Donna in Hollywoodland

Commercial Audition

This morning, I had an audition for a National Commercial.
I was so thrilled, this is a big thing. It could be alot of money.
But I can't think of that, I just need to go and do a good job,and have fun with it.

In the commercial, I would play a Maid.
The information my agent gave me was they were looking for character types, short and stout, and along the Soviet-Bloc type of woman.
I looked up pictures of Soviet women on the internet, and you know, they are all types with all styles.
So I wore a cable knit sweater.

When I got there, I sat in the waiting room with all sorts of other character woman.
I went in with two other women, all of us playing maids cleaning a bathtub together.

They tried to get us to put on Maid uniforms. But the maid uniforms they gave us must have been Junior sizes, and we were all Misses sizes. And they didn't fit a single one of us.

The audition went well. We cleaned the imaginary tub.
I think I took the direction well.
I was happy with what I did.

The only thing was - one of the other maids in my audition group.
She would not shut up.
Okay, this is not a Saturday Night Live stand-up comic audition.
Stop making the silly jokes, and let the Casting Associate do his job.
Everything he said, she has a silly comment for.
She slowed us down.
The Casting Associate was very professional, and kept the audition flowing.
In spite of this actress's chatty-ness.

When I go in, I always try to be polite. Say my "hello's" and "thank you's".
But I don't try to hog all the attention.
I let the people do their jobs.

This is basically what they tell you in Acting Classes.
These casting people have dozens of people to see today, maybe a hundred - don't slow them down.
Be professional and polite. Its a job interview.

So it ends up being another acting exercise all together.
To not let the unprofessional actor get you flustered and ruin your performance.
And I don't think it did. I had plenty of concentration.
If I wanted a Maid, I would have hired me.