Reality TV; it's not just for the real people anymore.

a few months ago i interviewed for a WB show called "America's Next Starlet." uggh, just thinking about it i can't believe i bothered to show up to the casting, doesn't it just sound gross? but it was around the corner from my office and i thought i'd just pop in to see what was going on and blah blah blah.

anyway- it was so amusing to look around the waiting area and size up the competition- i usually go to strictly theatre auditions, so the film and tv crowd can sometimes freak me out. one girl was wearing a long slinky gown, elbow length gloves, bright red lipstick and a feather boa! i had to admire her for her determination, the only problem was that she totally couldn't back the outfit up- she was a complete, blathering idiot- not sexy at all! most of the girls were showing some, if not lots, of cleavage. lots of makeup and fake tans. i was in my work clothes because i had just found out about the audition about an hour before i got there. as is the usual with most auditions, there was a lot of waiting and some of the girls were trying to make conversation with each other. i usually stay out of that nonsense because it always becomes a not-so-subtle resume competition. "i just finished playing the leading role in soandso's production of "thisandthat" and we got fabulous reviews! here's the postcard!" "i just shot a student film where i had to run down madison avenue in 4 inch heels! i tell you i felt just like carrie on "sex and the city"!" and all of that kindof crap.
we did a group interview with 15 people. the casting director was really sweet and basically just threw questions out there and it was a free for all as far as who dominated the conversation. i'm always very honest and up front about who i am and i answered the questions truthfully and tried to 'just be myself.' i could tell that a lot of girls were 'playing' a character- trying to be what they thought the casting director was looking for and you could totally see right through it. hello? this is reality tv- they are looking for actors to play real people here!

one girl actually said, "i think i would be a good contestant on this show because america would spend the whole season trying to figure out if my boobs are real or not."

i kid you not.

overall- i feel like i made a good impression and didn't look like a complete psycho.
afterwards they had us stand around and wait to see if we were called back. only 3 out of the 15 of us were asked to move on and i was one of them- ha! slinky dress girl went home with her feather boa between her legs. so did fake or not fake-boobs girl.
the next step was looking over a monologue- familiarizing yourself with it and then they would call you to a separate room for a one-on-one interview. the monologue wasn't too hard and i was ready when they called me in for the interview. it was on camera and i had to wear one of those fun mic things. i felt really confident about the interview and the second casting director told me i did a good job and that i would be moving on to the next round. i was given a huge questionnaire- a complete background information check. i had to go back years and years as for former roommates and jobs- they run a criminal record check- and then they ask you silly questions like "what would you do if someone left their dirty dishes in the sink all the time?"
i would pile their dirty dishes on their pillow- duh.

i dropped the packet off the next day and hoped that they would call me.

well, they never did, but, at least i got a story to tell out of it, right?

thanks to jen and her recent story (dec 7th, 11:50am) for inspiring this post.