Lights, camera, action...

“God, I hope I get it.
I hope I get it…

…I really need this job.
Please God, I need this job.
I've got to get this job.”

- A Chorus Line, the musical

“I’m writing a script for a pilot at the moment…producing some small projects and doing freelance video work for ESPN.”  

I was impressed!  Jim was sitting on the bench to my right.  He had come from Portland to Los Angeles.  “Once you have done a couple of Lottery commercials, you’re typecast," he said,  "I needed to move on.” 

I was about to ask him a little more when the girl to his right said, “Hey check this out,” poking her iPhone in his face.  It had a photo of a pink colored food wagon, with people standing in line to buy their lunches.  “That’s nothing.” Jim said, pulling out his iPhone and showing her a picture of a pink bus.

That was the end of my conversation with Jim.  It was clear a twenty-something potential ‘bride to be’ trumped a mid-sixties fellow ‘glistening’ in the humidity in his best dark suit.

Acting!!

I was in Los Angles on a bit of a whim and found myself in a non-union casting call for a commercial that needed a “…very handsome young man and attractive young woman…” for a wedding scene selling an unknown product.  The spec sheet also called for a priest…hence the dark and warm suit.

I have a friend that does casting for commercials in Los Angeles.  She is brilliant at what she does in a cutthroat and high-energy business.  Having said that, she is one of the more gentle and thoughtful people I know…a deep, rich heart and soul – a paradox you might say.

She had sent an email suggesting I might be interested in trying out…uh…I mean auditioning for the part of a priest in a commercial.  This led me to a room with about 50 people hoping to get one of the three parts.  Forty or so were youngsters.  The boys dressed in white shirts, dark suits and a variety of ties and vests – the girls in an array of colored dresses and wedding gowns.  The other ten were fellows looking for the role of the priest…older guys eyeing one another…enough vestiges of testosterone to let the others know the competition was on!  A different kind of paradox.

Waiting, such sweet sorrow…

As they sat on the benches outside studio 6, they pretty much stayed to themselves.  Well, at least the girls didn’t talk to one another nor did the men.  Jim and ‘iPhone Sally’ had struck up a pleasant conversation…clearly another agenda in the air.

On my left was Casey.  He too was writing a pilot script and doing a little producing.  He said most of these casting calls asked for ‘hip’ characters.  “Geeze,” he said, “we’re all hip!  I mean, who isn’t ‘hip’ in Los Angeles?” He was from Princeton, New Jersey…had attended Vassar College and tried unsuccessfully to ‘make it’ in New York; so came to Lost Angeles.  It seemed to me this was a “…frying pan to fire…” situation, but I said nothing.

His goal?  Get any work possible.  How many of these ‘open calls’ did he do?  “As many as possible,” he said.  When he realized I was completely naive, he smiled and commented, “Everyone in this room is writing a pilot and doing some producing.  Maybe they are – maybe they aren’t, but if they were successful at it,” he continued, “they wouldn’t be here.” 

I asked what I thought was the obvious question. “What do you do to eat?”  Apparently, people don’t talk about this much because it takes the focus away from writing and producing. 

“I wait tables and work as production assistant for a small company,” he quietly said.  When I asked him what a production assistant did, he listed a number of things…translated – a gofer.  I knew the drill because I spent a lot of my early years as a ‘gofer’ too…different setting, but a gofer is a gofer is a gofer…

I am a consumer of the arts and entertainment, not a talent driven to find a way for my voice to emerge from the forest of other creatures to find that brief shining moment – so I was taken by the drive these folks had to be here…I mean, it is only a brief moment isn’t it?

You’re up…

The actual audition was very short.  A group of ‘bride and groom’ couples along with a ‘priest’ were brought into a small studio.  The director sat behind a couple of computer screens and had a high-end video camera.  He had us stand in a line…all the boys…all the girls (three each) and me.  I was reminded of morning formation in the military – without the girls!

“Okay folks, let’s keep the chatter down.  We have a lot of talent to get through today,” he said in a pleasantly routine voice.  “I’m going to take a picture of you, and then ask you your name.”  With that, he pointed the camera at me and snapped a shot.  Since I was the first, and because it was my first experience, I didn’t know just saying my name wasn’t enough.  “Hi,” she said with a brilliant smile, “I’m Sally C.”  “Hey there, Jim H.” he said with a wave and a wink at the camera.  Yeah, it seemed there was more to this “…brief shining moment…” thing than I knew.

When my group was finished there were no “…good-byes…” or “…see you later…” Everyone dispersed like droplets of water from a wave crashing to shore…each slipping back into the ocean of sameness as they prepared for the next audition. 

The few moments in front of the camera complete, I headed to the car for the three-hour drive back to San Diego.  My temporary comrades?  They headed for the next audition, or back to their scripts, or back to the restaurant for the other ‘…acting job…’ that paid the rent.  Next step?  For a small few, a ‘call back’ to whittle a smaller group down to the final three.

Curious creatures we are…

As consumers, we have a world of entertainment available at our fingertips…music, film, theater, animation all coming to us through a vast array of media – television, radio, theaters, computer, MP3 players, and the list goes on.  We look for the next new thing to catch and transport our minds away for a few minutes or a few hours.  Once we have heard/seen enough of a particular talent…we move on.

Looking around the casting room, even my totally unpracticed eye knew some of these young people did not have the ‘look’ of a fresh young bride or handsome groom…certainly one would question my appearance as a priest.  Yet, these youngsters would return again and again and again and yet again, for the opportunity to be seen…to have counted…to be appreciated…to have meant something – even if it were only for the briefest of moments in the sun and even if it were only in their minds. 

I can honestly say, I will never look at a television commercial the same way…the fellow driving the new car; the housewife cleaning her kitchen floor, the children playing on their swings…I will always see a casting room filled with dozens of people hoping to get their shot…the possibility they will be the “…droplet from the crashing wave…” that breaks through to find themselves in my living room.

Epilogue…

Isn’t this a metaphor for our lives?  Don’t we seek ways for ‘our voices’ to emerge…to be seen…to have counted…to be appreciated…to have meant something?  Life is short, and in the context of the universe and time, even shorter than those brief moments in front of the camera. 

“Okay folks, let’s keep the chatter down.  We have a lot of talent to get through today,” He said.  “I’m going to take a picture of you, and then ask you your name.”

...the audition complete, we’re done – then again maybe not…

- ted