Today I am going to share with you a recent event from my acting world. Am I bragging in sharing personal stories? Nope. Just giving you the honest info on what is happening out there and how it all goes down!
So last week I went out for a new cable TV pilot. It was a co-star with possible re-occuring attached. Meaning I could *possibly* have small bits in more than one episode. Cool right?
I actually went in for it right after Brian Unger's podcast episode premiered and I remember thinking ya know what? This is just like he said, it's a small success and it won't make or break me. So...I wasn't nervous at all. Crazy how that works.
Anywho, I did my bit and wouldn't ya know it, the casting director actually laughed OUT LOUD. How did I make her laugh for real and not just a standard pity laugh after hearing the same dialogue for the 24th time that day?
I added a line. Yup.
At the very end so I ended it on a joke. Sometimes you have to break the rules.
It went over great. She loved it, gave me a small redirect, and we did it again. She then immediately asked if I could come do it "exactly that way" again for the producers at 5pm that same day.
Well duh.
Insert immediate panic when leaving the studio lot.
-I have no idea what I just did how do I recreate it again exactly ahhhhhhhhhhhh-
(and so on and so forth)
Once I got my shit together and remember that I know exactly what I did and can of course do it again, it's not Sorkin, it's 5 lines of Cable TV...I went back after changing around my work schedule with my extremely forgiving bosses.
I sat in the waiting area with 5 versions of myself from different ethnicities and backgrounds, clearly they weren't exactly sure what they wanted. That's ok with me, I'll show them what they want! I did it again as promised, one time, got a small laugh or two, and left. The end. I never expect any extra calls or emails whatsoever.
And then the next morning...I get an email from my manager: You booked it. Hold the following dates and we'll get more info shortly.
YAY!
3 hours later I get a call from another manager at my reps office. She tells me immediately after they cast myself and the other character in my scenes they held a table read. And for whatever reason (my guess is time constraints and/or budgets) they wrote my character out of the show.
HA.
I had to actually laugh. I have a running joke with my boyfriend where I call myself the "Queen of Almost", due to the amount of things I have been SO close on or the things I have gotten that have almost been big. I think most working actors are reigning over their own kingdom of Almost somewhere in LA...
But here is where I take victories from this:
1. The CD called my reps after and said lots of awesome things, meaning I have a new fan on that side of the table.
2. My confidence is bolstered by the fact that I did my own thing in my audition and it was taken in well.
3. I freakin' booked the damn thing! Just because it won't air....or film....or pay me anything at all...doesn't mean that it is not important. I have zero control over what happens after I do my work. So in my eyes, I did everything and did it well. In fact, Caleb and I went for drinks later that week to celebrate my "booking" anyway.
It's all about the small victories my friends. And on to the next.
What's your almost story?! PLEASE tell me about it below or on my IG!
