November 19, 2002
And we're back.
With the impending demise of Leonard Feckler in the Sabrina arena, and my accompanying disappearance from the television landscape, I have to go back into the real world and start auditioning again. Boo. Today's audition included a long drive out to Santa Monica and a 90-minute wait to audition. I am always at my worst in that type of situation and I considered leaving a number of times, but I did not want to drive back out to Santa Monica again this week and liked the project so I wanted to audition for it. So I stayed.
The reason the casting director was running so far behind was that she was taking her time with each actor, chatting, telling stories, laughing. Actually, that's not why they were so far behind. There's nothing wrong with chatting. It's a nice relaxing way to ease into an audition. The reason they were so far behind is because they didn't schedule enough time for chatting when making up the audition schedule. I know Ronnie Yeskel has been in the business a long time with many successes. You would think accurate scheduling would be old hat by now.
The icing on the cake was finally getting to "next on the list" and standing outside the office door listening to the person before me talk non-stop for easily 15 minutes. I swear it was the longest story I have ever heard a human being tell. On and on and on, his deep voice billowing forth some nonsense that I could only picture putting a first date to sleep across a candlelit table. Meanwhile, my patience wore increasingly thin, taking me to a place that I know kills my audition. I get so mad that I want to say something to the casting director, but I'm so passive aggressive, I never feel like I have the right to when I walk in there.
Consequently, our chat session went very differently.
Ronnie: "Sorry about making you wait so long."
Me: "Mm-hmm."
Silence while I sit looking at my sides and she looks over my resume.
Ronnie: "So how are you doing?"
Me: "Tired."
Silence.
Ronnie: "Let's start with the first scene. Are you ready?"
And so we audition, which I think goes very well. But is it too late? Have I ruined everything? Was she even taping it? Or had she decided I was too grumpy to have on the set of this movie? No one wants to work with a grump, and since I never expressed my frustration, she has no idea why I am being so unfriendly.
Yeah, it's good to be back.