May 28, 1998
This was the very first post-ABC-meeting audition and I hope it's not indicative of how things are going to go from here on out. There is no deal set with ABC at this point, but the casting is going on for this pilot and dammit, I'm certainly eligible. I got the sides last night and saw that both parts are roles that I could play quite easily.
And yet... One problem is that the two characters are supposed to be in their 30s. Now, despite Suzanne Bukinik's words to the contrary at the ABC meeting, I don't think I can play a role that's above 30 convincingly. So depending on the other cast members and their ages, I only have a shot if everyone is cast a little younger. The other problem was that I picked up the script at 11pm last night on the way home from tutoring, leaving me some hours for sleep and then only a couple of hours to actually prepare the FIVE scenes and nearly TWENTY pages of dialogue for TWO different characters. OK, do you see where this is going? Sure, once the excuses start pouring out, it's unlikely the story is going to have a happy ending.
The audition begins. I enter the room and am introduced. I tell them that I have sides for both Nathan and John. One look at me and they tell me not to worry about John, I wouldn't be right for him. That's three scenes and thirteen pages that I have killed myself over during the last twelve hours that are now just a footnote to my actual audition. Very frustrating. Not only will they never be seen by human eyes, but all the time spent on them was time taken away from the Nathan scenes. And as I flubbed Nathan's second and actually funniest line, I knew this wasn't going to be my day. They laughed at a couple of other places during the reading, but they were not overly impressed.
Well, there goes my deal. NBC, here I come!
(...just as long as they don't have me audition for
something before the paperwork is signed.)