Audition 8: Radio Commercial

Came in last night. Pretty simple. Was in and out of the booth in 10 minutes this morning.
 I don't think I was perfect but my booth director seemed to think I was spot on.
Gotta nail one of these, right?
This one was for a big chain in time for V'Day. It would be a solid spot to book.

Audition 7: Radio Commercial

Well, that's more like it. If I could be in the booth every day I'd be a happy man. Or even once a week. Or...you get the idea.
Got the copy yesterday but didn't really read it until late last night. I used to audition like this all the time. Pure energy. Just what happens in the moment. I hasten to say that maybe it's preparation that's hurting me. Could that be? I'm serious when I say that the best tv gig I ever got, the first series regular gig came out of an audition precisely like that. Grabbed the sides, busted in the room, did it, booked it, then did 8 episodes of that show. Or was it 9?
Anyhoo. The timing of this audition was perfect. Breakfast wasn't too heavy and it was 90 minutes before so I wasn't weighed down nor was I hungry. I got there and was partnered with a guy that I had talked to in the lobby of a call back in December. He seemed bitter. But I didn't care. I couldn't tell if his not recalling me at first means he puts the audition and all that happens during it away when he's done or if he just didn't find me memorable. I doubt it's the latter since I was pretty demonstrative and assertive.
Halfway through the second read I found a great ad lib that fit perfectly but it caused me to stumble a bit after and at the end came up with a joke that was perfect. I mean, perfect.
When you get laughs from your partner AND the booth director, i think you're doing okay.
The third read worked best for me, jokes and energy wise.
A great audition, coming on the heels of a terrible week. I needed that.

Audition 6: Commercial (Updated) (Updated again)

Group auditions. They are a pain. I always feel like everyone else is in on how to do it and I'm not. In this case I was older by double than everyone in the room. And I felt it. And I don't wanna come off as a creep by flirting with the 21 year olds, but, thank you, sweetie, please don't stand directly in front of me.
Anyway, we're supposed to react to something and I'm thinking, "not too big" and sure enough at that very moment, Bam, I overreact like its 1988.
If I get a callback on this it will be because of a look only.
Update: Jan 20th.  Yep. Got a call back. I go in tomorrow. This is tremendous only inasmuch as it keeps my callback ratio for on-camera commercials high. As of this year it's 50%. If I go by the last 12 months, it's more like 25%. If I go by the last 6 months, that number drops to, like, 15%.
It's a good way to start the year.
Update: Jan 21st. Waited over an hour to get in. Was one of the last they saw. And they saw over 140 people on just the call back. The good news is they are casting at least 7 different types and I was the only one I ever saw in a suit. At both auditions. I'm pretty solid with reaction stuff. And I wasn't over the top. So, I have as good a shot as anyone.

Audition 5: Commercial

The one casting director who brings me in consistently brought me in again for my first commercial audition of the new year. It's been a terrible decade for me in the business that I considered my bread and butter. But I've had enough good paying gigs that I haven't had to worry.
Today was sad, though. A veritable sea of old cronies depressed about being dropped by their agencies because they are "too old" (they are my age). Or because they can't make their health insurance. Or because they are just...sad. I don't know why but I always let it affect me.
Anyway. This was simple reaction shots. Or it should be. When I was coming up, reaction shots were Jim Carrey/John Belushi esque. Now they are all dead pan. Nothing. So, when I did mine, and I thought it was fine, I actually swallowed in the middle. Not for pretense, I just had to swallow. And the session runner said it looked a little mugging-like. Great.
I haven't had a commercial booking in 6 months and that one never aired. Before that it was a year, more than a year, and that one never aired.
There was a time when I was booking at least 6 a year. One year I had 12.
I could use the boost. Pretty depressed about the state of the business. I'm fine. For now.

Audition 4: The Workshop

I have been militantly anti-workshop for as long as I can remember. There is a good chance, by way of disclosure, that my reasons for this are based in my unwillingness to spend money...on anything.
In principle, I'm against having to pay someone to see me. Of course, since I've stopped doing (shitty or otherwise) plays, the only opportunity for me to be seen is to be submitted by my agent and then to do well at the audition.
I need to increase my opportunities. I'm in a unique place right now. I have an agent who loves me, regardless of her status or ability to get me work. I have a manager who also believes in me, even though his juice is quite questionable. I employ him to get me more auditions. I have a commercial agency that believes in me, at least they act like they do. They send me out and I've just not brought the closure recently. I have a voice over agent that also seems to adore me.
The trouble is, as I see it, me. I'm not closing the deal. I don't know why. I'm in some rut.
Then I ran in to an actor at a job last year. He works for a workshop house and he believes in putting his face out there over and over and meeting as many levels of casting as he can.
And he works.
A lot.
So, I'm taking the money that I would be spending on acting classes, which were instrumental in bringing back my confidence in my abilities, and putting them here, where I hope they will better help.
At the audition we were paired up (this was last Sunday, the day before the day before I wrote this) semi-randomly. The "actress" I had to work with for my dramatic scene was, in a word, awful. And the only moment that she had on the stage that rang true was the one I had given her.
To my own detriment, I was soft and had cotton mouth. But I think I got my point across. As an actor I experience what is happening. I'm not just waiting for my line. I guess you might say that you can see me working, but that's not a pejorative. You can see what the other person says causing me to react. You can see me reacting. It's not broad, but it's real.
The second scene was a comic one. A simple scene that everyone had to do. What was fun for me was the adjustments. I liked my first choice, but the adjustments I was given were just knocked out of the park. And since I had to do it with 2 different performers I got to basically do the scene 5 times. Each time was different and no less good.
I was told that I would know on Monday if I got in.
I got the call yesterday. I did, indeed, get in. This is only a minor victory, since I expected to get in. This is the 4th workshop place in 20 years that I have "auditioned" for and I always get in. This is a testament less to my abilities than it is to their desire to have paying people in their program.
Nevertheless. This is the year of aggressive self-promotion and taking my career seriously.
So, we'll see where this leads.,

Audition 3: Radio Commercial

Pretty uneventful, to be truthful. One line. Supposed to sound like a 1940s-50s sports announcer, which is much less fun than a 30's announcer (Why I oughta!).
Lots of energy. I think I did fine. Of course, the note I got was "even bigger". Which, to me, is like candy.
I did three takes of that much more exuberant style and loved take 1 and 3. Good thing. So did the booth director. He's putting them on a file with one from the less exuberant.
We'll see what happens.
(Side note: just after me a celebrity was reading and before me was the tween daughter of a master guitar shredder!)

Audition 2: Soap Opera

I've had only a handful of soap auditions. I was never really comfortable reading for them. I once had to read for someone meeting a person at a bar, and when I asked her is she wanted a drink I indicated to the "bartender". The casting director asked me what I was doing. I told her. I never saw her again.
This time I knew the part, liked the role and was fully prepared.
I went in and, holy crow, got to read not only with the cd but her assistant as well. So, it wasn't 1 person doing 2 parts, it was 2 people, one doing each. Well, that's like really acting, now, isn't it?
I think they are probably looking for someone a little more midwest, a little more "holy cow" and "really!?!?!". More wide eyed and my go to has become more and more people who think that they're smart. Sussing things out. But I did turn it on with a button I added at the end. It was right in character and got a laugh from both CDs.
So, who know? I never get soaps, so my hopes aren't all that high.

Audition 1: Radio Commercial

It's the first day of the new year. Surprise, surprise, things actually got hoppin'.
Voice Over agency emailed early this morning with a last minute read for a major electronics company. High energy, youthful, stoopid, just my cuppa.
Great adds at the end and an alt with just the right closure. Kudos to the booth director for that choice.
Nice way to start the year.