It was in Santa Monica, at a casting office I've gone to quite a bit over the years (A fact that'll give some "context" to something I'll be writing about in just a minute).
I was going in for the role of "Airport Security Guy"; Basically, I'm trying to get an elderly couple to follow the security check-in procedures, which they're having a hard time understanding because...well, because they're old, basically (The commercial ends with a voiceover - or maybe just a title card, I'm not sure - that says "Old people vote two-to-one over young people. We're just sayin'.").
("Rock The Vote": Promoting Understanding Across Generations.)
Marvin, the camera guy, slated the three of us, set us up, and had us rehearse a few times (Ironically, considering the nature of the spot, the relative "whippersnapper" of the bunch was the first to screw up; I'd misunderstood a bit of direction Marvin had given one of my scene partners, and it threw me off the first time we went through it).
But eventually we started shooting it. We did a couple takes - a take for the couple (Over my shoulder), a take for me (Over their shoulders), and a take or two just to get a good take - and we were done.
(I've said it before - Beyond the fact that it's in friggin' Santa Monica, I like this particular casting office; I've booked a couple commercials from auditions I've had there. And I particularly like "Marvin the Cameraman", because he's genuinely invested in getting your best effort on camera.)
When we were done, Marvin summoned me over.
He'd had to tell me something bad I was doing on camera at one point ("Splitting my focus". Which made me annoyed with myself; after all, how long have I been doing this shit now?), so I thought he was going to give me some other helpful feedback about a particular thing he'd seen on camera - "That thing you do? Don't do that" - something along those lines.
But turned out he had much broader feedback to offer; after issuing a disclaimer ("I could be wrong, I often am..."), he said it seemed like I wasn't "playing" as much as I used to - I was basically "hitting the notes", but not having as much "fun" (Which left me worried about the spot we'd just committed to video, but he said we'd "gotten it" on that last take).
It's not something I've been aware of ("Hey, I'm not 'playing' at auditions like I used to, and as a result, I'm having less fun"), and it's certainly not been a conscious decision on my part ("You know what? I think I'm going to approach commercial auditions with an air of deadly seriousness, and see how that works for me...").
But then again, you can't see yourself, which makes it next-to-impossible to judge what's "coming across" on camera, subconsciously or otherwise, unless someone tells you (And one of the "challenges" here is that no one tells you. Which makes the fact that Marvin bothered to tell me pretty amazing).
I've said it before, I find commercial auditions kind of tough, for a myriad of reasons (Like yesterday - there's no reason we couldn't have gotten the sides in advance. It would certainly have helped me be more comfortable with the lines, which would have helped me have more "fun" on camera).
But that doesn't matter - Whatever the challenge involved in doing my best at these things, I have to do my best at these things.
And my "best" involves bringing my best, loosey-goosey self to the party. Almost everyone out here can "hit the notes"; it's what you do after that that makes all the difference.
Amateurs have fun when the circumstances are "fun"; Pros make something fun happen whatever the circumstances.
And I'll let you guess which group I want to belong to.
Not wanting to move my car from its primo parking space in front of my building, and feeling too lazy to schlep the stuff out to Burbank on my bike, yesterday I UPS-ed my headshots and demo reels to my manager, for that big event he's attending this weekend.
(I just got off the phone with him, to give him a head's-up on the package, and he told me the event in question was shaping up to be about 70% agents to 30% casting people; I've got an agent, but in the unlikely event an agent there was particularly excited about me, I'd certainly be willing to "have a conversation" with them. But anyway...)
I'm not expecting anything to come of it, which is probably a good way to look at it - That way, I can be delightfully surprised when it provides the next big leg-up on my "journey to the stars".
Well, it's old news now, but I sent out my SAG ballot.
I read all the emails that came from both sides, and went back and forth on how to vote as a result. I was really torn.
But ultimately, I went with Membership First.
On the one hand, I was kind of afraid not to vote for them, because I feel that if they don't get voted back in, it would be a vote of "no-confidence" on what they're negotiating for with the AMPTP, and the producers would run with that.
And on the other hand, the "Qualified Voting" thing, even if it's not part of Unite for Strength's official "platform", sends a message that their side is not my side (The majority of Unite for Strength's candidates previously tried to push through a "Qualified Voting" amendment).
I hope I didn't fuck up.
Well, I was going to write about something else (The importance of "being a full vessel" as an actor), but that's really an entry in itself, so I think I'm going to end here, check the movie listings, and see if there's something out there worth seeing...
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