"You're Going To Have a Crazy Day"

I thought I'd put my phone on "silent" today. I was expecting a call from Securiguard regarding my reassignment when the contract is up at the end of the month, but they could wait, and if my agent called, I'd just get back to him ASAP. I've been up since I bolted (literally) out of bed at 9:35am Tuesday, and I needs me shut-eye. I get a call from nature that I answer before going to bed, and take a look at my phone to see: 1 missed call. The agent. Well, since I'm up ...

He left me a voicemail that simply said "call me", so call him I did.
"Did you just wake-up?"
"Uh, yeah," it was easier to say than "I haven't really slept yet."
"Key-rist, the life of an actor," or the life of a graveyard security worker, but we'll go with actor, "what are you doing at 2 o'clock today?"
Sleeping. "Nothing!"
"Well, I want you to come in and do a voice thing."
Voice thing? Can't get anymore vague than that, and I try to sleep for a few hours more before I go in to do something with my voice.

While waiting for my luxurious acting transport to arrive (read: bus) that old cad calls again.
"You're going to have a crazy day."
Great.
"They want you for 'I Love You, Beth Cooper' at 3:45 to read for Dustin, but they want you to read Kevin."
Wha?
Dustin is one of Kevin's army buddies, and when I read "Loser Clerk" last week, Dustin was being read by all black guys. I let my agent know this.
"Yeah, well, they want to go this way with it. It's a producer/director session."
So Columbus, we meet again at last.

When I arrive at the agency, I find out this "voice thing" is another radio commercial for, drum roll please ... oven-roasted almonds. Just smashing. Before I did this, my agent gave me the "Dustin" sides, and was telling me he was trying to get me an audition for a new series his friend Michael Rymer (producer and director of Battlestar Gallactica) was working on. He said Michael saw my head shot, and thought I looked too young, by my agent pressed for me, saying I was more mature than I looked. It's that danged youthful head shot he made me get, curse the day! We got to talking about how expensive it can be to be an actor, paying for transport and tapings like I did yesterday, and like Sara had to today.
"She's been putting a lot of things on tape for LA, she's getting pretty well-known down there," and as he walked away he casually mentioned, "They know about you, too."

I discovered the agency has a recording studio attached to it, and I tried my best to be youthful and energetic with these danged almonds, but I just didn't get there. I was being coached my my agent's daughter who wants me to listen to the radio to hear what the other guys are doing and how they're sounding. They want me to take a workshop, which I don't mind. Anything to improve myself, really.

I grabbed another luxurious city bus back to my apartment, and my agent calls again to tell me I have an audition for Michael Rymer's pilot tomorrow at 1:25. Hoo boy. He says it's a big one, which just relaxes me further. At the apartment, I grabbed my old "Kevin" sides, and figured an audition of this magnitude called for the most luxurious transport that money could buy: taxi!

The $27 taxi ride gets me there about 30 minutes early, which is just my style. I head to building #4 where a sign on the door says to use the entrance on the other side of the building. I enter side 2 and sign-in and wait for a bit and then get asked to wait over on side 1, since I'd be going in last and there wasn't much room on side 2 (they were casting for "Supernatural" on side 1.) While I'm waiting, I hear the Casting Assistant say "the execs are here," and I immediately sit-up straight when I hear them chattering outside the door. In comes Chris Columbus and his fellow explorers, and I greet them with a "Hey, man!" like we're old buddies, which we pretty much are. I say hi to the producers, and following all of them is Jared, they guy I read against for Kevin, that also didn't get it (it went to Brendan ... or that LA guy, we're not quite sure.) We both basically have no idea what's going on when they tell us to read one scene from Kevin's sides, and we might not even DO Dustin's, But hey, we're acting in front of Columbus again, so who are we to complain. We also both thought we're at least likely to get SOMETHING from all of this.

We get ushered back over to side 2, where I see a young middle-eastern looking guy holding sides for "Loser Clerk." Take THAT, Jason!

I go into the room, give everyone a "'sup?" and see that they remembered me. I read the "Kevin" scene and Chris said "that was awesome," and then read Dustin's stuff that I just got this afternoon. It was only about four lines or so, but they were split-up over four scenes and were a little tough as far as eye-lines go, but I made the most of it. I just had fun with it, and the guys seemed to like it.

I call my agent afterwards, as I do with every audition, and he tells me about an acting coach the agency "believes in" that he'd like me to work with for tomorrow's audition. It's a big deal, so I'll need some big help. I give her a call, and I work with her tomorrow at noon, right before my audition. I tried to sleep this evening, but the roomie was chatting and watching TV the next room over, which woke me up, and couldn't put to sleep again.

So tonight I work, tomorrow, I'll get home, go to the gym in the morning, go to my coaching, go to my audition and then ... sleep. So long as I don't have another "crazy day."

And to think, I would have slept through all of this had I not checked my phone this morning.