guest-star". And that makes capital-S sense - If I could save $5500 by cutting me out of a couple scenes (That another character could do just as easily), I'd do it too.

So anyway, when the reading wrapped up, it was on to the commercial audition.

Was mostly just worried about getting there in a timely fashion, because I didn't know how long the table-read would take, and I didn't know the studio address, so couldn't Mapquest an exact route from there to the casting place in North Hollywood.

But it worked out fine - I just ended up getting back on the 101 N, and was there within minutes - and my thing was over-and-done a few minutes after that.

(No big "acting thing", not even any lines. I just had to act like I was robbing a house with two other actors.)

Have I mentioned how great it would be if I booked a national early in the year...?

I wish the commercial had actually involved some acting - It's always nice to feel like I have something more to "bring to the party" than just being ugly - but at this point, with two years and no national commercials, I'll take whatever I can get.

So at this point I'm just waiting.

Waiting, waiting, waiting...to find out when I shoot my next Shameless, to find out if I'm going to get a callback on the commercial, and to find out what the next thing is gonna be.

And in the meantime, am taking Hamlet to the vet later today, to address his ongoing pooping issues...

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