5 Auditions in one day! LA suddenly turned busy!

To say I was unprepared is an understatement. To say that it was unexpected is also an understatement. Completely out of the blue the castings kept on coming in, 1 after the other and before I knew it I had 5 for the day, which for guys is pretty much unheard of, especially in recent times. It also gave me a great chance to get out and about and meet some new clients that I haven't met before. I thought I would go through each casting to show you all in more detail what happens during these castings. As there were 5 of them, they all are often extremely different to each other.

Before my day began, I had to plan out my day and ensure I would make every single one of my castings on time. This is all well and good before the day begins, but in LA, you never know what will creep up. The traffic is often horrendous and the waiting times at some castings here are unbelievable, so you always need to be prepared for a bit of day.


(First casting of the day for True Religion, in Compton)

Early start this one having to drive down to Compton to see True Religion. Got to the building at just after 10am the start of the call time, and was introduced to the client and photographer very briefly. They took my portfolio to look through and gave me jeans and t shirt to try on. Unfortunately for me the jeans were too big, but the t shirt fit perfectly, which gave me some optimism. I had a few shots taken of me in the clothes, but a very sombre reaction was received from the clients which certainly didn't fulfil me with any confidence.
That was it, changed and out the door and on to my next one. Very little hope for this one it has to be said. On to do some filming for my girlfriends show reel and then to the next casting.


(Second Casting of the Day Wrangler Jeans, West Hollywood)

Another denim brand this time for Wrangler. I arrived a bit after my call time to find the clients had gone on lunch and wouldn't be back for 45 minutes! With a busy day ahead, I had to change my plans and go to my other castings and return later in the day for this one. It is something that happens a lot during busy days, and that is why you need to ensure you are always flexible with your times.
When I went back, I was lead to one of the room where they were casting all types of people, women and children included for this. I was again given a pair of jeans and a t-shirt to wear, and once again they didn't fit :-( too big once more. I tried not to let it bother me and when I got the opportunity to speak t the clients, I was just my usual chatty self. It is great to get a good rapport with the clients and we certainly had that (probably more down to the accent than me, but hey...ha). A few pictures taken and some positive comments and feedback and the casting was over.
Maybe I might not be right for this job, but hopefully they keep me in mind for anything in the future.


(3rd casting for Millers Beer Print Ad, Hollywood)

The shortest of the 3 castings, and one that had such a familiarity to the way they organise castings in this city. It was short and simple. Just in the room, no book, no clients, just a cameraman, acting as the casting director, taking 3 different shots of me and that was it. Could I possibly gage from this whether it went well? No. Not much more to say on this one at all, so was on to the next casting.


(4Th Casting for Maybelline, commercial, Hollywood)

This was for Maybelline, yes the female cosmetics company! I am not turning into a cross dresser I promise you all ha. It's as the male accompaniment in the commercial. This one required a bit more waiting time, but a very simple casting, extremely similar to the previous one. I had to be topless and bottomless for this though, only my boxers on! Another thing in castings that happens a lot and that I am very used too. Time to tense the stomach and a few quick snaps and that was another casting over. Again very difficult to read as there were no clients in the room at all. The only way to gage is by looking around at the competition in the room and try not to feel inferior to any muscle bound LA guys that were there too!
On to the last casting.


(5Th Casting for a camera company I don't know, was kept secret, Hollywood)

The final one was for a commercial for a camera company, but it was all very secretive, as we had to sign a confidentiality form before hand about this casting, something I am probably breaking right now, but hey! ha. A frustrating casting at the start as there were hardly anyone there, but yet the wait was extremely long, very close to 45 minutes. The reason being we were being paired up with someone from the opposite sex and so had to wait until more females arrived.
When it was my turn I went into the room with a girl who looked like she had been on drugs all weekend, a proper state! Gutted. We had to act like we were taking pictures of each other and doing silly poses and that was it. Relaxed, fun to a certain extent and casting over.
Again no gage as to whether it went well or not. Finally home time!

I hope that has given you all an insight into what happens during my auditions out here.