February 20, 2002
At last I had made it to my final audition of the day. Two down, one to go. And this was really the big one.
Yesterday's audition for this role had gone very well. And word on the street was that they were having trouble casting it. Well, there's nothing better than a challenge like that.
I strolled into the office and greeted the collection of people, most of whom I knew. They included Bonnie Zane, Kent Zbornak, and Jamie Tarses. The man of honor, Paul Simms, I did not know. He opened with a tricky one:
"Are those your real glasses?"
Now, they were not my real glasses. Under expert advice, I had borrowed them from my friend, Derek, for the purposes of the audition. They are a black, thick-rimmed number. At the end of the day, though, they are not, in fact, mine. I chose to go with the truth as my answer.
"No, they actually are not," I replied. And then added, "But they are real glasses."
I'm pretty sure I got a laugh with that and deflected the immediate challenge to my right to be there. As we settled in and I prepared to start the scene, I then received this advice:
"Don't do it too broad. A lot of people have been going overboard with Peterson. Just keep it more real."
Again, trouble. I felt I had created something pretty broad for this guy. I decided in my head to tone down the very first beat, but then to keep it where it had been in the audition. It was explained to me later that "broad" to me is not "broad" to other people. Raising my voice is "broad" to me. And keeping it where it was paid off.
The scenes went very well. They were funny and fun to do. I hit the jokes and beats I wanted to. And the reward was a promise to test for the role once they begin the process, probably not for a couple of weeks. That's good news, the first ray of sunshine in this year's pilot season.
Go to the Work Session.