Thursday, June 18, 2009

You never know when a couple of crazy producers might be looking for you....

Last Friday at work I spent almost all day in a casting session. We were auditioning lots and lots of people for a couple of very last minute television commercial for company X, that we then shot on Monday and Tuesday this week. We saw lots of great actors - I was particularly happy about one particular couple who were going to play a certain role during Monday morning's shoot.

Fast forward to Monday. We had a large crew on site (about 2 hours out of Brisbane), and I'm waiting for Mr. Y - the male half of the starring couple - to arrive on set. He was late. I got out the mobile and started calling. He wasn't answering the either of his phones, and when I finally got on to his agent, I found out that he'd been in a car accident! So he wasn't going to be there after all (he was okay, but his car was totaled). It costs a lot of money to shoot, and we had the whole crew there (on the clock) and the female actor, and Brisbane (and the other male characters) was at least 2 hours away...

So my boss and I found ourselves driving through small town Z looking for trendy young guys who might be good at acting. It involved us splitting up, and stalking rows of shops/offices: Open door, stick head in, look from side to side, realize for the umpteenth time that only older-not-so-good-looking-guys work in town Z, close the door again, and move on to the next shop/office.

We met up at the local newspaper office, and asked them about trendy young guys. The giggling receptionist and her friend (over the partition) told us the podiatrist next door was hot, so we went next door. He wasn't there, but his mobile number was on the side of the building. We called him. He assured us that he was indeed hot, but that he was in Brisbane for the day. We asked if he had any hot friends. He told us he did, and gave us a phone number. So we called the hot friend - Mr H. He was down the street from us at the store, so we went to see if he really was as hot as the podiatrist had said. We all said hi, we looked him up and down, asked him to take his sunglasses off so we could see his face, and decided that he was indeed young and trendy enough to be in our ad.

He was very excited. The money was very good, but he only had 1 and a half hours to spare. So we followed him to his house (around the corner), and up into his bedroom so we could look through his wardrobe and help him pick out a couple of outfits that would work well. Then we drove like crazy people to the set, where he then spent the next hour picking up the very pretty actress and twirling her around and around. Mr. H seemed to have a very nice morning. I think his favourite part was the moment when the director yelled out to the actress "Good! now kiss him on the cheek". Turs out Mr. H wasn't too bad at acting at all.

So all that casting, with all of those actors, and we went with the the man off the street!

Mr. H enjoyed his lucky break, and he's now caught the bug. He emailed me yesterday asking if I could recommend a good talent agent for him...

xo Tammy

16 comments:

Sandy M. said...

I didn't know you went into his bedroom, Tammy Lorna Munro!

It's a shame Dad was too.. busy. And the twins too young. But I know that Jonny is a little miffed that you didn't pull him out of dental school and fly him over :)

This story is a hoot!

ps I think Jonny would like to put his name forward as a potential agent too... :)

Erika Hill said...

This is a fantastic story! I read it to Brent, and he laughed out loud! I especially love imagining this conversation:

"Hi, are you the podiatrist from Address B?"
"Why yes, I am..."
"Good. I'm a producer for a television commercial. Are you hot?"

emilysuze said...

Your stories are the absolute best.

Tammy Lorna said...

Erika - the scary thing is that that's pretty much how the conversation went! :)

And you'd know too, because I know you've had your fair share of very similar days :) "So the electrical cable kind of exploded, which is why there's a giant burn mark in your carpet.... but we think it gives your house a little something extra...." :)

xo Tammy

charrette said...

Hahaha! Shamelessly tracking down hot guys suddenly becomes respectable when you're a producer? ( Hard to imagine hot podiatrist, but I guess all things are possible.) Great story!

Oliver said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Oliver said...

So let me get this straight....

All I have to do is be my usual hot self and spend my days walking around on the street outside your office for me to be able to get my big break, at which point i will be able to hire Jonny as my agent (on my terms not his!) and then i can go on to be rich and famous?

If this is true then i promise to always tell everyone that your company was the wonderful company that had the compassion to give me a try :)

Could you please pass that on to your boss for me?

Ta

Ben Munro said...

the only problem i see in your plan oliver is if i try out for the part because i'm soo much better looking then you... sorry

Abby said...

I love the extended version of this story - the one that includes the podiatrist lol. I also love that the 'actor' emailed you asking you to recommend a great agent. I bet his podiatrist friend thinks this is hilarious.

Are you going to tell J.Shipshape? (turkey, ham and avacado sandwhich on wholegrain bread - I'll need it within 30 seconds because I'm leaving in 5 minutes). I bet G. had a fun day. James may have been willing to be in it, but I know there was the problem of you guys not shooting in black and white. Plus he wouldn't have taken less than $25000..

Will the commercial air in Brisbane??

xo

Jess said...

Any time you want a brunette actress you can ask me! I would love to be in a commercial. I always wanted to be an actree, but pity the lifestyle isn't the greatest. I'm sure Jonny won't oppose to staring in anything either :)

Jess said...

or Jenna Too!!!!

emilysuze said...

You'll have to tell your wonderful mum that I un-privated my blog. It was annoying me that it didn't tell people when I had written something new and then I was never getting comments. It was very sad.

Peta said...

I love your stories...keep them coming :)

Abby said...

Tammy quick! - Post! Before you fall into 'Tammy who doesn't blog land'!!! :) xo

Kaili Ittensohn said...

Hahaha, what a hoot! You have the best job Tammy! Who can complain about scouting for good looking men for commercials? You can add talent scout to the resume. I bet the podiatrist wishes he had stayed in town!

Justin said...

Yes I am a sinner for not having read this post until JUST NOW.,,but can I just say it's the best casting story I have heard? Dreams really DO come true in Oz...

PS--The burn in the carpet added a tremendous lot. I still look at my film and think, gee, I am sure pleased with whoever brought that smoky haze to set--it does wonders for the scene ;)

PPS--Every once in a while I hear a country song in a store (yes, even in New York), and I am swept away to an old camper trailer in the middle of a dusty lot where we are slowly going mad. Just the other day I heard the "sky divin', rocky mountain climbin'--I went 2.7 seconds on a bull named Fu Manchu"