Casting doesn't really hate us actors, but......

It's hard not to think it sometimes!  I Had an audition earlier this week where I was paired with a gentleman.  We needed to be conversational, so it was imperative that we "vibed" outside of the audition room.  I approached him and said Hi....He grunted and looked the other way! Yikes...was he mad about being matched up with me??  My hair was combed, my wardrobe was clean, nice and understated and my breath was fresh...so what was it?  Well, he finally said in between fumes, "I got here earlier than my call time and they let other people go ahead of me, even though they arrived after me,  because their call time was BEFORE mine."  He went on to say..."They treat me like poop at this casting House!"  Worried that my audition was about to go in the toilet because of his bad mood, I regaled him with stories of how the Casting associate is ALWAYS mean to me..and I keep smiling.  I even told him of the time where they split my son and I up and had him go in with another mom!?!?  By now, my partner saw that it was not personal AND that it is important to stick to our given call times.  We had a great audition, and the vibe was fantastic between us!

Moral:  DON'T TAKE THIS STUFF SO SERIOUSLY....

Have compassion and do the job you came to do!

*my grumpy face*

When an Audition or Callback doesn't go my Way.....

So I have been asked many times, "How do you deal with the ups and downs of this business?" I take all of the information I have received before the audition and before the callback.  We actors scan the audition lobby to see if our peers have figured something out that we haven't.  We listen to the feedback other actors give as they walk out of the room.  In the perfect world, it is a very community based experience, where we are all trying to help one another do our very best in the audition room.

When a project doesn't go my way....I analyze it. I think about what I may have done that could have changed the outcome...and then I realize...IT'S NOT PERSONAL!! Sometimes that takes me a "minute" to get to, since I do put 150% into each audition.  Hair, wardrobe, copy, etc.  But at the end of the day, I do my best to leave the audition behind and take the experience with me.

When a job goes to someone I know....I smile, send a "woohoo!" and know that the universe will provide another opportunity.