Auditions And Workshops

Since my last entry, I've had another commercial audition.

Considering how slow it's been so far this year, having three commercial auditions and a callback in the past two weeks has me almost doing a happy little jig (Though I won't actually do "a happy little jig" till I actually book something).

The latest audition, this past Thursday, was for Marshalls, for the role of "Blue Collar Guy".

Like with Campbells, there wasn't much to it - I had to inspect and fold a pair of jeans (After I did a take, the camera guy had me do another, directing me to "not care so much") - which basically means it's going to come down to a "look". Which, as I think I've suggested before, is a lot of what commercials are all about.

I think callbacks are scheduled for this coming Thursday, so cross your fingers.

Interesting note (Interesting to me, anyway): The audition was for Ross Lacey at the Casting Studios on LaBrea (I like having auditions there cause it's an easy bike ride from my apartment in K-town). And who should I see when I went upstairs but 80's porn star Ginger Lynn (I think she goes by Ginger Lynn-Allen now), sitting by herself on one of the benches in the large waiting area.

I thought about saying something - but what? "Thanks for all the orgasms"? - but contented myself with a simple "How's it goin'?" and then left her be (I never saw her filling out paperwork or being called into one of the rooms - a number of auditions were going on that day - and it's hard to imagine your average advertiser overlooking her pornographic past, so I don't know what her story was. Maybe she'd just accompanied an actor friend there for "moral support". But anyway...).

It's another thing I like about what I'm doing - You never know who you might run into.

So beyond hoping for a callback, there's nothing currently on my acting dance-card in the coming week, beyond some casting workshops on Tuesday and Thursday.

And speaking of casting workshops...

In last week's Backstage West, there was a "Letter To The Editor" from Casting Director Billy DaMota, responding to a July 2nd article on casting workshops ("Worth The Price?") by Stacey Jackson.

Long story short, Mr DaMota is vehemently opposed to casting workshops, seeing them as clearly illegal activity - basically, paying potential employers for a job interview, which is illegal under California labor law (the word "bribery" comes up in his letter).

This strong opposition to casting workshops has apparently made Mr DaMota something of a pariah in the Los Angeles casting community, since it's a pretty major "second income" for a lot of CDs and their associates.

(I don't read Backstage on a regular basis, but I went online afterwards to read the original article, which was more a "how to benefit from casting workshops" piece than something addressing the "paying for access" controversy).

Personally, when I first came out to LA, I didn't do casting workshops for years - Partly because I didn't want to "pay for access" to casting people ("I came out to LA to make money acting, not to pay people to watch me act"), and partly because even if I'd been willing to "pay for access", I didn't have the money.

I don't have the time or inclination to hash over the debate in here (It's beyond the scope of one blog entry, in my opinion), but I have to say that I'm not unsympathetic to Mr DaMota's views.

But for about three years now, I've been going to workshops at the Actors Co-op Group in Studio City, and at this point in the game, I only wish I'd started doing workshops sooner.

You can debate the merits, the ethics, what-have-you, of casting workshops (Whether they're "educational" or whether they're "auditions for pay"), but in my personal experience, they've worked - my first theatrical auditions (And bookings) came directly from seeing those casting people at workshops - and it's very hard for me to argue too strenuously against something that's worked.

Besides, as an actor, they're tax-deductible.