Real Casting Call

[Teresa]

For fun, I joined Southwest Casting company which sends emails when there are available parts.

 

There was a part in a plastic surgery ad; it paid $50 for someone with an attractive face and nose, a flat stomach, and big boobs.

 

There was a muscular dystrophy documentary that needed "friends" (15 people, ages 21 - 40) to dance in a bar around a woman in a wheelchair.

 

A non-alcoholic beer commercial needed "Fun attractive" twenty to thirty-somethings in tight tshirts to stand beside Harleys at a biker bar and rave about "good taste and times." 

 

A dark comedy called Pisces looked interesting, as did Our Town since I felt right for the part of Mrs. Julia Gibbs, an "overworked, overwrought, doctor's wife", or maybe the perfect part is in the common crowd scene, requiring only the ability to act average and oblivious to being watched by cameras and fidgety people wearing headsets.

 

It isn't the parts I really want, but to know that lifestyle, what goes on behind the scenes, how often actors pretend to be friends, that a drug is a miracle cure or a hemorrhoid cream can change lives.

 

[Bill Floyd]

You can actually see a tiny portion of my profile in the final bar scene in the preview.  I think I had a total of about 20 seconds screen time in a two-hour flick.  Did you know that extras who are pretending to have conversations are encouraged to say, "Rhubarb," over and over.  Apparently it gives the impression of real speech.  If you ever watch a movie or TV with the sound muted, the extras seem much more prominent--which is usually not a great thing...

[Teresa]

I'm impressed, Bill.  But I couldn't find you.  Not the pumkin costume, was it?  Wasn't that a pumpkin?  Anyway, really impressive.  I wish her her luck.

[Bill Floyd]

I thought I put a link on there, if you click "movie."  That's only for the preview, of course.  She's going a Kickstarter campaign to get it entered into festivals & wider release.  Being an indie movie director is probably even harder than trying to be a professional writer...   

[Teresa]

Bill F. ~ We need a LINK!!  C'mon.  Show us...  Love it.

[Bill Floyd]

My friend made a movie in Durham last year, and I was an extra.  It gave me a whole new perspective on how films are made, and how freaking difficult it is to be a good actor/actress.  Simply not looking at the cameras is an art in itself.  My friend had written me in just to make fun of the white tennis shoes I used to wear... The movie, by the way, turned out pretty awesome, if you like indie type rom-coms that are also moving and funny. 

[Ron. Lavalette]

What an ultracool listing to receive.  I'd imagine myself in every part, whether I fit it or not; would probably play it all day long at work. Ron. shows up at the office as 'clutzy guy who can't work pencil sharpener,' or maybe 'unwary fat guy whose pants keep sliding down his butt.'

[Mike Handley]

What a cool idea. 

[Teresa]

No, no.  I don't want a part.  A few months ago I asked an actor friend if she knew of a documentary film maker because I want to see a film made about the Westview school (for children with autism).  She only knew of this casting company, but I figured it would be a great networking tool.  I stay on the email list and can chat with others if/when the school gets ready to tell their (amazing) thirty year story.  The interesting parts/jobs are fun to read about though, and I feel like I'm on the inside of a secret society...;-)

[Joey Delgado]

I've always been fascinated with how really great actors get into their roles. I heard a story about Dennis Hoffman's wife becoming so upset because he kept coming home as Charlie Babbitt from Rain Man. He was unable to leave the character for fear of losing whatever mojo it took to capture him....

Great six, and who knows, you may be discovered... :)

[Abhi Kantamneni]

I think of the adverts I see on the internet, attached to Youtube videos so there is no escaping from them. A  perfect suburban family of 4 driving to a campsite in a SUV., for example and how patently dishonest the images are, how all the actors playing their parts probably met just for the first time a few minutes before the shoot began.