Okay, I don’t know what the heck I was thinking when I agreed to do this play reading. Actually, that’s not true. I know exactly what I was thinking when I said “yes”. I was thinking that it was a chance to be around a different group of artists that I hadn’t met before. To read material I hadn’t read before. Plus, I was recommended. It’s great to have someone vouch for me and put her name on the line.

We read 2 different versions of the same play. Yes, it made for a long session and I was completely exhausted, but it was cool to see the two different takes on the same material. It was a great group of actors and an honor to be included. Thanks Alice!

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Callback: “Sears” @ Kathy Knowles Casting. Yes! On a Saturday too. This went great and I’ve worked with the director before…I don’t know that that matters, but it’s always nice to see a familiar face in the room…I doubt he remembered me, but ya never know. I hope I book this…they should hire me; I bought my new refrigerator @ Sears, lol!

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Yep, another same-day appointment. It’s a great place to be…having appointments arrive on a moments notice. It’s also a testament that my agents feel that I’m one of their super reliable clients. That means a lot to me; especially coming an agency like KSR.

Audition: “Best Buy” @ Cathi Carlton Casting. This was fun! Actually, the funniest part of the whole experience was when we all slated. I won’t try to repeat what happened because I don’t think I could do justice to exactly what one of the other actors did in the room, but I laughed my a** off. After I stopped laughing the audition went really well too.

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Audition/Callback: “Maxwell House” @ Ross Lacy Casting. Another same-day, straight to callbacks appointment. It seems like every week I am awakened by a same-day audition. I’m not complaining; it’s just something I’ve noticed.

It went okay. I think my “son” in the audition was a little confused as to what was going on and, as a result, the cues were a bit off. That’s okay I think some of the other guys looked more the part than me anyway…but ya never know.

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Audition: “Sears” Kathy Knowles Casting. Yes! This went really, really well; it was a lot of fun and I have a great callback ratio and a few bookings at this office…hopefully it will continue. I feel a callback brewing!

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Callback/Avail “AT&T” @ Ross Lacy Casting. This goes pretty well; I’m already on avail for it so we’ll see. Avail releases are getting old…it’s time to book something!

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Let’s do it! Yup, I’m out in the street today for the first day of a heavy week of drop-offs. Gotta make something happen. The Presidents Day holiday made traffic relatively light and quite a few places were open; although a few weren’t. It was a successful day.

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This weekend is dedicated to getting my ducks in a row to do a big round of drop-offs. That means I will be camped out on the CastingAbout.com website figuring out my strategy. Pilot season is in full swing and I need to be a part of it. I believe this pilot season will be stronger than in recent years and I have to do my best to get in the mix.

http://www.stephonfuller.com

Audition: “Miracle Whip” @ Ross Lacy Casting. This was a simple Q&A type of deal. It went well and I learned something about how to handle similar auditions in the future.

After a long night of dealing with “Hollywood’s Finest” on the Sunset Strip I woke up to an email with the news that I had been released from my commercial avail for “Comcast”. Ouch! Oh well.

More…”news”. I won’t say “bad news” because I’m not taking it that way. I’m taking it as something that would have been nice to have gone another way, but didn’t…or hasn’t…at least not yet. What am I referring to? The cars.com commercial. While it was nice that it aired during the Super Bowl, in all honesty I was more excited about the notion of it running Class A during regular primetime long into the future. I also knew that in order for that to happen I would have to be included in the 30 second version because chances are slim that they would continue run the 60 second edit.

It goes back to the “Anatomy of a booking” Part One and Part Two; which I’ve written about before. There are so many steps in the process where things can get interesting…for better or for worse. I’ve experienced some of them. On the one end I’ve auditioned, been called back, placed on avail, booked, gone to wardrobe, shot and made almost $30,000 on a commercial before.

I’ve also auditioned, been called back, booked and have been cancelled/replaced/not approved 1 hour before my wardrobe fitting. Yes, I received the $500 and change session fee for my troubles…and the payment for the wardrobe fitting fee.

I don’t write this to complain. No, not at all. Actually, in a twisted kind of way it’s a positive thing…a very positive thing in fact. Why? Well, before I can get released from an avail I have to have been placed on avail. Before I can get cancelled/replaced/not approved I have to be booked in the first place. I look at it as the more I work in this business the more likely these things are to happen. From that standpoint I’m moving in the right direction…after all I booked a Super Bowl commercial!

http://www.stephonfuller.com

Callback/Avail: “Comcast” @ Ross Lacy Casting. Yes! I had a great time with a great partner on this one. I really took advantage of the chance to perform…I’m not always free enough to go there. I have to give my partner much of the credit for that; during our little rehearsal before going in the room he was throwing a lot stuff that was off the page into the mix. The director did the exact same thing in the room so we were primed and ready to go.

I’m already on avail for the spot; so hopefully they will actually seal the deal. No matter what happens I feel that I showed what I can do in the room and that I am a viable choice for the job…beyond that it’s kinda out of my hands.

Audition: “Healthy Choice” @ Vicki Goggins Casting. Hmm…I’m not sure how this one went. During the actual audition the wonderfully, patient session director was trying to get me to repeat a particular line of dialogue and I was hearing it wrong…so I kept repeating it wrong. I didn’t want to look at the copy on the board for some reason thinking I was repeating it “close enough” after about the 4th time she said it I snuck a glance over at the board and got it perfect…finally.

Funny enough, I wouldn’t be surprised if I get a callback because I think the director was really looking for real stuff and what was going on in my head was certainly real. So we’ll see.

http://www.stephonfuller.com

So Sunday was the big game and, yes, the commercial I was in for www.cars.com aired as I had hoped…with me in it. It’s the first Super Bowl commercial I’ve ever been in and I don’t think it’ll be the last. Something that made me smile was that I auditioned for several of the other commercials that ran during the game as well. The Super Bowl is the absolute tops for commercial advertising and the fact that many of the commercial casting directors in Los Angeles and my agents think I’m worthy of being considered is a real sign of progress.

I’ve always said that Los Angeles & New York is the Super Bowl of this profession and I feel like I got to play in the big game…literally. I’m thrilled.

The next step of possible success for me is that I assume that the commercial will be edited down to a :30 spot from the :60 version the ran during the Super Bowl. Hopefully I will be included in that version as well and it will be in heavy rotation for a long time to come.

And it gets even better. The game goes in the record books as the most-watched television program in US history. The 27 year-old record was previously held by M*A*S*H with 105.97 million viewers versus 106.5 million viewers. Wow, I feel like I’m a part of that. The spot.

Lastly, I saw a Long A** rainbow today! It was crazy! Without question, the biggest, brightest rainbow I’ve ever seen. It made me smile.

http://www.stephonfuller.com

Audition: “Progressive Insurance” @ Alyson Horn Casting. This was for two different commercials with the possibility or more to follow. I felt great about the first one, but when we did the second one I got all flustered. I was so irritated with myself. The deal was that they told us that the actual script wasn’t that important, but I had worked on it and it was stick in my head…I had a problem letting go what I’d worked on. Silly me. I left kicking myself…

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Tomorrow I have a commercial scheduled to air during the big game, the Super Bowl. I shot it about 6 weeks ago, and yes, I’ve mentioned it, but I don’t think even I embraced the full magnitude of what it means. The Super Bowl, in most years, is the most watched American television broadcast of the year. Wow, that’s huge.

The last few days it’s caught up to me that this is pretty special. I think it’s taken a while to sink in because I was never absolutely sure it was slated as a Super Bowl commercial at all. I was more concerned with the long term run, because in actuality, I don’t get paid any extra because it’s running during the big game…that first airing is included in the initial pay when I first filmed the spot. The second airing is where the financial magic starts to happen.

Thinking even more about it makes me want to place it high on the mantle of experiences I will have had as a performer. I’ve worked with some of the greats in this business – in commercials, in film and in television. I plan to continue that.

http://www.stephonfuller.com

Audition: “Comcast” @ Ross Lacy Casting. Good, subtle stuff here. I especially love doing well at this office. Well, I love doing well at all of the casting offices I go to, but Ross gives me more chances than anyone in this town to be a successful commercial actor. The least I can do is do my best to make him look good. I think I did that today and I believe that will earn me a callback.

http://www.stephonfuller.com

Audition: “Progressive Insurance” @ Alyson Horn Casting. I think this was another good one for me…and these spots run ALL the time. One actor that was there has a Progressive commercial currently running. I thought it was a little odd that he was auditioning for this one too, but good for him I guess. He asked me if I was the limo driver from the first DIE HARD film…no, I’m still not him.

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Audition: “Medco” @ Joe Blake Casting. This was in and out, quick-fast. All we had to do was “very little”; which isn’t always easy for me. This time I think I was successful…and I think I’m right for it, actually perfect for it. – I expect a callback.

http://www.stephonfuller.com

I’ve got a busy day on tap and, fortunately, all of the appointment times are spaced out enough for me to make them without getting all stressed out.

Audition: “AT&T” @ Alyson Horn Casting. Wow, this went really well. I had a beautiful “wife” that I auditioned with that made want be in a relationship. Seriously!!! I wasn’t expecting it, but she touched me on the back of my neck and on my back…I don’t know, but I think women are incredible! All day! All of them…well, maybe not “all” of them, but a lot of them. So, on the 2nd take, I got to touch her, LOL! Fun stuff! In the spot we were the parents of 2 kids; that made it even more fun. I should get a callback on this one…hopefully with her.

Callback: “Keystone Light Beer” @ Francene Selkirk Casting. This was definitely one of the simplest callbacks I’ve ever been on. Truly, just a look and I hope I fit the bill. One of these days I’m going to book a commercial for Francene Selkirk’s office and I hope this is the one. She’s a really cool, actor-friendly lady. I like her.

Audition: “Walgreen’s” @ Ross Lacy Casting. Love auditioning at Ross Lacy’s office; one of the reasons is that he has great session runners. Today was no exception; I had a great time with the 4 other actors I went in with. Callbacks are next week – I plan to be there.

http://www.stephonfuller.com

Audition: “Keystone Beer” @ Francene Selkirk Casting. This went well; it was a little improv with my partner. I have a pretty good callback ratio at this office, but it’s time to book something…geez. It’s only been 11+ years that I’ve been going there.

On another note, I’ve finally decided to repost my writings into the proper “blog” thingy on my website. So now there will be 2 versions. One will be “My Long A** Bio” that reads forward like a book and the other will be “My Long A** Blog” that reads…well, like a blog. It’s going to take a while to repost the entire thing because it’s over 1500 separate entries and there is space to title each separate one. It’s been fun revisiting stuff I experienced from years and years ago. I’m tempted to rewrite some of it; just so it reads better and fix typos and stuff. Who am I kidding? I suck at writing, typing, plus my grammar is terrible. For now, I’ll just try to get it posted. Oh yeah, you can also do one of those RSS feeds. I guess that automatically notifies you of updates…I think. Here is the link – Stephon Fuller’s “My Long A** Blog…An Actor’s Journey”

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Audition/Callback: “Raytheon Ethics” @ Beth Holmes Casting. I was still asleep when I got this call from my agent this morning – recovering from working last night. It was a callback for an industrial. The best part of it for me was the banter before we actually auditioned. I’m finding that my improv skills are stellar and my ability to entertain in a very organic sense is right where it needs to be…now I have to figure out how to do it with scripted material, LOL!

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Audition: “Ci-Ci’s Pizza” @ Ross Lacy Casting. I walked out feeling good about my performance.

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