Character Teeth and First Audition in New York
4 July 2002
After a week and a half in New York I decided it was time to start auditioning. Broadway here I come! I had picked up Backstage, the paper that comes out every Thursday with details of what's on and decided to go to an open audition for a play. I figured it was a good way to experience how things are done here and practice my auditioning skills. An open audition is really a cattle call. Meaning, I don't have a time allocated to me and neither does anyone else. We all rock up together and queue like we are going to an All Black test and wait…for however long… I imagined hundreds of hopefuls hanging around a theatre waiting for their turn whilst scoping out the competition. Sounds like fun huh? I bet you are all wishing you were me!
I was all scrubbed up ready to roll. I even had on high heel boots which in New York is not the footwear of choice for stomping around the city, believe me! Give me my good ole trainers any day. I had barely taken two steps from my building when this short guy of non-descript features stopped me in the street and asked me if I was a model.
I was so embarrassed! I am in New York city, or 'model town' (as it is nicknamed), stand at 5' 6" (I know my shadow is taller but I don't think that counts on the catwalk), don't fall into the age bracket 18-24, and don't resemble a coat hanger. At all! In fact when it was decided who would get what body parts I believe there must have been some sort of mix up and someone else got my long legs…I got the longer body…fat lot of good that is to a model huh??
So here is the guy asking if I am signed up with a modelling agency…yeah right! Elite and Ford are just banging on my door buddy! Then he says, 'I love your teeth (what sort of weirdo admires your teeth?) and your smile'. Things were just going from bad to worse. You see I've got 'character' teeth. I was the teenager who wanted braces (yep I swear it's true). They were crooked enough to not be straight but not crooked enough to warrant braces…according to my orthodontist. I had a different opinion. (Of course I did, I was 13!)
It flashed through my mind at that stage, 'oh he's trying to pick me up, what a bad line', but no, turns out he was serious. He was a model scout and looking out for models for catwalk and print work. No prizes for guessing which category I fell into! They were holding interviews the next night ('invite only' he dramatically informed me!) and naturally I was perfect, so would I come along? If I was a cat, my curiousity would kill me, of course I said yes! Off I trotted, business card in hand and covers of magazines flashing through my mind with my character teeth gracing the covers.
I had just received my headshots from LA and met up with the retoucher extraordinaire, Pascal. As an actor it seems kind of strange to me that you would change your photos to look different to you (but actors do that here). Something about looking the best you can be? He can also fix up the technical aspects of your photos without having to go and get them reshot - ie like the lighting for mine was natural and in some pics. a bit dark. He predominately works on the covers of the major fashion magazines. I kid you not I will never again look at any magazine the same way…I can't mention names (of magazines or people) but let me just say that what you see should not necessarily be believed!
I looked through his books of before and after photos of some extremely famous people, actors and models. Each before photo was slashed with a red highlighter pen to indicate where to make changes ie slim down thighs, calves, hips, arms, stomach, remove dark circles, whiten eyes, take out lines, veins, freckles, moles, pimples, scars, uneven skin pigmentation etc. Pascal then works his magic and voila`, perfection. Funnily enough these people are already beautiful!…But maybe he could sort out my character teeth you know? (Hell, he's created a whole new chest for someone before, anything is possible!)
He showed me on his computer what he could do to my photos. It was kind of strange watching him strip away a decade in seconds. I don't know if I liked seeing all that experience wiped off my face just like that. When he finished I could have sent my headshots out for roles ten years younger than me if I wanted too. I don't, so I stuck with having the lighting cleaned up and a few stray hairs removed from my eyes. Tempting though…
Now where was I…oh yeah, the audition!
I got to the place where the audition was held and saw 9 people lined up outside. I thought, 'wow, must be heaps of people inside then'. But no, that was it. The venue was so small that the only place to wait was outside. Phew! Perception number 1 out the window. The only other place you could wait was downstairs in someone's basement which was precisely where I ended up as the heaven's opened and we had a New York thunderstorm. (Believe me they are most welcome as the humidity in New York is something else!).
I ended up chatting to a very friendly woman who was working down there and not part of the auditioning. She was very interested in what I was doing and where I was from. Every day I end up explaining where I am from at least 3 times so I go into automatic pilot now. Had a funny one the other day. This guy asked me if I was from Australia and I said no and explained that I was from New Zealand and he said very excitedly. 'Oh, YES I've been to New Zealand, I loved it! Beautiful country. And especially the food in Melbourne it was great!' I couldn't help myself, I replied. 'Yes, the last time I was in Melbourne, AUSTRALIA, the food was great'…good grief!
My turn came and the woman I had been chatting too followed me up into the room. Odd, but hey this could be completely normal behaviour in a New York audition, how would I know? She then asked if she could sit through the audition. What could I say? The Casting Director didn't seem to mind so I said 'yeah sure'. I just wanted to come across as confident and relaxed you know, like I do this all the time. (As long as everyone else waiting didn't want to come in and watch as well!)
I was doing a monologue of my choice, a cold read from the play, then a cold read of a monologue also from the play. (We don't audition like this in New Zealand). I got to do all 3 pieces (some people got the, 'thanks for coming…good bye' after their monologue) so I was happy with that. I didn't throw up or anything either, always a positive sign. Funny though, as soon as I had finished I already knew what I would do differently next time. My first 'job interview' and already I couldn't wait to get on to the next one!
As I was leaving the
woman I had been chatting too had slipped out and was waiting for me outside.
'Can I walk you to the subway?' she said. 'Sure, why not' I said. As long
as she wasn't trying to sell me anything that was fine! 'I'm a film producer'
she said. 'And really enjoyed your audition today. I was wondering if
you would consider doing the voice over for the film I'm producing?' I'd
done a number of different accents in my audition so have no idea which
one she meant but how could you say no to that?
What a day! Targeted by a model scout, my first audition in New York and offered voice over work. Regardless of the outcome I felt like I had had a very productive day. All that was needed to round off the day was a nice crispy chardonnay, from New Zealand! If anyone knows where to buy good New Zealand wine here please yell out!
Off to a New Zealand
Fashion show in New York next week…
(You can also read about what I am up to on www.nzoom.co.nz under entertainment - rant.)
Regards,
romiley
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