Les Auditions

Evan told me that I should do a blog with quick descriptions of the different types of auditions I've been on. I responded with, "Well I haven't been on enough to fill a whole blog post." To which Evan responded, "Pft." So that's how this blog post was born!

The No-Dialogue Pantomime Audition:
One of the very first auditions I went on here in Cali was for a student film at some college in Oxnard.  The script for the film was actually really interesting which is saying something for a student film.  There was no dialogue in the short film, just music while you watched a bitter housewife make a poisonous cake for her cheating husband.  So, at the audition, since there was no lines to read, we had to pantomime all the stages of baking a cake and general house-wifery.  So I mixed batter, put the cake in the oven, folded clothes, cleaned house and smoked a cigarette (at the request of the director). She had a few props to use, but essentially I was just miming everything. I did it twice and that was it.

The TLC Audition:
What I consider my first "real" LA audition was for a TLC show called "Born on a Bad Day."  For this particular audition I was given the scenario before hand and was expected to improv a scene based off of that.  This was pretty easy, I'm pretty good at natural improv when given a complete scenario...obviously.  Anyway, I sign in, wait to be called, give my headshot and resume, slate and begin my little scene.  Easy peasy and a lot of fun.  However, the casting office kinda smelled like cat pee.

The Wait a Monologue? Really? Audition
I auditioned for a pilot where they requested a comedic monologue.  I dunno why exactly, but I find this odd.  Usually projects have sides or scenarios to act out, but to have someone do a completely unrelated monologue was just weird - they also didn't film it which I find a bit unprofessional as well.   I presume they didn't have their act together enough to produce sides and didn't know enough about the project to give a scenario to improv to.  Anyhoo, I have an old stand-by monologue that I do that's pretty funny.  Anyway, off I went and did my thing and then we discussed improv - they asked if I do it and I said yup and they said great.  O...k...

The Inappropriate Improv Audition
I auditioned for a webseries about bad dates.  The audition was improved because that was the premise of the webseries.  So there was "bad date Ben" and I was the unsuspecting blind date.  There were 2 girls that went before I did and I could hear the scenario and their reactions through the door.  Well, let's just say that bad date Ben liked younger women....or shall I say girls...and that was the premise of the bad date.  Anyway, I heard both of the girls take the easy route and react as a normal person would, so I decided that if my scenario was the same as theirs that I should do something different just to not fall into the same traps they did.  I got the same scene and I probably came across as too aggressive and bitchy for the situation and it wasn't really that funny (because of course pedophilia is always a huge laugh fest), but hey at least I was different.

The Official Commercial Audition
I recently auditioned for a DirecTV commercial and it was my my favorite thus far.  Except for the fact that it was in Santa Monica which is a bitch to get to from Burbank, the actual audition was fun.  It was a doubles improv.  We were paired up - a guy and girl - and given a situation to improv.  We were a couple moving in with each other and wanted to get our DirecTV hooked up right away.  My guy was fun to work off of and I think we did a great job.  I was invited to this audition by the casting director so that made it feel a little more comfortable.  There were a gajillion people there, but I didn't have to wait long and the whole thing went really smoothly. 

So that's about it I guess.  I'm pretty sure I forgot a few, but these were biggest and most memorable ones anyway.  So if you ever wondered what the heck I've been doing with my time this is it...well a small, small fraction of my time anyway. :)

It's the 4th of July! Well, close enough.

I LOVE the 4th of July.  It ranks right up there with Christmas and Halloween for me.  Warm weather, BBQs, family, and fireworks!  Growing up, it was always so hard to wait for it to get dark to start blowing things up.  My brother and sister and I would be outside with the sparklers at 6 o'clock swearing it was gonna get dark any second.  Before kids started blowing off their hands and ruining it for the rest of us, we'd light of our bag of fireworks in front of the house.  Neighbors would come out and watch and light their own as well.  A whole street full of roman candles was always quite a sight. 

It has been a standing tradition for me to go see the fireworks with my dad.  In fact, I think I still have the blanket in my trunk that would only be used once a year for watching fireworks.  My dad and I (and eventually Evan) always watched the Northglenn fireworks show.  It was close by and we had a system nailed down. We would park in the RTD parking lot on the other side of the highway and then walk over to EB Rains Park, blanket in hand.  We would wind our way through the crowd and always find a good spot by the lake with a pretty close view of the fireworks. 

Northglenn always, always, always shoots off their fireworks late.  For some reason they insist on waiting until Westminster and Thornton (who's shows you can see from afar) finish their shows before starting their own - even though they were always scheduled for 9pm.  Anyway, we'd watch the fireworks gleefully anticipating the grand finale and when it was all over we'd say how great it was and how they started late, but finished strong and walk back to the car.

Needless to say, this year I won't be able to participate in this tradition.  So I went looking for fireworks shows around the valley.  Burbank is having a show at their Starlight Bowl where a concert will be taking place before hand.  And in typical California fashion, it costs money to see the concert and to park, of course.  In fact, nearly all the fireworks shows charge admission!  Combine that with the nightmare of finding parking and fighting huge crowds, the 4th of July has lost its luster here in CA.  We might try to find a place to park and watch the fireworks from a distance, but because it's so hard to find free parking, we don't know how successful we will be.  I'm a little sad at the situation and wish I could be in CO right now, but luckily next weekend we are headed down to Sea World for our anniversary and they have a nightly fireworks show. 

I hope you all have a fun and safe Independence Day! Hooray for the USA!