recollections

A fellow actor recently reminded me of a situation that all actors face at one time or another -- a casting call gone awry.

My story is simple enough but with no happy ending. A woman had placed an ad looking for people, and was very general in her post. It was an open casting call, (or cattle call as I've mentioned somewhere here before) and I took a chance on it, despite the lateness of the casting call time. I had only done one other late night casting call and for that, I got an actual paying gig out of it. So despite my initial misgivings, I ignored my inner voice and decided why not.

When I got there, there was no surefire way of knowing I was at the right spot. I showed the address to a person who worked at the place next door and they had no idea as to where that address would be located. I had arrived a good almost half hour early, so I waited patiently and glanced around to see who else would be showing up. No one came up or down the street unless it was to walk to the other end of the block and cross that street. No one went into any buildings on that block unless it was to the bar that I was sitting in waiting.

Two women furtively came out, pointing and smiling towards me as if they were observing me. Then they disappeared as I walked towards them. I waited another fifteen minutes then another five when I went to stand outside to see if any line had started forming. No one was there.

I found it very odd. I reluctantly went home and checked my email, since no one knew what I was talking about and I had a feeling I had just been played. The address was the one I had been given by this woman in a prior communication. Odd. I emailed a note to the woman, stating that there must have been a miscommunication as I was at the location and no one showed up. I never got a response to clear things up. When I relayed this later to a friend, I was advised that it may have been a scam as not much information could be found online about this woman.

I wanted to know why all the secrecy and drama and why waste my money. I had thought about writing her up and reporting her but I had no idea as to how to go about it. Then I recalled an incident where an actor wrote in their blog about a situation that they were displeased about regarding a casting call and that's when a lightbulb went up.

So Jennifer Kastner, if you really are an agent and legit at that, why haven't you responded to my inquiry? Why do I have a feeling it was you standing there checking me out wth your friend like we were right out of high school? I'm a professional actor looking for work, so why are you wasting my hard earned transportation money and time standing around waiting in a bar location for you? Then NOT answer my inquiring follow-up email?

Whew. Glad to get that out in the open.