The Casting Call

Yesterday morning I received the following text from my friend Stephanie:

Now wouldn't it be funny if I ended the blog right now? 

Yeah.

I clicked on the link she sent and discovered to my great delight that a movie is being made right here in my back yard of Colorado Springs and they need Extras. I'm capitalizing that word because I feel an Extra is someone special and deserves the honor of being a proper noun.

I'm not anything if I'm not Extra.

So click on the link here and quickly read about the casting call that was held in Colorado Springs so that I can move on with my blog. 

Thanks.

For those of you that were bums, here's a screenshot of the beginning of the article:

So I replied to my friend Stephanie:

So we went. If you're like me, you've never been to a casting call before and you are wondering what you do. So let me tell you.

First, you stand in line.

We had to go to the very end of the line because we didn't know anyone else in order to cut. We could see that everyone in line had papers (and some had a folder) and we felt ill equipped for stardom. We realized a nice lady was handing out the paperwork and she gave us ours. We also realized that the people with folders were carrying head shots with portfolios of their failing Hollywood careers in hopes that they would be noticed.

I showed up in shorts with a grubby t-shirt and my hair as nappy as possible. I'm pretty sure this look will land me a talk show soon.

One of the forms we had to complete with our name, phone number and answer questions about our hair color, eye color, wardrobe size and if we were any good at: bowling, softball, or had any experience with medicine. To which I wrote: "I can administer Children's Tylenol like nobodies business". 

I should probably note that some of the other people in line showed up like they were Hollywood personified and wore dresses with heels. I'm pretty sure that limits them as an extra. I mean they are NEVER going to be called to play a lazy person like I have the potential to be.

The line moved surprisingly fast and a tall man who acted like he was important and called himself the assistant director told us that when we got inside, we would have our picture taken and then be ushered into another room where we would be told how casting works.

We finished our paperwork and took a selfie

I browsed the paper with the casting call information- including the going pay rate for extras.  

That's when we saw the news crew filming us famous line connoisseurs.

 In no time we were inside where we were assigned a number and we had to write our name on it. I was number 1515.

I had to hold the sheet of paper with my number on it while I had my picture taken:

I told the guy taking my picture "WIND! I NEED WIND IN MY HAIR", but he said people being cast as lazy or the third world version of sporty spice don't need wind. To which I told him I thought I was there as a super model.

Stephanie of course looked like a complete doll. And she had her hair all pretty and everything.

She'll be cast a gypsy. 

Or "girl who can rock leggings".

Finally we were ushered into the big room to hear a friendly lady tell us how the casting call works.

 There were a few of us who were bored during this part.

I listened anyway as the lady told us they put our photo and information into a database that they use to cast people based on need. For instance, if they needed a brown haired, blue eyed, 5' 6" female to play a barista, they would filter their database to pull up those that fit that criteria and then make calls. 

 She also said not to show up late, not to lie on the form regarding your ability to bowl or play softball and if you can't drive the hour and a half to be in a scene in Florence, CO don't say you can. (I had to quickly scribble out Florence and Canyon City as possibilities, because if they called me for a night scene (which can last from 2 p.m. through 2 a.m.) I didn't want to say I was busy sleeping.

Of course I'll keep you all in the loop if I get cast as an extra for a film exclusive to Netflix starring Robert Redford and Jane Fonda. And Joy Wilkins.

My sister said to me "Tell Bob I said hi!".

To which I replied: "Bob will be busy asking me for my autograph".
Joy