I brought about three different styles of outfits and decided to wait until I saw a kid before I chose what outfits we would put on the boys. Parking was tricky and I forgot to bring change for meters, I guess I just assumed there would be a parking lot. Take note for future reference: if you know in advance where you're going, call the company and find out about the parking situation- it can be the ONE thing that makes you late. Fortunately there was a parking space close by on a residential street. We saw a couple dressing a kid and there was my cue- I knew what outfit I was going to pick.
Approaching the building, we encountered a man with two dogs entering the elevator. One of the dogs actually charged me and all I could think about was raising the kid in my arms as high as I could- thank goodness he wasn't tall. No later than the man could get the dog back into the elevator, I chose to take the stairs.
We approached a room with many people, many adult actors and little babies. A man was coming in an out of room, calling people's names and collecting papers, then going back into the room. The amount of people in the room in combination with the large glass panels made for a rather hot room.
I fill out the contact sheets and sign in and wait. People pretty much keep to themselves, after all, they're basically competing for the same part. The man is still calling names and going back into the room, occasionally bringing people in. After fake smiles shared between glances and beads of sweat collecting, I noticed my friend has one of kids in a cooler part of the room. We ended up sitting on the floor with small toys I brought, playing and being more comfortable. I was surprised that other moms didn't bring toys with them, especially the moms who had twins. I bring a bag of toys with me EVERYWHERE. Its a stress reliever.
Kids from around the room started to migrate towards the small pile and before I knew it, there were about 4-5 other kids playing with the boys. It was nice to see the casual, shallow environment transform a playful interactive one. I was calm, and talkative, you know I'm comfortable when you can't shut me up. Before I knew it, I'm giving advise to moms about headshots and agencies. Different moms were asking me questions and I somehow came up with answers. Thank goodness they didn't ask me how long I've been working with the boys, if they knew it was my first audition they would probably disqualify everything I said.
The man finally called the boys' names. I whisked Dominic and Nathaniel in both my arms and started the audition. A simple camera mounted on a dolly tripod snapped a few shots of the boys sitting next to each other and individually in my arms. The only comment the man really made was that he thought the boys looked like they knew what they were doing. They put on the charm and kept smiling at the camera. It was over almost as soon as it began. If the man takes notes after each session, I'm sure he'd make note of the easy going temperament of the boys.
Now its the sit and wait game. In the hour and fifteen minutes I was waiting, there must have been a total of about 12 babies. Who knows how long they were seeing people. I hear no news is bad news. We'll let you know how it turns out. Fingers crossed.
