Aw, Nuts

I'm so bloody clever. (listening to: "Untitled I" by Keane)

So, last week I sent out three packets consisting of two headshots, a resume and a cover letter to three of the local talent agencies. Monday, I got a call from Nuts asking if I would come in for an audition. For representation. Today.

This is a stressful enough weekend as it is, and to have this looming over my head today is both wonderful and terrible. There was a story "they" made us read in primary school about this knight who wanted to marry the princess. The king was an evil king, and made all suitors pass a test. He would place the knight in an arena with two doors. Behind one of the doors was the princess. Behind the other, a dragon. If the knight opened the door to the princess, he would be able to marry her. If he opened the door to the dragon... well...

I kinda feel like that. I feel like I've got my hand on the door, and I'm about to open it, knowing that I could just as easily find the dragon behind it. Or, if you prefer a somewhat less medieval analogy: Remember those movies where the bomb is about to go off, and the guy has the pair of scissors, and he's got one of the wires and is about to cut it... yeah. It's like that.

I guess I'm not really sure what I'm nervous about. I mean, I've been acting somewhat successfully in this town for about three years now, and I never had an agent. Now that one is in the possible future, if I falter and don't get an offer, does that really harm me in any way? Specifically, I suppose my thinking is that if an agency sees nothing special in me, my chances of actually making a living doing this in the future are greatly diminished. And that's what I want. I want to be able to just do what I'm good at for the rest of my life. I don't think that's too much to ask.

========UPDATE==========
A summary of my audition.

Went in there with two women, Cindy* and Ruth* (All names have been changed). Talked a bit about whatever, then we went in to the office. It's Myself, two girls, and two other guys, none of whom I know. We chat for a bit about what an agent is, what they do, what to expect and what not. Then, it's time for the on-camera audition. So, there's a stack of copy on the desk, and we're told to pick a commercial and an industrial (usually a training video of some time, but not always). I choose the industrial with some guy talking about how a store displays merchandise, and a commercial about buying auto parts. One of the women goes in ahead of me, and I run over the scripts as I wait my turn.
At the last minute, I change my mind about the commercial choice, and choose a Timber Lodge Steakhouse commercial. I walk into the "studio," and one of the other agents is filming with Cindy there as well. He's watching the Twins game on gamecast. :^)
I stand in front of the camera, we chat a bit about my experience on camera (almost nothing) say my name, and do my first read. The steak commercial. Let's see what I can remember:

We here at Timber Lodge Steakhouse know that some of you out there really love our steaks. So much so that you're giving them away as holiday gifts. You come in, order a steak and shrimp platter to go, as if we have gift wrap, and then return home and place it under the tree. We cannot stress enough that this is not a good idea. First of all, the wrapping paper smashes down the sour cream on the baked potato, and the traditional shaking of the package before opening really ruins the artful presentation. Not to mention the problems this might cause in houses with dogs. Might we suggest a simpler solution? Gift cards.

Then it wraps up with more name dropping.
Now, as I said, I'm not the first person to go. The girl before me was in there for like 10 minutes, and I could hear her read, and then re-read, and on and on. I finish my read, and the guy says, "Ok. What's your other one."
...I'm not sure how to take this. I do my other one, and it's short. So, when I finish, the guy isn't looking at me. He's reading my resume. He realizes I'm done, and he looks up, stops the camera and says,

Him:"Madjai. You NEED to get into ear prompting."
Me: "I took a class on it in college."
Him: "You got the equipment?"
Me: "No."
Him: "Buy it. Today. You've got the right look and presence for it, and you'll get a ton of work. Give [prominent twin cities actor] a run for his money."
Me: [ silent, big shit-eating grin ]
Him: "Yeah. You're done. We'll see yo-- you'll get a letter from us."

Explanation: Ear prompting is big in industrials. There's so much script, and no time to memorize, so you record your lines on a tape, and then you wear an earwig which plays it back. You talk along with your recording.
It's... fucking hard.

So, yeah.. I think that went well.

END TRANSMISSION...