DILEMMA ONE:
Oh no! You have to cancel your big audition tomorrow! Even bigger dilemma: What if it’s a callback? Or even BIGGER crazy thought: What if it’s a JOB?
It goes something like this:
At 4 pm you get a message that you have a huge audition the very next day. You immediately confirm without checking your calendar because everyone knows if you turn down too many auditions, you’ll get less calls.
As you read the audition description, you realize this role is perfect for you. Excitement builds and you cancel all your plans, including your family dinner, so you can memorize the sides, pick out your wardrobe, figure out which train or parking lot you’re going to need and basically just get in the zone. Did I mention this audition is for a series regular?
At 9 pm, your young child gets a fever and will not be able to attend camp or school the next day. You ran out of cold / fever medicine. You and your kid, while both in pajamas, run out the door in search of a pharmacy where you can buy the necessary medicine. As you’re crazed, your kid throws up all over himself. But there’s no time to stop! Must get to the pharmacy! Must finish memorizing lines! Forgot to eat? Hahaha, too bad.
While you’re in the store wandering around aimlessly with child in tow, you start dialing everyone you know asking if they can watch your sick kid tomorrow while you’re at the audition. Meanwhile, you dash up and down the same aisle over and over again and pass the proper medicine five times because you’re so busy trying to find a sitter.
“Hello, Amy? I need your help tomorrow.”
At same time, you’re talking to the store clerk, “Dude, please get me some child fever medicine. I can’t find it. Thanks”
“Yeah, Amy, I’m here. Little Lucas is sick. Can you stay with him tomorrow? No? Oh ok, thanks, I understand. Gotta go!” [click] [dialing next person faster than Superman can fly]
Let’s take a deep breath and read this list of THINGS TO DO IF YOU HAVE KIDS TO MAKE SURE YOU’RE PREPARED FOR AN AUDITION DILEMMA.
1. If you have children, always, and I mean ALWAYS, have cold medicine, bandaids and a bag packed with two pairs of underwear, socks, shirts, pants, a toothbrush, snacks, water bottle. This way if you need to drop your child off somewhere fast, you just throw the bag in the car and off you go.
2. Always have three emergency back-up people who are close by that you can call at any hour. This could be friends, your parents, the neighbor, a babysitter – but ask them in advance if you can call them at 3am if needed. If not, find someone else to help because as luck will have it, one of them will be on vacation or not available to help when you need it.
3. Always have an ‘audition’ bag packed for yourself. It’s fun to be able to customize your wardrobe, hair and make-up based on the audition, but if you’re having a dilemma, you will not have time to put everything together. In your audition bag should be dark and light colored clothes, two different types of shoes (sneakers, sandals, loafers, etc.), socks, toothbrush, hairbrush, mirror, snacks, water bottle, mints/gum, a small towel and make-up.
DILEMMA TWO:
La de da, you were actually able to leave early for once and everything is hunky dory. You’re on the train, running lines through your head when all of the sudden the guy next to you spills his drink all over you and your audition shirt!
Screaming out loud will not help you BUT THIS WILL HELP YOUR AUDITION DILEMMA:
Have your trusty audition bag with you at all times! The audition bag is something you should consider taking with you even if you don’t have an audition dilemma. Now you can just dig into your handy dandy bag for a new shirt! You must, and I repeat MUST, be sure to wash that audition bag shirt as soon as you get home and put it right back in the bag. As you know, life gets in the way of, well, your life and you’ll forget to put it back in the bag. What if you get a call for another audition tomorrow? The audition bag must be fully packed and ready to go at a moment’s notice.
DILEMMA THREE:
This one is a good dilemma. You have two auditions at the same time! One is uptown and the other is downtime. Don’t be silly, of course you accepted both auditions! No worries, right?!
More than likely you’ll be advised to go to the audition that pays more money first. All you have to do in this case is ask your rep if the second audition can be changed to a later time or moved to the next day. You’ll find that a lot of the time, the Casting Director can be accommodating, especially if they think you’re a good fit for the role.
There may be times when unfortunately the second audition cannot be changed because each agency has their time slots. But! How many of you have been on auditions where you’re sitting there for an hour because the auditions are running late? That sucks when you’re on time, but it’s great if YOU are running late! (Note, you should only be late if you have another audition! There are no other excuses! I don’t care if you just had your wisdom teeth pulled 30 minutes ago – get to the audition!)
Just ask the sign-in person if you can still audition. They don’t need to hear a song and dance of why you were late, nobody cares. Actually, most of the time they won’t even notice you’re late, so just sign-in. If they ask what time your appointment was for, then ask if you can still audition.
NYCastings would love to hear your dilemma stories! Don’t get upset if I am unable to respond right away. I might be having a dilemma. Email your dilemmas to me at ilanarapp@gmail.com
Please follow me on Twitter: @LizardLadyNJ and also remember to follow @NYCastings for the latest New York casting notices, contests and blogs! You can email me at ilanarapp@gmail.com with any questions or ideas you’d like to see in future articles.
