Food Fight!

Friday while at work I got a 1(410) text. In other words, an alert that there is a new audition for one of the girls. Never know which one it'll be for, until it pops up in their email. It was for Madison for laundry detergent. Great, maybe they'll teach her how to get stains out of her clothes. The description called for Daughter 4-6, Caucasian. Real with character to very character. They must be good with dialogue and able to learn 1 or 2 lines of copy. I have learned that Mads can learn lines. She has a steel trap memory. Audition on Saturday afternoon. What?! Okay.

Apparently, the tiny casting office was doing multiple castings at once. So you had Asian couples, young men in suits and girls. Lots of little girls. A lot! Or so it seemed, because of how small the space is. For every 4 "big girls" (age 9-11), there was only 1 "younger" girl (age 4-6). Madison got paired with two "olders" to play her sisters, and they went in as the second group. When she came out she told me that "this was the funnest audition" ever for her. I asked what they did in the audition. "Mommy, we had a food fight with cookie dough!" What?! "Mommy, it was pretend cookie dough. And I got to start the fight."

Callbacks are not until the end of May. Time to stop thinking about it....

Guitar Hero

Madison has taken 18 guitar lessons to date. Her favorite artist is Taylor Swift, followed closely by Pink! Her teacher Stephanie Pickard has been amazingly patient with our 5 year old! Pretty sure she's either an angel or a saint. Regardless, they are great together! They are currently writing a song together.

You want a Blonde? Are you sure?

After almost five years in this business, here is what I have learned about casting in Los Angeles. Casting Directors look for brown haired, brown eyed, ambiguous ethnicity kids to play to many demographics. My kids do not fit the mold, at all. My girls are blonde haired, blue eyed. They DO NOT get auditions regularly. They do not work. Between 18 months and three and a half years, it's a rarity. So when we received a new audition notice for Morgan, who is almost 2 1/2, I almost jumped out of my skivvies in excitement.

Morgan and I hustled our booties down to Taylor Casting, which happens to be in a building with a play area. Um, they know what they are doing! Morgan got in front of the camera and looked for the fairy...but when she is in front of the camera she yells "Cheese" and smiles. G-d bless her little heart. She tried to be serious, but it wasn't going to happen. Met Katie Taylor, who is just the loveliest lady, who is wonderful with everyone that comes in.

Loved seeing all the blonde littles getting a chance to be seen! Morgan told me after "Fun, momma!" Happy to hear those words!

Pilot Season : New Territory for Us!

Pilot season is in full swing here in Los Angeles, and I just watched "The Hollywood Complex" documentary. I've never experienced the drama that comes with our activity of auditions. To us it's just like going to dance or swim lessons, just another thing to do after school.

Today we received cMail, which we've never gotten. Apparently, Mads was called in to audition for a 2013-14 NBC pilot. And the character has dialogue. What?! And this audition is a PRE-READ with Casting. So I rushed and got a sitter for Morgan, and then sat down for 15 minutes with Madison to learn her lines. And boy, were they intense...something about killing her mother. What?! Then we headed out and continued to practice.

We got to Linda Lowy Casting which was at a studio. Amazing experience just walking through. A little spark hit Madison. Excitement. We went in, and she read with John Brace. Lovely gentleman. It was a huge experience for us both. I'm proud of my little bug.

Search Engine

Don't know if it's an age thing, but seems to be picking up for Madison on the audition scene. She had another one at House Casting yesterday. She had a couple of lines that she learned the day before. She went in with a "dad," but for the first time ever she showed hesitation and a little trepidation. Very unlike Madison. But we all have been sick with the stomach bug, flu and everything else. She hasn't seen the light of day in weeks it seems like.

When they came out of the audition, the "dad" said she was a different kid and was totally fine. Great. Proud of her.

Totally Behind!

Okay, so Madison didn't get the Polish role. Go figure, a Polish girl doesn't book a Polish role. Such is life.

The holidays came and went, and they were lovely and quiet. The girls made out like bandits and are still recounting Disneyland on Christmas day!!

Madison had an audition on Tuesday for a commercial spot.

The description is as follows: The girl needs to be wide eyed, inquisitive, have a sparkle in her eyes that makes us know that she is going to be the type of person that will always engage in life, go into it with gusto, she will be successful, whether growing up to be a stay at home mom, a business person, or whatever she chooses. She must have a wonderful smile that lest us know she is embarking on this journey feeling secure and safe.

We got to Santa Monica to a "new" casting office. New at least for us. We went in, signed in and Mads went in with another little girl almost immediately. First kid out of the audition was a little ginger girl with crazy hair who was with grandma. That little girl was so rude to her grandma, that I wanted to call her out...but they left. Instead, Momma got to sit and listen to Lily's mother be obnoxious and annoying. Apparently, Lily had food (oranges) in her teeth, so mom gave a play-by-play while looking for dental floss in her purse. Well, she couldn't find it. So she used her fingers to pick stuff out of Lily's teeth. I am now slightly gagging. Next, Lily's mom decides to repeatedly tell her how beautiful she is. Lily kept getting louder and louder, as did mom. Now I'm irritated and doing everything in my power to not say something rude to them.

Finally, Madison comes out of the audition! Thank goodness she saved Momma! I asked the CD if he needs a headshot, and he said "No, she did great!" We walked out with the other little girl, Olivia (I think was her name) and her mom. They are lovely, and the girls were already planning a playdate.

Madison said that she had to run around 2 chairs...I asked if she had fun, and she said yes. Great, that's a successful audition.

Callback Monday!

Booked Out! Booked In!

While in Maui for Thanksgiving and Madison's 5th birthday, we got a casting notice for the following:

Role POLISH GIRL 4 YEARS TO 10 YEARS OLD
Role Type Principal
Gender/Age/Ethnicities Female / 4 to 10 / Caucasian, Ethnically Ambiguous, Mixed, Multi-Ethnic
Description/Note TALENT MUST BE POLISH

Well hello there...I have a 5 year old Polish daughter! So I emailed our fabulous agents to let them know that we are coming home! She got submitted, and has an audition tomorrow! I'm so excited.

Another bonus is that this Momma still has pieces of her Polish costume from when she was a kid, and they would like us to bring it. Now if I can quickly teach her some of the Polish folk dances I used to dance, she'd be a shoe-in.