I'm No Predator

I responded to a casting call yesterday, August 7th. The notice began as follows.

"I am filming a short, ten minute film entitled 'Dialing Amy.' In the film, a young girl left all alone in a hotel room, receives phone calls from a predator. Will she fall into his clutches or not? I am looking for: 1) two people to play dead bodies; 2) one eight year old girl (lead role); 3) one man to play the villain (predator); 4) one voice over."

So, counting two dead bodies, one 8-year-old girl, one villain, and one voice over there were five parts total and of the five parts, theoretically, I could be suitable for four since I could never be a vil ... I mean an 8-year-old girl.

A couple of hours after I emailed my request to audition for the film I received an email back from Lexer Kadan. She wrote, "Call me and you can audition over the phone. I am attaching the script. Thanks, Lexer."

I immediately printed out the script and read it. By the time I got to the end I realized that there were actually only two roles that I could possibly play -- the villain and the voice over.

When I called Lexer's number she answered and asked me to read the part of "Man," the villain. She read Amy's part and we went through three or four pages of dialogue before she told me I wasn't right for the part. She wanted a deeper voice.

Before hanging up, she said she would keep me on file for future films. Meanwhile, I'll be working on developing a deeper voice ... if I can figure out how!

MAYBE IF I SPEAK IN ALL CAPS? No, that's just louder.

Time to go check for more casting calls.

No News is ... Good News?

The saying goes, "No news is good news," but when you're waiting for a callback that doesn't come then no news is bad news. Friday came and went without a word from the casting director of Sodom: The Prophecy Armageddon. I guess I'll look on the bright side: I got a little more experience at auditioning. C'est la vie.

Some other casting calls that I responded to with a request to audition didn't generate a reply. They included: "Wasteland," a feature film looking for a white male in good physical condition age from late 50’s to 60’s; and a credit union commercial that was looking for "unusual Types, 40s - mid 50s, any ethnicity, for comic bit (probably works 2 days), shooting starts about 8/12/09. Pay is $500.00 per day." Okay, I'm a little old for that last one, but sometimes they are flexible on age, and for $1,000.00 I'll act like a 20-year-old.

Oh, yeah, at the last minute I applied to be an extra in a short film, "FourPlay." The director emailed me back and said they had all the extras they needed, but I am first alternate if someone can't make it. No money involved, but I need to keep padding the acting résumé. He said he'd let me know by tomorrow night (Tuesday) if he needs me for the late-night shoot on Wednesday, August 5th.

I also saw a notice for a free improv workshop tonight. I'm not sure if I'll make it, but, hey, it's free and probably worth every penny.

And lastly, Friday Night Lights posted a notice that they were beginning to audition football players and cheerleaders. Next they'll audition coaches and boosters. They don't hold auditions for fans. If you're breathing and can make it to the stadium you can be a fan -- no acting required. The good news is that they pay you. The bad news is that (at least for last season) the pay was only $56.00 for up to eight hours, and time-and-a-half for anything over eight hours. Some days started around 3 or 4 pm and went until 2 or 3 the next morning. Those stadium seats get very hard after ten to twelve hours. Do that for three straight days/nights and your butt will never speak to you again -- unless you keep eating those cheap burritos.