Playing the Waiting Game...

The mind can play tricks on you while you are waiting…

They told us during the casting call that it might be a while before those who were selected would be contacted… but for the life of me I cant remember how long they said it would be?

Waiting just plain sucks.

As a society we are just no longer wired to wait. We want things fast and we want results NOW! Waiting for the train, the bus, the phone to ring… This is not a part of our daily lifestyle any longer. We want it on time, every time without delay or any surprises… So, no wonder this waiting game was starting to get to me…

At first you are just a nervous wreck and you wait anxiously by the side of the phone. You turn down invitations to go out, "just in case" someone from casting might call you… When were they going to get back to us? You ask yourself this same question over and over… then you start checking with others to find out if they have been called… No luck... No one has heard anything.

Then you get the invitation to one of the longest running Five Act Plays that ever played …

The Five Stages of Death; Staring "My Acting Career"

Act One: Denial

They must have lost my number. Did I give them all my contact numbers? Home, Work, Cell… Surely I wouldn’t forget to give them my work number… they must have lost that information…

Act Two: Anger

Why the Heck wouldn’t they select me!? They must be out of their frickin' minds, I was perfect for the role, those &&%%$#

Act Three: Bargaining

If only I hadn't stared at that casting person… I think I freaked her out. Maybe I should have shaved… I wonder if I found out where else they are holding casting calls, they would let me give it another try, I can do better, really I can.

Act Four: Depression

I cant believe I didn’t get selected. I feel like such a loser. My one big chance and I blew it. Maybe I will just stay in bed today. I will never get to be an extra. Nothing ever good happens to me…

Act Five: Acceptance

Ok, I didn’t get the part. I can accept that. I wasn’t what they were looking for. No big deal (slipping back into denial…) Time to move on with my life… get out of bed and back to the real world.



I think I took in this play about every week, for the first six weeks after the casting call. I had a front row seat for each performance. Sat right there in the front row, and relived the experience over and over (and over) again…

Finally, I skipped the first four acts, and just popped in for the fifth and final act. "Acceptance". And when the final curtain fell, I simply accepted the fact that it was over. It wasn’t my time. Fair enough. Time to truly move on…

To furhter confirm this, the local news media had started to report that several people in the area had already been contacted to participate. One group was a local theater group from a small technical college. They reported that several of the students were contacted and selected to participate in the filming.

And that was that. The final nail in the coffin of my acting career. Dead before it even began…
The final casting had been done. Those people selected had been contacted and it was finally over. No longer did I need to wait, chained to the phone in eager anticipation of a call…

So in April, as a way of further convincing my self that it was over, and that I really meant it this time… I actually booked a trip to Arizona, and took a week to "get away from it all"
We packed our bags and headed to Red Rock country... Sedona Arizona…

After a beautiful and relaxing week in Sedona and the surrounding area, I realized that this trip was just what the Doctor ordered. I was able to clear my head, clear my heart, and be at peace with myself again.

Life was looking good again. I didn’t need the role as an Extra in Public Enemies movie to define who I was… (although it would have been really cool…)

It was on my last day in Arizona, we were headed to the Phoenix airport when I received a call from home. The message was something to the affect of:

"Someone from the Public Enemies Casting department has been trying to get a hold of you… They want to know if I would be available to work as extra in an upcoming scene being filmed at the State Capital in Madison… Please call them back right away if you are interested…"

If I was interested?

Play that message back again, I need to make a call!

When the Flood Gates Finally Opened...

As soon as the rope holding the crowd back was lifted, the group spilled into the next room like a Tsunami hitting the beach, EVERYONE wanted to be sure that they had their chance to shine, to be discovered like a shiny gem that had been washed ashore...



We all squeezed past the narrow opening like minnows into a seining net… each holding our breath hoping that the gauntlet of the thin red velvet rope wouldn’t be dropped in front of them, forever excluding them from their brush with destiny…


Once beyond the rope we once again spread out and filled the next holding area to capacity. In front of us was a podium and microphone and standing behind the podium was none other than Joan Philo of "Joan Philo Casting" Joan was from the windy city, shy town, Chicago Illinois…



Joan was all smiles when she met the group. She took a deep breath, smiled, and began her performance... She was on stage in front of her audience, giving a performance I am sure she had given at least a thousand times that day… and most assuredly more like a hundred thousand times over before she was through casting for just this flick…

We all listened in eager anticipation, and hung on her every word…

Buckle up, we're due for an amazing ride!
Are you Ready? Here we go...

She went on to give the group the following run down of what we were all there to be a part of… To make history and be a part of the Universal Film "Public Enemies"

... Public Enemies is a "period" feature film, circa early 1930s. You know what this means period hair styles and wardrobe fittings -- guys please keep your hair long -- do not cut it!! Women will need to have period hair styles -- Everyone that will be cast will need to attend a wardrobe fitting. The fitting usually takes a few hours -- you'll be fit in an outfit and also be looked at by the hair department. Haircuts will most likely happen at the wardrobe fitting. The fitting usually happens a week or so before your day on set.I am looking for a core group of extras (non-speaking roles) that will be able to work many days. So let me know if this might be you! I'm also searching for people that might be available for one or two days. These are paid extras positions. Rate TBD.Being that this is a period film we need to find people that are able to fit into the period wardrobe. There are size requirements!MEN need to be 6'1" and under and WOMEN 5'8" and under (no larger than a size 12), all ages (including children) in order to be considered.*KIDS: I only consider casting kids that have current work permits on file with Joan Philo Casting. Casting children goes down fast. I mean super fast. They might call me the night before a shoot and ask for a child of a certain age. I run to my kids' files and pull any child that has a work permit. Don't miss out because your child doesn't have a work permit! (I know that getting a work permit takes effort and I appreciate that this is done in the hopes of getting cast, thank you!)We start shooting in mid-March and shoot through June 2008. I will be holding open casting calls soon! Stay tuned...

She also provided all of us aspiring actors with a bit of advice to us all… that film shoots can be exceedingly long and boring, and that patience is a virtue. "Never ask on set, or at a wardrobe fitting, when you can go home -- this is quite the uncomfortable question and will make you look ill-prepared,' she notes. "Please don't ask."

And with that, she smiled and waved her hand with a wide sweeping motion, like Glenda the Good Witch from the Wizard of OZ, and set us all free to move to the next and final holding area… Casting Photos.

Here we were given a number, asked to step in front of a white screen, and instructed not to smile as a few photos were taken of us. Some folks were simply asked to leave immediately after the photo, while others, like myself were asked to stand to the side… and hold our numbers in front of us. Then after a few minutes of just standing there, we were told to exit in the back, and drop our "numbers" in a box on the way out.

And just like that it was over... All of the waiting and anticipation of this day was done. I had traveled through the bowels of a casting call for a major motion picture, and was being ejected from the process like so much waste after a fat producers lunch...

Now all that was left was the wait…

February in Wisconsin can be Mighty, Mighty...

COLD.

Date line February 16 2008, Madison Wisconsin

It was a frigid February morning, the day I got out of prison… I had heard the news about a month earlier that there was to be an open audition for movie extras being held at the Monona Terrace Convention center in Madison… Just my luck, I was headed in that direction.

After being sprung from prison, I was given a parting meal, and put on a bus back home. Something about the outside food didn't set well with me... Maybe it was just nerves about what was yet to come.... Either way, it was going to be a long ride home...

We finally arrived in Madison around 2:30, I got off the bus and stretched my legs. It was good to be free of the confines of prison and bus... I decided to head across town and find out what this acting gig was all about. After all, my pockets were empty… and I didn’t have so much as two plug nickels to rub together... What did I have to lose?

Luckily for me, the clothes I had walked into prison with, were waiting for me when I got out. Vintage 30's suit and tie, overcoat and even my well worn felt fedora… I was dressed to the nines… My brown wingtips could have used a good shine, but nothing the back of my pants legs wouldn’t help rectify. I was just happy that the leather on the top wasn’t as worn as it was on the bottom… as I seemed to suck in every ounce of winter wet that I came into contact with through the quarter sized holes in soles of my shoes….

The sun was setting and the chill was getting worse. The winds picked up the closer I got to the lake, and the light snow whirled around my head and heals as I walked against the wind… With my head down and fedora pulled tight, I ignored the honks and waves of people passing by… I was on a mission… and I had just a half hour left to make the audition…

Stepping through the doors of the Monona Terrace, was like stepping back in time. I was ushered down stairs to the lower level of the Monona Terrace. The lower I went, the more it felt as if I was truly walking back in time... It was as if I had stepped off of the bus, and never left the hay day of the early 1930's. There were Guys and Dolls everywhere decked out and looking every inch they way they should. There was no mistaking it, I knew I had come to the right place.

I just followed the wave of people as everyone made a mad dash toward a room at the far end of hall, opposite the stairwell we had all just decended. They scurried on in mad rush, only to then vanish from sight… I started to wonder where they were all disappearing to, but needn't wonder to long… for as I rounded the corner I ran smack into a great wall of people… it was like the line for the soup kitchen… Only I was at the wrong end of the long, long, line.

According to my sources, they had a time limit set on this job… I felt like I was pressing my luck... Would everything simply disappear when the clock struck 4... Like that carriage in the Cinderella story, I was afraid at 4 O'clock on the dot, every thing was going to disappear… time was running out… I pulled out my pocket watch, and flipped the brass lid. It was 3:40 and it appears that I had just made it past the doors in time. Now if I could just pull this off… Rubbing my chin I started to second guess my decision to turn down that shave this morning…

155 days and counting...

Tick, Tick, Tick... the time just isn't passing fast enough... the wait continues. I keep watching the web, like I am checking my watch... waiting on the 10:15 to pull into the station...

The suspense is driving me crazy. Sure, I can hop from site to site, and see what other bloggers are saying... Or not saying... Usually its nothing, but every once and a while, we get a bone tossed our way in the form of a picture or a comment from one of the rag sheets... Tick, Tick, Tick... the time just isn't passing fast enough...

Perhaps I should start at the beginning...

I am a Public Enemies Extra... And this is my confession...