10:11 am - Sun 3/21/04
X-Box Audition

(Watching Four Weddings And A Funeral, quite possibly my favorite romantic comedy...)

The X-box audition on Friday was interesting; there was a note up by the sign-in sheet saying they'd be bringing us in in groups of six, and beforehand we should find out some bit of odd or interesting trivia about one other person in the group. Apparently, we were going to go in and "sell" our individual groups to the auditioners (This was a "straight-to-callback" deal, which I didn't know till I got there).

A group of us waiting in the hallway realized we had casually fallen into a "group" while we were talking, and started joking about how the other groups could just go home, how relieved the auditioners would be (To be making an early day of it), etc.

Then someone came out of the room and told us the note was only for the "kids" in the spot; the "parents" (I was coming in to be a "dad") were being brought in one-at-a-time).

Oh well...

So they brought in a group of six, and after they were done, they called me in.

In addition to the cameraman, there were four other people in the room (At the initial auditions, there's usually only the camera guy). While he set up the camera, the rest of them continued on with whatever they'd been talking about before I came in.

Once the camera was ready, the director, a friendly-looking, balding Asian man with glasses, said hi, told me to address my answers to the camera, and off we went.

I did a slate, then they asked me to tell them something interesting or odd about myself.

Out in the hallway, I'd written down a few possibilities, in preparation for the "group" thing, so I sang out with the first one that came to mind--"I like my Chef Boyardee straight from the can!"

Everyone laughed, then the director said, "Any particular 'flavor'?"

I said, "Well, you know now they have the one with the jumbo meatballs? I don't like those. I think it throws off the balance of pasta and meat. So just the regular spaghetti and meatballs".

I was quite happy with my answer. I was pretty sure no one else was going to say something like that, and since it was all true, it had the virtue of being "quirky" without being forced.

They asked if I played video games, and I said something about downloading the old version of "Frogger" on my last computer, but that my system was too old to play the new stuff (I sort of bobbled that question, but still thought I was okay).

Then they asked if I had any children.

And I said, I think somewhat wistfully, "No, I do not".

I wish I had lied. Or at the very least said, "No, but I was a storyteller for ten years at the bookstore where I used to work", or "No, but kids love me", or something along those lines, because I get along with kids--from toddlers to teens--quite well, and they should have heard me say that.

Anyway, other than that last bit--which I hope didn't screw up my chances--I thought it went pretty well. It was fun, and it would be nice if that sense of "fun" carried through to my getting the gig.

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