Audition: “21st Century Insurance” @ Jessica J. Casting. I did a spot for “21st” back in ’02, it never ran though. I did get a year or so of holding fees, a bonus for being a policy holder (I was at the time, but now my car insurance is through Costco) and a penalty payment for some reason I never really understood.

The audition was simple, no dialogue, just some nodding in agreement mostly. It’s amazing how if I’m not careful I can do too much of even that. I think I kept it real – at least I hope I did.

Audition/Producers: “The War at Home” @ Susan Vash Casting. It’s straight to producers for a guest–star role. I booked the last time she called me to producers for a guest-star role. Maybe I can start a streak!

I know I sound like a broken record, but I felt really good about this audition. I did what I wanted to do and left it all in room. I took a risk and changed some of the rhythms of the writing. One paid off with a big laugh. The other might have fallen through the cracks. Regardless of what happens – or not – I felt like an artist when I left.

Something interesting happened right before I read the scene. One of the producers/writers/director was looking over my resume and commented on my multiple episodes of "Good Morning, Miami". Someone said ".....and 14 episodes of "Good Morning, Miami!", then the producer said, jokingly, "I thought it was 12". It threw me a little because I don’t know why he said it. Anyway, I made a joke about it we all laughed and got to work. If you count the episodes on my imdb, there are only 12 listed, but I actually filmed more.

So my question is: did he actually look me up online or was he, in some way, associated with “Good Morning, Miami”. I was over there at the show so often that there is no way I wouldn’t have known who he was if he was at “GMM”. So I’m going to go with the notion that he looked me up. Cool. As a result, I’m going to change the 14 episodes to 12; I don’t want anyone to think I’m padding my resume.

Of course after the audition it was time to roam the Warner Bros. lot to see what was going on. Doing that is always a super inspiring thing for me. For one, I get to drop off my photos at various offices, two it brings back great memories of having worked on the lot and three it shows me some of what is in my future.

The first stage I walked passed was where “ER” is filmed; I had fun working on the show back in ’03. After that I wandered my way around dropping photos and just taking it all in. Something I had never noticed before over there was a Berlin wall monument. I would have like to take a photo of it, but I didn’t have my camera.

After a while I came upon this huge…something under construction. I couldn’t tell what is was; it almost looked like a stage that was being built for…say…U2 to perform on or some thing like that. I stared at it for a while and couldn’t come up with anything so I finally asked a nearby security guard. It might seem weird, but what he told me gave me the chills. It was one of the sets for “Ocean’s Thirteen”!!! It was just sorta surreal to look at that set and know that I have been chosen, not once, but twice to be a part of Steven Soderbergh’s productions. Hopefully, this time I’ll stick.

The set being built was a helicopter pad to be on top of one of the hotels – it was massive and there was a ton of guys working on it. I just walked away and shook my head asking myself how I got to be a part of that?

Afterwards, I made my way to Katherine Eckerts office. Katherine, a longtime associate and casting director with Tracy Lilienfield’s office recently opened her own office casting “Old Christine” for CBS. I met Katherine years ago in a workshop and she brought me in for “Good Morning, Miami” which obviously turned out to be a fantastic experience for many, many reasons. I’ll always appreciate her thinking of me because she knew it was going to be a multi-episode gig and it really made a difference in my life.

Anyway, I got to the building and chilled just for a bit; looking at the WBTV production cast photos on the wall and such. Then I spotted a young lady who I thought was Katherine’s assistant. After assessing the situation, I stuck my head in the office and asked if I could leave a photo for Katherine. The assistant was very nice and the photo was literally in Katherine hands 5-10 seconds later. Just as I was making my exit, dragging my feet of course, her assistant, Ana, stopped me and said Katherine had a moment to chat with me. This gave me a chance to congratulate her on her new office and another crazy huge reason I won’t mention. They are starting production next week and she said she’ll try to get me in for something.

Before I left the lot I wanted to check out Stage 16. That is where the “O13” casino set is being built. OMG!!! It blew my mind. They are building a freaking casino on the stage. I don’t know if it will compare to the set of “The Terminal”, but it looked pretty cool nonetheless. On my way there I stopped by where I worked my first TV job after just 4 months of being in Los Angeles – Stage 24 – The Friends Stage. Wow, I really remember that experience; I even remember where I parked. I worked on a pilot over there last season, “Hot Properties”. Yeah, the Warner Bros. lot has been good to me. With that, I made my way back to my car with a sore knee from all the walking with the wrong shoes – Ouch!

Shortly, afterwards one of my agents calls with an appointment for tomorrow. I could tell he didn’t submit me for it because he was like “it’s a small role, look it over and see if you wanna go in on it, if not, don’t worry about it”.

This is great for several reasons:

He wouldn’t submit me for this particular co-star role. They are looking for bigger and better things for me.
I am on this casting director’s mind, in this case, without my agents’ assistance.
My agents didn’t just turn it down unbeknownst to me.
My agent is involved in the situation which helps me protect me from myself.
I have the final say on whether to go in or not.

After getting home I decided that, yes, I would go in on it. Why? Well, I don’t get called for this type of shows too often and who knows how long it might take to get back in this office and it’s always nice to be auditioning. Plus, I really like this casting director and I’d love to book something with her.