I’m never sure if it’s my place to even do these “Get Your Butt” things, but I’ve gotten a lot of feedback from aspiring actors who are learning from them, and that makes me feel good. The last time I taught it was like Robin Williams in Dead Poet’s Society – by which I mean I got fired.Moving on. Monday, I received this email from my agent saying I had an audition for a commercial for Toro lawnmowers:
“White male. A rugged and distinguished looking everyday man. Full dark hair, not balding. No facial hair, but a 5 o'clock shadow would be great.”
I auditioned for it on Tuesday. Wednesday, this was posted online by the casting director:
“White male. A rugged and distinguished looking everyday man. Blonde hair, not balding. No facial hair, but a 5 o'clock shadow would be great.”
A lot of actors might be upset they wasted time driving across town to audition, only to have the advertising people pull the rug out from under them. NOW they want a different hair color? Do they know how inconvenienced I was? I showered for this. Civilization was a mistake. They say they want a blonde, but it sure feels like a “Jewish thing” to me.
On the other hand… sound of me cracking my knuckles…
Who knows why they changed their mind? More importantly, who cares? It could be as random as the storyboard artist they hired happened to draw the Toro guy as a blonde, and the advertising agency folks simply became accustomed to that look.
Auditioning is arbitrary, but sometimes the arbitrariness works in your favor. Check out the storyboard frame from this commercial I booked. It’s possible that because I looked like that guy, I had a leg up before I even walked into the casting office. You hear me complaining? Just keep showing up.
All right – let’s stop right here. You see, everything you’ve read until now was the entry I was going to post today, but in the middle of writing it, I received a callback – for the Toro commercial.
So this week, I learned something. Go figure.
