3:00 am - Thurs 7.17.2008
Soup And Shoes

Thurs 7/17/08 (1:26 a.m.)

Have had two commercials auditions this week...so far.

And hopefully, I�ll have my first callback of the week later on today.

The first audition was on Monday, for Campbells Soup.

And it was nothing - Just one of those boring commercials auditions I overheard an actor refer to once as a �face lottery�; I was a �chef�, and I had to look like I was making some delicious and nutritious Campbells Soup.

Pretty sure I won�t be booking that one - I don�t have the slightest idea how to make soup (Or anything else one makes in a kitchen), and I imagine that�s exactly what I looked like on-camera.

(Now if they�d wanted me to be heating up some soup in the microwave, I would�ve nailed it. But what can you do?)

If I were the Campbells Soup people, I�d definitely book the attractive, older African American couple that went in with me.

(After a moment or two of me trying to look like I knew my way around a kitchen, they filmed the couple enjoying delicious Campbells Soup...and each other. And unlike Yours Truly, they were very convincing; even though I knew they�d actually just met moments before, I found myself jealous of their abiding love...and the great pleasure they were taking in eating soup.)

So that audition, for me, kind of sucked. I was actually pretty depressed afterwards.

The one today was a lot more fun - I was an Al Bundy-ish shoe salesman, who�s trying to sell a guy some shoes, a guy he�s been helping for hours, when the guy�s friend walks in and does everything he can to queer the deal, much to my consternation.

(This was a pretty mysterious audition. The breakdown only referred to it as �Project X�, and all I know is it has something to do with computer equipment. Though I can�t for the life of me figure out how the scene I did today had anything to do with computer equipment.)

This was at Kathi Knowles, in Santa Monica, a place that brings me in quite a bit (This is where I booked the Snickers commercial last year. The one I was, unfortunately, cut out of).

Marvin was running the session, so that was fun; he actually works with you to get something decent on camera, doing a couple takes, giving you direction, etc. Which, as I told Marvin afterwards, is something I�ve always appreciated; at some other places, you feel like they�re just shuttling actors through, and they don�t really care what ends up on camera. But I usually leave KK, especially when Marvin�s doing the session, feeling like I got a really fair shot at doing my best.

(A question - Are there really still �shoe salemen� out there? I got my last pair of shoes from Shoe Pavillion, and I was hard pressed to find someone to ring me up, let alone help me try on shoes.)

Well, this was going to be the pre-amble to a bigger and better entry, but I can�t stay up all night tonite, cause I don�t want to get that callback call tomorrow morning, and regret that I didn�t get any sleep.

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