Well, dear readers, I just wrote almost the entirety of these here notes and in a very unusual move, I hadn’t been saving as I wrote, which I ALWAYS do. And guess what. The computer had one of its freeze episodes and I lost it all. This damn Word thing is supposed to go into recovery mode and save at least some of what you were doing, but the fact is, the computer must have frozen before I began writing, otherwise I have to think something would have been recovered. And yes, just reading up on it, it’s supposed to Auto Save every three minutes, but I guess it simply froze before it ever Auto Saved and once frozen it allowed me to keep writing until I actually tried to use a different function, at which point I got the spinning beach ball and had to shut down. And, of course, the Time Machine back up was from an hour ago before I’d begun. I’m disgusted and have no damn energy to write all this crap anew. Here are the damn highlights, I suppose.
We had our first day of casting, the Equity open call, known as the EPA. I did a whole history of it and how it works in New York, but LA actors are something wholly other and we had all of fifty show up. You’d think just the chance to audition for the biggest theater casting director in LA would be enough to get them there, but no. You’d think auditioning for a general manager who works ALL the time, or a musical director who works ALL the time, or a stage manager who works ALL the time, or me and I’ve done a thing or two, but no. We saw some very talented folks, some of whom we’re calling back. And we actually cast one role because the young fellow was so right and did such a good job and had such a unique presence – there was no question in my mind and he couldn’t come to the callbacks because he’s filming, so I just said let’s just cast him and everyone heartily agreed. I knew a few folks so that was fun. The truth is, I hate auditions – frankly, I’d rather use people I know and am comfortable with, but that wouldn’t work for this show – at all. I just find the whole thing very awkward and I usually just sit quietly and let the other people behind the table talk. If I know someone I might say a few words. At the appointment auditions I’ll sometimes engage the actor in conversation so I can see them not trying to perform – to see how real they are and what their personality is. We have some very good people coming in today and tomorrow.
We did take a lunch break – went down the street to Mucho Mas where we had a fun lunch. I had a taco and enchilada. After we finished, I went directly to the Rite-Aid that has my beloved cherry chip ice cream. They’d just gotten in a new batch of freshly packed gallons – the ones I’ve been getting over the last month were packed last November. These were all packed at the beginning of April. I bought three of ‘em and then came home.
Once home, I had some popcorn as my snack and then a nice big serving of cherry chip. Then I had a long telephonic conversation with Richard Sherman – he’s in good spirits and getting stronger every day and I’ll be visiting him next week. We have lots to catch up on and I’m looking forward to it very much. I had one other long conversation, then sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night I watched the first forty minutes of Blow Up, a film I was very fond of when it came out. This is a new Criterion Blu and Ray with a very nice transfer. I’ll finish it tonight and have more to say, I’m sure.
Today, I have to be up by eight to do a few things prior to moseying on over to our first day of appointment auditions. (This is where the computer had to be shut down and damn them, damn them all to hell – I think it’s time to go to the new operating system where this BS will hopefully not continue to happen.) We’re seeing quite a few people, several of whom I know and have worked with, so that will be fun. After that, I’ll come directly home and relax and catch up on stuff.
Tomorrow is our second day of appointment auditions. Then we’ll assess and Saturday is our callback day. Sunday, let me tell you, is a ME day. Then next week I have a lot to do and attend to, with lots of meetings and meals and such, plus all the Kritzerland show stuff, and maybe preparing a new release announcement if all goes according to Hoyle.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do a few morning things, I must attend our first day of appointment auditions, eat, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What is the absolute worst thing that’s ever happened to you when using the damn computer? Let’s hear all the horror stories, because I’m still fuming. I have never in many years lost an entire document like this, and if this had happened when I was writing a book I would have stomped this computer to death. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy the EPAs are over and still mind-boggled about the low attendance from actors who bellyache all the time that there isn’t enough paying Equity work in LA. These are full Equity contracts, four weeks of work and insurance weeks. I gotta tell you. And UNhappy that I had to completely write the notes over because the damn computer froze before I wrote one word, but allowed me to then write words even though I was writing them on thin air.