Right before I walked into that audition, however, I got a call to audition the following day for a feature. That was exciting, especially since the director had already seen me work, and thought I was right for the lead role. Oh, yeah. That’s the kind of confidence boost I could use just before I do every audition. I did my thing, three or four times to the direction of the, um, director, and left. I hurried home because I had a full script to read before that next day’s audition.

Not much to tell about that one, since it went very well, and I booked the lead in it. What what? Yes, I got the part, and we shoot the second week of July. To undersate it a bit: I. Am. Excited.

I did forget to fill in the talent “card” (really just a sheet of paper with blank spaces next to personal info and measurements), and they bumped me one slot while I scribbled. Embarrassingly amateurish of me. One thing seemed odd, they asked for my birth date and Social Security number. Uh, sorry, I’ll be happy to hand over my Social once you need to write me a check, but until then I’ll keep that private. And asking for my birth info is just gauche.

But they didn’t blink at the missing bits, and were all smiles and handshakes as they ushered me in. I gave them a young hothead, a sneering goblin, a kindly old man, and a scholarly 50-year-old who seemed to me like the Comic Book Guy from The Simpsons. I stayed far away from an impression, of course. It’s best not to sound like anyone else’s nerd.

They liked what I did for the lead character, or at least they heard something that made them want me to try the arrogant punk character. It’s always encouraging to be asked to read for additional roles.

Since this was for a game, there was a lot of shouting for spells, battle cries, and the like. It was hard not to snicker when hearing lines like, “eeeeEEEEERAAAAWKAH!” float past the door as the guys ahead of me did their thing. Some of them really screamed their heads off, and the rest had almost no inflection. Do these guys not play games? It seems to me it’s the quality of the shouts, not the volume, and they’re delivered with some passion in the games I play. Often the acting is pretty sub-standard, but I think the game companies still use in-house employees for some things. It’s only recently that the voice acting has been examined by reviewers and critiqued by players.

If I don’t get this, I’ll have to check it out when the game is released. Maybe they LIKE the guys who scream their heads off.

I played a creative writing teacher, overworked and frazzled, teaching an inner city group of kids to write. A bit ironic, it was, since I majored in creative writing when I attended the U of A in Tucson. It was a quick read, but I got to do it with another actor, which is almost always better than reading with the director or an assistant. They had me do a small adjustment, I read a second time, and they said, “cool. Thank you.” And I was out.

Directors, please give us at least a few hours to study your scene. I promise you will get better auditions and be better able to pick your cast.

Time for a surf, I’d say.

He had me do the sides three times, slightly differently each time. I was playing a guy at dinner with his parents, shocked to find out they planned to forgo my paid-for European vacation to visit a nudist colony. Good times.

It’s a lot of effort to drive thirty miles away just to sit in a room with a director for five minutes, but as long as I view them as a mini-performance I can justify the fuel expense and preparation time. As long as I’m logging auditions, I have a chance at booking something big. Or, better yet, something paid.

I think it went well. A very eager assistant handed me a single page to read from, even though I’d prepared for the nearly three they sent me as sides. I immediately went into the room, as I was the first actor there that morning, and did my thing for the director and another assistant (DP? AD? Producer? I don’t remember), who was my scene partner for the audition. The director asked me to read a second page, so I suppose he liked my take on the character. Then he asked me what drew me to the part. That was nice, since I got to have another friendly conversation with the filmmakers. I rambled a bit, but said I liked the whole father-son connection thing, and that it was a real situation to be confused about how to parent, playing a role because you think that’s what you’re supposed to be like. Almost a role-within-a-role, acting inside acting. Bada-bing, thanks very much we’ll let you know, and I drove home. The whole thing probably lasted six minutes.

He asked if I’d done much acting, to which I wanted to respond, “only all my life,” but of course he meant film and plays. We had a friendly chat about the industry, my views on acting and why I was trying to move into on-camera work instead of just voice, and the sheer insanity of us both attempting to make a career out of all of it. He said, “even if I never make it in the Business, I think I’ll always make films. It’s such a collaboration, and I love that.”

I apologized for not having a monologue prepared, but he waved a hand at that, saying he didn’t ask anyone to do so because it didn’t quite fit what the film required.

We said our goodbyes, I thanked him and wished him luck, and left my headshot. I’m hoping for more auditions like that.