Love You Bunches

I take classes at a place called Act Now!, which invites casting directors to teach exactly what it is they look for and expect during an audition. I took a class with commercial director Chris Game, whose body of work has included commercials for Swiffer and Shell. When waiting in the hallway a couple of weeks later for another class, Chris came up to me.

"I was going to call you," he said. Really? "I want you to audition for this film I'm casting, called DONNER'S PASS. It's for the lead." ... Deal!

I had already planned a trip that weekend to San Fransisco with my college soccer teammate Jen and her roommate Gwen, both of whom now live in San Diego. This means that I first read the script on my iPhone, sitting up in a sleeping bag between beds in the girls' hotel room. I returned to LA on Sunday, only to be just as distracted on Monday by the excitement of seeing my wonderful mother, who was invited by friends to visit San Clemente and took a day away to come and visit me. We all saw Bonnie Hunt, who gives you a free hot dog and root beer just for showing up! Anyway, I digress. Tuesday, the day before the audition, Whit and I drove out to San Clemente to see Mom's view of California. Poor Whit - I made him run through lines with me the entire drive there and back (which worked out well, since the longest of the three scenes I had to memorize included the girl behind the wheel). My only goal, being the first feature film I had auditioned for, was to get a callback.

And I got a callback.

The callback consisted of only one other girl and myself switching in and out of the audition room while several others auditioned for the remaining roles. In a week I found out that the other girl, Desiree (pronounced Des-uh-ree, not ray) won the role. Shucks.

Today I received a call from Chris Game - firstly, because he is currently acting in a play called Love Bites at the Elephant Stage Theatre (I happily bought tickets to see him perform this Sunday); secondly, because he wanted to tell me that he was very impressed with my overall audition for DONNER'S PASS. He said that Desiree had been under that director for the past five years, and that a large group of girls had auditioned for the role. To have been selected in the Top 2 was really saying something. Obviously, I emailed this news to Mom. And her response is really the only reason for this entire blog.

"YEAH! Good for you! That's a big deal that he'll keep you in mind for future stuff!

It was really nice of him to call and tell you that, huh? If the other girl really has been training for 5 years, I guess it's about time she got a role in a film.....

YOU SHOULD BE VERY PROUD OF YOURSELF! Give yourself a BIG hug. And then another BIGGER one for me.

Love you bunches!!!!!"

Now, wouldn't every daughter be so lucky to receive such a vibrant and caring letter from their mother? I couldn't be luckier. And, for the record, I love her bunches, too.