Not much to this one, but it was in a building at Santa Monica Airport. When I arrived, there was a long line of actors stretching down the hallway to a small table where an improvised sign-in sheet lay next to a pen. I put my name and number on it, and made my way to the back of the line.
“Are there any sides?” I asked the woman next to me. She shook her head, but the woman in front of her said, “Yes, but we weren’t going to let you have them.” I shook my fist in mock rage and grimaced, and we all laughed. Not because it was hilarious, but dumb jokes that break the tension are good for us.
That’s always nice. Some actors can be real assholes to each other, imagining they’re getting into character, or psyching each other out, or just too serious to engage in conversation. It’s one thing to need a little time to prepare, but usually sides are given in advance, and the choices of how to read the lines have been made. Besides, even if you have literally minutes to study the part, it costs nothing to be nice and say hello.
We waited for several minutes, then the director whisked down the hall, apologizing for being late. He laid out sides for the male and female parts, of which there were, of course, too few, and said that we’d be leaving our sides on the table as we left, so there’d be plenty of time to grab a page and study it before we auditioned.
It was a quick read. I eventually got called, I walked into the little room, handed over my headshot, and they said I could start whenever I wanted. The role was for a guy walking down an aisle in an office cube farm, talking about taxes. The director gave me a small adjustment, said it was nice, and thanked me for my time.
These things are starting to become a routine. That’s a good thing. So much better than being nervous about my performance.
