|
|
A Penny For Your Thoughts...
Beware the Eyebrows!
By Marco Antonio Rodriguez. © 2013
It’s been happening for several months… A perpetual motion of hopeful yet bothersome, “right of first refusals.” This is the industry term (also called “avails” in some markets) which means that, after a round of auditions and callbacks, the client is considering several folks for the job and will eventually decide on who they like… and who they like not. They have the right to give you the hopes of booking the job then take it away; the right to dangle the carrot then refuse the bite. Come on, little agent of mine… give me that booking call! Meanwhile, Let me bathe in a tub of self-pity and past due bills. Perhaps I’ll be forced, once again, to tackle the dreaded odd job in order to pay rent. Ay dios mío! If I have to mop another ballroom rehearsal dance floor inundated in tsunamis of sequin and body glitter, I shall commit a full-on Black Swan on the first samba dancer that shakes their shimmies my way!
I push forward and audition for yet another project: a national car commercial for the Spanish market. If booked, this commercial could potentially purge those pesky student loans for good! Prayer marathons and several baths of holy water later (I want this one bad!) another right of first refusal is born. My thoughts immediately go to the now habitual mantra: “I just know they’re gonna release me and give it to so and so who looks a helluva more Latino than this questionable Dominican with Middle-Eastern features.” Or… “I bet they’ll give it to so and so. He’s so much better looking than I am. They always book pretty types anyway and that’s not me.” I then place the following specific thought into my head: “Ya know… My agent has never done this but next time I audition and am put on right of first refusal, I have no desire to receive a phone call about anything other than an actual booking. If it’s not a booking then just send me an email.”
And so it is. Days of maddening nerves (and bags of pork rinds) later, my agent actually shoots me an email to inform that I’ve been released from the right of first refusal. No apologies. No “you’ll get the next one.” This kind of response has never happened. In my best Charlton Heston in the movie Soylent Green impression, I run up and down the neighborhood screaming: “It’s me! I’m manifesting this! SABOTAGE IS PEOPLE!” A call to the cops and a community pool filled with frightened children brings me to the realization that I’ve conditioned myself into believing each right of first refusal will turn into a “no booking” scenario and that is deadly in this business of entertainment. If I am to break this cycle of self-sabotage and pork rinds, the story in my head must change. Time for a mental laxative.
The disappointment of being so close on numerous occasions has created a virus of expectations and negative thought patterns. Perhaps I require celebrating a right of first refusal rather than resisting it. Celebrate that not only was I close to booking the job, there is also much more to be grateful for. I have a close unit of supportive family and friends, a well-rounded life that encompasses other things besides artistic endeavors: hiking, meditation, learning how to swim, family gatherings, charity work… And for the most part, I’ve become quite good at budget balancing. These so-called past-due bills are all manageable. In the last ten years I’ve booked quite a bit of work. Rarely have I been forced to take on the odd (body glitter mopping) job. This business is mostly about rejection so might as well focus on the positive that already surrounds me. Even if it’s just the fact that eggnog is back in season (Joy to the world!).
Most casting directors and agents look at a right of a first refusal as a positive. You’re being strongly considered for the booking, which means you’re doing something right. A quick moment to take in the rejection then shifting to a positive can set ourselves up to attract more of what we desire. When a negative thought arrives, become conscious of it. Honor it for a moment (or several days, for some of us) then change the story. Set up a gathering with friends. Do community service. Go for a run (just don’t run up and down near a community pool screaming like Charlton Heston). Put yourself in a place where it doesn’t matter because in the end, it really doesn’t.
You never know what exactly the client is specifically looking for. Most if not all the time, it has NOTHING to do with your talent or even your overall looks. I like to call this (cue over the top announcer voice): THE EYEBROW EFFECT! Sometimes it literally boils down to the eyebrows: “Hmm… If only his eyebrows were thinner. More defined. Less... burly.” “Let’s go with the guy who has the thinner eyebrows. Those eyebrows are more consumer friendly!” This actually happened, folks, and it proves the point of letting it go. Leave it in the audition room. You’ve done the best you could with all you’ve got. All those self-pity baths and bags of pork rinds are only gonna hurt... YOU!
The next audition comes up. Once again, right of first refusal. This time I distract the days of waiting by taking in a batch of funny movies, working on a new commentary (yep, this one), more swimming lessons… I get the phone call from the agent. No booking. It’s the moment of truth. I take a breath and decide to indulge in thirty-minutes of meditation. Upon my return from planet reality check, I compose an email to my agent expressing gratitude for their on-going services and sharing how much fun I had at the initial audition and callback. I had literally forgotten about the fun! A few days later my agent calls and says a client has booked me on a two-day shoot without even having to audition! I confess that in the interim, I’ve paid a visit to a nearby shopping mall. Hmm… I wonder how this client feels about threaded eyebrows? I bet there’s a positive in that. Somewhere…
It’s been happening for several months… A perpetual motion of hopeful yet bothersome, “right of first refusals.” This is the industry term (also called “avails” in some markets) which means that, after a round of auditions and callbacks, the client is considering several folks for the job and will eventually decide on who they like… and who they like not. They have the right to give you the hopes of booking the job then take it away; the right to dangle the carrot then refuse the bite. Come on, little agent of mine… give me that booking call! Meanwhile, Let me bathe in a tub of self-pity and past due bills. Perhaps I’ll be forced, once again, to tackle the dreaded odd job in order to pay rent. Ay dios mío! If I have to mop another ballroom rehearsal dance floor inundated in tsunamis of sequin and body glitter, I shall commit a full-on Black Swan on the first samba dancer that shakes their shimmies my way!
I push forward and audition for yet another project: a national car commercial for the Spanish market. If booked, this commercial could potentially purge those pesky student loans for good! Prayer marathons and several baths of holy water later (I want this one bad!) another right of first refusal is born. My thoughts immediately go to the now habitual mantra: “I just know they’re gonna release me and give it to so and so who looks a helluva more Latino than this questionable Dominican with Middle-Eastern features.” Or… “I bet they’ll give it to so and so. He’s so much better looking than I am. They always book pretty types anyway and that’s not me.” I then place the following specific thought into my head: “Ya know… My agent has never done this but next time I audition and am put on right of first refusal, I have no desire to receive a phone call about anything other than an actual booking. If it’s not a booking then just send me an email.”
And so it is. Days of maddening nerves (and bags of pork rinds) later, my agent actually shoots me an email to inform that I’ve been released from the right of first refusal. No apologies. No “you’ll get the next one.” This kind of response has never happened. In my best Charlton Heston in the movie Soylent Green impression, I run up and down the neighborhood screaming: “It’s me! I’m manifesting this! SABOTAGE IS PEOPLE!” A call to the cops and a community pool filled with frightened children brings me to the realization that I’ve conditioned myself into believing each right of first refusal will turn into a “no booking” scenario and that is deadly in this business of entertainment. If I am to break this cycle of self-sabotage and pork rinds, the story in my head must change. Time for a mental laxative.
The disappointment of being so close on numerous occasions has created a virus of expectations and negative thought patterns. Perhaps I require celebrating a right of first refusal rather than resisting it. Celebrate that not only was I close to booking the job, there is also much more to be grateful for. I have a close unit of supportive family and friends, a well-rounded life that encompasses other things besides artistic endeavors: hiking, meditation, learning how to swim, family gatherings, charity work… And for the most part, I’ve become quite good at budget balancing. These so-called past-due bills are all manageable. In the last ten years I’ve booked quite a bit of work. Rarely have I been forced to take on the odd (body glitter mopping) job. This business is mostly about rejection so might as well focus on the positive that already surrounds me. Even if it’s just the fact that eggnog is back in season (Joy to the world!).
Most casting directors and agents look at a right of a first refusal as a positive. You’re being strongly considered for the booking, which means you’re doing something right. A quick moment to take in the rejection then shifting to a positive can set ourselves up to attract more of what we desire. When a negative thought arrives, become conscious of it. Honor it for a moment (or several days, for some of us) then change the story. Set up a gathering with friends. Do community service. Go for a run (just don’t run up and down near a community pool screaming like Charlton Heston). Put yourself in a place where it doesn’t matter because in the end, it really doesn’t.
You never know what exactly the client is specifically looking for. Most if not all the time, it has NOTHING to do with your talent or even your overall looks. I like to call this (cue over the top announcer voice): THE EYEBROW EFFECT! Sometimes it literally boils down to the eyebrows: “Hmm… If only his eyebrows were thinner. More defined. Less... burly.” “Let’s go with the guy who has the thinner eyebrows. Those eyebrows are more consumer friendly!” This actually happened, folks, and it proves the point of letting it go. Leave it in the audition room. You’ve done the best you could with all you’ve got. All those self-pity baths and bags of pork rinds are only gonna hurt... YOU!
The next audition comes up. Once again, right of first refusal. This time I distract the days of waiting by taking in a batch of funny movies, working on a new commentary (yep, this one), more swimming lessons… I get the phone call from the agent. No booking. It’s the moment of truth. I take a breath and decide to indulge in thirty-minutes of meditation. Upon my return from planet reality check, I compose an email to my agent expressing gratitude for their on-going services and sharing how much fun I had at the initial audition and callback. I had literally forgotten about the fun! A few days later my agent calls and says a client has booked me on a two-day shoot without even having to audition! I confess that in the interim, I’ve paid a visit to a nearby shopping mall. Hmm… I wonder how this client feels about threaded eyebrows? I bet there’s a positive in that. Somewhere…