By Ched Rickman · July 6, 2010
So I haven’t exactly been producing lately, as far as this blog goes. Usually, something so infinitely stupid but painfully familiar occurs to me at an audition, that I’m inspired to craft yet another profanity-laden diatribe against the human race. But lately, I can’t find much to write about because, well, I haven’t been doing much acting or even auditioning to act.
There’s this thing in L.A. called “June Gloom.” This is a meteorological phenomenon that can easily be described as “it’s cloudy in the morning, then it clears up and is back to normal, sunny, beautiful, Southern California by noon.” People out here use June Gloom as an excuse to complain about the weather, which is preposterous, but they do it anyway. So anyway, there’s this phenomenon known as June Gloom which, I think, really applies more to the auditioning biz around this time of year. Really, it’s been painfully slow since about April. I used to go on AT LEAST one audition a week, usually more like two or even three, and that’s not counting the callbacks or third auditions I would sometimes earn. I was pretty busy, even if I wasn’t necessarily working; I was getting out there a lot, which is part of the battle. But, since April 11, when I got back into town from a long vacation back home, I have auditioned, oh, I don’t know,…five or six times?
I guess I shouldn’t complain. I have always suspected I had a better than average representation situation, especially considering this is my first and only representation situation. I have stood by and listened to colleagues and friends bemoan their lack of action, silently biting my lip and subconsciously thanking the fates that I could not, honestly, empathize with them. In the three years I’ve been repped, this is my first significant lull, and I’m not really freaking out or complaining about anything, but when you go from 60 to 0 in a month’s time, you notice. The fact that this is the first time this has ever happened does make it more peculiar, however.
I keep telling myself it is the natural ebb and flow of the town; TV is for the most part stagnant and shitty over the summer, all of the summer blockbuster tie-in commercials have long since been shot, and the big dogs in the business essentially get like a school’s summer vacation, so that lack of action trickles down to the small fish, too. But maybe I’ve been out on so many auditions in the months preceding that the town and casting agents I’ve come across are getting over-saturated with the Ched. Maybe it’s time I finally cave and get new headshots. I recently put up a new reel. What can I do to get more work?!
Maybe in the future this will become a major concern of mine and I’ll write a profanity-laden diatribe against humanity regarding it, but for now, I’m actually just enjoying my spare time. Sure, I still have my day job which requires a decent amount of commitment and obligation, but I’m no longer leaving work several times a week for several hours a day, causing me to constantly shift my schedule of coming in early and staying late, or not coming in at all. I’m making consistent paychecks from work nowadays and I’m appreciating the weekends more so, because I’m working normal, “9 to 5” workdays. I make plans for Saturdays and Sundays. I go do and see new things around town. I’m catching up with somewhat distant friends and I’m getting — when I allow myself to — decent sleep for once. Add to that the regular influx of pocket-padding residual checks, and I’m enjoying this summer like I’m in high school again.
So maybe I should be a little more hungry and desperate and in need of auditioning or acting gigs. But they’ll come. You gotta roll with what this town throws at you, the good (obviously), the bad, and the plain ol’ nothing.
But what the fuck would I know, I’m just an actor.
