Callback?: Brawny @ SKIRTS

So, yesterday, I got a call from the agency with a callback for Brawny (personal interview from two days ago). The callback fell on Saturday, which is unusual, but it was later in the afternoon and did not conflict with my other work. Around 9pm last night, my agent called. Normally, when the agents themselves call it's good news, but not this time. She told me the callback list was cut down and that I was cut. What can you do? If I had moved stuff around to make the callback possible, we would've had a problem, but I didn't so... I guess it's better to not waste my time if they already knew I wasn't what they wanted, but this was the first time for me that a callback has been called back.

View my REEL and RESUME

Audition: Breyer's @ Joe Blake

Another call into this office for the week is good. This spot was also a typical husband-wife dynamic, heavily dependent on the facial expressions of the husband. I got laughs in the room from the runner. No matter what happens afterward, you have to just enjoy that performance in the moment for what it is. As always, letting go of the results after that is sometimes difficult.

View my REEL and RESUME

Audition: ORTHO @ Ross Lacy; Brawny @ SKIRTS

I'm thankful to be brought back to Ross' office so frequently. He stays busy and he has some of the best session runners in the business. They say not much has changed about the old mousetrap, but this spot highlights a new version. It was a husband and wife dynamic...you know the one. I had a good partner and it felt like it went well.

This was back to back auditions on back to back days. Spring is when things pick up out here commercially. Spots that might sometimes shoot on the East Coast shoot out here since the weather is far better.

The Brawny audition was a "personal interview" style. In these, you just stand up there and the session runner asks you a question or two about yourself. No acting. I was asked what gets me going in the morning. I thought of the way my daughter bounces up and down in her crib when we walk in the room to get her up. I should get a callback for this.

View my REEL and RESUME

Audition: Pepcid @ Joe Blake; Dave & Busters @ Ross Lacy

Pepcid was straight forward and a return to an office I haven't seen as much lately.

D&B was a little more complicated. We were playing two versions of ourselves. It was fun to differentiate the two though.

View my REEL and RESUME

Auditions: Lowe's @ Craig Colvin; Boston Market @ Hayley Marcus

Schedules with our sitter-swap didn't work out, so my baby girl got to tag along on the first of my auditions. Craig's office is the best setup for taking her though. I know the CD's that work out of there fairly well and the atmosphere is relaxed. I was asked if she had booked any commercials already. An actress who's expecting twins was going in after my group, so she and another actor watched the girl for the two minutes I was in the room. Baby girl was great, the audition was solid and we were on our way to pass her off to my wife so I could change clothes and head back to Hollywood for -

Boston Market- This was a new office for me. It's in the basement of a building that feels very '60s to me with the tile floors and fluorescent lights. The basement area itself combined with the myriad of us white guys in suits definitely reminded me of a scene in Mad Men, which is a fantastic show. My timing felt a little off in the audition. Not sure why that was, but it just wasn't clicking. Luckily though, I didn't have to say "Crispy Country Chicken". It looks great on paper, but it's a mouthful when you try to say it.

View my REEL and RESUME

Audition: Sears @ Joe Blake

Back in this office for the third time in a couple weeks. That's nice. It's my string of home improvement type auditions. One of them, surely...

View my REEL and RESUME

Callback: Miller Lite @ Joe Blake

I suspected this went well enough to be in line for a callback. As is so common, the callback setup was quite a bit different than the original audition and there were more of us in the room at the same time. Still, maybe I'm getting closer to booking that major beer spot.

View my REEL and RESUME

Audition: Grapenuts @ Kari Peyton

This was interesting. I'm getting in more and more on improv specific castings, which is good. I definitely feel like it's a strong suit for me. More on my improv class later... Grapenuts in my head has a different image than the one in this series of webisodes, but I guess that's why they advertise. I thought it went well.

View my REEL and RESUME

Audition: Home Depot @ [skirts]

It's kind of amazing to me that I have not yet broken through on a major beer or home improvement spot. Back in Atlanta, I did Home Depot industrials from time to time. Even when I shop at stores like this where employees wear clear, easily identifiable uniforms, I still get asked for help. Once, at the grocery store, a lady got a bit indignant when she asked me if I worked there and I said, "Nope, sorry". She responded in a huffy, suspicious tone, "You DON'T work here?" Why would I lie about that? And take a clue from my worn out jeans and lack of logos.

Anyway, the audition was fine. It was a "personal interview" type thing. In this setup, you figure you won't have any dialogue in the spot. So, rather than just looking at photos, the directors or whoever get to see you just be you for a second. I was asked if I consider myself a "handy man". I told the story about installing and uninstalling a horizontal window a/c in our vertical sliding windows. Story aside, I'm clearly the helpful guy you're looking for in Home Depot. However, as my wife points out, commercials aren't always about real life. They're frequently about some idealized, feel better about the world kind of life.

View my REEL and RESUME