As I was driving to and from my audition this morning, I played my "Atmospheric Vibe" Playlist on Spotify. It's mostly filled with soundtrack stuff and a few other random tracks that, overall, have an ephemeral vibe to them. The playlist makes me go blank and think at the same time, it relaxes my mind in a way that is therapeutic. Anyhow, on the way to the audition the song "Hand Covers Bruise" came up; it's by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross and is the main song from the film, "The Social Network." You know the one about the beginnings of Facebook, "Courier of Social Networking" lol? Great film, lovely soundtrack. When it came up I skipped it...I needed something with a little more levity, so I skipped to a track from the "Solaris" soundtrack. Fast forward through my audition and on my drive back to my apartment and I play the same playlist, this time I listen to "Hand Covers Bruise."
Why? Let''s go back to this previous Sunday. June 17th beginning at 8am.
I decided I would be an extra for this indie PSA about voting for the continued support of the film industry here in Georgia. It was opportunity to support something that is vital to my dreams and ambitions, plus maybe it would be an opportunity to network with some more Atlanta film folks. If I'm honest, it took me until today to feel like the time I spent there was worth it. Long story short, I was an extra in this production and I definitely felt like an "extra" on set; most of the people working on the project already knew each other from various acting studios or other projects...I knew no one. I did meet another extra there though, cool dude, I won't say his name though. Let's just call him "Mark" (Yea, like Mark Zuckerberg...Facebook dude, or after watching "The Social Network," is that accurate lol?) We talked with the other extras in between takes and while we were in holding...sorta kinda got to know each other. Now back to the audition.
It was an in person audition for a CPI Security commercial. I'm one of those actors who loves in person auditions. In fact I hate tapped auditions, you don't get to see the rest of the person. At least with in person auditions I feel more confident in my ability to feel the room, not even audition wise, just sensing who the people are that I'm in front of. On the reverse, I feel comfortable in expressing who I am (still figuring that our by the way haha) to the people in front of me. So even if the particular thing I do in the audition this time isn't what they're looking for, I can reassure my chances for future projects. This works with tape too, so I'm told but ehhhh.
So as I'm walking into the audition I see "Mark" walking up too. I said "hey man" (literally that's what I said, I couldn't remember his name and I immediately was like crap...he's auditioning for the same role). He replied and asked if I was auditioning for the Delivery Guy and I was like yup. We both smiled at each other, and it was genuine but it's always just an edge of weirdness when this happens. You wish the other actor well but hey, you both can't get the role! Or can you? This audition went a little differently than any audition I've done before, we were auditioned in pairs. Would you know that "Mark" was my partner. We were relieved because their was at least a little bit of familiarity with each other and the "competition" factor was removed. We even had on the same color shirt, which added to the in-scene chemistry (We're both delivery guys at the same company and we're delivering a customers product). It was great, we did well! Hopefully we both book it.
Had a tapped audition for an indie film after the in person one; the production team consists of a lot of people that were involved with the PSA project I volunteered for on Sunday. Not sure if the "networking" worked that quickly but it's possible. Again, any shimmers of positivity, serendipity, or general "signs" that show up I have to notice them...it keeps me going. Hence the whole social network theme of the post.
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