Ôdishon

In the time after the 48 Hr Film Fest debacle,  Serge had eventually explained that he had some computer issues and could not get in touch with me. This was a likely explanation after all I didn’t have his number either. But fuck that guy. I got to give him credit though. He didn’t stop trying to make attempts on collaborating on a project.  He and Leonard friend each other on facebook and movie talks resumed once more.

12/9/09

I decided to give them both another shot and started to pitch some ideas. Mostly some bro-mance pieces, that I felt would be lucrative.

12/16/09

Serge suggested we enter the Canon Can-do Contest. He said he had the tools, all we needed to bring was the talent. I wasn’t really to keen on contributing another script for another dead end project. My faith at this point was non existent. I had recently given Leonard both the Norwood scripts. He didn’t think that was the right project for now. He felt that the pacing was entirely different between the two scripts.

12/17/09

L: I think I got a 4 minute script about the Lunchroom crowd.

S: Sound’s like a fun read send it over and let’s see what it’s about.

12/18/2009

At this point we’ve all taken a look at the original script.  There was much feedback. I don’t think any of us actually got it.

L:  I could change the ending to have the girl kill him and herself if we want to got dark..

J:  Nah it doesn’t need to go dark. Not every independent movie needs to have someone die in it. I think though i don’t get the ending the way it is now. I think you need to go linear in the story telling.  You introduced it as short about the lunchroom crowd. but its really more about the guy telling his coworkers a bunch of things that happened off-screen, or in flashback and doesn’t take place at all in the lunchroom.

L: True, just the type of talk that goes on in the lunchroom here at work. Its up to you guys, i would like the kick off the new year right with a project and see what happens. I am getting ready to do another script , just fleshing out the ideas.

Serge thought that the Lunchroom gossip would be a great idea for an indie flick. And so the project began to take shape. Leonard worked on putting up auditions at Mandy.com and we decided that we would use Serge’s place all the way up in Coral Springs.

1/23/10

The day of auditions had arrived. We took the long drive to Serge’s house.  Things seemed to be disastrous at first. A bunch dudes sitting around watching Mexican comedians on Netflix and listening to Nickelback or whatever the fuck Serge had on his stereo.

Plenty of people had responded to Leonard’s audition posting and said they would show up. Worried that the project had suffered a major setback I decided to call a  friend, in the hope I could attempt to convince her to try her hand at acting.

When she gets there, there is no available parking. Serge recommends an available open lot down the street from his house. Due to the unknown neighborhood factor, I decide to ride with her, so I can walk her back to the house. On the way back, while chatting and catching up on each others lives. Or rather me listening and her blabbing away, we pass a couple of dudes playing basketball in front of their home.

“Excuse me Ms. I have a question for you. is that your boyfriend?”

Even though I’m not it wasn’t exactly obvious as she was on my arm as we walked down the street. This was enough to set her off. There was a back and forth exchange between them, that eventually got out of hand and I felt the need to step in. By that time the main guy was enraged enough to make an attempt to start a confrontation. I dwarfed him in size but felt no desire to actually engage in some fisticuffs. I asked him to allow me the courtesy to escort the lady in the house and I assured him i would indeed return to “take care of him.”

 

The guy picked up the largest brick he could find and held it above him ready to smash across my head. Calmly i began to walk my friend away from him. But that’s when she got a bit louder and decided the best course of action was to call the Police. The would be assailant and failed wooer took off promising retribution.

“I know where you parked your car motherfucker.”  He said to me.

“That ain’t my car, Idiot.”  I yelled back.

The police would soon arrive. I was extremely embarrassed that a civilized audition, due to my actions had now turned into a Jerry Springer situation.

When the police arrived we discovered that the guy had fled the scene. But left her with a parting gift.

 

The police in South Florida have always been completely useless. So it didn’t surprise me that they weren’t interested in helping beyond filing a report.  Serve and Protect? Yeah right.  That’s what they do when they Serve you a ticket so they can Protect their pension.  Collecting evidence must also be an absurd notion, because the cop brushed aside the Giant WEAPON the savage left on her car. The same WEAPON he threatened my life with earlier.

Still the day was not all bust. Serge had now contacted us and told us our first victim had arrived.

The Lunchroom - Casting Auditions - Theresa on Vimeo.

Debra delivered an interesting monologue from The Accused and is quickly ushered out the door by Leonard. I’m told she barely had time to gulp down the juice Serge had offered her. Leoanrd said he wanted to keep things moving.

Soon after we had a second audition. Federico came in an tried out for the role of Victor.

The Lunchroom - Casting Auditions - Victor on Vimeo.

He read from the script and a monologue of his own creation. We pretty much offered him the role on the spot. I guess it helped that he was the only one who had auditioned for the male lead at this point. He seemed pretty excited to join the cast at the moment.  We didn’t really get to build a rapport with him, as he was quickly rushed out the door as well. We were pumped because now that we had our convincing Victor, the rest of the cast can be filled with friends and inexperienced actors, if it came down to that.  

The last Audition for the day was Ashton Pina.

The Lunchroom - Casting Auditons - Victor #2 on Vimeo.

He read us from the script and a monologue from Suburbia. Check out an alternate angle of the audition here. He didn’t seem quite right for the role of Victor. He had unfortunately come after Federico and there for had to follow his performance. But we definitely saw some potential in Ashton and we let him know even if we didn’t use him on this project this was going to be the first of many, and we may contact him again. It probably sounded like we were blowing him off, but in a nice way.

After the auditions, we discussed possible alternate endings, something that would  make the four minute short memorable. We also had a a couple of table reads with Serge, and his brother each taken turns doubling for Victor.  All in all it was a pretty good experience and we learned a few things.

1) A bunch of guys sitting down staring at actors, can be quite intimidating. So we hope to include a woman in the next audition process we hold.

2) We need to get contact info on the actors before they arrive. That way we can ask them where the hell they are when they don’t show.

3) Scheduled Auditions beat open auditions. We wasted half the day sitting around. If we give each individual an appointment, we can wrap things up quicker.

I think I can speak for the rest of the guys by saying that we felt the project was on a roll now. Auditioning actors gives you huge sense of power. We were all ready to start coming up with projects so we can hold auditions. Even if we weren’t going to film them.