February 6, 1998
This meeting with Jeff Meshel, the Vice-President in charge of casting at NBC, was yet another bit of fallout from the Frasier adventure. As put by Mr. Meshel himself, "Ted Frank, one of our people, saw you at the taping and said you did a great job and that we should have you in." So again, good timing. Lucky to be in the right place at the right time AND doing the job right. So would this be the last bit of fortuitous coincidence? Not yet. Early in the conversation with Jeff Meshel, I tell him that I am from Binghamton, New York, where he just happened to go to college some twenty years ago. Five minutes talking about speedies in Johnson City and we had an unbreakable bond.
Jeff and I talked for about twenty minutes total. Besides discussing the large cow on the roof of the Vestal Steakhouse, we went through a bunch of my credits. Jeff had seen or was familiar with a fair number of them, even if he could not exactly recall my input. And it was really the first interview I've had where I actually had a large number of decent credits to discuss, both those already aired in one way or another, and those pending reaching the general public. So that helped me feel like I knew what I doing. Plus, many of my television credits happened to appear (or were scheduled to appear) on NBC, so it was like I was already one of the family. He also suggested that he might try to see the rough-cut of Frasier, if he got a chance.
The next step from this meeting would be meetings with the casting directors from the specific shows on NBC. He asked where I saw myself, in comedy or drama. I, of course, tried to push the comedy. The two names he mentioned then were Cami Patton, whom I had met when I auditioned for Working a while ago (and was not called back) and Gilda Stratton, whom I have never met and who casts Union Square and a new show. Since I had not met Gilda, he said he would set something up for me. It's nice to meet someone when you already have the blessing of their boss, no?
And that's it for now. He was very nice and the conversation went
well. I didn't sabotage myself in any way like I've done in the past
at agent interviews. And I was not too serious as I can often
come across in meetings like that. Jeff's easy-going, high-energy
demeanor helped that. If I continue to be lucky, it will lead to
something good. If not, it still feels good just to sit at the
Captain's Table now and then.