professional auditionee

Saturday Night Laments

2009-11-10T09:09:00.000-05:00

Last evening an actress and friend of mine told me she worked on one of my favorite TV shows--a show for which I've been campaigning for an audition for years, literally. I couldn't believe it! Friday Night Lights, a show that films in and around Austin, TX, was in the Boston area filming all day Saturday! My friend said she and some other actors were on set, discussing the fact I would be disappointed to know I wasn't working with them. But she also pointed out that I didn't seem to fit the demographics the casting director was tasked to fill: college freshmen (an age bracket for which I can no longer pass, really) and university professors (I would look a bit under-age to most as a faculty member, don't you think?). Didn't they need college seniors or grad students or an administrator or something? Man!

Vice-Versa Again

2009-11-08T21:42:00.001-05:00

This past Friday, I accepted a last-minute audition with good potential. And, again, it turned into a less-than-ideal experience wherein I tried to make the best of the situation. I had been told the audition would be completely improvisatory and I would be playing a customer in a quick-service restaurant. So, I arrived to audition, signed in, and learned there were lines to memorize and that I would be portraying an employee in a quick-service restaurant. (Knowing what I knew at that moment, I would have worn different attire.) And--once more--I auditioned with other actors in the room. So, upon entering the room (and after waiting 40 minutes), I politely paid attention as other talent auditioned before me while silently running through variations of our lines. (We all had the same lines, after all.) I auditioned with the remaining talent watching, providing the most interesting delivery I could muster, and left, irked.

Sometimes I sincerely wonder if CDs understand that giving all the specifics they have to the talent before arriving to audition, as well as providing a top-notch environment for auditioning, could result in high-quality results that may benefit all parties.

Flubs

2009-11-03T19:22:00.001-05:00

Vlogging is not always a cakewalk*. In creating yesterday's vlog there were a few behind-the-scenes flubs I thought you might enjoy.

1. The first take was recorded with the mic on mute.

2. Then the video camera had a minor flip-out.

Too much sun, perhaps?

3. There was also this:

Oh well. Practice makes perfect, right?

*As a personal digression, once, when I was in elementary school, my family and I attended my school's fair where I participated twice in the musical cakewalk. I won both times! We went home with two huge cakes. Bizarre!

Advice and Perpetration

2009-11-02T21:01:00.000-05:00

(n.b. Did you catch that misuse of the verb "perpetrate"?! Wow! Talk about a crime! That's not how that verb should be used; legitimately working as an actor is not illegal. I could have used: portray; present; depict; characterize. Did I? No. Oh well.)

Watch and Learn

2009-10-31T09:25:00.004-05:00

A week ago I attended the first annual Boston Book Festival. It sounded fun and there was a superb lineup of speakers/authors. While I didn't get to attend every session my heart desired, I did sit in on three great ones that were not only informative but which left me, surprisingly, with a single realization that I've been pondering all week: few of the people I heard attained the goals they set out to achieve.

John Hodgman: John Hodgman wanted to be an author and, in fact, did end up an author, but only after publishing a single (but brilliant!) short story in the Paris Review, becoming a literary agent instead, appearing on The Daily Show, making a-bajillion ads for a computer company that shall remain nameless but is my favorite nonetheless, acting in movies and amassing a small army of slightly off-kilter but passionate followers.

Scout Tufankjian: American photojournalist Scout Tufankjian didn't know she would become so intimately affiliated with the presidential campaign of Barack Obama. She just wanted to take pictures. Her agency sent her to New Hampshire to cover some unknown junior senator as he launched a run for the presidency. It was the reaction of the attendees (and perhaps the quality of her photography) that resulted in her following the campaign for two years from inception through inauguration, and producing 12,000 images that became her best-selling book Yes We Can: Barack Obama's History-Making Presidential Campaign.

Chris van Allsburg: Chris van Allsburg relayed the story of a young, average high school student with a vivid imagination who set out to become a lawyer, but talked his way into art school (without having had any formal art training) after the college admissions officer discouraged him from pursuing a legal track. He's now a Caldecott Award-winning author and illustrator of children's books. Perhaps he would have made a good lawyer anyway?

Tom Perotta: Tom Perotta is currently a successful author who had difficulty getting published, even though he had a professional relationship with former student and then-literary agent John Hodgman. He took up teaching creative writing at Yale as a side gig, then switched to expository writing at higher-ed competitor Harvard. Maybe he needs a good actress to star in his adaptation of his own work, The Abstinence Teacher?

These folks have become successful but perhaps not in the fields they had first imagined What does this say about goals and desire and success? Does it have to do with their go-with-the-flow type of attitude? A relenting focus on the end result? Are goals, desire and success at all related?

My mom gave me a book a few years ago called Rules of the Red Rubber Ball by Kevin Carroll. Memorably, it actually comes packaged with a red rubber ball which I have sitting on my desk. The purpose of the book is to remind the reader to keep one's eye on the ball and not lose sight of the goal. For Ken Burns, it worked out. He wanted to become a successful documentary filmmaker and did so. In the cases of Hodgman, Tufankjian, van Allsburg and Perotta, they had their eyes on balls, but the routes that took them too their balls involved detours or turns to another ball entirely.

What could this mean? Was use of my early science successes to pursue music a wrong choice? Because I earned two degrees in music but now act more than sing, have I failed to achieve my goal? Is acting the detour? Are we the governors of our paths? I hope next year's Boston Book Festival is as thought-provoking.

(n.b. Is it ironic that I have been humming "Nice Work if You Can Get It" as I write this?)

I'll be Your Mouthpiece

2009-10-29T08:53:00.002-05:00

Yesterday I worked on another industrial video project with a production team I've come to know. We have a nice professional relationship now which has resulted in fun times on set and a semi-consistent flow of work for me. What made yesterday's green screen work different from previous work was the type of role I had been given. Yes, I was still acting. Yes, I still had helmet-hair. Yes, I was still playing a character. Yes, I still had slightly stilted dialogue to deliver for instructional purposes. But, in this case I was not acting opposite another actor. Rather, I was delivering the copy directly to the end user via the camera lens, in effect making me a spokesperson. I have done such work once before, recording six informational videos for a national computer and IT service provider which shall remain nameless. It was fun to graduate to this type of service for the client and to learn--after the fact--that they were very pleased with my work. (It was also fun to learn the producer used to be in a band called The Young Rationals. But, shh! Don't tell!)

Making the Intangible Tangible

2009-10-23T10:08:00.004-05:00

Last week I had an audition but was not called back. All worked out well, though, as I happened to win tickets to an amazing performance at Carnegie Hall. This audition happened to be for a commercial that would be selling an intangible good. In situations like these, I find interesting the means by which advertising agencies create a brand strategy. In this particular case, the agency elected to illustrate the product visually using personification. A current example of this can be seen in commercials for GEICO like this one:

The creatives have taken money--something that is typically handled electronically in today's transactions--and given it some pizzazz. Some cuteness. Something you'll remember and want to have. (Not to mention a catchy song.)

In my audition, I performed an everyday task with the product to illustrate its ubiquitous nature. Since the personification of the product had not yet been finalized by the agency, my product personified for audition purposes happened to be a teddy bear. He was cute, but not so much as the GEICO money. I cannot speculate why I was not called back; any number of factors could have been influential. No matter: I look forward to seeing the final spot and the ultimate vision of the product.

Influence and Impact

2009-10-19T09:43:00.002-05:00

Last week, in a surprising turn of events, I won tickets to the first performance of the Punch Brothers at Carnegie Hall. (Thanks Nonesuch Records!) The location of the seats could not have been better.

As a musician, I could not have asked for more from these guys. They're highly-trained, phenomenally-skilled and enjoyed every minute of their excellent Carnegie Hall debut. They love what they do and epitomize what a great ensemble and performance should be: punctual, friendly, fun, energetic, interesting, witty and technically unparalleled.

As a professional auditionee, the process of winning this contest got me thinking about the means by which it happened and how the experience could aid me in winning auditions. Specifically, I reviewed the factors that seemed to affect the outcome of the ticket give-away and determined the components that were, perhaps, the most influential. Given these, I've identified four conditions to apply to future auditions:

Be enthusiastic about the situation and/or product.
Be sincere in that enthusiasm.
Have a sense of fun about the experience.
Have no expectations of the outcome.

Now it's time to test the hypothesis!

Punched!

2009-10-16T07:26:00.003-05:00

I saw this tweet about a contest on Wednesday and thought, What the heck? I'll enter! I like Chris Thile and the Punch Brothers, and have enjoyed such music for years, so I whipped up a characteristically campy but completely sincere email message to submit to the drawing:

I clicked "Send" and thought nothing further of it. Of the hundreds (or possibly thousands) of entries Nonesuch Records could receive, the likelihood of me winning would be slim. Yesterday afternoon I received what I thought was a standard reply message, encouraging me to visit Nonesuch Records' web site and thanking me for participating in the contest:

I was gobsmacked! Of all the entries, I had been selected the recipient of the only two tickets to be given away! So, I'm in New York today, off to a very fun concert and after party, and I hope to have some good stories to share with you upon my return.

It looks like there was a reason I didn't receive a callback today for Wednesday's audition. But that is another blog entry.

Sprinting Spot

2009-10-12T18:21:00.000-05:00

Last month I had the fun task of participating in a quick commercial shoot in Maine. Apparently the spot began airing this weekend. Since I recall the focus being about some tax-related issue, thereby making the coverage area relatively localized, I was pleased to find the completed commercial in a non-Maine viewing venue: YouTube. It's amazing to me--given all the running around I did for this gig--how brief it seems! There are some cute takes we did that clearly didn't make it into the final cut. Perhaps there will be another, longer version to air in the future that may include some of these remaindered moments.

Keepsake

2009-10-11T19:28:00.005-05:00

Last year I attended a thoughtful memorial for my voice teacher, Helen Hodam. At the conclusion of that event, a sweet recording of her was played--one many of her students wanted, including me. I sent a few email messages to various parties but received no responses. Then, just this past Friday, I received an email message with a link to this video and recording of that very performance, Loch Lomond, as recorded by Ms. Hodam on 8 August 1947. Enjoy!

Collegial Kudos

2009-10-10T08:56:00.000-05:00

Last weekend I saw the new Ricky Gervais/Jennifer Garner flick The Invention of Lying and I am pleased to say high praise goes to my friends Andrea, Celeste, Doug, Ellen and Michele who were all in the movie. Not only are they fabulous actors and lovely friends, but they're now even more famous! Furthermore, Mr. Gervais should be recognized for being "an actor's actor", as Michele commented. Though her scene and Doug's scene didn't make it into the final cut of the film, each of them received notes stating it was a pleasure to work with them, their scenes turned out very well and each will receive copies of the scenes for their reels.

Quite a distinct and classy move by Mr. Gervais, I think.

Not Hot Stuff

2009-10-07T22:20:00.001-05:00

A few day ago, I auditioned for a restaurant chain with a well-known, catchy jingle that may make a resurgence. The audition required singing and I knew this was the reason I was called. I was psyched to have a chance to sing for a commercial audition and wanted to do my best. I made a mental choice to not sing too well because past practice of the jingle illustrated thusly. Furthermore, I know of very few jingles sung in a classical style.

In the days prior to the audition, I learned and practiced the ditty, trying to stay true to the original while providing a bit of personal styling. I practiced in the shower. I hummed while on the bus. I muttered the lyrics under my breath while in the grocery store. I tapped out the syncopated rhythms while riding the T. Little did I know I would not be auditioning alone.

My audition partner turned out to be a lovely person that I've had the good fortune to work with before. Polite, witty, sharp-looking, courteous, but cannot stay in a key. I had forgotten how challenging it can be to try sing with a less-skilled singer. Mid-audition, a small voice in my mind recalled that phrase, "Hold your own!", and I finally appreciated its sentiment. I made a conscious decision to ignore the other talent in the room (read: my audition partner) and stick to my key of choice. I think it made the entire audition terrible. Seriously. I could hear the terribleness happening as the audition progressed. I'm afraid my face may have showcased my awareness of the magnitude of the terribleness, but I sincerely tried to remain focused on the scene at hand, hoping it would mask my insight. Part of me hoped the situation was humorous enough to help us both get the gig. However, I know I didn't get it--it shot last week.

Riddle Me This

2009-10-05T23:51:00.002-05:00

Quite awhile back, I had an unsuccessful outcome to a rather dubious and line-free commercial audition. On this occasion, we were not told the product prior to or during the audition, though the client was present. (Apparently this product was of a top-secret nature.) Instead, we were to make up the product for ourselves, pretend to hide beneath an imaginary bedsheet while using the concocted product, and then appear sheepish yet surprised. I did my sheepish best, but it was not enough to land the gig. Once I saw the completed commercial on television. Just think: this could have been me.

Grappling with the Hook

2009-10-03T10:43:00.002-05:00

Since one of my last auditions, I've been ruminating on what prompts a client to like a talent and subsequently hire her/him.

As is known, frequently the hiring of talent can seem wholly dependent upon look and have little to do with action. However, I like to keep clients to a higher standard and believe they really do consider the skill the actor carries into the room.

Can it be that first interpretation is so influential that if the initial presentation is not similar to the client concept, then it is not deemed plausible for the talent to revise the performance and provide what the client seeks?

Is it possible to give the client what it wants (or what it thinks it wants) and yet still be true to one's own choices and interpretation?

Where is the intersection of acting true-to-self and serving client desire? Does such an equilibrium exist?

Amiss

2009-09-30T14:01:00.005-05:00

Earlier this past week I had a callback audition for a gig with exciting potential: a national commercial for a major retail chain. I was very pleased to be called back for this second round, which was conducted via satellite feed with some friendly folks in California.

The talent had been explicitly instructed to arrive before 1 PM, with 1 PM being the time when the Boston satellite feed would begin. I arrived twelve minutes early to discover I was the last of the six of us to arrive and was most pleased to see the nice actor I had read with previously. Seeing him was an encouraging sign for me, confirming the relatively good feeling I had upon leaving the first audition.

We waited and waited and waited. In silence. At 1:30 PM the satellite feed began and it seemed--based on overheard conversation--that the client had opted to go with the New York feed first, which explained the delay.

It was a quick audition for all of us, with each of us waiting in turn for the duration should there be a desire to mix and match actors. I read last and with the same fellow I worked with before. Even the agency noticed, remarking, "Did you guys read together before?" We answered in the affirmative and smiled.

I left the audition feeling good. The client clearly liked the actor I had been paired with and I hoped that positive input translated to the client liking me as well. We did five or six takes with direction each time, and a few suppressed snickers were provided from afar as laugh track during our reads. Funny is good, right?

This audition marks the first time I really felt I was on a team with the casting director (CD). I knew the CD wanted us to do well and get the gig which, in turn, would represent the CD well and possibly lead to more work for both the CD and for the region. I truly feel the six of us did our best for the sake of all involved.

The outcome? The agency ended up casting the entire commercial in L.A. Seriously, CA, what gives?

Opportune Means?

2009-09-21T19:56:00.001-05:00

A few weeks ago I campaigned hard for a principal role audition in the upcoming Tom Cruise-Cameron Diaz flick currently called the "Untitled Wichita Project", and I actually got it. In fact, I got to audition for two roles, both of which were airline ticket agent types. It is currently filming in Worcester, MA, and I feel confident in stating I have not been cast as an airline ticket agent in any capacity, despite my adorableness. (I haven't heard from anyone, you see.)

The two auditions consisted of varied reads:

Role One Read one line three times. Smile. Look cute. Be a prop.

Role Two Read four pages. Be interesting. Be curious. Be obvious-and-yet-not-so.

I found Role One difficult. There was not enough information for my taste. I like detail. I like expository data. I wallow in TMI. But since when has my preference governed an audition experience? I've been a prop before: I once played a tree. It didn't have lines.

Role Two was exciting! Four pages of condition, experience, environment, imagination. Ooh! I tried to make the delivery dynamic, curious, strangely appealing and subtle. This character was fleshy, obscure and intellectual. Not unlike myself, some might insinuate.

So what happened? Nothing. That's what. No call back, no first refusal, no offer of a role. What is it that I am failing to bring forth? What can I do to grab those fleeting attention spans that are of such importance, short of jumping up and down before the camera, screaming, "Pick me!!! PICK ME!!!"?

This experience makes me recall my audition and the non-event outcome for another feature currently filming in the area, The Fighter. At first I thought it was just a bad audition experience, but perhaps it's because I look not unlike Amy Adams, who had knowingly--but unbeknownst to the public--been cast as girlfriend to Mark Wahlberg's character. (I have been considered for her stand-in on a few occasions.) Or perhaps I was too short. Or too subtle. Or too unsatisfactory. Or too whatever.

What is it?, I ask again. Where are you, as-yet intangible thing? I know you are there, waiting to be achieved, acquired. A tool for my arsenal of skills, to be commanded according to interal will and external environs.

It is my impatience that goads me onward.

Concise Chronicles

2009-09-20T17:43:00.007-05:00

9:23 AM: Quickly removed tights before dashing out the door for the bus. (The tights just looked bad with today's outfit.)

9:38 AM: Smashed my ring finger while closing the wonky door on one side of the Guild Room. Proclaimed a few choice words.

9:39 AM: Warmed up in the Guild Room to find I was in high voice today. (G6, anyone?) Reaching F3 was a peculiar challenge.

10:00 AM: Rehearsed with the Sanctuary Choir of Old South Church before today's performance.

11:00 AM: Sang with the Sanctuary Choir as part of today's services, including selections by Paul Simon, and Jean Berger.

12:20 PM: Found congenial camaraderie with parishioners of Old South Church over Friendly's sundaes during an ice cream social.

12:47 PM: Felt somewhat conflicted that I had to miss out on auditions for a new series by an Academy Award-winning playwright due to the morning's singing obligations. Still hoping the producers might email me some alternate audition times.

4:23 PM: Noted that The Town was again shooting in my neighborhood by observing the various parking sign directions for the cast and crew. (Darn it, if I don't need to improve on my lacking Boston accent!)

4:23:02 PM: Noted the ambiguous-looking person standing next to the parking signage as s/he used the plastic straw from the beverage in-hand to scrape wax from the right ear.

5:12 PM: Realized it has been more than 24 hours since my last tweet.

5:43 PM: Wrapped up this blog entry.

On the mark?

2009-09-16T11:40:00.005-05:00

Yesterday I had another commercial audition. It was exciting to know this one has interesting potential--including travel--for the talent selected. Like most auditions, it is multi-step process, including yesterday's initial audition, a call back or two, and the gig itself (which I'd love to get!).

I was paired up with a nice actor whom I had not met before. We entered the audition room to find a nicely-staged space, complete with a couple of props. (I always give props to props because they avert that unfortunate miming awkwardness that can mar auditions.) There was a natural, professional comfort in the room and we were asked to perform the scene three or four times with direction provided between takes. I like to think of such occurrences as promising signs, but it is possible that every pairing was offered multiple takes.

Was I en pointe with my performances? I don't know. I felt good about what I provided. Hindsight can be quite 20-20 though, and I found myself thinking, Oh, I could have done that! This would have been a good choice. I should have remembered to do X.... As with all opportunities, I try to remember my internal tricolon: I go; I do it; I leave. And I try not to think about them again.

Tell me Universe...

2009-09-12T08:19:00.002-05:00

Tell me universe--surely it can be no secret--why is it so difficult to garner auditions for those brainy girl feature film roles? You are aware, no doubt, of the current role to which I refer. I think I fill all the necessary criteria:

I am a girl. I am a professional actress with a variety of experience. I've worked on feature films before. I am a very intelligent person with nerdy tendencies not limited to:

making astute but not always obvious Star Trek, Star Wars and LOTR references.
having read the World Book Encyclopedia in hard copy out of interest while growing up.
attending the International Science and Engineering Fair twice and winning.
teaching myself LaTeX (with some guidance every now and again).
participating as a Junior Fellow at the University of Texas at Austin.
finding joy in dictionaries.
having socially awkward moments, even today.

I am certain there are a few friends out there who would be pleased to corroborate my brainy girl status if this would help acquire said audition. Then again, perhaps five languages is too many? Or having been eligible to attend any ivy league institution is overkill?

Or could it be because I do not fit film and television industry's ethnic stereotype?

Gettin' on the Horn

2009-09-08T14:39:00.000-05:00

A few months ago I recorded a telephony system for a new company and a few weeks ago I did some pick-up work for the same group. Well, I am delighted to announce...

[A drumroll please.]

...the company and the telephony system have now launched. [Insert cymbal crash here.] Yay! The entity is Gozaic, a subsidiary of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and its focus is heritage-centric and culture-rich travel and tourism. The web site is an abundant--dare I say it?--mosaic of travel resources, personal experiences and visual excitations from which travelers of all types can broaden their travel horizons.

To hear the accompanying voice over fabulousness, dial:

1-877-MY-GOZAIC

That's 1-877-694-6924

(I can still hear myself reading those very words in the sound booth!)

So, call 'em up! Not only is their work super-cool and fun (and it may lead you to some places you never considered visiting either as a vacation or a staycation), but there's a really lovely voice to escort you through the menus.

Maine Made

2009-09-04T14:25:00.000-05:00

Earlier this week was the benefactor of some last-minute casting for a Maine-based commercial. In this instance, I played the featured teacher in a comedic spot pertaining to an upcoming vote topic. We shot in a real high school which had just reopened after the summer break, floors gleaming. Teachers were about, still in summer-wear, cleaning out classrooms and preparing for the return of students next week. The location had that classic high school character and at times between takes I found myself thinking of cult movies like Pretty in Pink and Sixteen Candles.

Much of my day was spent dashing in and out of frame and my legs were really feeling tired by the time we wrapped. My holding area between scenes was a corner of the cafeteria in which the faculty met a couple of times to discuss planning for the new academic year. Ironically, as one of the meetings was breaking up, a few faculty members approached me and introduced themselves, thinking I was a teacher new to the school. I had to tell them sadly, no, I was not a new teacher, but I was playing one in a commercial and I sincerely hoped I would represent them well. I had a great time with the crew and despite the multitude of shots, it was an efficient day.

Here's a quick photo taken between shots of me with friend and fellow actor Kevin Fennessy who played the principal:

We Interrupt for this Brief Message...

2009-09-02T13:23:00.001-05:00

Recently I reported that I worked on a national commercial and may have gotten some good face time as a result. Well, this Boston Globe article documents the entire experience from a media standpoint and the commercial is there to view as well. Do you see me? Some other time, remind me to tell you who the students are... Grr.

Firsts

2009-08-23T13:52:00.000-05:00

My Favorite License

2009-08-21T16:36:00.001-05:00

A few weeks ago while cleaning out a box, I came across this: my Walt Disney World Monorail Co-Pilot License.

From time to time, while working for Walt Disney World Entertainment, friends and family would come to visit and I would take a few days off to "play" in the parks with them. One of my favorite memories involves a visit by my dad. During a particular trip by a monorail, we were selected by the pilot to ride in the front cab. To ride in the front cab of a Disney monorail train is to have one of the best views of the Disney park system. It's a mobile panorama showcasing the beautiful and innovative planning behind the world's foremost theme park. (Did you know the entire Disney monorail system was constructed in six months, in time for the 1971 Walt Disney World opening?) The cab is tiny, so only one or two guests at most are selected for this unique experience. Hopefully one day, if the timing is right, you too may be plucked from the queue to become a monorail "co-pilot" and receive this special license.