How do you know when you’ve prepared for something, as the littlest bear would say, “just right?” When are you exerting too much effort, or not enough?

I had to play piano for an audition last week. For the past couple of years, the only piano playing I’ve done is to pound out my notes for various singing performances. I hadn’t played any of the pieces I used to play semi-well.

The day I found out about the audition, I decided to work on a Brahms waltz. I practiced. Then the script arrived, and it looked like I’d have to play and talk at the same time. I practiced. And practiced.

The audition coincided with the worst December snowstorm here in years. That morning, I watched the weather reports. I practiced. And practiced. I left an hour and a half early for the suburban studio. Fortunately, hardly anyone was on the roads which had just been cleared, and I got there in record time.

Upon arrival, I learned:
1) Playing and talking were separate.
2) I only needed to play a few chords, not a whole piece.
3) Tho I’d pretty much memorized all 3 paragraphs of copy, they only wanted me to do the first two (the last was the longest, and rather technical).
4) Many people had cancelled their auditions and were rescheduling for another day.

Could I have allocated my time more effectively? Do you think it’s better to be too prepared?

Will I get the part? Stay tuned…

My first animated voiceover role is now available! Visit
www.pressstartmovie.com/bonuslevels, choose Strategy Games, and click START!.

I recorded my lines using my home equipment, and via the magic of editing and art…voila.

What do you think?

Ever heard the phrase “cattle call?” Recently an agent sent me on one. The audition was from 10-3 at a photographer’s home studio, and people could stop by anytime.

I arrived around 10:30. Fellow actors of all ages and types lined the stairway up to the photog’s apartment. Everyone who came down said “Wow” upon seeing how many of us waited. As we inched our way up the stairs, a clipboard with a short registration form made its way down the line.

I was #43. All we had to do was give the photographer several warm expressions. I left around 11:00. Yesterday I ran into a woman who said she had gotten there around 2:00 and was #271!

Hope you’re not wondering if either of us got the gig.

Last Tuesday I found out I got a principal, paying role as a nurse in a patient training video. The script arrived late that afternoon for the shoot, which was Wednesday. I had to memorize several pages of copy about how to use a blood pressure monitor.

I showed up the next morning a few minutes before 8:30, my assigned call time. The producer introduced me to the director, who looked at me and said, “You’re early.”
My call time had been changed to noon. When I returned, they weren’t going to need me until after lunch, which was supposed to be at 1:00 but wound up being at 1:30. That’s showbiz.

Then I learned that I’d be saying my lines to several extras, one man I’d worked with before. He of course assumed I was an extra too, but then I showed him all the lines I’d had to learn.

Finally around 2:00 came hair and makeup. I’d pulled my curly hair into a neat ponytail, and the makeup woman tamed any frizz. Garbed in a labcoat (and a skirt, tho I stood behind a table and my legs couldn’t be seen), I made my way to the set.

One of the clients came up to me. He asked if I’d had more hair at the audition, and that after looking at so many people on the tape he couldn’t remember. He asked me to read some of the script, so I did. Then he smiled and said something like, “Oh, yes. You were the only one who said it that way.”

So that’s the key to getting acting work: be lucky enough to do what the client is looking for.

Thanks to a friend who recommended me, I auditioned for and got a speaking role in a short, low budget SAG film. Which means union actors can be in it, but won’t get paid unless the film makes money, and non-union actors like me can work with SAG actors. Basically the plot revolves around 18 actresses who interact with one of the main characters. His two friends comment on the action.

The holding area was at the house of the female lead, a few miles north of me. At first my call time was 7:00 AM, then fortunately got changed to noon.

I was to be the last one filmed. I spent an enjoyable afternoon talking with some of the other actresses and the hostess. As time went on and the other actresses completed their parts and left, it felt a bit like 10 Little Indians. Finally only the hostess and I remained.

My turn came. The crew was small but efficient, and the director knew exactly what he wanted. My off the cuff fast-talking skills had amused him and the main actor, so that’s what I did…he’d suggested and I’d planned the subject matter but each take was improvised. After only a few takes for two short scenes, my part was, as they say, in the can.

The film will be entered in festivals and used on the director’s reel to help him get larger projects. And when I get my copy, I can use it too.

Recently I invested in a professional microphone, studio headphones and some piece of equipment to make both work with my computer, in an effort to be more marketable for voiceover work. The time had come to record and submit auditions.

I responded to a post seeking a female to do animated bonus episodes for a website, promising I had my own setup to record. They asked if I could record a few lines of dialogue for Princess Passion Fruit.

Naturally, when I sat down to record into a free software program called Audacity and convert it to MP3 format, nothing worked. Couldn’t hear myself in the mic. Nothing was recording. Aargh. I tried everything…replugging stuff, clicking on this and that. Finally I restarted my computer and, like magic, everything worked.

After sending in the recording, was informed I’d gotten the gig. One short online rehearsal via a fun, free Internet phone service called Skype, then on to recording the final version. The minute I started to record, the phone rang. And again. Believe it or not, the phone rang yet a third time. I could have turned off the ringer, but one of the calls was the director of a SAG independent telling met I’d gotten a speaking part! More on that later.

Have now submitted all the dialogue for two five minute episodes. Waiting to hear if it’s approved….

Have you ever gone to an author booksigning?

On Saturday, I spent the day in Champaign, IL helping a friend at a booksigning on Homecoming day. She picked me up at 7:30, we drove 2+ hours, had a quick lunch and went to the bookstore. From before 12 to 5pm, we manned a table near the store entrance.

The book: HOW TO RUIN A SUMMER VACATION, a young adult novel by Simone Elkeles about a girl who has to travel to Israel with her estranged father. 100 copies were stacked high, ready to sell.

The football game was being broadcast throughout the store. A few shoppers wandered in…some didn’t even look our way. Simone bravely asked any girl who looked like she might be a teenager if she liked to read and adults if they knew any teenagers.

By 3:30, the game had ended and the store was packed. Simone’s cousin bought a book. An author friend bought 6. A friend of mine bought 3, and a friend of his bought 1. The store kept 6 that she signed. That’s 17 sold to people we knew.

She (we) sold 37 books in approximately 5 hours. That may not sound like a lot, but from what I’ve heard is great for a first time author. Many who didn’t buy took bookmarks advertising this and her two upcoming novels.

Got home at around 9pm.

No, I’m not talking about my dating life today, it’s a movie filmed in Chicago with lots of famous stars and Chicago actors in the cast.

Got to see the world premiere of STF at opening night of the Chicago International Film Festival. Stars Dustin Hoffman and Will Ferrell were there (complete with red carpet crowds and hoopla), and each spoke briefly.

Anyone interested in life choices, novel writing and love should enjoy this movie, one of the best I’ve seen in a long time. Both LOL funny and touching.

I spent 4 days working on this film…though for one I never went to the set. There is a scene with Dustin and Will in a college hallway, with me as a “professor” and another woman as a “student”. We are the only two extras, and D & W walk right by us. But due to the tight shots, you can only see the side and back of my head for a second. Behind me at the movie sat a fellow extra, also a professor, who had even gotten a line. Can’t see him at all. An acquaintance had several lines in a key scene, couldn’t see him either.

Acting wise, a busy week…had three rehearsals for a PAYING gig…diversity training for high level execs from a major corporation. Several actors performed two scenes, and facilitated group discussions. Very interesting, but a lot of lines to learn in a short time.

Plus, in addition to the audition I had Monday, had two on Friday: at a talent agency for two different medications, and then at a photographer’s studio for a print ad.

For one of the medications, I was asked to record the copy on my ear prompter. This is a small tape recorder that plays back in my ear via an ear plug similar to the kind newscasters wear. However, for some reason, I didn’t have it set to start at the right time. Then I skipped a key word. Then things were going great but my tongue got tied. Fortunately the auditioner said everyone that morning had had problems….

Will I get any of these parts???

My horoscope today said this was a good time to publish a book…

Had an audition today at a production studio in the suburbs. When I got there, I discovered that one of the owners had recognized my name and wanted to see me. What a surprise. He had directed a cable comedy news program I co-anchored when I was in grad school—twenty two years ago. Not only that, but an 8×10 picture of the show’s entire cast and crew, with me sitting at the news desk, and him standing in front of it, has been on his office wall all this time. I’d also known his wife, a producer of the project I was auditioning for.

Will “it’s who you know” help me get the gig? Or was I too stunned by this blast from the past and auditioning for someone I hadn’t seen in over twenty years to focus properly?

Stay tuned…