Almost a month went by, a month full of acting lessons and auditions to which I didn't get a call back from. It started with Sophie and I going to a meeting with the management office board to add acting to my list of contracts. I signed a couple papers and I was free to begin auditioning for any role I could get my hands on. Sophie advised that I start off with shows, making small appearances or cameos, or just background acting.
I auditioned for a few different shows, but I was brutally rebuffed. I thought it was because they all knew I'd never acted a day in my life, so I started taking up lessons. I think they helped a lot, but we'll know for sure after my next audition. A months worth of acting classes and I was feeling very confident this time around. Sophie got me an audition for a side role in an upcoming movie, the character is a close friend of the main female role. The movie itself was described as a romantic drama about a woman who is about to get married to a perfect-on-paper guy, but an old flame enters her life again and she has to choose between them. It's called The Ultimatum. They sent me an excerpt from the script after Sophie hooked me up with an audition, and the day had finally come.
I wore a white button up shirt with the front tucked into a pair of blue jeans. I couldn't decide if I should wear heels or sneakers. I figured I'd like to be comfortable during the audition, it was already a stressful situation and I didn't want the pinching pain of heels to make it worse. I put my dark brown hair into a low ponytail and accessorized with gold jewelry. I hated wearing bracelets, so I stuck with earrings and a necklace. Rings were okay sometimes, but I wasn't feeling it today.
I wanted to drive myself to the audition to give myself a little feeling of normalcy, I thought it would help calm my nerves. Driving was always therapeutic for me for some reason, it gave me time to clear my head.
I finally arrived at the address my manager had sent me, and took a deep breath before getting out of my car. I really wanted this role, I liked the character I was auditioning for as well as the plot of the movie too. I hoped that these lessons paid off.
I sat in the waiting room which was full of other people who were there for the same reason I was. Out of anxiety I bounced my leg and I couldn't stop until my name was called for me to go in the room that the casting directors were in. I quickly stood up and stepped into the next room over.
"Hello." The woman sitting in between two men at a table set in front of me said. She was the only woman in the room, and the only one who spoke to me the entire time. I assumed she was the one calling the shots around here. I glanced at her name tag that was propped upon the table, it read Lucy Richards. "It says here you're auditioning for..." she paused as she adjusted her glasses and looked down at a packet of papers ahead of her. "Marnie. Is this correct?"
I nodded. "Yes."
She placed the packet back down on the table and looked up at me with piercing blue eyes. She was an older woman, but I could tell she was tough. "Alright then. Start from line 37."
**********
A week and a half had gone by and I hadn't heard anything from the last audition I went to. I was beginning to lose hope. I needed some cheering up so I invited Chloe over to talk. "Maybe I really do suck at acting." I joked.
Chloe laughed in response, and took a sip of wine from her glass. "Maybe it has nothing to do with you." She suggested.
"What if all I'm good for is being a model, Chlo?"
"You can do whatever you want. Why are you going to let a little rejection keep you from doing it?"
I sighed. "I've been to 15 auditions... not one of them have called me back."
"Do you know how many times J.K. Rowling got rejected for Harry Potter before it became an actual book? A lot. And I know she's not necessarily a good example of a person but she was very persistent." She retaliated.
Chloe always had a way of saying just the right things to make me feel better. "I'm just wondering if this was a good idea."
"Well Sophie did warn you that it was gonna be hard. Don't bail just yet, okay? I want to see my best friend on the big screen one day."
I had known Chloe O'Conner since I was just starting out on social media. Her following was much bigger than mine, and I looked up to her style and ambition. So it was only natural that we became friends. Right now I'm going back and forth between modeling and acting because I'm searching for something more, but Chloe was born for this. The first time I came to a fashion show she was in I remember thinking 'wow, it's like she was made for this'. The way she talks about modeling was so inspiring to me. I was a little bit jealous at the fact that she was so passionate about her career. I wished that I felt the same way about modeling as she did, but I grew tired of it very quickly.
Chloe left my apartment later that night,
She had things to do early in the morning and needed to get her sleep. I decided to put on a movie I knew would distract me. 13 going on 30 was one of my go-to's. I looked at the black walls in my spacious living room. I desperately needed to decorate, my place was too modern and cold. Unfortunately I never have time to go decor shopping, so my walls will have to stay blank for a while.
My phone rang and when I looked at the screen I saw Sophie's contact photo appear. I answered and held the phone to my ear. "Hello?" I said.
"You've got a callback!" She announced almost impossible after I spoke.
My mind blanked for a second because I couldn't believe what I was hearing. "What?"
"Lucy Richards, the casting director for The Ultimatum called me earlier today and said she wants you to go in for a second audition."
"Oh my god, when?"
"The day after tomorrow."
I pulled my eyebrows together, that was not enough time for me to prepare myself. "Why so soon?" I asked.
"She said they need to start filming soon if they want to finish the movie in time for the set release date, she needs to finalize her casting list asap." Sophie answered.
It made sense, but I was growing more nervous by the second. "Okay."
"Are you alright?"
I exhaled slowly. "Yes, just scared. This hasn't happened before."
"You're right, it hasn't." She agreed. "So don't mess it up, this is what you want isn't it?"
"Yes."
"Then you're gonna do great."
She told me to get some sleep, so we ended the call and I tried my hardest to watch my movie and think about anything but my upcoming audition. It was extremely difficult, even with Mark Ruffalo's handsome face on my tv.