double indumbnity

I realized I need to sort of wrap up this audition account, since the shoot is this Friday and I have other news to report after that.

Damn, I just spilled the beans.  Oh well.

So I wake up bright and early and head north to pick up my headshots (saved a few bucks on shipping by picking them up myself!) then brave the south-bound 10a L.A. traffic and head to the studio for the audition.

I find the place and find a good spot, then wait where I’ve been told to wait. There are eventually about 20 people in line with me and we of course start to chatter. It seems some of these people are also actors (many, actually) and some are people who just love to try and get on game shows. I’m thinking what have I gotten myself into?

We’re led inside through a metal detector and gather in a room for a test. Yes, an actual test.

Oh, on the way across the lot our guide said “We have to be quiet going up the stairs because Hannah Montana is having a meeting.” Whatever.

So the test is like a word test, which I do miserably at, but their standards are apparently so low that they let me through to the interview round. We sit around again (only 10 left now!) and talk, going over the questions and answers on the test. I notice in this discussion that the test was designed so that no one would really know everything, since about half the room knew the answers to every question, but never the same half. It was a blend of history, pop culture, science, literature, etc. Some questions that were easy for me weren’t common knowledge to others, and vice versa.

At this point one of the really “actor-y” actors takes part in this exchange:

Actor Guy: Poor Merv, never got to see his show.

Staff Guy: He saw some rough cuts.

Actor Guy: Really? (beat) Is that what killed him?

Hilarity ensues, though not from the staff guy. I don’t know if he wanted to laugh and couldn’t, or just didn’t think it was funny. I actually thought it was pretty damn funny but tried to keep my laughter to a minimum. That really wasn’t necessary though, since everyone in the group was laughing hysterically, either at the joke itself or at the audacity and stupidity that someone had actually made it.

We all kind of agreed that actor-guy would most likely not make it onto the show.

We’ll just have to wait and see, though I’m not sure I can watch enough of the show to find out if he did.

I shoot this Friday, don’t know the air date yet. More to come on that later.