Tomorrow and Today

Tomorrow we have callbacks.

Well, except for the role of Sean and Ben. The most exciting thing about casting is when an actor comes in and WHAM! Now it's a competition to see if anyone else can come in and take that actor's role away from them.

Tyler Seiple originally was called in for the role of Chris, the secretary who has a wife and two kids and doesn't quite know he's gay. He came in the room, read for the role, and we thought. Hmmm..... Tyler gave a great read, but there was just a little something....sweet about him. We said, hey, would you mind reading for Ben, the underdog yearning for one of the leads? He said sure, looked over the sides, and five minutes later, he won the role of Ben. It was up to other actors to knock it away from him, which we were pretty certain wouldn't happen. And it didn't. Despite other really good reads, Tyler also has the exact look we were going for.

Chris Pentzell was the first guy to read for Sean and he was the only actor to use the entire audition space, the only actor to see the Kleenex box behind him and use it for one of his scenes. He was fantastic, and we knew. We knew.

I called both of them saying, we'd love to offer you the role, however, we'd like you to read the script before you commit. For Tyler, I said, do you play the guitar? And he said he could play piano. Would you like to learn to play the guitar? And he said sure!

Both read it and got back to me the following day. They're in!!! Woo Hoo!! (And since it's my blog, I'll go ahead and brag: Tyler was darling enough to say how "fresh" and "fun" and "great" it was. Awww. I'm pretty sure he doesn't know I wrote it. So yay! And yay me!)

Now, to round out the rest of the cast, we're only calling back  two actors per role.  It is really THISCLOSE for a few of the roles. For the role of Julie, the yoga makeup artist, we know it's gong to be an extremely tough decision, just like it is for Dr. Dijon.

We had our top 3 for the role of Karen, which included fellow blogger Brandi Ford, but narrowed it down to two after deciding that we wanted to go older for Karen, and Brandi, bless her genes, just looks too good to be late 30s. (But, seriously, Brandi, it was nice to meet you, and you had a GREAT read!)

We also had to move our production day, our day of filming. We had put it for Saturday, then moved it to the previous day, but due to the weather, are moving it to next Wednesday.

I am so SUPER excited. Woo Hoo!

Today, I had my first theatrical audition for the year. I drove aaaaall the way to Santa Monica in some of the worst weather (took 10 minutes to go 3 miles, couldn't see road signs until they were Right In Front of You!, etc) which miraculously cleared up once I parked my car into a garage and got out. Nice!

I read for Martha, the protagonist for a film trailer that would be shooting in LA and Phoenix. and would require a Texan accent and prosthetic makeup. Hell to the YES!

I had my accent down, and was given two lines to act out (pretend you're in your 70s, reflecting!) and another line where I'm angry and 45. (um. sure!)
Then I had to improvise a monologue. The details were these: After an emotionally draining last several months where you gave birth to what doctors are calling a miracle baby, you are getting ready for an intimate dinner at your favorite restaurant. But the doctor has called with the news from a standard check up. You have terminal cancer and have about 6-12 months to live. You are devastated. You want to wait to tell your husband at dinner, but when he comes home to pick you up, he brings you flowers and you cannot wait to tell him.

GO!

Umm.....Hmmmm.... Here's my thought process: Okay - I have a baby who I will never get to see grow up and my husband will be an absolute wreck without me taking care of him.

So if I have a history with this man, then perhaps we talked about one day going to Hawaii. And I need to make sure that Junior will be taken care of financially.

And so I did my monologue that I made up on the spot, about (after thanking husband for the flowers) how Junior needs to be taken care of, that we need to create a trust for him, and then I start getting really upset and teary about how we always said we were going to go to Hawaii, and now we need to. We need to go.

I didn't want to ever say, "Honey, I'm dying from cancer. Sucks to be us!" because a scene between two people when one of them has to say, "I'm dying," is NEVER about the dying person. It's about the REACTION of the other person. And that other person is not there. He's not there! So I had to figure out how to do a monologue where it was about ME: my needs, my fears, my goals.

Now, I don't' know if what I gave them is what they were looking for, but it was clear they didn't really know what they were looking for because if they did, I would've had a script instead of having to make things up on the spot. I mean, really, I was happy with how I handled my improv exercise and my Texan accent and I was happy with the work I did. And hey, now I have a monologue quick on the spot in case anyone ever says, "Can you show me anything else?" Sure!

I also met with my new theatrical agent today to go over which headshots to put up on breakdowns and which ones to blow up to 8x10.

What a Struggling Actress Day!!